Panchhee, nadiyaan, pawan ke jhoke… koi sarhad na inhein roke, Sarhadein insaano ke liye hain, socho tumne aur meine kya paya insaan hoke?

(Translation: Birds, rivers, the wind… no border stops them. Borders are for human beings, think what did you and I gain from being human?)

These lines make their importance felt when you need to cross international borders and venture into other countries. Every country requires citizens of other countries to get a visa before entry in them. Visa – an endorsement made in a passport that allows the bearer to enter the country issuing it – this word has been governing my life since the past couple of weeks. Countries are generally too skeptical about foreigners entering their territory, and they scrutinize each and every detail (academic degrees, job letters, bank accounts, tax details, salary slips, property documents) about them before issuing a visa.

The US Embassy has its offices in various cities of India – New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai – but Bangalore is still awaiting its turn to get one. This led me to start my maiden voyage to the city of Chennai (previously Madras). After a bumpy ride in the plane, I reached the hotel on Thursday evening, along with my colleague – Kapil. The hotel room was a really enticing experience – really cozy bed, television, air conditioner, internet, in-room meals – and the ambiance was awesome.

We had an appointment at 8 AM for the visa interview. Although we reached half an hour early, the queue was long and slow moving. Eventually it was my turn for the final interview after zillions of security checks and queues. As I was going on behalf of company for official work, it wasn’t long before they approved my visa.

One thing I’d like to mention about Chennai is that roads here are cleaner, broader, less congested, well maintained. On the contrary, although its steadily improving, Bangalore has narrower roads and traffic jams are very frequent. The bus system “seemed” nice, but as I didn’t use it, I can’t give any opinion. The driver didn’t seem to understand Hindi at all, not even a word. Since ever I’ve known about this city, I’ve heard that people here don’t like Hindi speaking visitors. They pretend not to understand Hindi even if they do, and discriminate against them. I really wanted to find out the truth, but I didn’t get the right circumstances in this trip.

After checking out of the hotel at 11 AM, we had a whole day left with us and company car at our disposal. We decided to see the Marina beach, as most people had asked us specifically to see the beaches. This beach is really huge, both in width and length. The sand is unbearably hot near the city end, and it gets wetter and cooler as we approach the sea. At first, we removed our shoes and took walks near the coastline, where very diminished waves touch the toes.

Nearby, other groups were undressing and going into deeper water – splashing the water and having fun. Tempted by the whole scenario, we decided to do the same. We walked into the water – till a point that we felt was safe enough to stand at – and faced the waves splashing all over us. Many-a-time a wave would come,  go over our heads and throw us back towards the land. Unrelenting, we’d again get up, hold hands and walk into the water for the next wave.

I tried to build castles in the sand, but every-time I’d finish building one wall, a wave came and washed away the whole thing. It was fun trying to protect the castle with my body, but still the wave won eventually. After playing in the water for a couple of hours, we decided to dry up and go elsewhere. A layer of salt had deposited on my body everywhere, and I can’t even tell you where all the sand got into.

After dressing back and shuddering off the sand, we commuted towards the City Center Mall. It has been so many years that we’ve been seeing malls, and this was just like any other. Too many shops, too many people, food courts at the top floor, a multiplex inside – all things you’d expect from a mall. Apparently the mall was constructed very recently, but the building has been given a positively antediluvian look.

It was 3:30 PM by the time we were finished roaming the mall. As there was not much time left for the return flight, we decided to take away some burgers and cold drinks from KFC. We reached the airport well in advance and waited for the boarding announcement. In an hour, the plane landed at the Bengaluru International Airport. It was a relief in terms of the weather – 24 degrees celcius, and really pleasant. Chennai on the other hand was really humid, and it was hard to pass the day as we’re accustomed to this pleasant weather in Bangalore.

On a different note, Kolkata is the only metropolitan city in India, that I’m yet to visit. Lets see when that happens.

Happy weekend, adios!