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Chennai is cool
There was this girl.... wearing
a nose ring (albeit a temporary one) on her left nostril, delicately biting a
falafel encased in a soft pita bread, drinking a glass of wine and talking with
her boyfriend on her mobile, all the while taking a lazy drag from her hookah...
The locale for the
above-mentioned scenario? Not any chic Parisian café but namma Chennai,
folks!
I have to admit the scene blew
me! I mean, I am no prude and have to admit to a liking of the Lebanese
delicacy. But the new face of Chennai did make me stop and (almost) stare!
This wasn't the Chennai I had
left 4 years ago. Though we have never been considered hip enough for our
brethren from other metros, Chennai has always got this innate ability to ‘go
with the flow’. It easily adapts itself to change and carries forward just as
well.
And the number of things that
have changed in the past few years are staggering!
Chennai, to put plainly, is
becoming young! To quote a Bangalorean friend, “Chennai, I hear, is happening
man!” Oh you bet! And boy does it feel great to be here or what? Mobiles have
become so common that even our ‘paalkaaran’ carries one! One can't go five
paces without hearing a phone pealing its own unique ringing tone. So far, no
two tunes I have heard are the same. There aren't any boring "tring! tring!!"
here, Kareena!
Chennai also has a sudden
profusion of eateries, catering to a wide variety of palate. Gone are the days
when 'multi-cuisine' meant dosai, naan and noodles. Now we have Lebanese food,
Malaysian, Thai, Italian, Mexican, American and lord knows what else! And they
are true-blue authentic, mind you! Chennaivasi has become so discerning
and international that restaurants cannot pass off a plate of Szechwan noodles
with red chili tadka floating on top!
ATMs, multiplexes, multi
entertainment parlours - and the list goes on. Chennai has many new jewels
adorning its crown. What really amazes me is the ease with which the transition
is taking place. Chennai, with its December music season and temple utsavams
and Navarathri Kolu, is absorbing the new with aplomb. The new has fitted
in seamlessly with the old - and life goes on!
Even the seasoned Chennai
old-timers have cottoned on to the new dimension to their city's visage.
Arriving in the city in August, I was hit with a new phenomenon called 'Aadi
kazhivu' - a mega sale that made T Nagar virtually impassable. People were
going into the shops in droves and every outlet in the area was so crowded it
made me wonder if the stores were handing out stuff for free! When I exclaimed
about this, my mother calmly replied that it was worse during Akshaya
Trithiyai. Five years ago, when I first heard of the concept of Akshaya
Trithiyai, I had to sift through a number of Tamil date sheet-type calendars
before I could find the actual date! Now it has become a big sale day! Winter
sales abroad have nothing on our aadi sales!
Chennai, dear Chennai -
you may be centuries old but you are truly becoming younger by the day!
While these positives add a big
cheer to our hearts, it is disheartening to note the negatives. Somebody once
said NRIs are those breed of people who very clean and environment conscious
when abroad and by the same count, are the first ones to toss a used tissue on
the floor once their flight lands at the airport.
This is sadly true of most of
us NRIs and RIs. We, as a nation, don’t seem to give much importance to traits
such as courtesy and politeness. Even a woman with a baby doesn’t seem to
warrant much courtesy these days – and I can easily remember the days when a
woman standing in a crowded bus holding a baby is guaranteed a swiftly vacated
seat by many a woman and man. But when I took my toddler shopping the other day,
I was left to fight my own solitary battle with the unwieldy pram and the swing
shut shop door, with nary a person to lend a helping hand. In fact, what enraged
me was, when I had finally gotten the heavy door open and managed to position
the pram just right so I could enter the shop easily, when a gentleman (and I
use the term loosely) happily waltzed right through - as if I were holding the
door just for him!
Even crossing the road, a child’s
play in the olden days but a scary prospect now, is rendered more hazardous by
passers-by not sparing a thought for a baby in a pram and its frazzled mother.
Where have the finer feelings gone? In fact, the more we scale the heights of
‘cool Dom’ and become a ‘happening’ city, the more cold we get. The
magic words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ seem to have disappeared – as if
by magic!
But the one thing in Chennai
that hasn’t changed an iota is the condition of its female half. Girls still
are nervous about walking alone – even a group of friends doesn’t guarantee
your safety. The recent furore about the death of Stephanie Aduwo has put the
plight of Chennai women under scrutiny. The fact remains that some of our
so-called stronger sex still get a kick out of harassing girls, especially if
they are in a group of more than one. When this changes, will we truly be a
proud city, ‘cos mobile phones and hukkas aside, it is the basic freedom of
our city’s citizens that really defines a ‘cool town’.
Our city has shown that it can
take on the mantle of ‘cool’ – so now can its people follow suit?
Lavanya
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