Why chaos?

We arrived in Chennai at around half past seven last night. After Mumbai, Cochin, Kottayam and Bangalore, we expected another dose of chaos, dirty streets, unruly traffic.

What a surprise! Chennai is not in a state of chaos. There is heavy traffic, but it is orderly and moves fast. The streets are not paved with rubbish. There is no organized chaos.

More on this later.

Our last day in Bangalore was important for both Annikki and me. I left for the cemetery at 8:45 am and met Mr. James, who is in charge. I asked for details about my parents graves. He quickly found my father’s site from his date of death. He then found a grave listed for my mother at a different site.

Mr. James came with me to my father’s grave. To his surprise he found that my mother was buried alongside her husband. My brother and sister had been ostentatious, occupying three plots instead of just one or two. Why? It showed up their power and greed. My parents would never have done this. I felt sad.

I went back to the hotel and Annikki, Mika and I came back to the cemetery to pay our respects to our loved ones. Both of us were emotionally overcome.

I saw another elderly gentleman tending another grave nearby. He came to speak to us. I asked him which church he belonged to. The answer came as a surprise as it was the same one Annikki belongs to. He was tending the grave of his dear departed wife of 7 years.

We decided on an early lunch and I chose Parade Cafe. I had been at its opening in the early 50s. It had belonged to a cousin of my mother, Mr. P. O. Koshy. The opening had been historic as all the waiters had worn white gloves andthe floor had been constantly wiped clean by a team of cleaners. The food had been spectacular.

The restaurant we went into seemed dark and dingy. But that was an illusion as wed had come in from bright sunshine. It was not the spotless cleanliness personified interior of Mr. P. O. Koshy, but it was clean and neat. We chose a table near the back. When the waiter came, I asked who now owned the place. He pointed to the table just behind me and there I saw a gentleman who was a miniature replica of his father. Prem came over and was really overjoyed to hear who we were. He briefed us on his father, who had passed away, and offered us any dish as a blast from the past. We chose the mutton fry.

We ordered the rest of the food from the menu, and even before the meal was served Perm's brother, Santosh, was at our table side. He too was genuinely happy to share a few moments with us. His wife had worked with my father.

The food was excellent and the service, by a waiter called Anand, was really something to write home about. Mika downed an entire tandoori chicken and two nans. Both Annikki and I enjoyed the mutton fry, a chicken dish and the keema nan. I ordered the Koshy Special Ice-cream Nut Fudge with chocolate sauce, so much so even Mika was tempted and had one.

I went to say farewell to Santosh in his office and was surprised to learn that our waiter had worked 28 years, the same amount of time as Santosh, in this restaurant.

Thank you Prem and Santosh for keeping the food and service at the same quality as your grandfather, and then your father.

We went back and rested at the hotel and then left early for the airport. Even though it was not rush hour, driving on the streets and highways of Bangalore is nothing less than sheer bravado. Nobody follows the rules.

Prem, our driver was extraordinary to take us through the week safely. This young boy has great intelligence and will go far. He has become a good driver and whatever he does, he will do it well.

Thank you, Prem.

The Chennai flight was just 35 minutes and we passed through turbulence. We arrived and found a well organized but considerably smaller airport than Bangalore. It was a modernized old airport, but it functioned well. The roads out were a bit more complex than in the earlier days, but it was a well planned system. The traffic, heavy as it was, moved smoothly and fast. There was not the mad jostling as in Bangalore.

Annikki and I both noticed that the streets were clean, the Police were right on the spot with the right equipment to ensure that the traffic was not bottling up, and all the new road constructions made sense.

I analysed that the mad growth in Bangalore was the result of greed. That greed had spawned the chaos. The big companies were least concerned with the clvic sense of their city as they played the game only to better their own bottom line. It was obvious that in Bangalore the system was ruled by corruption, a corruption spurred on by the greed of the huge IT companies. There was absolutely no need for the chaos as it was. It suited these IT companies to generate chaos as it meant the heat would not be on them but on the Government and civic bodies. But, anyone with an iota of common sense would understand that it was the large IT companies which were behind this situation.

I have vowed never to visit Bangalore again as it is not a city worth visiting or doing business in. I value quality of life and that element is missing from Bangalore.

We arrived at our destination in Chennai and we were so pleased to meet the house owner and his family and even more surprised at the place of stay. It is a house of antiques! We met the French Consul and then met the son of the owner, who is the famous India flautist, Shashank Subramanyam. This young 31 year old is a leading classical flautist of India. Born in Rudrapatna in the Hassan district of Karnataka, India to Subramanyam, he was trained by his father and by the singers R. K. Srikantan, Palghat K. V. Narayanaswami, Sandyavandanam Srinivasa Rao and Pandit Jasraj. Shashank is married to Shirisha, a Bharatanatyam dancer, whom we also had the pleasure of meeting.

A soon as we put down our luggage we rushed off to get our essentials for our stay and we were surprised to find the nearby Spencer’s Department store open at past 9 pm.

We went to dinner at China Town, an experience not worth repeating. The food was good but the service was atrocius and imbecilic!

I set up my Mac and Shashank organized his wireless broadband connection so that I could do my blogging early morning. It is now 4:20 am and I have finished my update. Hopefully, in the next couple of days I will catch up on the missing entries.