Pondy Bazaar to Pasha..

Pachayappan took his ride to the road fuming with aggression and confident of what is about to happen in another 20 minutes. The traffic signals seemed not to stop him. When his college mates are setting the dance floor at The Park on fire, Pachayappan A.K.A Green Daddy set all his way from Radhakrishnan Salai to Nungambakkam on fire. It was the day that everyone was waiting for after completing 4 years of Engineering at one of the colleges that is often portrayed as hell on Earth. It’s a Private Party organized by the students of the department of Information Technology. It was the day that Green Daddy never expected to come his way. Finally, after floating his mind over a flood of thoughts while taking his ride through the vehicles of usually bad drivers in the city, the dude who felt like a dud now wroomed his bike right into the parking lot of Ispahaani mall diagonally opposite to The Park. While the security Guard was keeping an eye on him, he reached to his mobile phone in the pocket and answered a call that he never received and said ‘ulla iruken machi. Veliya vandhu nikkavaa? Illa Coffe day la wait pannavaa?’, and thus assuring the security he did really come to the Coffee shop at Ispahaani. And he makes his way walking out of the shopping mall’s exit hassle-free.

Now, his mind jumps back on track. He takes a stride towards The Park where, he felt if he had made an entry with a bike, he would be looked down upon by those so called sophisticated living anomalies. Walks right into the gates of Park, gets into Pasha with a stern face, swiftly moves into the crowd of which some of his friends are a part. The nerd, who is making it to a dance floor for the first time, waved at Green Daddy with a gleam on his face. Green let his finger respond to that. This left the nerd clueless and embarrassed. It didn’t matter to Green how many of his friends noticed this. The beats that struck a bolt within everyone went deep down his head but had no effect on what was running on his mind. Finally, at a distance, he saw Vega, his ex-crush. Target sighted. Wasting no time to even blink, he went straight to her and started to hear her conversation accompanied by artificial smiles and laughs which once he thought were real and made her look beautiful.

As he went closer to her, he could hear what she was talking to Akshay, another IT guy. “I wanted to put on my Gucci shoes today. But, I had no time to get them readied. So, I had to settle down for these green canvases” he said. Vega, who was all smiles for no reason whatsoever, was trying hard to make her laughs look natural. And for no reasons but to flirt, Akshay responded with a laugh. Green wondered ‘Idhula ennada comedy iruku. Even my foot won’t laugh at this even when I am in the best of moods’. Nevertheless, he made his last step towards her with a small jerk to capture her attention and that did happen. “Hey whuat? Ya here tonight?” Vega asked sarcastically. Green, who wanted to give her no time, said “Un kitta sila vishayam nerla paathu sollanumnu nethilerndu wait pannikitu iruken”. Vega looked a bit surprised. “Wwhat?” she replied. And Aakshay started “Hey buddy, can’t you see we are talking? Beat it man. Now move on”. Before he could complete, unhesitating Green goes on to say “Moodra” not taking his eyes off Vega’s. Vega, now nervous, says “hey, what d yo think o’ yo’self? Huh?’ Now, the fire that has been boiling him from within is ready to breakout from his mouth. The way Green looked at Vega made her go silent for a moment. He took a pause.

Something suddenly took him through various moments in his past. 2^nd year of college. That was when he developed strong hots for Vega. Her dressing sense, her fragrance and the way she always kindles that strand of hair that drops on her eyes occasionally, the way she speaks and the way she carries herself around. Her extravagance and flamboyance. Everything made him develop a rich respect for her. Everything made him her audience every day. The times when he really wanted to talk to her but got no chance in the college. Those moments when he very badly wanted to talk to her over the phone but could not do so since he feared extreme consequences from the college officials who Vega might approach, quoting Green as a psychological disturbance to her. Finally, he remembered what he decided to do to grab her attention. And what has now made him give extreme attention to the words he was about to utter. Couple of days back, he decided to spend a day going behind her unnoticed, getting to know what and where she likes to shop. Green wanted to get her everything that she threw her stare at so that she would realize the warmth he has got for her.

At 10.30 A.M, she started off from Ashok Nagar on her Scooty Pep, then she took her way through West Mambalam and all the way to Panagal Park. And Green, behind her on his ride, was thinking she would either go to Citi Center at Mylapore or Diva at Anna Nagar. Since she almost reached Mylapore, he was pretty sure she would go to Citi Center for shopping. To his surprise, he found her stopping abruptly near Saravana Bhavan branch at Pondy Bazaar. She went inside the Hotel and came out after a couple of minutes and reached the zebra crossing and then the other side of the road. ‘oh. Parking Technique’ thought Green. After he managed to park his bike at an appropriate place far away from her, he started walking behind her with his helmet on. He thought ‘I, in a disguise, am following an angel for her blessing. Idhuku peru than blessing in disguise oh?’ He smiles within himself. She then stops at one of the roadside shops which Pondy Bazaar is famous for. Surprised at this, Green wonders ‘Iva edhuku indha kadaiku pora?’ He gets closer to her and it is a shop for dresses and he heard Vega talking to the shopkeeper.

Vega: “Idhu evlo na?” (Pointing to the red salwar kameez that was hanging from above.

Shopkeeper: “350 madam”

Vega: “enna na ivlo solreenga. Konjam kammi pannunga”

Shopkeeper: “sollunga. Evlonu sollunga” (starts packing it in a cover)

Vega: “150 vachikonga” (hands him over the money)

Shopkeeper: “ennadhu? 150 ah? yemma, vera kadaila paathuka, po. Orediya kammiya solra”

Vega: “na please na. 150 varum na.”

Shopkeeper: “edtha gaali pannuma. Somma sonnadhaye sollitruka. Katupidiyaavaadhu kelambu nee”

And Vega’s begging continues for the next 4 minutes and the shopkeeper literally pushed her away from the shop. Finally, he agrees to give it away for 200 bucks in frustration. “Saavugraaki. Engerndhu than ivalunga varaalungalo. Padhinelu 10 ruba note, anju 5 ruba coin, anju oru ruba coin kuduthutu pogudhu paaru picha case. Tholla pudichavalunga. Iva kitta maatravan sethan da”. Green was disgusted with all these the shopkeeper had to exchange. Green then realized ‘Sariyaana attu piece idhu. Vekkam maanam illaadha indha local patryka ivlo naal wait pannunom. Ada cha..’. Now, all the insults that were thrown at him by Vega flashed in front of his eyes. He couldn’t stand the fact that he has been taking tons of insults from this girl in the past when he tried to approach her. Now, he wanted to give them all back. And the Farewell party at The Park seemed to be his chance at pinnacle.

Now, Green comes back to reality after a couple of seconds during which all these incidents raced through his mind. Now, he noticed the dress that Vega was wearing. It was the same red salwar that she bought yesterday at Pondy Bazaar. Now, the reactor within Green is at its peak operational level. When Vega started off again with “Whuat tha fu…”, Green sprung in immediately just to say “Ey, un peru Venkata Lakshmi Alagarsamy thane?” Akshay, who was about to let his mouth pounce on Green was taken aback by this question at the most colloquial way possible from Pachayappan. Vega A.K.A Venkata Lakshmi dropped jaws. Pachayappan continued “Unaku Tamiley varaadhaa. Nethaiku tamilla thane kadakaaran kitta apdi picha eduthu indha dressa vaangitu vandha?” Now, Pachai grabbed the attention of few others in the crowd who started looking at the speechless Venkata Lakshmi. Pachayappan raised his voice since the music was roaring loud and now he turned to Akshay and said “Keila Gucci shoes vaanga kaasu illa nu sollitu thane Pondy Bazaar Big Bazaar vaasalla irukura serupu kadaila 160 rubaaiku indha shoeva vaangitu vandha. Machi, ivaluku idhuve romba adhigam da”. Again, Venkata Lakshmi started off “Hey bloody..” and Pachayappan now said “Moodu. Un kitta mobiley illiyaame. Adhukaaga unga appa mobile ah eduthutu vandhutiyaa. Enaku call panni unna veetuku vandhu mobile kuduthutu poga sonnaaru. Kelambi pora valiya paaru di dubakoor.” And with a satisfied smile on his face, Pachayappan A.K.A Green Daddy made a smooth walk to the exit while the whole crowd on the dance floor kept their focus on Vega A.K.A Venkata Lakshmi Alagarsami.

When he was about to enter Ispahaani's parking lot, he took out his mobile to attend a call. A real call this time. It was from his friends who were waiting for him at the Mari beach. Pachayappan crossed the security guy for the 2nd time on that day and now he said "aamaam machi. Beachuku thaan varen. Bajji vaangi vei da. Pasha entrance la oru sema figure paathen. Vandhu solren.".

P. S: This is not a completely true story. Because, certain parts have been censored to make it sound decent enough. Thanks to all those girls who choose their dresses from the shabby mounds of dresses in the roadside shops at Pondy Bazaar just to take them not so shabby to places such as Dublin and Pasha and tell people ‘This you see here is an Italian hand-made embroidery. Bought it from an International Italian dress house when I was in Europe’. They are the real ambassadors from Pondy Bazaar to Pasha!