Chennai - the City

Kangal Irandal un kangal Irandal enai katti ezhuthai podhadhana...the song which impressed me from the day I landed in Chennai. Hmm...Alas I am back here. Am I happy? Am I excited? Am I comfortable? I don't know I don't know because I don't have time to think myself. You see that's the problem here, things are running so fast around you that you have time to run along with it. Chennai the place where lakhs [Not 100 thousands :-)] of people fleet in for work and various other activities haven't changed much in the base values but still you see evident added things on these values. First item I noticed in the government buses is the tickets issuing method. There is no more bunches of tickets carried by the conductor with variety of face values on it. He has this ATM kind of instrument where he punches in the amount and the ticket is printed. That was easy and a nice change. Vijay is scaring me on his Kuruvi movie posters everywhere in Chennai and looks like it was forced to be a hit. You know why... don't you.

I am seeing the best of best cell phone models here whereas still I feel U.S. is 10 years behind. You get a feel that most of the people tend to behave as if something is chasing them. Are they being chased or are they chasing something? Not sure but you will get that feel. Within city limits I don't see a penny change in terms of cleanliness and it has got worse. The thing which I crib continuously is the mad traffic. Every bank is giving out 0% interest loans for these vehicles and every dick & harry had got some vehicle adding more traffic on roads. Apart, the people have the possible negative value traffic sense with them. Yes, pathetic traffic sense and when I start my bike I remind myself whether I have a valid life insurance than my driving license. Not exaggerating but this is the true state.

I think there are at least 50+ T.V. channels newly added and every channel follows the same pattern of show list ignoring minimal level of creativity. Over re-acting casts and same revenge fundas are the most watched mega serials. Still you have to appreciate that they have tied the people and I see many rush back to watch their favorite Kolangalal or Arasi to name a few. The internet connection is neither good nor bad, somewhat you can adjust if you don't have the greediness to open multiple sites or download something big item.

Sathyam Cinemas have taken the movie experience to next level. Yes it is awesome with a heavy price to it but truly amazing. The ambience, seating, effects and all other items have been carved with perfection. But you need 1000 INR to watch a movie with 4 family members. Saravana Bhavan has reduced dosa size to idly size and charging double than before. The sambar or chutney what they give is just for smelling not for eating.

Real estate business is woofing to the sky and 80% due to the NRI software engineers sitting outside the country, coding "dim a as integer". The inflation rate has gone to 12% in the country and everything is at least 50% more price from 3 years back. The politicians haven't changed much and still think people are comedians. They do the same thing what they were doing in 1980's and I think the next change would be hitting there. Fridays at IT companies is like going to a cat walk show. You will get confused where you are for a minute on Fridays.

There are many many items I observed in this continuous changing city but this page would be then glutted all over. Hence resisting with the samples and leave it to you guys to experience yourself.