Chennai 600001

There are few places and routes in Chennai that I am aware of - Nungambakkam, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Beasant Nagar, and Anna Nagar. While being here for more than five months, I have travelled and explored different cities of TN, but Chennai is still unexplored. So from this week I have embarked on 'Discover Chennai' expedition.

I travelled to Parry's Corner yesterday. I decided not to drive and instead relied on the excellent public transport system of this city. I am glad I did that as the total travel cost came to just Rs 98! Had I taken my car, I would have spent on petrol; would have been worried about parking; and wouldn't have seen the lanes and by lanes of this area.

Parry's is named after the Parrys company founded by some Mr Parry towards the end of the seventeenth century. This place is just 3-4 kms away from the Marina Beach and has a port and a local railway station within its vicinity. The traffic is killing - took me nearly 5 minutes to cross the road. Interestingly, in this area a lot of banks have their head offices: Indian Bank, ICICI Bank, Central Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad are few which I could see. SBI is housed in an old Raj type building. I could see a lot of shops of agricultural and commercial pumps, hardware, and bags. Walking in the lanes and by lanes reminded me of my trips to the old Delhi areas.

I stopped at a paan shop to smoke. A boy in his late teens came and asked in Hindi for a special paan. Till than I had not noticed the paan wala, but when he spoke in Hindi, I got interested. This paan wala is from Allahabad, and the boy is from Kanpur. So I casually asked the boy if he was a tourist. As if he had not found anyone to talk to for ages in this city, he went on talking non stop. "My father is an inspector. The other day I slapped a thulla [policemen], उंगली कर रहा था [sorry, that's UP language]. He stopped my bike and asked me to show my licence. I told him, अबे, तेरी औकात he किया है। मुझे चूतिया समझा है - तू मेरा सिर्फ़ नम्बर नोट कर सकता है। अगर तेरी दो फित्ति हो तौ he तू मेरा कोर्ट का चालान काट सकता है, और अगर तू सब इंसपेक्टर हो तौ he मेरा चालान काट सकता है, समझा किया है? मेरे पिताजी इंसपेक्टर है।" I am not sure if the poor police guy understood his warnings in Hindi. But I am sure the reverse could also be true.

"साले हिन्दी नही समझते, या आती है पर बोलते नही। गिनती की चार सब्जियां खाते है। दारू भी नही मिलती अच्छी वाली। आप यकीन नही करोगे, आज तक दर्जनों बोत्त्ले लाया हूँ कानपूर से, मजाल है किसी ने ट्रेन के अन्दर बैग खोलने को बोला हो। तुम लोगो को मालूम नही, आल इंडिया ६ बोत्त्लेस लेजा सकते हो। मालूम कैसे होगा, मे हमेशा थाने जाता रहता हूँ न, अंकल लोग बताते रहते है।" I asked him then what was he doing in this wretched city? "भाई साहब, microsoft MCSE 'डिग्री' कर रहा हूँ। भाई विप्रो माय इंजिनियर है, उसके साथ हे रहता हूँ। अजीब लोग है यहाँ के!" I wanted to ask him why he was studying here when things were not working out for him. But I had had enough of his दुखी दास्तान, so just excused myself and walked in a different direction. All this while the paan waala did not get any other customer, but still he was least interested in our conversation. He had no inqusitiveness in getting into a conversation with हम वतन folks!

After wading through the lanes and bylanes, I crossed the main street and entered the Burma Bazar. This place is just like the Tibetan Market of Dehra Doon. Except, there are very few shops that sell clothes. I am not sure but there must be around 300 shops in one straight line. Customers have to jostle and make their way if at all some of the vendors leave your hand. Everyone sells CDs/DVDs.

One shop keeper offered me a role in a movie if I had a chinki partner! I had to leave his shop pronto lest he decided to cast me solo - that would have been sad - my real and reel life would be alike! I guess he wanted me to get impressed and linger on for longer, and ultimately buy some stuff. He was not aware I belog to the anti-piracy camp.

I walked right to the end of Burma Bazar and clicked few pics of the High Court tombs! I mean someone told me that the building that houses the high court was of some nawab, and the architecture also justifies that.

I decided to walk further, upto Marina. But witin 20 minutes got exhausted and hired an auto. Decided to checkout the MGR Memorial. Nothing fascinating at all. Instead the building opposite, of Madras University, appears much better. There's a flame which burns 24*365 inside the memorial. I wonder what those 8-9 curved pillars symbolize in that memorial - and that tall black minaret kind of thing - no idea, and wonder whose idea was it!

By the way, there are 14 visible statues between the light house and the underbridge near the coast guard office. I saw statues of [and these are guesses] Poets, Saints, MGR, Annadurai, some lord of somwhere, and host of others. I am not sure if ever all these statues are washed to get rid of the bird droppings on the learned people's head, arms, and other parts of the body :-) The best statue is that of MGR in the entrance of the memorial!

View all pictures I clicked on this trip.