“Oh! not Chennai,” that was my reaction as a typical Bangalore girl to marriage proposals from Chennai. My first predicament of settling in Chennai was the heat and humidity but with time I have learnt to take it in my stride. Today, I am in love with the city. I live in Kilpauk, which was a purely residential area with huge bungalows, lawns and gardens. I used to walk around the neighbourhood looking at houses where movies were shot. Now, most of the bungalows have given way to apartment buildings and many have become commercial establishments.
It has been ages since I looked into my post box as the letters are door-delivered by the courier boys. I have not seen a postman riding by on his cycle for years.
From only south Indian fare, now I have my pick from continental, Italian, Chinese and Lebanese, all at a stone’s throw from home. The Kolkatta and Delhi street chaats in the lanes of Kilpauk offer mouth-watering delicacies. The ice-cream parlours, milkshake and coffee joints are cool places to hang out for the young and the old.
Many gyms have come up in Kilpauk and we don’t have to go to Nungambakkam. A brisk walk early in the morning on the roads is quite a pleasure. Half of the neighbourhood goes on morning walks and we are all actually training for hurdles as we skirt around potholes and heaps of garbage on the roads. I really miss the days when Exnora was active. There are lots of shopping areas. Shopping for vegetables has also become stylish with all the supermarkets around. I am in constant touch with friends and family thanks to the e-world but I miss chatting with all the neighbourhood aunties. My kids have no friends around where we live as somehow the community culture where everyone knew everyone has slowly diminished. My “townish” city Chennai has finally become the big city. But it still has a heart, the akka behind the billing counter still smiles and slips in free curry leaves and the auto anna strikes a conversation. The cattle still blocks traffic and people still stop on the road and pray while passing through a temple. I love it all, it feels like home. This makes me wonder whether we make this city or the city makes us.
(Sapna Dugar has been living at Landon’s Road, Kilpauk for the last 17 years and runs Wordly Wise Activity Centre)
