Chettinadi Chennai - Wandering wisdom

As if the Bangalore auto drivers were not enough for me that I experienced their brotherhood in Chennai who are a bunch of hooligans on the prowl to rob you the minute you park yourself in their vehicles. Not only do they demand more money from you but even threaten to leave you at some dark desolate place where you will find no conveyance if you do not pay them the amount quoted by them.

Thanks to all this, I chose to wander around Chennai by foot. The weather being pleasant, I didn't face much difficulty stayin in the sun. Just putting down a few things at ramdom which I came across while stroolling for a couple of hours.

Though I am not a very good patron of fruits being cut and sold in the streets by vendors, I think this person here has done a fairly good job. The cut fruits are put in a transparent packet, the opening of which is sealed by by folding the excess of the bag and binding it with a toothpick. The user can easily open up this packet and use the toothpick to eat the fruits - very simple and effective.


Down a few steps, I saw the first local movie poster in Chennai; looked like some sci fi movie to me where the hero and heroine would set out on a quest to go to some fantasy land ... something Vikram n Betaal style.


I little further I was tempted to pick up a couple of Tommy Hilfiger vests being sold on the pavement for a meagre price of just Rs.40/-. I'm sure Tommy would faint to find his knock-offs being sold so freely in a city where his originals would be priced atleast 1o times the amount in the showroom.


Lastly, I saw this young guy sitting on the pavement with his parrot in a cage and pulling lots of fast ones on this lady sitting down in front of him with grim concentration written across her face - I'm sure they will still do the same 10 years down the line and nothing much is gonna change no matter how fancifully this astrologer presents his client's future on a platter.


Chennai turned wasn't much of a surprise and turned out to be like any other metro, though I somehow go back with the impression that Chennai is "The Delhi of the south".

P.S. Forgot to mention that Chennai has a very well planned placement of subways and the next time you are in Chennai dont miss food from Saravana Bhawan - it has totally kick ass south indian food.