Random Scribbling - 3

One week since I posted and I'm already getting impatient, thinking about what to post next; topics, again, range from the A.R.Rahman concert in Singapore that I will miss because it's horrendously expensive, to the-saree-wearing-singing-hungama that happened on Wednesday, to cursing my heavy, burdening, workload.
And then, it struck me; one thing I would be ready all my life to ramble about for as long as possible - dear old Chennai.
Every time I looked at the name of my blog, I would feel pretty stupid - chennaigalwrites?? Then I convince myself saying it was a name I had thought of in class X, four years ago, when I had first heard of blogs and so badly wanted to have one, but did not know how to. Then I thought, probably the name ain't that stupid, for after all, it defines me, I am a Chennai girl.
I am the only misfit in a family where everyone unanimously hates this city. What's there to hate, I wonder. Well, of course, there are umpteen number of reasons - bad water, roads dug up every now and then, the heat, the pollution, the current cuts (thankfully not in my home sweet home!) and blah. But hey, I say, every Indian city has them! Studying in a place where none of these problems virtually exist, I must confess, I miss them. What's the point living in a place where you don't face any problems? Staying in cities like good ol' Chennai only makes you appreciate these things more. Things feel so artificial sometimes in Singapore, and I'm left wondering what's the point. Grass mowed every three or four days with an annoyingly loud machine, vehicles which take the leaves off the road everyday.... Well, give me a break!
Just facing totally unconnected streams of thoughts....I'm reminded of the highly occasional 'Bangalore vs. Chennai' fights that I used to lead back home, and sometimes here, too, with the Bangaloreans. Chennai, I say, has a soul. It has people who live life normally despite the innumerable shortcomings they face everyday, right from water to public transport. It has a just perfect blend of tradition and modernity, the perfect Kabaleeshwarar koil devotee and Saturday discotheque freak. Girls here shop in Globus as much as they would on Pondy Bazaar's famed platform shops. Chennai has everything. Chennai is brimming with life, brimming with optimism. Chennai can shrug trouble off its shoulders and come back to normalcy after any disaster, the tsunami being the prime example.
Now everytime I go back, I make sure I never have that NRI feeling (uhh, well, if I can be called one??) of 'God, how did I live in this country?' which I so terribly hate. Life so smoothly glides into the Chennai way of living as my flight lands and I start in long queues which people break with ease, for immigration. When in Chennai, I become the chennaigal, feasting on amma's amazing thakkali rasam and vendekkai curry. And jumping over those can't-be-counted number of potholes. Wading through the heavy Usman Road traffic with ease. Taking a bath before 10 a.m., before the water stops. Fighting a vain battle with grandparents to watch a different channel, and ultimately ending up watching 'Metti Oli' or 'Kolangal' with them. Bargaining with the shopkeepers in Pondy Bazaar. Standing in the strangling queues in temples. Getting crushed in the overcrowded public buses, and sometimes, footboard travel too. And yes, living a life.
Living in Chennai can make you prepared for anything in life. After living in Chennai, I sure can face most of the things in life, and with a schooling from DAV, I dare say, anything, anything, can be confronted!!!
Oh god, off I go rambling again. I can almost see the 'Organizational Communication' textbook on my table glaring at me and saying, "Hello, you were supposed to read something from this book??"
And yet again, I'm unable to think of any heading for this post, now that the org. comm. book is staring right down at me. So this post gets a name I've used twice before, it's a sequel.
And hey, Chennai rules!!! :)