Chennai! Detroit of the EasT !!

Day Zero

Left office at 21 30, early as per normal stands, rolled in straight to Anderi (East) ~ Marol via Churchgate... flat 35mins...

Had good time with Kassu & Sush, Had 4 packs of noodles & talks over Yearbook, and general TP ~ didnt let poor kassu sleep till 2 a.m,

Day One

Woke up at 4 00 Am, Forturnately a Rick was waiting,... nice clean traffic and pollution free roads was fun, a smooth ride except few back breaking poth holes.

Mumbai Domestic ~ A Complete makeover, cant believe what PPP can do in india, GVR was responsible for it... it was clean & had good ambience with live screens for cnbc, ndtv and all...
so time pass was not a problem, ...

A Coffee and a Snicker (60INR) is good stuff early mornign, got a shock at 60bucks, but then had to have somethign...so just converted to sing dollars, and came to 2, bought it the same instant ~ good old memories... :) of singapore came back alive, depending on choclates, avoiding
starvation.. !!

Boarded, got the window seat 8F, breath taking views of mumbai... attached a few pics along, though it was prohibited to switch on electronic devices... just could not hold through....

8 30 Am Chennai Calling ~ MAdras, capital of tamil nadu, land of shivaji ~ the boss, whr ppl are just crazy about him.... a living worshipped god for most of the tamilians... you find his posters every where, public transport, walls, ..public toilets, i mean everywhere :-) .. !! funny was it to me..

Good breath taking views of bay of bengal, goood blule coloured beacches.... was a site to watch early morning with clear skies,.. and bright sun head on :) was good !!

Weeding Bells on !!
Reached the Ambal's Guest house, T. Nagar ~ meet The bride and her parents, chatted for a hour.. and then headed for a VVIP suite waitin for me, slept and slept and slept, finally woke up at 15 30 ~ had some sick chicken biryani.... and walked to the mandapam, again chatted for arnd 45 mins and then made the movie...

those 45 mins, were memorable ones ~ seeing ur only classmate (the only girl in a class of 73) puttin on mehndi was a different frame of mind, ... seeign someone who had spend 4 good years.. and realizing that you were gettin old, ppl gettin married, was in a way in two minds, has she gone nuts, or what.. marrying this early, wanted to ask her, but kept quiet, because had done enuf of that prior ot reachin chennai through mails.. ~~ hope all ends wells, and she stays happily ever.. !!

Then made a sweet cutting, was to meet saipriya, anup and anupee ~ went to Adiyar, waitin n waitin at Anand Bhavan, supposed to be a land mark, just beneath the adiyar flyover...
Finally the lady arrived, had some good food, was deprived of it since many hours... didnt have a proper dinner (jst noodles) and breakfast and lucnh today... so was good fun, to have good food and that too in good company !!

Then Came in Mr. Anup and ANupee... went to a nearby hotel orderd a soup initially thought of ordering 1 by 4, but then....Anuppe convinced me to for 1 by 2 as it wud not look good :(

So had fun there, anup didnt allow me to talk to her... waste he is, !! was good fun.... then, he went and left her to her place... and then three of us, made a move to East Coast Road, pics attached,.. where we had long walk on the beach, with cool sites to watch... ppl fighting, begging and also having romance !! that is what i call diversity :) yup, not to forget a few icecreams, and corn with the walk, made it a joyful nite.... were ther till around 23 00 hours, anup's bike was a great help (a newly bought discover, with electr!c start !!) ~ he left her to her place, then we made our way to pizza hut, chatted all recent ups and downs, feeling great... being together.. after alomost 2 months... had good long talks... and was nice... !!

Day Two:

BAck to guest house, at aroudn 1 00 am in the mornign, had two more guests in the room, a surprise it was, not a problem, though had to wake them up early mornign.. !!

Woke up at 7 00 AM, as got straight orders from the bride to be at the mandapam for the ceremonies, was great...as few of the REC mates were there too... so good fun... enjoied typical ceremonies that a tamil marriage has, !! to my surprise, it was not just one or two priest who were ther.... but atleast seven as i could remember, ... and they ask for special treatment.. unlike gujju marriages i guess, thou havent visited one for the entire day, .... its different...

groom's parents gift the priests food n clothes n what not.. all the respect of the world !!
Nice experience it was, and yes.. another thing that woudl click you in a tamil weeding is GOLD,
the bride had put on Gold Chain on the waist, it was not just a chain, it was something like a 15 necklace's coupled together... huge, heavy, but looked great on her !! :-)

then there was a traditional photo session, where we intruded.. and asked them to do somethin innovative, u know wha i m talkin off, something french, swizzz...and all, one shoudl take advantage off apersonal digital slr bro, friend and a professional photographer in making !!

Latter, made a move.. out.... got a bike from saf's friend with a helmet, so began exploring madras, detroit of east, on apna pulsar 150 ~ went to tanishq with nammi to buy a ring, was good,... not very finicky abt it all, got it for a few grands, but was really cool, and woudl look beautiful on her finger... then... went to CCD, few chat... and it was 16 00 ,... had to meet anup and anitha then... .so made a quick move,.. back to the guesthouse, where in dropped the lady... and took saf along...

So borrowed a map from a friend, called up anitha got the address, patavifyed saf to come along.... with reasons.... like he wud waste time in the guest house, n all.. n better it wud b if go n explore sometin aroudn. .!! so he was ready.. so was pulsar...equipped with just a map to head towards vellachery ~ vai anna salai, saidapet, rajbhavan,.... guindy... was a nice drive... running thru the traffic...

not to forget, got caught by traffic police, for breaking signal, started negotiating was asking for 450 bucks, believe me didnt hav that much in pocket also !!, finally negotiations class at a b school, and patience paid me to run away with just 100 bucks, so was happy... on my negotiation skills, somethini to cheer about !! he hee...

Reached Vellachery-Vidyanagar bus stand in no-time... and came in anitha, went to one of the nearby restaurants, was great talkin to elder sis ( one amongst the two sis that i made at spjain!!, good it was the number is just two tis tiem !! ) chatted abt happenings... and all u wud not want to know !! :) was fun... n then moved back towards the guest house, it was a race against time... as had to reach ther by 19 30, Reception was waiting for us....

REached there in time... by 18 00 or so... was great to be with a number of batch mates, including mr. pal singh, the only sadda off our class, came rolling in wiht a turban, and was the only sadda in the reception, with ppl staring a bit at him, thou he didnt realize that !! :) that was fun... and believe me i had invited him to the weeding and not the bride !! he hee.. .that was the fun part... meet also juniours.... and was good fun .... !!

come 22 30, back was anup with his bike ~ went for good old Sharjah Shake (near adiyar flyover, reminded off good old rec kattangal memories, of good healthy shakes, worth just 10-20 bucks range) ~ mind boggling cheap, yet good quality and quantity... relished it truely, surely will have it nxt tiem when will b ther.. !!

went to his place, got things in place, arranged stuff.... as had to reach to the marriage ceremony at 5 30 am,.... things were in place... and dont know why just could not wake up.... and then didnt go....

then, started for some shopping, rolled in saipriya along, she helped me buy a beautiful saree from Nalli's ... and then rushed to anup's flat as had to attend a conference call with a companys management... sharp at 14 30

Anup got a call then from a common friend ... and had to rush to hospital...

we had a quick pizza, and then moved to donate blodd wetn ther, .. to vijaya hospital @vadapillani... he rushed in, anup drove crazily to reach ther.. believe me crazily... he is a decent driver other wise, as the blood bank clses at arnd 17 00, wnet ther.. filled up the forms and all....
but to surprise found had blood pressure low, and hence cud not give the blood... soo was happy atleast that we tried for it... and reached ther in time....

Then, anup, his bike and me.. made a move towards the airport... which was atleast an hour away, made it to CCD on the way, had good coffee.. with a bit of rain on the way.. was truely.... great,.. not to forget, was only then i took off my cam... and started taking pics, in a crazy way, as i always do, .... one of them is attached along... we were drivin at arnd 30kmps... adn was good.. ppl. including traffic police were staring at what we were doing!! but was fun.. !! that all life shud b about....

Reached Airport... slowly n steadily, with good talk on the bike... was fuun.... then anup dear...left for old mahabalipuram road... to get some water !! hee heeh !!

and i boarded for mumbai :) so that was one memorable trip.. !! one would cherish for long.. !!