Akila Sridhar
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

#23 Madrasi da;

-Akila Sridhar

There are some pieces which the writer is forced to pen down and then there are a few they’d voluntarily own up to. This is one such of the later cadre for me. I can feel the salty breeze against my tan skin and the smell of wet sand and gazillion tales as my hair goes all around uncontrollably. That is the essence of Where I belong. It means Home. I’m from our beloved Singari Chennai.

‘Yenga area ulla varadhey’ might be our favourite phrase to hymn along to but we might just belong to one such area which welcomes everyone to their new beginning. The stories that Pondy bazar has to tell and the shells on the pavement along the beach spells out to us are innumerable and ever engulfing. All one needs in this city is Time. Living on since generations, this place has abundance to offer. Never having the tradition to shut the doors to people looking for help, the people embrace the culture with open arms. Meesaiya murukitu sollalaanga namba Chennai nu.

Having started with Thamizh pride, now we are the centre for several beliefs and heritages. I could go one for hours about how spell binding. I find this place or about the second longest beach or the food streets for people of all tastes or the cotton streets filled with colours. One should never leave the town without stepping into the autos with story telling men driving us around or the shopping arena in the roads filled with bargaining and joy. Henna artists and sales go on all through the year.

‘Filter Kaapi’ and ‘Sarakku’ are two words every old and young souls in the household could associate with. You might call it addiction, but we aathla we call it waking up. It not chennai without at least once having spoken Tamil mixed with other languages to the pani puri Anna or even at the fancy hotels. We adorn North Indian family backgrounds at the Mehandi functions and become down south Maduraites at jigarthanda outlets.

To sum it up, chennai for me is “Right mixing anna”. Raw or mixed, it’s in demand.

It’s just right.

Meesaiya murikkitu sollunga, namba singara chennai nu.

Akila Sridhar

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The one with fiction, ambition and bag full of distractions . Tune in for a handful of pieces on Romance!