Road oft travelled

Three days in a row I had the opportunity to walk through one of my favorite streets (alleys?) in Chennai. Its no neat street with beautiful houses on either sides with lush green lawns (I've some of those too...but right now will settle for this one). Its a slightly dirty narrow street where two people sitting across two sides of the street can have a conversation without being bothered too much by the traffic (infact they do). Its got no posh houses lining it but a string of small houses with mostly around 2-3 small rooms per house (I can say because most of the time the doors are open and any passer by can look right through the house).

The first day (by no means the first, first simply first due to where I'm starting...) was Friday, 14 January. It was Pongal and having tucked in a lot of sweet pongal in the morning and noon, at sometime around 6 (vilakku vekkira neram or lamp lighting time...which is significant) decided to take a walk to Elliots Beach (not too far from home just under 2.5-3km). The next day returned home from office (at around 8) to find no one home and with no keys with the neighbours, so to spend time till my folks returned took a walk. Sunday's walk had a certain purpose as I was heading to Rajaji Bhavan to buy train tickets and this was late in the morning at around 11.

I usually avoid all the big roads and stick to small alleys and deserted roads which were abundant sometime ago in and around the Kalakshetra area(there are still some left...I'm not telling...). I take the usual left to enter my favorite street. A little walkthrough (sorta like the drivethrough for an F1 lap but not so racy...)

Immediately to the left is a thached home cum ironing shop exactly opposite to which is the side of another house just by the corner of the road. Immediately afterwards the road takes a mild left turn to accomodate a small temple to the right which actually faces the other side so has its back to our road. The temple has its own approach road not quite perpendicular to our road (It can be better visualized as a hangmans knot with the knot and the rope leading out as the road approach to the temple with the temple in the noose area containing the temple facing the knot, with the outer periphery of the rope touching our road (which should have confused any mortal sufficiently...my work here is done :-))). Probably 2 houses are there to the left and then we have a small Potti Kadai (which is just a small store which can sell anything from stationery to groceries). Just opposite to this store is a fenced house follwed by a string of small houses interspersed with narrow internal alleys. Next to the building housing the store the road again takes a small bend to the left where there is a small flat followed by a mechanic shop (which I have never found to be empty of young boys loitering about). There is a very small clearing next to the mechanic shop which serves as their parking. Just next to it is an apartment block with 4 blocks. Exactly opposite to this is a cow shed that houses something like 2 cows and 3 buffaloes. Almost halfway through and we have a small road leading to a dead end to the left. The row of houses to the right continues and there is a hand pump just before the road to the left. Just adjacent to the road to the left is the biggest house in the entire road which has a huge open verandah. The rest of the road has small houses on both sides and the road bend slightly to the right and joins another road.

One of the first things that strike you in that street is the smell of incense from the houses (remember its just little after vilakku vekkira neram plus the incense, flowers and camphor from the temple). A little down the road the mechanic shops smells of petrol and smoke. A little more and the stench of the cow shed and then again the smell of incense picks up like its never left you at all. As you are walking you just have to simply look down to realize that you are walking on a carpet of kolams (since it was Pongal the kolams were unusually large and took up most of the road and some were even pretty colorful). I've been through this road at several times of the day and never found it empty of kids scampering around, or mothers trying coax their young ones into eating something, or threatening them to come inside, or scolding them for making a racket etc.

I've never been able to pin down one good reason as to why I like walking down that road. I've been hooked to taking that road for about 3 years I guess and have never missed an opportunity to walk by that road (I usually take a different route to and fro but still manage to wiggle that road in between my route). I don't know why but walking by that road always gives me a peculiar sense of safety and serenity.

Update Preview

On the subject of movies, had the chance to be at the Chennai International Film Festival, but din't fully make use of the opportunity and only managed to see a few of them. Here's a list of the movies I saw (might have seen some movies only paritally, others have slipped my memory for obvious reasons).

The Wind Game - Ali Reza Ghani (Austria, 2004)
Clear Skies After Rain - Natalie Schmidt (France, 2003)
Ararath - Atom Egoyan (Canada, 2002) (pretty impressed by this one will probably be the first one to update)
Dance of the Wind - Taieb Louhichi (Tunisia)
Mademoiselle (France)

This is just an online checklist for me to update about later(hopefully in the near future...:-))

Why it Rains

Just came back after watching "Kadhal", a real life story of a tragic love. Apart from few scenes where the emotion had been intesified to cater to the majority movie going masses. I must confess that this is one movie where I have not been a let down by the movie after hearing great reviews about it (usually the agony of expectation does not make up for actual reality...). One factor contributing to that I feel is the absence of any big names/stars. Apart from the hero and his friend there are no familiar faces (most of the starting credits had introducing...). This probably freed the director from the customary punchlines, stereotypical jokes etc.


The story by itself is simple. Girl with a rich and powerful family falls for a poor grungy mechanic(nothing new there for the average moviegoer, but this mechanic actually manages to look convincingly grungy and never fully cleans up to be a smashing hero). The fact that the girl is still studying in 12th standard (B section Roll No. 16 if I'm not wrong which is intriguing because the heroine's name is Aishwarya...unless there were many Aashas, Aakilas, Aanamikas, Aannapooranis and Aannalakshmis ahead of her...) does not deter her father (Rich, ugly, powerful wine shop owner and local ganglord) from arranging for her marriage. Girl panics and elopes with the boy to Chennai and after a street corner marriage, find refuge among the hero's friends who set them up in a rental house.


By this time the heroines uncle (fathers younger brother who misses his left arm but still rides around in a Bullet) tracks them down and convinces them to return back to town for a fitting marriage. Which does not happen (no happy ending here folks...). The heroine is forced into another marriage, meet the crazy hero a few years (and a baby) later. Breaks down feeling guilty for leading a normal life while because of her the hero is raving mad. The husband simply accepts both of them (i.e. puts the crazy hero in a mental institution and continues his life supporting both the lovers).


Read an interview of the director who had met the husband on a train. While in school I've read "Thirukkural"s by Thiruvalluvar stating that the presence of good samaritans brings rain. Now you know why it rains.