Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 2)

 

The link to the previous part is as follows:

Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 1)

 

Returning to our journey on Jalandhar, the big day was arriving, and I was eagerly counting it since that would mark my first flight journey. It will be a memorable event in the book of Raghav’s history.

Hmmm…sounds little funny though when reading right! But not for him.

Fine, so our goods were packed and shipped a week early through a logistic company since it would take a week or more to deliver it, as the road trip from south to north was quite far and the road infrastructure was challenging in those days.

The flight to New Delhi from Chennai was due in 2 days’ time. We had planned to leave for Chennai the following night and stay there at my cousin’s place from where we shall proceed further with our journey. The only sad thing that I had when departing out of Coimbatore was not able to play with my pet dog, Jacky, anymore.

The next morning, we had reached Chennai and it was a pleasant sunny morning. Way in the 90’s, the city witnessed low population density comparing to this day and it was much more fun then. Reaching my cousin’s home, I had a nice time enjoying with them while the elders were into some serious discussion, which hardly bothered us kids.  

Finally, the great day had arrived.

My uncle had booked a cab to take us all to the airport. I had never been to the airport before and was totally clueless about how it looked like. The drive was a short one from their home and as we entered the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, I was awestruck. I never imagined that I would be so captivated about it and my excitement knew no bounds.

De-boarding from the vehicle and getting hold of our luggage, my parents bid farewell to all those who came to see-off us while I was much focused on the activities taking place around me. Not just once or twice but many a time I would have made a complete 360-degree rotation to capture every single frame of the place.

The scene was totally lively and engaging with people rushing in all directions madly, trolley’s extra loaded with luggage, flight status being announced on a continuous roll, gorgeous ladies of hour-glass structure draped in sleek uniformed attire and with the apt complexion to suit their profession, commanders and first officers in black and white attire walking majestically making onlookers turn towards them and finally the cops, looking out suspiciously at everyone.

My relatives bid adieu to us and we headed towards the check-in counters. With every step taken, my excitement curve just went upward. Once done with all the procedures, we were waiting at the departure lounge for our aircraft to arrive. Back in the 90’s the Indian aviation was not well developed as of now, and it was the era of private carriers just stepping into the market. Two private airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, had started operation along with the existing center owned Indian Airlines. As we were officially moving to a different state, the travel desk had made our reservation through Indian Airlines.

I still remember the heavy ticket booklet that used to be issued back in the olden days, unlike now wherein everything is encompassed within the 5” display of your mobile phones. With the advancement of technology, things seem to be simpler these days.

The giant Boeing 737 was parked at one of the remote stands and the aircraft was shining from the first rays of the day, and I could clearly see it from the gates, as back then the air connectivity was not so improved and very few flights used to visit the airport. We were finally shuttled to the aircraft and I was about to board the first flight of my life.

 

To be continued…

Madras Madness: Part 3 – Overnight Drink

A warm welcome to all my readers and here rolls out another fresh memory out of my mind.

Well of course I had mentioned in the earlier episodes of “Madras Madness” on how much I love the city and in-turn how much the city had given me back. So, every single moment spent in the city was well cherished by me and thereby I take pride in sharing with you some scintillating moments.

Note: It is purely my experience and love for the city that I am sharing it with you and it doesn’t necessarily require you to feel the same

So, this episode, as it goes by the name “Overnight Drink” started off just as a trial run, one night by a few guys of the Thiruvanmiyur flat, not knowing that it will later became a ritual for us. As you continue reading and get to know what I am about to share, well may be you might not be much exited or even think what so special about it, as we guys did. But as I said clearly before, this is just a recollection of the moments that I enjoyed the most at the city and you need not necessarily feel the same.

Disclaimer: So if you are not interested to know anything more, you may just skip the rest of the content and close the browser tab. No hard feelings at all. But to those who wish to know more, please continue reading.

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Well definitely your mind might be now releasing too much of dopamine to figure out what could it be. And maybe you might question us as well as to “What made it special for you guys”, since I had quoted it before.

Hmm, to answer that it could actually be a plethora of reasons. And to list a few here, 

it could have been the perfect mood & the flavor that elevated us, or be it the surroundings & the people with whom we shared the moment could have raised the bar. It could have been anything. But, there is no discrete answer to it with me, even right now.

Also, before I begin, a note of caution to you all;

Don’t just blindly come to a conclusion with the title, as many of you might perceive it wrongly, and especially when a teenager drafts out a post with such a weird title, your brain may tend to perceive it wrongly, especially if you were brought up in a conservative society.

So, with the statutory warning, let me straight away get into the main story. During the last few years of my Chennai life, I along with my friends had moved over to Thiruvanmiyur, a friendly neighborhood, mainly known for its serene locality with pristine beach. It was seafront apartment that we had rented and there was no shortage of the sea-breeze hitting our faces every day. We rejoiced moving over to the new place and it was like being in a rejuvenating camp, away from the bustling city crowd.

So, as we moved up there, we guys made it a routine to stroll the beach every night post dinner, sharing that day’s events among us and rejoicing through it. You ask me anytime and I would say that the time I spend with my friends is always valuable and incomparable to anything else. So, I prefer to spend an ample amount of time with them. I totally forget myself when surrounded by them and be the true version of myself with them. Well, a few like the way I am and there are others who take advantage of that and use me for their benefits.

Oops…I am drifting away from the topic!!!

Coming back to the scene of our night walk, one night we did notice a huge crowd gathered up at one particular spot of the beach. Well, usually the Thiruvanmiyur beach is less known among the masses and it is not that commercialized, thereby the film fraternity uses it to their advantage. And also planning a shoot at the most commercialized beaches of the city like the Marina and the Bessy means attracting huge crowd. However, Thiruvanmiyur beach attracts only the residents of the locality and hence it is easy for them to plan and execute the shoot. Therefore, looking at the crowd gathered there, our immediate assumption was that a shoot was going on.

However, our curiosity irked us to make our way towards the crowd. Reaching the spot, we didn’t know as to what our reactions should be. Are we to be surprised or are we to be quizzed or are we to be astonished, I don’t know at all. There was no film shooting happening but it was after all an old man with simple attire selling buttermilk on a bicycle.

Seriously!

So, what’s the big deal if an old man sells buttermilk on a bicycle would be your immediate question. Believe me; we had the same question in our head, as well.

Well it was until we saw the line of BMWs, Mercedes and other premium cars lined up around him, people queued up around him, patiently waiting, just to grab their glass of buttermilk. Looking at this scene totally made us curious and we headed closer to check it out.

Well it is a global say that “You get easily noticed if you are unique out of the lot” and so was this old man. Chennai is known for its hot and humid weather and so road-side stalls line up during summers, selling cold beverages, and buttermilk is the most common among them. But here, this man totally re-engineered the script. Instead of the strong daylight, he sells them after sunset and instead of setting up the same boring stall, he rides around the beach on his bicycle.

And unlike others, his USP was not just to serve plain buttermilk but he adds finely chopped raw Mango and Boondi (Indian dessert made from fried chickpea flour) along to it. These add-ons actually elevate the drink’s flavor and you could never resist it, after a sip. Well looking at the scene around us, we made our order and had the first drink of the night. Well, the rest is history.

It kind of became a ritual for all of us, every single night and even after moving out the city, until to this day, the memories of those nights still linger in my mind, evergreen as before.

P.S. You can google "Moru Thatha" to know more about him