Chennai – 2008

Changes i found in Chennai in the last 3 years , my last visit was in 2005.. actually i did visit in the year of 2006 when i was pregnant but was unable to move around as freely as before.. so i would say 2005 would be my last visit.

From the Airport to home – Kathipara Junction is one big mess right now..but i am sure with all the bridges in place it is going to be far less traffic when compared to few years earlier

Road condition – All the same.. digging and no filling …has not changed much

Flats – So many of them !! it is like they just spurted out of nowhere..everywhere u turn it is flats and flats

Traffic – It is absolutely crazy. i did go in a car a couple of times when i was taking the kids around , it was such a bad expirience..which makes me wonder why anyone would drive a car in Chennai.. It take almost double to triple the time to go to a place than in a two wheeler.In general traffic has become so very crazy.

College Road to GN Chetty road.. Two huge bridges which has freeed the traffic a little or rather the traffic is flowing a little smoothly than bfore in the liberty bridge

Ranganathan Street – Crowded as always, but now with the bridge atleast there is more place to park and there is less traffic on the road.

Spencers Plaza – Now spencers has annexure 2 and 3 and there are lot of Singapore shops like Giardano and Bossini which were not there before.

Cane and Bamboo – this is one Arts and Crafts shop that everyone who is interested in Arts should visit, they had beautiful articrafts at a very good price.

Shoppers Stop – One waste Shop

Big Bazaar – They have tried to have a similar concept of Walmart  but it is a long way to go.

Megamart – No comments.

Murugan Idli shop- This was a shop that was opened a few years ago, i happened to visit it the last time in 2005 , it was good.. this time around..it was not so good.. but one idly cost 8Rs ! and the size of the idli also has thinned down.

The following section is only for ladies

Gold Shops – This is was the first time i had really bought gold , thangamaligai was as crazy as ever. I had taken K the first day to a gold shop he said..are people in chennai crazy..this is like a vegetable market ! which i totally agree… Shree is a good place.

Joyallukas – This is a new gold shop , apparently owned by Film actor prashanth. I just happened to visit it once and it was totally a mallu shop.  Right from the attendants to everyone in the shop.

Jhillmill and Narayana Pearls – They are absolutely awesome, it is better buying fashion jewellery and silver plated gold jewellery than actual gold jewellery.

My movie theater experience in Chennai

I was in chennai for almost three weeks and every day i was there..i wanted to go and watch a tamil movie in theater again, it was almost 4 years since i saw a tamil movie in a theater

I heard from friends living in chennai that City Center was really great, i wanted to see what exactly was City Center because as far as i remember there was nothing so great near radhakrishnan salai except the college but ultimately with so many other things getting priority my visit to city center did not materialize.

Finally i decided that i am going to a movie no matter what even if it was alone, it was late on 8th of September when me and my sister set out on the kinetic honda , we were thinking on getting tickets for the next day show of Saroja which was supposed to be one good movie but we went all the way to the theater and they said the advanced ticket hours were over..That is when it struck me that i am in chennai and that there are advanced ticket hours..for whatever reason it was !

So we ended up going to AVM Rajeshwari theater and watched a movie called ‘Dhaam Dhoom’. we were already late by 20 mins..we thought what they hell it is just a tamil movie it does not matter even if we are more than 30 mins late we are going to get to understand it ..god knows why the director named the movie that way..my guess would be he / she did not know what else to name the movie. 

We found some corner seats and i was sitting all the way to the wall and my sister in the next seat. There was just one empty seat and in came a middle aged man..after a few mins my sister said this guy was troubling her..so i asked her to come this side and i sat beside him to see what he was gonna do.. immediately after we did that he left the seat..then came interval and we had oily veggie puffs and popcorn and coke ! and we were back in our seats..now comes the middle aged man again , he was starting to act smart again. he got a piece of my mind and after which he disappeared !

With one drama finished…i was looking at the wall because i was so bored with the picture and down came two cockroaches ..god !! i could not look at the screen until both of them disappeared into one of their homes that they probably made in the theater.

Finally the movie ended and i had more fun or drama in the theater than the movie.. It was great to be back in Chennai

Cooking & Cleaning & Laundry !!

God please give me a robot ..or make me a robot while i am doing all this !

I always keep wondering how my mom used to do everything so fast …i keep trying but i never get it right..every evening is one crazy struggle of cooking..cleaning and laundry ..with two kids running between my legs..  saying..mommy..mommy….

K keeps saying i am obesessed with laundry.  which probably i am but i like it that way..every cloth that we wear every evening even if for a few hours goes directly to the laundry basket , well that was how i was bought up so that is how it is. so we always fight on this..as usual poor K did not win..

Oflate both Maansi and Anisha like only variety rice.. tomato rice .biriyani rice… no rasam saadam (Rice) or paruppu saadam (dhaal rice) so it is like cooking two times..one for us and one for them. It is so damn tiring.