Leaving Tamil Nadu

After my Masters course done from Tiruchi, I decided that I will never go back to Tamil Nadu again. Why I wanted to come out of Tamil Nadu? Even though I did not have some serious reasons for that, I think there must be some factors that insist me to run away from Tamil Nadu. Main issue may be related to the climate. Tamil Nadu's climate is not pleasant. In summer, it is too hot that I felt always that my brain will become some dry nut in a few minutes. In rainy days, all the shit lying in the dry lands got life and it was smelling foul through out the season. In winter, the climate it very dry. The surroundings will never give you any pleasure since the land is dry and gloomy and there are very few trees around.  If this is the case why I should stick to one state alone? Why shouldn't I wander throughout the nation? It is as vast as the universe and rich and diverse in culture. I should feel the nation at least, instead of feeling the smell of one place alone!

At University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai

But the people in Tiruchi were really good. They are in general not selfish and ready to help and share. This is the only thing that make you survive in Tamil Nadu. Everyone is a Sir there. It was shocking for me when a bus conductor called me 'Sir' for the first time when I came to join my college, on way from Tiruchirappalli junction railway station to Tollgate bus stop, where my college is situated! When studying in schools and colleges back in Kerala, we were always treated like pigs by the bus conductors. Because students were supposed to give only 25 percentage of the total bus fare while going to and coming from our institutions, these private bus crew always felt that it is a loss for them! Anyway I felt very happy for being called as 'Sir' by an elder man!

After my Masters in Tiruchi, I was forced to go to Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu. There things were a bit different. winter was somewhat better than in Tiruchi and summer was not so intolerable because of trees there. But during rainy season, all the black filthy wastes flowing down through the drainage tunnels would come out. After six months in Chennai, working as an online teacher in a multinational company, I left Tamil Nadu thinking that I will never come back again. But Tamil Nadu was calling me again and again back. I got admission for higher studies in the Department of Theoretical Physics of the University of Madras. The campus was greenish and it was close to a conserved forest: the Guindy national park, just a road separating them. Lots of bucks and monkeys roamed around the campus. Summer did not came into the soil there due to the density of the trees there. I was happy there.

The Observatory In A Rainy Day

I decided this is my last year in Tamil Nadu and I will never comeback here again. But again things went against my wishes. I got my PhD admission in Tirunelveli in the southern Tamil Nadu. The most severe climate was awaiting there for me. The hottest place I have ever gone. The institute was some fifteen kilometers away from the city. It was a remote village. I was never been to such a remote village before. In rainy times the village was excellent, but unfortunately there was no rain most of the days. One month in a year was supposed to give some rain. In that one month, only a few days were really rainy. Surrounding places had a bit more rain but this village did not have, a drought hit area! I thought that I can never come out of Tamil Nadu as some years are needed to complete the PhD. I slowly drove out my wish from my mind. I was slowly getting ready to accept the truth. I don't know why I wanted to go somewhere so desperately. May be the wanderer in me was doing that! So I was at that beautiful place.

The nearest tea shop was three kilo meters away, a town called Seydunganallur had almost everything needed in our day to day life, the only problem was the distance. Daily I walked to Seydunganallur in the evenings for a cup of tea and some snacks and to purchase some fruits. I got acquainted with a few villagers. The town had a Police station, a railway station, few temples, two masjids and several churches here and there. Last month the town got a new ATM and a bank: the Karur Vysya Bank. It was a peaceful village. People called our institute by the name 'Aaraychi Mayyam' meaning 'research center'.

The Radar Ground

Once I came to know that the villagers were of the conviction that the institute brings only misfortune to them. The radar antennas erected here and there in the institute were really irritating them. They even accused that rain didn't come to the village only because of these towers erected up towards the sky. Some signals are send to the clouds to stop raining! Curious people! They were intelligent even though these accusations were baseless. A man even told these things to me once while having tea and samosa at Seydunganallur. I told him the story is not right (at least to my knowledge). In spite of all the troubles and issues, I loved the place, may be because I was in the village feeling all the good and bad of it!

Now I am away from the place, got a transfer to the institute head quarters at Navi Mumbai one month back, when I was living in a peaceful village harmoniously with full love towards it. The destiny didn't allow me to go out when I wanted to. And I was driven out from this land when I did not want to go out. Life was quiet there, even though the hot burning climate irritated me. Last few years was full of oscillations in my life. From a big city (Chennai) to a very remote village and again back to another huge city (Mumbai): from crowd to an empty deserted land and again back to the midst of a crowd. Life has a lot of things to offer and those are not at all in our hands. Enjoy each of them, you like it or not.