Madurai – the city that never sleeps!
Being born and brought up in Madurai, I never quite admired it for anything as long as I lived there. In fact I even hated it at times becoz of the dusty dirty streets, blaring loud speakers, stagnated rain puddles, platforms rendered unusable by temples , unruly traffic, lack of civic planning, etc, etc… But, now that Iam out of the country, I get more time to actually think about the finer sides of my city.
Madurai, though the second important city of Tamil Nadu after Chennai, is in real sense a ‘glorified village’. The people, the culture and the social life is more rural than urbane. It’s a strange mix of village attitude in a city outlook.
I never fully understood the city till the time I setup my architectural practice there. My profession gave me an opportunity to go to every nook and corner of the city and also a chance to interact with every kind of Maduraite.
What’s unique about Madurai is the night life. Its a city that never sleeps. You can get food at even 2 am. And that too hot! In my bachelor days, my night life was spicy with….idiappam & chukka at Konar, egg dosai & ieera meen kolambu at Kumar, parotta & moolai roast at Janakiram, kothu parotta at Mudaliyar ....... hmmm .
Anyway, here are some Glimpses of what makes Madurai!!!...
photos: courtesy Oochappan - My most favorite photographer! Visit his site for the taste of real Madurai!
Being born and brought up in Madurai, I never quite admired it for anything as long as I lived there. In fact I even hated it at times becoz of the dusty dirty streets, blaring loud speakers, stagnated rain puddles, platforms rendered unusable by temples , unruly traffic, lack of civic planning, etc, etc… But, now that Iam out of the country, I get more time to actually think about the finer sides of my city.
Madurai, though the second important city of Tamil Nadu after Chennai, is in real sense a ‘glorified village’. The people, the culture and the social life is more rural than urbane. It’s a strange mix of village attitude in a city outlook.
I never fully understood the city till the time I setup my architectural practice there. My profession gave me an opportunity to go to every nook and corner of the city and also a chance to interact with every kind of Maduraite.
What’s unique about Madurai is the night life. Its a city that never sleeps. You can get food at even 2 am. And that too hot! In my bachelor days, my night life was spicy with….idiappam & chukka at Konar, egg dosai & ieera meen kolambu at Kumar, parotta & moolai roast at Janakiram, kothu parotta at Mudaliyar ....... hmmm .
Anyway, here are some Glimpses of what makes Madurai!!!...
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| Colorful people.. |
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| foolhardy men... |
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| a dry river! |
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| Unbelievable Night-Life! |
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| Ever-traditional gals ! |
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| apaathaas ! |
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| the omnipresent rickshaws! |
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| the fanatical cinema craze! |
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| utter disregard of hygiene! |
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| Food! Food!& more Food! |
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| animals in the middle of road! |
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| the famed madurai Jasmine ! |
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| And of course the Love for Tamil !... |
photos: courtesy Oochappan - My most favorite photographer! Visit his site for the taste of real Madurai!
Oh neengalaum Madurai thana!
ReplyDeleteAdhu than ongalukku M.S Blues pudichhurindathu.
Have a wonderful new year.
M.S Blues was a cool writeup...could relate to it better cause i grew up in the same place..
ReplyDeleteThanks :-).
ReplyDeleteAnd the grandparents featured there are dead and gone long ago. The house remains, my uncle lives there, but rumor has it that he plans to sell it and move to Madras. I would like to go there one last time before that happens.
Can't wait to tell my dad about your blog.It is a pity he doesn't believe in the online world. And I can't believe he has not shown me the kudai veedu on Masi theru.
I might have seen your school I think - is it near Arasaredi ground/ Mathi theatre?
tilo,
ReplyDeletesad to hear ur granpa's are not there...as u had written about the Madura coats siren, i guess the house is well within the city.
well,its the same old story again..people selling their house and moving to madras or b'lore...
u r very close..my school is little close to araseraddi (but more close to kennet hospital/ PRC shed..iam sure u dont know both!) the one close to mathi theatre is Britto school.
Hah! of course I know the Kenneth hospital.
ReplyDeleteHave you doscovered Ramesh Mahadevan by now? If not here is to many hours of pleasurable reading.
http://mahadevanramesh.com/Articles/madurai.html
thanks for the link !
ReplyDeleteAshok - I would love to know what you think of Ramesh's article when you have the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course I am cheating - I have no idea where Kennet hospital is though I have driven by Ellis Nagar many times :-).
sure...I had just saved the article on desk top and didnt read it yet...will do tonight.
ReplyDeleteha! I knew u cheated...
That area (ellis nagar) looks completely different when i went that side last vacation..cause of a 'big' fly-over being built across
Madurai!
ReplyDeleteAs you rightly said......Only when you are away you understand the beauty!
I've been to Many places inside India and outside too.......but Maduraikku vandhu byepass roadla parotta sappittuttu, oru vaazhappalam sappituuttu veettula vandhu thoongara sugam irukke!
Vaazhkai!
Dear Ashok
ReplyDeleteI peeped in to your blog while I was searching for Britto School, Arasaradi, Madurai. Any chance you are from that school?
By the way where is Kennath hospital? and what is the expansion of MMKR?
Madhukar
hi madhukar...iam from SDA school
ReplyDeleteGrace Kennet hosp is near Periyar Bus stand...
MMKR - michael madhana kama rajan :)