India-trip

Its all a blur now. What is very clear though, are those images looming close through the smog of that hazy late-night mount road drive. I tried to sniff in everything. Its amazing how much I connected with that place. I forced every store, every corner to trigger in some vague pleasant memories. Of course memories are always pleasant. We are just too eager to forget those that are not.

I thought of all those long rides in 23-C from Pudupet to Madhya Kailash, absorbing all its sights and sounds. The seedy looking private investigation agencies near Shanti, Higginbothams standing wide, where I have a vague recollection of a bunch of us asking donations for college culturals. Whites-road where I spent first 3 months of a new-found job, money and its exhiliration. Another office building I used to frequent to meet a certain Ex. The detour to the famous Satyam theatre. Gyan Vaishnav Dhaba which I never really liked then. Speed and its KF strong that I so enjoyed way back. Centrally air-conditioned Spencers Mall where the whole Mount Road seemed to gravitate just to escape the heat. Gemini flyover, the only one chennai could boast of for a long time. Hopeful emigrants queuing by its one side and the wannabe New-yorker at other. Thousand Lights that sounded ever so fascinating. I remember how Mount Road would suddenly seem so agoraphobic at around teynampet...especially if you are travelling late, all by yourself. The ride would then progress towards the greener, quieter areas of kotturpuram and Sardar Patel road which seemed so much wider then what with its looming Anna University and IIT campus. A hundred other mini-shops, tea-kadais, bus-stops and stores in between. The ride in all its bourgeois glory was always very very interesting, if I managed to forget the imposing crowd around.

I am glad I still found it so exciting. Its another story that I still managed to get lost while on my way home from there. I'll leave that for another blog.