New Year Debut

Ah, A grand title! Basically this just means this is my first post in the New Year and indeed after a long time. So with New Year here, I did what the whole world (of advertising) tells you to do - took a good look at myself. It is perhaps not the best thing to do if you are looking for a cheerful beginning, but then looking at yourself at anytime other than those times when you are smug and complacent or happy and at peace with the world, is not too good. If that very long sentence has confused you, never mind. Anyways, to go back to the beginning, I was taking stock and did not want to dwell too long on myself, but since that is the point of the exercise, one can't very well ruminate on George Clooney.

So anyways, I was trying to figure out something,and was struck by the fact that I had stopped resenting living in Madras or Chennai, for some time. That was rather surprising and also inconvenient - one thing less for me to crib about. But I can't shirk facts, I am comfortable living in Chennai; I even like it here.

Much of this sense of well-being is because of the past few months - there has been a lot happening in Chennai. For some reason, Hindu Friday Review has taken it upon itself to create events such as the Theatre Festival and the November Music Fest(which is more about Hindustani and fusion music as opposed to the December `Season'). I don't know that the quality of reviews on the Friday Review has seen any improvement but the fests have certainly done a lot for the social scene. While theatre is still not comparable to the variety of Mumbai, there is something happening and music-wise, the last year was really good - Indian Ocean, Shakthi, instrumental fusion and of course the regular sabha kutcheri's - a lovely variety.

Also,I think Madras is a great place to make good friends and the pace of life allows enough time for friends and friendships.

Of course, this year may turn out to be different and maybe at the end of it I will go back to cribbing about living here. There are all these problems of moral policing, collapsing infrastructure and of course, the bad weather. But at the moment, it does feel nice to feel at home, here in Chennai.