An early morning, woke up by 630 AM to the sound of Suprabadham in my granny's house, well, she is an early bird even at 80 and prepares food quite quickly. It's her cooking sound and the aroma of a good sambar that woke me up early and got me tempted to start the day eating without brushing my teeth. And as usual, granny denies food or coffee without a bath. What else to do, get freshed up, bath and be ready for the day, imagine, all of this done before 7 AM. I had a preference to go to the Vadapalani Murugan temple in the morning, so told grandma that I will have a little breakfast before going there and then come back for more hogging.
So I got off the house and took an auto to the Vadapalani Murugan temple and there you go, it started raining. Raining both people and raining from the clouds... It is not a festival day or any auspicious Murugan day for that reason, was really not sure why this huge crowd. In order to beat the crowd, I had a master plan to step into the Saravana Bhavan hotel nearby and have a quick bite, a small one, a mini tiffin of course. Now please don't come to me saying that I did have something to eat and then I am here again for food, common, it's Chennai, and there are no Saravana Bhavan s in Bangalore. So I ought to exploit this time in hand and go for the big tummy fill and tongue pleasure. I went ahead and ordered the mini tiffin and happily asked for extra sambar to down the Pongal and Masala Dosa.
Stomach happy, rains down, yet people rain has not reduced. What was really happening there? "Inikki Muhurtha naal saar" said a local there, translates to "today is an auspicious day for weddings". And there you go, the crowd is all for the 10 weddings happening separately together in the same temple. Weird right?? Looks like the couples decided to have their wed lock done in a really crowded environment, but nothing better than exchanging marriage woes and trying the nuptial knot in front of Lord Murugan. It seemed like an endless line for the darshan, but got there real quick. I had my prayers said, got out and picked up my footwear from the free footwear stand and raced back home, as it was already 10 AM. Time flies you see, it's Chennai, your day is supposed to be like this.
What did I do next, had a quick bite again at granny's, made sure that I would not go hungry the rest of the day and started off to Pondy Bazaar, the shopaholics one ultimate destination. My uncle and me went to Pothys to buy some clothes, and as usual, the crowd never comes down there. It's raining people all around Panagal Park and Pondy bazaar area. My question is just this, where do all you people stay ?? It's a never ending crowd there. I headed to the ladies section, got some dresses for my wife, went to the kids section, got some for my son as well, paid the bill off and got out of the shop. Whadda time there man !! It was like I got pushed into and pushed out all my someone else and I made no effort there. Huge crowd and remember, it's not festive season yet. Christmas is on the way, another 20 days more to go.
You would not believe that all this shopping got me more hungry, and what best to do in Chennai rather have a good dosa and coffee. We went to Balaji Bhavan in Pondy Bazaar and had two dosas to my hearts content. Topped all this with a filter coffee and set out for my next destination, Chennai central. Why ?? Because it's time for my train and I need to get back to work. Over all, it's been an amazingly good time in Chennai and all that I would like to do is come back for more.
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