THERE IS ALL BUT NONE.

Well I had this trip to Hiranandhini Upscale luxury apartments and got to see Chennai’s biggest high end project with a view of the backwaters and the beach. Mind boggling-like really, especially from the 28^th floor where your ears block up like you’re in a hill station and you stay a foot away from the balcony because it looks like the suicide point; I believe that’s what is meant by the word mind boggling. Or like we say in Tamil –Andharra a irundhudhu! The first thought that came to my mind was that I should buy a flat at this place. The second thought was-Who is going to fund me? My dad is my first option of course but he stopped partnering with me a long time back because he became the prime financier in most of the cases (OK: all of the cases).The consequent thoughts were to find future prospects such as an handsome single guy who owns a flat there or attempt the CAT exam (like in the Gautham Menon movie because it seems to be the current trend but it has not yet beaten the scope of joining the politics to make money yet).

BOTTOM LINE: SORRY MR.GAUTHAM MENON.MAYBE IN YOUR NEXT MOVIE YOUR HEROES START THEIR LOVE SEARCH AFTER GETTING SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR LIFE SINCE PUPPY-LOVE JUST DOESN'T SEEM TO BE WORKING OUT FOR THEM BECAUSE ITS OBVIOUS THAT I CAN SEE AS CAN THE WHOLE WORLD SEE THAT THEIR LOVE SUBJECT EITHER DIES OR LEAVES THE HERO FOR THE SUPPORTING ACTOR.
And the next morning -WHAM! Truth strikes me hard. This is the view from my house.

THE RATION SHOP  NEXT TO MY HOUSE

The line continued past my house gate and I had to break the cue in order to go out. Believe me it was not an easy task because the kind lady in front raised her hand attempting to hit me with her koodai and the toothless thatha behind shouted “Ariville me unakku. Moonje paaru…pinnadi poi nille me”. Usually I’m a very violent person but I didn't retort because I knew the intensity of the need for their daily ration and also I knew that if I did retort I will be surrounded by aunties with lethal weapons such as kerosene cans, large koani bags, laminated ration cards (seriously dangerous when used near the eye area) and uncles who would start questioning my VMSS status (Vekkam Maanam Soodu Soranai).

This ration shop adjacent to my home is the most sought after destination for the below-the-poverty-line inhabitants of the nearby “cheriee” (slums)  or should I whisper the name “cheriee” because I heard that Tamilnadu is working towards a Chennai devoid of slum areas- no guys don’t get the wrong idea; they aren't going to adopt methods such as counselling, educating and providing other housing solutions for these people but by chasing them to unknown barren spaces in and around the state so that they can “show” a slum-free Chennai! I knew that there are dumping grounds for wastes and now they have allotted dumping ground for humans too!!!!!
 Who is this Chennai home to if it’s not ready to house its own inhabitants? For whose purpose is the metro projects, the malls, the pubs and the parks when 56% (34.92 Million) of Tamil Nadu’s population lives in rural areas and only 36% (14% of rural population) have access to toilets and bathing rooms. It’s as absurd as hosting a dance show without Namitha as the judge.(http://www.tnrd.gov.in/externallyaidedprojects/vazhndhukattuvom/project%20implementation%20plan/chapter_draft.pdf)

IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT THE LADY BELOW IS GOING TO FIND THE ABOVE PLACE AMUSING
FACT:CHENNAI IS HER BIRTHPLACE AND SO IS IT FOR  AROUND 13000  PEOPLE LIKE HER.

On an entirely contrary note to the ration shops,there is this newly emerging style of shopping for groceries in the various supermarkets in the malls. Ladies are finding it amusing to move around with their trolleys looking like heroines out of a Hollywood movie. I do go to malls often (not that I’m a pure potti kadai customer, at least not now exactly-maybe eight or ten years back I was an ardent customer of Annachi kadai where I purchased rasna packet, thaen mittai, balli mittai, dry jamun and other non-milk non-exclusive Chennai sweets at 25 paisa per piece) especially when I don’t have a single rupee in my pocket and I need a sheltered air-conditioned place without sand or sunlight or entrance fee; Express Avenue is my first choice. But when I am sitting there basking in the limited sunlight through the doom and enjoying the breeze from the centralized AC, I look at the people with small shopping bags, large bills and larger forehead wrinkles due to the various shifts they work in order to pay those bills-my mind voice goes like “Aiyeeeee jolly jolly jolly jolly jolly jolly…….”
 So what happens to my PROJECT POSH FLAT? It’s aborted of course because I don’t want to live away from the truth, ignorant about my fellow citizen. I’m scared of this ignorance because I had been one of the blind youths who feel that Chennai is a metro hub of malls, nightclubs, pubs, theaters and all the other veils thrown over the very helpless situation of our state - poverty, illiteracy, hunger, unemployment. I just want my friends to realize what I have started realizing as the very gesture of realization could do wonders. I know that in youths there is no good or bad category. Hundred per cent of us are good: it’s just that we lack the knowledge.

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it, generation after generation”
-Pearl buck