Saturday, December 30, 2006
Inrtoduction
Intro:
I came across NDTV blogs one day accidently while I was sitting in Office one early morning with no work. I found it interesting to read about about different people's experiences and opinions here. And I also decided to share my experiences with you.
I was born and brought up in Guwahati. At present I'm work in Chennai. I find it to be an interesting place , mostly because it it so different from my hometown. After living in Chennai for more than 9 months, I'm adjusted to life here. I love Chennai and the spirit of the people here. I've not faced any problems, except one, which is communication problem, which till now I've not overcome yet. I remember the day the I reached Chennai from Guwahati and got down at Egmore Station. As I had a lot of luggage, i had to look for a porter. He was speaking in Tamil and I wsa speaking in English and neither of us could understand the other. Luckily a gentleman came to my aid. Now I'm trying hard to learn Tamil now but the long hours at office leaves me no time to persue my study of the language. I say proudly to my colleages in Office that I can count from one to ten in Tamil. If they speak to me in Tamil, I say "Tamil Teriyada!" ( I don't know Tamil!).
Tea with colleagues at Office:
I remember the day I had tea with my colleages at office. One of them, Anbarasan, asked me where I was from. I replied I was from Assam. He then asked me, "Assam?!? Then why did you come to India?" It was obviously a slip of tongue but everyone started to laugh. It broke the ice between us.
Travelling bye MTC buses in Chennai:
Chennai's city bus service is cheap and efficient (Of course during office timings it goes haywire, but that is another matter) and you can go to almost all places by bus. Unlike in Guwahati, where city buses go only by the major roads, here city buses goes by most of the roads. But the condition of the buses.... I'm sure anyone reading this from Chennai will understand what I mean. You should hear the sound when the drivers shift the gears. You'd think that something'll break. And the attitude of the conductor ( not all conductors but most) is something...... you just set your foot on the bus and he'll shout at you "ulle poh". ( Go inside , don't stand near the door).
Most buses have two doors. The conductor sits on a seat near the back door and you have to go upto him to pay the fare and get the ticket. When the bus is crowded it isa little difficult but your fellow passengers come to your rescue. You can pass your money to the next passenger, and he/she'll pass it and in this way you get the tickets. This is one spirit of the people here I like. I don't know whether it is done in other cities but in Guwahati, it isn't done.
And here if you are caught travelling without ticket, you 've to pay fine ( i thin Rs 500, but I'm not sure). They are regular checking. I remember one rainy night i was returing from Velechary to CMBT and they were checking for tickets, as people got down from the bus, holding umbrellas.
Food and hotels in Chennai:
Here food is diifferent from home food. You have to learn to live on a diet of idlis and dosas. I love South Indian food. So , to there is no major problem but I 've many guys from our place who stays here and complains about the food. Of course , the meals which we get during day time is too spicy even for my liking. So, usually I take variety rice like Sambar rice , tamarind rice or tomato rice. There's a kind of rice called curd rice, which is rice mixed with curd, salt and spices. It's one kind of food I cannot take. If I say to my folks back at home about curdrice, they'll find it difficut to believe that you can have curd, rice , salt and masala mixed together!!!!!!!!!!What I like in the hotels is that they serve food on leaves. But I must say that even in big hotels, the water glasses does not seem to be washed properly.Near the locality where I stay (Mogappair), is the hotel where I had my first food in Chennai. I tkae food there often but I still don't know it's name as it is written in Tamil. I named the hotel Pagla Dukan ( which in Assamese means "mad shop"). It really had some silly rules at that time. When you want to have chapatis and idlis you had to buy coupons before going to your seat. If you wanted dosas and puris, you can pay after finishing the food!! Now they have abolished this rule. But it's name stuck . I and my cousin still call it "Pagla Dukan"!!
My colleagues at Office:
I must say that I get along well with most of my colleages. I must really acknowledge the help and support I got from my colleages Thiyagakumar and Manikandan. When I was new to the company , i pestered them several times a day. And the poor guys, they'd leave their Pcs and come over to mine to help me!!
Marina Beach:
I love the Marina Beach. I think it is the longest stretch of beach in India. But during the daytime it is very crowded. I like to visit is after 7 at night. There is less crowd then. I'll come mostly across people like me , who're trying to relax after a hard day's work. And of course there are come couples , who try to be cosy with each other taking advantage of the darkness, enjoying the sea breeze and some young boys who comes to enjoy a drink. Every body minds their own business and it is very peacful. You can lie down on the sand and see the clouds moving above the sky, the stars twinkling and ships ahead in the distance across the sea.
9:40:02 AM
Posted By Seng Buragohain Comments (1) Personals
Comments
K.Venugopal Saturday, December 30, 2006 10:24:20 AM
Dear Seng, You write very well. Quite grippingly. Reading you, everything seems to be wonderful and heady. Do write regularly on your Chennai days.
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