Tale of 2 lifestyles...

I think it is not in me to write short blogs......look at what I have done
below...i mean towards the very end of the blog?

I always knew life in Indian cities existed in close contrast to each other
and I became witness to such a lifestyle last saturday.I suddenly got this
overwhelming desire to attend the Baktha Vijayam discourse by Shri
Jayakrsihna Dikshithar at Kamaraj Arangam,Chennai. I decided to go at
4.40pm for the program that was to begin at 7pm. Not a great distance
from where I live in K.K.Nagar...roughly about 7 km. But traversing this
distance is by no means a cake walk on a Saturday evening. For those
who have been in the city recently, the ordeal of crossing Panagal park
and Pondy bazaar would be familiar but for those of you who have not
been in the city for a couple of years....I would say...this is a must do
when u visit Chennai next time. Esply, beginning Aadi month between
5PM to 10PM on Saturday evenings!

Back home, the minute I announced my decision to go for this program,
each one came up with their own views, all trying in some way to slightly
demotivate me from going which made the desire in me more stronger. I
decided to go and immediately got into action in the kitchenette to make
dhal makhani and chapathis for dinner and finished them by 5.45pm and
left home by 6pm after eating 2 hot pulkas with the makhani dhal!!!
Me and my hubby set out to the destination and managed to cross the sea
of traffic at panagal park by 6.40pm and decided to take a short cut via
GN Chetty road to DMS. Suddenly we got this idea to go thru one of the
streets instead of taking the main road again from Teynampet.One Auto
driver...who himself looked like a Dada addressed my hubby as
"Thalaiva" and directed us to go through the "area" and a small lane and
and loooooh, we were lost in the middle of a most happening slum even
before we realised....What a world in stark contrast to the street just a
few seconds from there. Co-existence of life in both extremes so close to
each other seemed a little scary even to someone who has known and
seen such things all life. Every soul in each of the huts in the area was on
the street doing what most of us do inside our cosy homes and compound
walls. Children playing, some ladies chatting, some people getting a
tailoring job done from a mobile tailor, grandparents strolling with the kids
at home, stray dogs running around, mothers making a hot supper and
drain water cruising through a corner. One elderly man clad only in a
"langoti" standing near the mobile tailor to get his shirt sewed, was even
talking about "customer satisfaction" to the tailor....."Nee ippadi pesina
unnakku eppadi "customer" kedaipaanaga?" I was like ...WOW!

We were clearly aliens in their own small world and everyone knew we
were lost trying to find the way to Mount Road. Every person we passed
by in our bike directed us to take the left ahead and pass through the
crooked lane warning us that it is one of those muddy slippery lanes, the
effect of a good shower the previous night!

The moment we crossed this lane, we were suddenly in the middle of the
most buzzing and busiest roads of Chennai as we directly joined Mount
road near the subway at DMS! It was like, coming out of the Magic
Wardrobe in "The Chronicles of Narnia".

And here, in the Kamaraj Arangam....we were greeted by a new
life......"watch this space for my next blog on this new life"!