10 things about Chennai!

Posted by Jay-talking!

The 10 things that Chennai taught me in the last 3 years I have been here:

1.       Learning to say ‘macha’ and ‘machi’. For someone from up north where a dude = bandha and a dudette = bandhi, it would be a long time before I could roll out the machas and the machis so very irreverently. But I did master it – for a short period though it were.

2.       The temples! Where else in India would piety and devotion stand on such an exalted pedestal? The fervor of the morning prayer chants and the pot-bellied priests all contribute to a picture of old worldly charm of a different age that you yearn for and keep coming back for more. Then of course there is the sculptural significance!

 3.       Watching a Rajini flick on the first day. Yeah – Endhiran!  No punch dialogues! But then a Rajini flick on a first day in Chennai is a Rajini flick no less!

4.      A guy here can easily boast “Mine is longer!” to another guy, and nobody raises an eyebrow. Of course, we are talking of names here. What were you thinking? Mine is Jagannathan S Veeravalli. Try beating that. 

5.       The beaches! All those summer vacations of yore made memorable  by the maamis, atthais, chittis, perimmas etc, each of who would pinch your cheek and remark “yenna theriyalaya?” had that one great redeemer. A visit to the beach! No summer vacation was anywhere close to being called perfect unless you made that walk along the beach. Slippers removed and the sand beneath your feet! Yep! The very same crowded beach - with panjumittai and sundal sellers and the yucky garbage strewn here & there. But then…

6.      Rediscovering Ilayaraja! For every AR Rahman “up yours” moment back in Mumbai & Delhi as a slap in the faces of the smug arrogant Bollywood “myuzhik die-rectors”, Ilayaraja has always been in danger of being relegated to a status of ‘greatness in posterity’. But no… not when you picked the timeless strains of “Raja Raja Sozhan Naan” blaring out of the car radio on the way to work. Driving was never so refreshing! Then when the most basic IR tunes from some long obscure films hook you in again and again, you know there’s some magic in the air. Rahman rocks! Ilayaraja rules! Period!

7.       The “Yo” in Chennai is so much more bad-ass and classy than the “Yo” in the English language. Don’t believe me? Just go to any local market in Chennai and watch the vegetable vendor lady at work and the way she shouts “Yo!”

8.      Chennai Super Kings! For the firstest time ever, I saw myself slowly gravitating towards a team that had Sachin in its opposition. Sachin Tendulkar in the opposition! (there I said it)! Every CSK v/s MI game, the loyalties were strictly divided. Sachin’s team was first favorite and then everyone else followed. But then Dhoni hit that massive six out of the stadium in IPL 5! Under pressure! And there we all went “whistle podu!” Cricket will always be that Sachin Tendulkar game for life. But throw in Dhoni’s massive sixes plus Bhajji in Sachin’s team – and you have enough reason not to want to support Sachin’s MI.

9.      The Chennai Kutchery season! Margazhi maasam heralds the kutchery season. Even if you don’t spend any money at all on any of the tickets, you still do get to watch one or two of these events. So far removed from anything else in any other city – this is the one calendar event that makes Chennai unique! And if you still don’t know your raagams and the thaalams, no worry! Enjoy it just for the sheer kitsch value it provides.

10.    The “zha” in the “vazhapazham”! Here’s where it truly counts! If you want to put your head up in Chennai and be counted as a true-blue Tamilian / Thamizhan, you need to roll out the “zha”s effortlessly. The only parallel in any other language I can think of is the “lla” in Marathi. Without the “zha” as part of your vocabulary you are just another ignorant buffoon from elsewhere!

So how has your city changed you?