Decades ago, I settled down in a spacious rented house on R.K. Mutt Road as part of large joint family. The house has dozens of cousins, uncles and aunts. The locality had many things going for it – there were quality hospitals, hotels, cinemas and a post office. There were a slew of bus services connecting all parts of the city to Mylapore.
And, of course, there were the grand temple festivals. My mother lived from one festival to another, never missing the teppam, pradosham, sivarathri and brahmotsavam of Kapaleswarar Temple. It was home to number of artists and we enjoyed their company. But slowly, as the mada streets became crowded we shifted to a house on Rosary Church Road.
We stayed there till our house in Sriram Colony, Alwarpet, was built. The choice of Alwarpet was dictated by the desire to live in an area close to Mylapore. It was pleasure to walk down C. P. Ramaswamy road, which was lined with trees.
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In those days, Alwarpet was very quiet with very few shops. Today, the locality bustles with commerce. A raft of lifestyle stores – Nilgiris and FoodWorld, to name just two – and a vegetable and fruit markets are found near our house. Branches of top-of-the-flight hospitals such as Apollo, Ramachandra, Trinity and Aswini are found in the locality. Now, Alwarpet is as busy as Mylapore. And just as charming.