A 10 year old scooty, two girls, hot summer afternoon,a wide Raj Bhavan road and the burning and scorching heat.

                                 It’s been a real long time since I have blogged. Well, it’s my 3^rd blog and again I am up to writing about an incident that happened on one of the main roads in Chennai. And incidentally I was with one of my cousin’s that day. My little cousin Andrea was celebrating her 3^rd birthday and I was invited. I was apparently in college that day and took a half day off from college. To my luck I caught an AC bus (Thanks to the considerate govt of TN) and was enjoying the ride when my 17 year old cousin Cecile called me saying her phone was dumped with virus and that she wanted to give her mobile for service. Luckily her phone was still under warranty so we  decided to take it so the authorized Nokia Service centre.

                              Being a hosteller in Chennai and  a resident in one of the hostels in the most remote part of Chennai, I barely had any knowledge of the city and its shops. Though I promised my cousin that I would help her in all the way I could, I knew deep inside that it was indeed difficult. I reached my uncle’s place in Saidapet and my cousin was ready to go to the service centre. I had no idea as to how we were going to make it. After enquiring to a few friends about the whereabouts I had decided that the best option would be to hire an auto. To my astonishment my cousin had asked my aunt whether we could use her scooty and my aunt had agreed to this. Driving was never new to me. I had owned a two wheeler license for 6 years but the thought of driving on such a wide road with almost a quarter of chennai’s population commuting on that road made my heart skip a beat. It was an embarrassment if I said I couldn’t drive and I would have failed to meet my cousin’s expectations. I had no option left but to take this risk. She handed me the keys and after a bit of intimidation by my aunt we started the scooty( say a rugged vehicle).  The mechanism to ride the scooty, as instructed by my aunt was this,

 Aunt : Just hold the brake and kick start the bike.

 Me and my cousin ( with weird looks): Okay aunty we will take care.

                We got out of saidapet to the main Raj Bhavan road with much difficulty. Having no idea of any of the shops there we moved on. I told my cousin that I had seen a Mobile store and we could check out there. We failed to realize that we had actually missed that shop a few yards back. We were enjoying our new found independence when suddenly I realized that I had forgotten to carry my license with me. On seeing a cop I raised my scooty and drove with a speed that the scooty had never been driven at. My hands started to tremble when I saw two cops catching people without helmets. I suddenly felt my head was warm which made me realize that it was the heat and I didn’t have my helmet  L. After crossing around 20 shops ahead of The Mobile Store did we realize that we had actually crossed it? We decided to finally take a U- turn and reached the shop. Heaving a sigh of relief and thinking that our excitement was over we enquired and the shopkeeper said that we had to go Nokia Care that was situated on the same road opposite to some college. My cousin encouraged me saying that since we had driven so far we could make it.  We drove and drove but couldn’t locate the college nor the shop. After driving back to little mount and getting scolded by all the people on the road from the auto-drivers to bus drivers we reached a point where it was written in bold letters “WAY TO T NAGAR”. TNagar is like the hub of shopkeepers in chennai. We thought we may find the shop there but to our dismay that option was a waste. We finally landed up buying a few accessories and returning back home.

       While reaching back home we were questioned on why did it take so long? We couldn’t tell them the actual reason or we knew we just could never roam around like that. My cousin just looked at me and winked and I knew that it was the best possible ride I ever had in Chennai. J

On the shores of Besant Nagar beach

Dhivya(D): Hey cynthia, its been long since i've been to a beach. Let's just go there today evening before we return back to the hostel.

Cynthia(C: that's me): The plan sounds really cool. Lets go to the besant nagar beach and spend the evening there.But mind you the sun will surely take its toll. 

D: That's ok. I dont mind. Do you?

C: Nah, that's fine with me. Will manage (sulkily). I hate the sun.

     And there I and my cousin dhivya started off to the Besant nagar beach from santhome. Dhivya and I are of the same age group so we get along really well. My dad asked me to write about a few of my experiences in Chennai. So here i am sharing with all of you about something that i experienced just a few days ago.

         It was a Sunday evening. We reached the beach at around 4.00 pm. The sun was not so harmful that day or rather put it this way, ‘the sun was not smiling extra in Chennai that evening’. Since it was a Sunday the beach looked beachfull (say housefull). As usual there were a lot of hawkers prowling the beach. There were ice cream stalls. Some of them were busy selling fried groundnuts, unripe mango slices, boiled corn in cups and a lot more. The hot breeze brushed through our skin. We kept walking on the crowded shore to find a place to sit. After having found one finally, we sat on the sand. The sand granules had by then deposited their sediments on our feet. As we sat gazing at the sea that was so silent yet horrific, I glanced at the crowd that believed the sea even after the city had overcome the aftermaths of the tsunami, just a few years ago. The water has got its own glory especially in a city where the sun burns you down. I looked at the sun that had already started to change its colour which was an indication that it was going to bid goodbye for the day.

         The sea looked peaceful that day with just sending smaller waves much enough to cool our heated skin. There were kids who loved to see the water from a distance but, when it actually came to beat the tides they wouldn’t leave their father’s hands. Dhivya and i kept watching different kinds of people who came to the beach. Some had come to play in the water and beat the heat while some had come to just sit and watch the sea (like us). Behind us there was a group of youngsters who were celebrating a birthday party. But amidst all of this there was one helpless creature that caught our attention. It was a tortoise that was lying down helplessly on the shore. No one knew whether it was alive or dead but the waves had just come and dropped it on the shore. For the initial few minutes there was hardly anyone who noticed it. Few of the inquisitive ones came and clicked a few snaps if it. It was a huge one with a fully grown shell that covered it. People tried to push it back into the water but they were unable to do it. It was then that we realised it was dead. We felt sorry for it and got back to just talking about various things under the sun. We suddenly found our attention guided back to the poor tortoise. There were a group of boys who surrounded it. At first we positively thought that they were going to help it out. But then one guy just tilted it upside down. Seeing this another boy did the same, by the end of the whole torture that the tortoise went under it was stamped by at least 10 boys. For a second i was amazed by god’s creation. He had already interpreted that humans will always be heartless and therefore he kept the most beautiful creatures under the sea to preserve their beauty from the inhumane creatures. For a minute i was ashamed that i couldn’t do anything in saving the tortoise.

                      We got up from the place and moved a bit away to spend the rest of the evening. My list to my likings in Chennai increased that day. And what added to my listings was the Chennai beach. I wouldn’t say that they were the best beaches in the world because i know no one would agree to it. But, I would surely say they were lively beaches with so much life. The evening at besant nagar beach was indeed a day i wouldn’t forget.  

My footprints in chennai

“To be nobody but you in a world that’s trying hard to make you someone else is the biggest battle ever fought.”

                 A big hi to all you guys out there for whom internet is not just a place where you get lots of information but a place where you actually live in. That’s because i am also one of you all. Well i have been thinking about writing a blog for the past 6 months but i never found a topic so interesting that i could share with everyone or that is worth “Blogging”. The other day when i was sitting with my friends in our hostel room i thought, why not write about my life in Chennai. Which other topic could be so intriguing other than writing about those moments that i never thought would ever happen to me?

                 “Chennai” – To start with ‘The place where i was born on the 30^th of May,1988. The place where my mother grew up. The place where i was baptized and also the place where i was named “Cynthia” (nice name right :P) . okay i know not many people would agree to it but that is my opinion cos i am someone who loves herself the most and also loves her name to most. I am an angel to my parents and also a best fried to my brother 'Roshan'. My parents have also taught me to do whatever i wish. They have always let me be me and so whatever i am today is just cos of those two most beautiful people in my life. And yeah i can never write a blog without mentioning atleast a few words about my most precious gift, my best friend nitu. Hey nitu i miss you so much. But whenever i feel lonely i think of u and your thought makes me go on. That’s about me but that’s not the end of my blog, it’s just the beginning. I am basically a Puneite(lover of Pune) someone who is a patriot of pune, who glorifies it everyday cos that was where i lived for the most beautiful 20 years of my life. Coming to Chennai was never a dream but it was just an option that i could have denied. But i would say nothing but fate and destiny is what brought me here. Many become helpless at the hands of fate and i was one among them. I left Pune which i always called ‘ The city of my dreams’ and came to study the most important days of my life in a place that i never wanted to be in. My dad accompanied me with all my bags and left me in the hostel. Then i heard my warden saying, “Cynthia here is your roommate roopa”. And there i was introduced to the girl who was going to bear me and tolerate me for the next whole year of my stay in college. The next day just went about introducing myself to a whole new bunch of people some friendly and some whom i thought today or tomorrow you would surely be my friend.

                As days passed by i learnt a lot of things, learnt how to stay independently, fought my home sickness, cat fights, silly misunderstandings and a lot more things to name. But with every incident that happened it taught me something . It made me stronger and it helped me to increase my belief in myself. The initial few days were indeed very awful with the early torments of finding good friends. The ragging sessions in the hostel. But with every event and incident i realized that there was so much to learn in the world outside. I thought i would get accustomed to this new found independence. But i found out something that it is not the city that makes you feel u like being here it is the people around you that make u like the city. At the beginning it was just me and my one friend with whom my days passed and with whom i never realised that i was away from home. But later there were so many friends around me. I remember the early days in the hostel where a few of my friends were staying in the staff quarters as rooms were not available in the hostel. I remember spending the evenings there. It was like a house and at times i would find myself standing the the terrace and just looking around aimlessly. There would be no houses around. I would feel as though i was lost in a jungle and was finding my way back home. I remember the fresher’s day where i and nithya practised just the way before and got screwed on the stage cos we never got a chance to dance. I later got close to swetha my sweet,cute and adorable roommate and also the girl with whom i fight every other day, but do you know the best part of it is that the next minute we are back and no one would realise that we actually fought a minute ago. I remember the group studies that we would do together(partly studies and most of the other time it was chatting). I cry to her and im sure she would never sulk about it. How can i not mention my hostel friends bala, brindha, pratibha, rini, kavitha and revathi? Without them hostel would be so gloomy.

               Then came our college culturals “ Instincts”. The most awaited event of the year. The three days were so much fun. I danced like a mad for all the three evenings. How can i forget the internals that i wrote for every semester and am still writing. Tuesdays are days that i would never like to wake up to. I realised that scoring 80 marks in the university exams were much easier than scoring 20 marks in the college internals. Its been one and a half years since i am living here and now i can surely say that it is indeed the people around you that make u love the place. I almost know half of Chennai and of that i can be sure of. Though a man’s search never ends there are a few things that i love about the city and that is the flyovers

( Hats of to the govt), the MTC AC buses ( that help you beat the heat), St. Thomas mount ( the city looks wonderful from the top of the hill). Hope my list increases soon. That’s it from me on this blog.