It looks like I can't keep myself from writing on my personal posts. I always wanted to be a Shankar dishing granduer masala topics but I repeatedly end up being a mega serial director constantly churning out repetitive stuff. Well, Let me cut the crap and start the main course. I am keeping this short and simple.
After a relatively huge gap of six years, I am back to my hometown as a kid, as a native and most importantly, NOT as a guest. Last week, I left my job in Bangalore for my higher studies and I have a good, priceless two months before I embark on the journey of my life. Evidently, there are some never before seen changes. The necessity to come to Chennai with a return ticket in my bag is no longer required. I wouldnt be forced in any way to take the train, the very next day I arrived home. And the happiest news is that my dreaded alarm will not be the first thing I hear at 6.45 in the morning. I sincerely hope that I forget how to set an alarm in my mobile phone. Such has been my long drawn hatred against waking up early and catching return trains.
Coming to the chennai connection, I had been a guest to chennai right from the day I left to Coimbatore for my Engineering. I was a small boy when I left home and I still remain the same whenever I return. In a way, I am addicted to that feel. I like the way people in my apartment see me as the same old Raja (as they call me at home) who along with his group of friends absconded for many hours after breaking the apartment tubelights. I like the way I looked innocent even though the fruits of notoriety intermittently peeps almost unknowingly. Just realised that I have been living like an Anniyan with shades of Multiple Personality Disorder. I play a role of a responsible office-goer in Bangalore, while I remained the same old schoolboy in Chennai, atleast to myself. Infact, I may not be a technically qualified as a proper Chennaite as my home is in the suburbs, but I am one of those blessed souls to have ready access to our homegrown 'Madras' dialect. It never gave me a chance to feel alienated. I have always had the right to feel that I belong to the city. I read in one of my friend's blog that there is always something local about Chennai. Thats something I endorse.
All the above ramblings doesn't mean that I am in complete happiness of the situation of leaving Bangalore. There are things that I do miss and the most important one is my frequent travels in Bangalore-Chennai Trains. I am not aware of others, but whenever I travel alone, I had this weird and shameful habit of looking at people around me, guessing their backgrounds, cooking stories and building an imaginary map around them. All the people in my coach would become unfortunate, innocent victims of my imagination. There was an instance where I framed a complete story about a couple sitting right in front of me and was embarrased to know later that they were siblings. So, if there were any strangers reading this post, and if you had travelled from bangalore to chennai or vice versa during weekends over the past two years, you would have had the dubious distinction of being characters of my stories (Courtesy: My fateful imagination). Mokkais and confessions apart, the train experience let me see every possible situation from missing tickets to booking wrong train. Only thing I missed out was a Sameera Reddy as in Varanama Aayiram.
While I rave about my association with my hometown, the bittersweet truth that this could be my last few months at my hometown in a long time to come is always on the back of my mind. The heat, sweat, sights and sounds of Chennai will definitely be missed.
