The Coimbatore Era - Part I

Coimbatore (Cbe), the place I was born, brought up, where I built a small empire of my own and ruled it and will keep ruling it forever. When I talk about Cbe, first thing that comes to my mind is Saibaba Colony (famously known as "Colony" there). Except for a cursed 12 months, I've lived there completely.

Vinayagar Temple (a good start always)
This one is situated round the corner of my house (the first house for me in Cbe). This place used to be a daily visit place, because I (rather my family) cross His hide-out wherever we used to go. For my first B'day (they call it "andinaar") I was taken to this temple for the pooja formalities. Since then, He is my Best Friend. A couple of years back, I had a small fight with Him and let's say I've not visited there since. Way too many memories left behind.

Annapoorna
Anybody associated with Cbe would know the speciality of this place. Available in every area, Annapoorna Coffee is the best of all the coffees i've had outside home. At least 75% of my diet, I owe it to this place. Colony Annapoorna has fed me like any mom would feed her children. I don't think the waiters there (excpept for 2) know me by name, but for sure they know me.

N.S.R Road

This is the Diagon Alley/Mount Road/Brigade Road or whatever of Saibaba Colony. It connects at least 3-4 major areas in the city. We owned a Sunny (bicycle with a motor attached to it). I'm a proud owner of that vehicle just because it has been able withstand me until 4 years back. Lets just say that our Sunny has its tyre marks imprinted on each and every pixel of N.S.R road. For grocery shopping, music CDs/Cassettes, video stores, tailor, typewriting classes, cycle repair/puncuture shops, stationery, bakers/confectioners, gift shop, college bus stop and the list goes on, the only solution was N.S.R road.

A.R.C Pani Poori stall
If Annapoorna was 75%, a major portion of the rest was contributed by A.R.C Pani Poori stall. The bhel puri (south indian style), Cauliflower (similar to Gobi Manchurian) and Paneer soda used to be my routine here. Long time since I've gone there also. Have to give a visit sometime. Sasi anna and Raj anna would definitely miss one of their favourite and well paying customer.

Padma Miss Tuition Class

I took Hindi tuitions with her. In simple words, she ROCKS! I never called her maam. Somehow, the first time I met her I called her Aunty (the other students always wondered why) and I stick to it till date. Unable to bear my trouble at home (for studies) I've been tested with a good lot of tuition teachers from time-to-time. The only successful person (or sane person after trying to control me) was Padma Miss. If she had not fallen sick during my public exams (10th), I'd have bagged the school first (in Hindi). I had to settle for the second highest score. I missed it by 4 marks. One full year, I took lessons with her and she is one of the most respectable teachers in my life.

Kerala Club

This is another awesome place. My dad is a member there. He used to take us (cousins, my sister and me) at times during vacation. We used to spend entire evenings watching people play Tennis, Badminton (coaching classes). The coaches used to lend us a couple of used tennis-balls in the end and we played in the lawn. My cousin Srinath and me used to wait for the bar to open. The bar looked like the ones that come in movies and all, with elevated, rotating chairs in front of the bar-tender counter, where one can sit and enjoy his drink. We used to order Thums-Up and imitate movie dialogues and scenes, say two detectives meeting at a bar and plotting to catch Veerappan and stuff. As kids, it used to be so much fun. I've been there with my college friends (Vivek, Vibu and JP) and as far as I know, they love the food there. Chilli Gobi, Paneer Tikka and Special Parotta are their favourites I guess.

To be continued..

PS: This is the 50th post Chiju has spoken (A blog that was supposed to be shut down has 50 posts now, which is something). Got to thank a few people whether or not I write sense.

1) Vibushan, first of all, to have introduced the word Blog to me.
2) Vivek, who used to encourage me whenever my blog slept and made me write come back posts. Though he is not a fan (which I recently learnt from him), he has even given me a blog award.
3) Aneesh, who never hesitated to tell me the truth when he felt what I've written is crap.
4) VJ, who comments everytime whether or not she understands it.
5) All my silent readers who read and give me offline comments (includes Bhuvana, Karthikeyan from school, Robin, my cousin Srinath, Sheetal, Ananth, Swetha, and Hari from Amrita).
6) Divya, who spent a lot of dedicated hours and gave my blog the appearance it carries now.
7) All the bloggers, whose writing inspired me a lot. Check out the Good Reads section in my blog.
8) Any well-wisher I missed out.