I still Clearly remember the afternoon of 23 March, 2009 , the day when I was sentenced for Sazaa-e-Kala Paani.
Though the concept of Kala Pani was abandoned in India soon after Independence. However some unfortunes like me still get those sentences after 62 years of independence. Reflecting on my fate reminds me of “Omkara” dialogue in which Langda Tyagi says “Hamari kismet to gaadhe ke l*** se likhi hai.
I hope you would have till now guessed it right ,ya I got a job in Chennai. Ya in the land where the river of Sambhar , fountain of Rasam flows and mountains of rice are heaped on every plate. I am not saying that it is a bad city to live , I am just saying that it is worse than the worst cities in this world to live.
Everything is so wield and uncanny about the city, and so different from rest of India that you wont feel that you are in India. The only indirect evidence that you can get that you are in India is when you make a telephone call back home ,thankfully you wont be charged at ISD rate otherwise , believe me you feel like you are marooned in some eerie island where you find Aborginals saying Hoola hoo and Zinga lala.
It also remind me that one of my friend called me after a long time and asked about my whereabouts I told him, Dude I am not in India, he was delighted to hear that I was in US or UK , but I corrected him by saying that, I am in Chennai , and said it feels more strange and unknown than US and UK.
Let me talk first about the food. Let me tell you an incident , after giving a 4th degree torture to my taste buds and stomach for a week , on a Sunday (since we were free that day)one of my colleagues(who also happens to from north) decided to have something that was meant for human consumption, knowing the heavenly place we were in , we kept our expectations low and decided to go for a look out for Poori and Sabzi in Annanagar maket(the so considered the cosmo and the most uptown market of Chennai) .But after a futile search of about 1 hr and 20 mins in the blazing sun, where we inquired about our “Poori Sabzi” in some 17 restaurant ranging from small dhabas to good restaurants , we reconciled to our fate by having a plate of Masala Dosa each.
Food in Chennai is horribly costly unless you are willing to share a seat whit a pot bellied (caused due to indiscriminate and abominable consumption of rice) Anna(gentleman).Your next seated Anna will peacefully have about 2 kgs of rice with 2litres of sambhar and 1 litre of Rasam and then will finish his lunch with about half kgs of curd rice and most interestingly that way he will eat these stuff will make you vomit then and there and then it will cost him just 15 bucks. But for you a decent chapatti, dal meal in a good restaurant (b’coz you get these stuff in only select good restaurants) will cost you around 200 to 220 bucks.
Another incident about the food. I was in Madurai with my AGM for some official work .In the evening we found time and went to Meenakshi temple and after the darshan we went to one of the decent looking restaurants in the vicinity of temple and we ordered some paneer and dal. When the waiter brought the two plates , there was a bet between me and my boss to say which plate is daal and which is paneer. Finally we had to leave the entire stuff and pay the entire bill, as such food we even don’t give to dogs at our home , bcoz even they are animals.
I had similar fiascos while trying chat and pani puri after which I have said to any cooked food in Chennai , and trying to survive on packed food and fruits.
To cut the mattershort , there can be a distant possibility of CPM supporting disinvestments but no chance to get a palatable food in Chennai.
