Krish Ashok talks about his Chennai, and in doing so, brings to life its myriad inconsistencies and shortcomings. The clincher? They are all as funny as they are memorable, as heart-warming as they are laughably commonplace. Read on.
I am someone who says “Chennai traffic” and “Madras filter coffee”. Even alliteratively, “Madras memories” and “Chennai catastrophes” seem to make sense. But I never ever felt that we as a city particularly cared about this whole name thing. As a city, we have our priorities right. Is there an Aadi sale at Pothys? And if yes, where can one park in T-Nagar? Chennai is not the sort of city that seems to inspire that annoyingly fierce sense of loyalty that we see in many other cities. Bombay vs Delhi. Calcutta vs the rest of the world, and so on. I, for one, like my city because I have roots here (with xylem and phloem extending to other parts of India). The city per se doesn’t do much to inspire the “All you north Indians get out of here” kind of patriotism. Yes, the Hindi is quite dodgy here but it’s never unwelcome.
For starters, Chennai weather is as bad as Bangalore’s pompous attitude about its weather. We also don’t have flyovers as long as the ones in other cities. That’s the new Freudian thing about Indian cities – “My flyover is wider and longer than yours”. The tallest building in town (is it, still?) resembles something that could house the Ministry of Truth from '1984' and our auto drivers have middle class aspirations and a Machiavellian strategy to get there. The city still doesn’t trust its citizens to drink responsibly so it adds a thick layer of government corruption to the problem and one can’t steal a kiss on Marina beach without a marriage certificate in triplicate.
But I like the city, as much as one can like a state of being instead of getting into comparisons and data points. As global cities go, Chennai is a terrible city. Our public transport is still the equivalent of a single share auto handling the population of Bangladesh. But we know it and we laugh about it and occasionally, middle-aged concerned citizens write “Apropos of” letters to the editor about it.
So more than anything else, I like the city for the ability to laugh at itself. A lot of Chennai humour is not targeted at outside individuals or stereotypes. It’s quite abstract in nature and it’s this truly wonderful realisation of the inherent funniness in day to day things and that, in my opinion, is quite precious. I wouldn’t care much about politics, auto drivers and flyovers that could star in adult movies. Humour, I think, is what Chennai’s about and interestingly enough, it pervades every class of society, not just the leisurely upper middle class watching Crazy Mohan plays. It’s not even a USP because we are not selling it to anyone.
So you can come to Chennai and whine about its lousy weather, but you will go back having laughed a bit more than then you normally do. You can laugh at Chennai and if you are slightly more mature, you can laugh with Chennai. There are no late night rave parties and Metallica concerts, or for that matter, too much standup comedy, because most of us are busy sitting down and laughing at ourselves and we should be proud of that.
Krish Ashok is slightly techie, moderately musical, severely blogging and timepassly tweeting
Keywords: Chennai, Krish Ashok, humour, Madras 373
This is true for almost all cities of the world. They all have pros and
cons. Even developed ones complain and aspire to do still better. It is
just the perspective of the person, otherwise every tragedy has a
comic side.
Many people from north find it hard to adjust to Chennai lifestyle and
weather but same is the condition of many Tamilians in North. Probably
that's why terms like cultural shock or home sickness are coined.
Chennai,my city,my favourite city is a great city and will always be
happy to be a part of this city.No other place has tea stalls,small
restaurants,various transportation facilities open from 3 o' clock in
the early morning to 12 o' clock in the night from the early
eighties.Great people to live with and work with,always very disciplined
hardworking and sincere.Miss the Chennai of the early 60's,70's and
80's,was not so crowded and dusty then.
Oppressive heat, infrastructure suitable for ancient India, power cuts even after six decades of self governance, all these are expected and accepted as normal features in Chennai. Life goes on!
loved the article. would have loved it better if you had mentioned about
the jasmine flowers, the bharata naatyam arangetrams, and the "mamis"
marching to "sabhas" for music season !! cheers!
I came to Chennai almost three months ago and hated it, for all the reasons that Krish has mentioned. And all the more because it didn't seem to affect the Chennaites (hope that's the correct term), but only us outsiders. But for the first time seeing a Chennaite make light-hearted fun of it has brought a smile to my face."So its not just us, but even these guys have the same problems. But they continue to live happily. SO why can't I?", I say to myself now.
Hoping to see the other side of Chennai soon :-)
PS- The other articles I read about Chennai by Chennaites, were so defensive and unreal. Completely agree with Bhavana Sharma's view on improvements
Humour through and through....great write-up. There is this
intangible thing about Chennai, which outsiders don't get, but we
feel every moment. It's what we call home.
I have been to Chennai once. I was really taken aback by this really light personality of the city. The only thing which bothered me was never ending piles of garbage but that could be because I come from a relatively cleaner city of western shore. I really liked the people in Chennai though. Very humble and to their own business.
You are not mentioning the Madras of of 1950's and 1960' when Anna Gurrai turned Congress regime 'head over reels'. Yes our great chief minister at that time was Mr. K. Kamraj (the parkalam guy). He was really a simpleton and my dad recalls serving him tea in the now defunct Irani Restaurant & Bakery located on Mount Road, near the then Wellington Talkies (a very famous location near Buhari's restaurant...wonder if any body remembers this now). I really love the old Madras as I grew up and lived there from 1949 till around 1972!
I grew up all across India as a kid, and only came to Chennai when I was 10+. What stood out initially to me was the conservative ideas people had - especially around how boys and girls should interact - this was in the early 80s. Thankfully people have moved on since.
As have I. I'm still spending most of my time travelling or working across India or other countries, but funnily, if there is one place I can call home, that is Chennai... but again, probably because of the food, the music and dance festivals I am partial to.
Can't figure out what he really wanted to say. There are many nice things about Chennai....
Thanks for your perceptive reflection on Chennai. Makes me wish I could
experience it now. However, if you have ever grown roots in Chennai,
then Chennai becomes a part of you and it is easy to feel its groove
wherever you are.
From the articles on Chennai so far, I gather that Chennai has only two seasons: Summer
and Music!
Till about thirty years ago, after marriages, along with the "vethalai
and paaku" one was also served cigarettes! And that's only in Namma
Madras.
Chennai, a city which blends tradition and modernity very well. Very famous for its hospitality. Weather can be a dampener but then that is something given by nature so we can't complain. It is a melting pot of various cultures. People co-exist peacefully. And yes, as Krish Ashok says, the ability of its people to laugh at themselves. But Krish why do you always have to harp on the 'drinking' issue in almost all your articles. Chennai has everything. One just needs to know where and how to find. Comparisons should never be made with other cities. Each city has its own unique plus and minus points. What is important is that on almost all indicators and social parameters Chennai beats all the other metros.
Great atricle. When I was young, I felt Madras very heavy, and as we age I make peace with Chennai.
Thanks.
Overall a good article, But just as an opinion i felt since Chennai represents a good mix of people across India we should refrain ourselves from singling out any state/s by we are "All you north Indians get out of here". This itself a more patriotic statement even if we are declining the same .
In spite of all these problems, I love this city because of the not so terrible weather, live december music, reasonably peaceful and what not?
Chennai does provide warmth to the right people and can be cold to the people who cross the lines defined by her. But the warmth is too good to be missed so most of the people fall in line and redefine their limits to suit her taste.With her growth, modernization, industrialization, she assures us a place of pride in the outside world. A word about Chennai police - the best behaved police in entire country, ever helpful , polite when approached.Safest place for women in India.It has the best malls and theaters.Water problem too is on decline.Power problem will be solved soon.
If only we can make some improvements like commuting and roads.Somehow these two along with the auto fellows are a big sore point.Filth on the roads is another point which stops us from giving it 10 on 10.
Brilliant piece. Of course,it is a pity that some humorless old
citizens may not quite appreciate the breezy style. You should write
more often, not just about Chennai but everything sports, cinema , music
in Madras.
Chennai is a unique city in India. It is vastly different from other metros. You can find executives of big MNCs as well people from
lower strata of society. It plus points are standard of education, reasonably lesser crime rate and knowledge of its people about all topics under the sun. Its negative aspect is humidity and its people
keep talking about past glory.
Wow,that's called chennai city. It was nice to read about the chennai. I
love Chennai. Thanks for the article.....
alas, where else can one see people dancing in a funeral procession.
About 20 years back when I first visited Chennai, I was simply stunned
at the sight of seeing a noisy funeral.Since I was in a college in
Nugambakkam, it was an every day affair as the cemetery was close to
the college.But I love Chennai for being so accommodating to every one
from any part of the world/country.The other unique thing is being
misdirected in search of address. Even if one does not know the
address a person would give some direction, mostly in the opposite
direction! I feel Madras (Mad-rush) would be more appropriate now,
then Chennai.
I'm sorry,but I couldn't get the point.I've been reading these Chennai
articles,but none of them seek to evoke nostalgia,no precise
descriptions,no childhood incidents from any of these bloggers.Were they
actually born in Chennai,or had they at least lived there in the 80's?If
they had,then they would have known that Chennai's bus services were and
are still the best in India.How can anyone fail to mention Drive-In?or
for that matter Elliot's beach.Pothy's is just an infant,a tiny epilogue
in the history of Chennai.
Thanks to The Hindu for posting nice article!
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