Nostalgic Nanganallur

Not long ago, I was searching for blogs/sites in the web about this southern part of Chennai. However, the search was tiresome. After all, this place doesnt deserve so much invisibility for having been responsible for all the nostalgia it continues to sway over so many homesick mortals that have chosen to settle down in the other parts of the world now. I have a vague feeling, rather unjustifiable, atleast 70% of the chennai tam-brams have some kind of a link with this, once upon a time, hamlet. May be, grand parents exist(ed) here or uncles live(d) here or the person himself or herelf in question was cradled here and was a product of the modern school and Jain college combo. May be, our guy moved out of this heaven in search of so-called greener pastures in the gulf or the US and our gal has got married now and lives in London or Los Angeles. Nevertheles, i am sure that both of them must be relishing memories of the days they lived or spent here during their school or college days. I too have always had a grudging adoration for this suburb right from the time i was a schooler. But, this has now grown to become a "developed" locality due to its accessibility to the OMR better known as the IT corridor of Chennai. Techies have started thronging this place for the last decade or so, making it unaffordable for commoners. The roads where you could once see only bicycles and probably a bus passing by, couple of times a day is now jammed by all the latest car models mostly driven by the blue blooded software pros. Man, Its all money honey. Call it development, improved standard of living, any bull. They have all jabbed the calmness and tranquility of this place, it once was. Where did all the tranquility of this place go? My uncle and cousins would have a better answer for they have lived here for almost the last quarter of the century. Nevertheless for me, the memories about this place have always been green and relishable. I lived in Nungambakkam then, called the heart of Chennai it then was as it is now. It was a fun-filled journey by bus from Nungambakkam to Nanganallur which almost tooks 2-3 hrs. I never used to get bored with the travel time and more so, about time itself which was the only thing i had in abundance that time. Travelling all the way from Nungambakkam to Nanganallur always made me happy and getting a corner seat in the 18C was a special icing on the cake. Train journeys were even more thrilling. I used to take electric trains from Chetpet to Meenambakkam and walked to my my mama's house in the Hindu colony. It happened most of the times that i reached my mama's house in the late afternoons or evenings. I was usually greeted by my Mami with a coffee made with the Eswaran coffee powder, the coffee chain of Nanganallur and Madipakkam. Evenings were so much fun. The evenings were a choice between movies in Ranga or temples or a jolly stroll in many of the desolated streets of Nanganallur. Whatever we chose, my cousins could ace it, for all the years they had spent living in the place. The tickets in Ranga those days were a lowly Re 5/- and slightly upwards. Those were times when movies were the predominant entertainers without any private channels on TV. We used to look for posters to decide on the quality of the movie to see if it had a high dose of fight and dance sequences of our favorite cine stars of the 80s'. It had always been relaxing to see movies in Ranga inspite of the meagre ambience it offered. We also used to frequent Kumaran at Madipakkam in bicycles. Now, there is an addition to the list of theatres, Velan. But only the ticket prices have skyrocketed in these 20+ years. At times, we also visited the Pillayar koil in the State Bank Colony, the Arthanareeswarar & Hayagreevar temples. If we decided for the stroll, it was always a refreshing walk with my cousins & their friends. We discussed topics that circled around cinema and food. Our evening duty would end with a dinner at home or at a hotel. For dinner in a hotel, we used to go to my cousins favorite, hotel Asoka, who served water with tumblers inscribed with "Stolen from Hotel Asoka" as a mark of respect to the customers who by mistake took tumblers home. Our dinners were normally followed by "Seetu Kutcheri" (Rummy) which used to prolong as late as 2 or 3 AM the next day morning. We would sleep until 10 AM the next day to start our daily chores once again. Those were the good old care-free days which i crave to get back. Technology seems to have snatched away the pleasure of simple things in life. It has changed places and people. Nanganallur is no exception. 20 years ago, most of the chennaites would not have even known this place. But now, even a small piece of land in Nanganallur costs several lakhs of ruppees. Time has rolled & the place has changed. But, the sweet memories remain forever.