"Why I still love Chennai"

Was back in good ol' Chennai for my now biennial homecoming. I have to say that Chennai has become more of a big bustling city than I have ever experienced. But my awe of the city never ceases. I guess I have to substantiate that claim with a "Why I like Chennai still". So here goes.

So after a few days in Chennai post long haul flight from LAX we decided to venture to New Delhi and Agra. I guess I had to show my wife the eternal symbol of love "The Taj Mahal" and I had to make my son see it too lest he be plagued by his teachers and friends at school about" What, You're from India and haven't see the Taj?" I guess we also have to see the naked fakirs and the flying carpets too someday, but we sure did miss those this time. We took the "new look" Rajdhani Express http://www.indianrail.gov.in/rajdhani.html from Chennai and man was I impressed by this train. It apparently is now a quasi-private run train and the sponsors (Airtel) must be given kudos for their excellent maintenance of the train. And here is the best part, the food was excellent a far superior fare than burgers and fries. It was complete with soup and dessert too and we had very little to complain about it. And there was more pampering with frequents jolts from our sojourn by the catering staff bringing us cutlets, coffee, soft drinks to name a few.

Anyways, back to the issue. We did have a great time in Agra and Delhi bit there sure was a stark contrast in the attitude of people. Whenever we asked for directions or help they sure looked at us if we got off a spaceship. Well at least we were lucky to get those looks since the usual attitude is to ignore the offender who asked for directions. If we rewind the same scene to Chennai the person would happily walk with you or get into your car and take us to the place with the added value of a free "the demise of values" or "I know this place like the back of my hand" chat. Another ordeal we had to endure was the indifferent attitude of the tourist operators in Delhi. They sure did act like they were doing us a favor when we wanted to take a tour of the city. Most routes according to them had too much traffic and hence they did not want to take us to the spot. I was thinking about a city without traffic in India and funnily I could not remember any.

Guess all this made me want to run back to Chennai for solace where I did find a little bit more of humanity and the personal touch. You can call me biased because I lived for almost 27 years in Chennai, but I guess I am my own best judge.

The only ironic bright spot in Delhi was in the form of a traffic accident. A scooterist hit a school girl who was blindly crossing the street and some good Samaritan immediately whisked her off in his car to the closest hospital. It is sad that something tragic has to happen for people to show their good side. But I am glad that there are a "few good men".