If you're happy and you know it..

Chennai is one of my most favourite cities in the world. I’m a small-town girl at heart I guess, and I can rave over the mountains and the trees as much as the next person. But Chennai rocks my socks. Every single time.

Its something in the air. The humidity is oppressive, the lingering scent of sweat in the air suffocates you, the sheer multitude of people can be pretty scary (to my mom atleast), but without all that it just wouldn’t BE Chennai.

We went to Ranganathan Street today, me, my mom and my 10 year old sister. My mom and my sister are the kind who love staying indoors, real far-from-the-madding-crowd types. But my dad and I are a little more adventurous, atleast if you consider my family alone. So from the dredges of my 5th std memories I summoned up the location of West Mambalam station and the way back to Nanganallur. :D (which is an accomplishment! Amma wanted to wait for the car.)

Ranganathan Street is, to say the least, overwhelming. The onrushing throng of people, the dominance of Saravana and all his Stores, Chocobar wrappers lying on the ground, stomped flat, tailoring offers coming from men with earnest, sweaty brows, little kids clutching their parents’ sleeves like lifelines, intensely coloured salwars clashing with their kurtas, all up for display. You look at all those people, on their own ways, doing their own stuff, with problems of their own, ostensibly not worried about whether they’re wearing Abercrombie&Fitch, whether the other people on the road notice them, whether they got tickets to that movie they wanted to watch, so on and so forth, and you feel humbled. And once again, I’m reminded in strange ways of how distinctive people actually are in themselves, and their total impact on the lives of people around them. Ok, random.

Anyway, from Palavanthangal Amma was just telling me about how Dad took her in a cycle rickshaw once immediately after their wedding, and I asked her why we couldn’t do it now, and so we did. :D The rickshaw puller said it ran on a motor and so there was no harm done to him. It was a first for me, and I enjoyed it. I took a picture of him once we got to Athey’s place, and he was simply thrilled.

It was a good day. I’m happy.

In other news, I bought a pirated copy of Paths of Glory and Love Story in Pondy Bazaar. I was tempted to buy Letters to the Penthouse, but then ultimately didn’t.