THE CHARMING CHENNAI

Love and Trust live together. If one is missing, there's no point having the other.

Hey folks!! Good day!!!! :)

Hope you all are doing good. How was your day yesterday? Good, bad, ok, nothing special – as usual? Well………whatever it is, keep it aside. Here, now, you are with me. So, today you are going to have kind a refreshment in your daily, mundane life……. :)

Those who don’t know but care to know, today is my first day in the world of blogging. Did I hear somebody asking, “So?” Well, so……… you know, the usual staff……. if I make a mistake or two (or most likely many), knowingly or unknowingly, here and there, please forgive me with your own highness………..etc. etc. :)

All said and done, like the warning in radio before the Tsunami, or, like the roll-call before a boring lecture of a Professor honoured by the most coveted title - the ‘Sleeping Capsule’, by those nasty little creatures called students – let’s begin the journey…………. [ Wanted to keep both the extremes as possible analogies; as I’ve no idea what am going to blab out here :)]

Charming Chennai – what’s so charming about Chennai? Many things, actually. Let me share my quota of findings:-

1. Teeth: What!? That’s your expression, right? Well, don’t be too shocked. Come out of the Chennai Central Railway Station with a travel bag on your shoulder and a suitcase in your hand – Shah Rukh Khan, Main Hyun Naa style; or a backpack on your back – Ranbir Kapoor, Bachna Ae Haseeeno style; and look around the city as if you have stepped on the Moon; you will realize. Walk a few steps left or right, east or west, you will discover a Dental Cinic – with a mighty tooth or an open mouth full of glorious teeth welcoming you. Spend a few months in Chennai, roam around the city in local transport and befriend with some local people, you will be astonished with the peculiar fascination of Chennaites towards teeth. You will find a dental college in every locality, a dentist or a would-be dentist in every family…….. And know what? I suppose, in Chennai, teeth plays a vital role in elections too! Just take a look at the roadside banners, posters, wall paintings of the political parties, you’ll know what I mean. Eminent, not-so-eminent, powerful, not-so-powerful – leaders and party-members – everybody are laughing – laughing as if they are watching a Tom & Jerry show – with their mouths wide open – showcasing their teeth of various shapes and sizes and colours – every set of teeth whiter than the other! As if they are trying to impress the voters with the whiteness of their teeth – a symbol of purity!!!!

2. Moustache: What’s the symbol of masculinity? If you are an inhibitant of a modern-age metro city, your answer probably be ‘rough-n-tough, lean-figured, clean-shaved…..etc. etc.’ But for a Chennai fellow – male or female, the answer is Moustache. Girls die for the proud owner of a well-maintained moustached man; boys vie to grow one! First time when I came to Chennai, I got scared to see men with big, fat moustaches moving around claded in their traditional half-sleeve shirts and lungis! No offence, but to the eyes grown up watching Hindi movies, they were looking like typical Hindi movie villains!!

3. White: Apart from well-grown moustache, Chennai men have one more fascination. And that is their love for the colour white. Men, mostly, older people, they are just crazy about white. White shirts, white lungis – on a bright sunny day, they look like reflectors! Or, as per Chetan Bhagat in his latest novel, ‘a model in Tide commercial’!

4. Flowers: If men are crazy about moustache and white, women are game for gold and flowers. Chennai female dress very simply; even in weddings they mostly turn up in formals or casuals; but they decorate themselves in gold like anything! And flowers! Usha Uththup is a very popular singer in my hometown Kolkata. We Kolkatans have always seen her putting a garland of flowers in her hair, whatever be the occasion. I used to think its her style statement, as many people have one of their own. But after coming to Chennai I’ve realized its not that at all. Putting flowers in hair is almost like a ritual here! If you don’t put flower, you are not a proper Tamilian! Sometimes, I tease my roomies on this. They don’t put flowers, although they are Tamilians. You might have heard that sometimes rituals reach a height where they look quite funny. Here, read this: fresh flowers put on hair in the morning after bath; its night now; flowers have turned into crunchy paper; still they are on hair!!!

5. Hair oil: This is one more fascination Chennai women have. They apply oil on hair like a soldier getting ready for the warfront; fully loaded with arms and ammunitions to wash off the enemy. Chennai women literally drench their hair in oil! When they come closer, you can smell two different scents from their body – one of the hair oil and the other of the deodorant!

6. Gents’ Beauty Parlour: No. Please don’t take this phrase in any wrong meaning. People who actually frequent these places, are very much normal and straight. But the fact is, Chennai doesn’t have any Ladies’ Beauty Parlour. All Beauty Parlours are for Gents only! Ladies are managing with only salons! :( Poor ladies! What to do? After all, we are residing in a male-dominated society!!!


So, here this is my unique six-pack collection of the charms of Chennai! Whoever wants to add to the cart, is very much welcome……… :)