Mazhai, Kodai and Romantic peelings

What do these three things have in common ?

Time of occurrence.

No pun intended here okay. No gilma ideas pliss.

Chennai vaasi's will agree with me when I say that the weather has been pleasant for the past week or so. Temperature in mid 20's. Humidity somewhere around 70% accompanied with rains or heavy cloud cover. That is Chennai makkal's idea of heaven.

Sadly I couldn't enjoy to the fullest as I was down with a terrible cold. It's an awkward kind of illness, the common cold. My head felt like it was filled with molten lead. The otherwise subconscious act of walking became a conscious act of balancing. My eyelids were like power lifters, trying to keep my eyes open. You are not bed ridden, as in you can move around the house. You are not fit enough to be your normal self. Pretty much caught in no man's land. So two days I spent getting very familiar with the insides of all the walls in my house. Another day and I would have named them and started ranking them amongst my friends list.

Luckily, before I became like Tom Hanks in Castaway, the medicine I was taking started to show some result. Once I had the use of my upper airways, that is my nose, and didn't have to use my mouth to breathe, I just absolutely had to venture out.

So I took my car out, thinking I'll drive past the beach. Just as soon as I start out, the rain starts pouring down. Doesn't bother me as I am dry and snug inside my car and I like to drive in the rain. I've got Buddha Bar on my stereo, seat pushed right back, cruising to the beach.

Those of you familiar with Chennai and particularly Elliots beach will know there is a Spencer's store close to the beach. I'm bang opposite the store, about to turn on the street leading to the beach and that is when I see it.

This couple in the rain. The guys got his left hand over the girl's shoulder and he's holding an umbrella in his right hand. The girl is very comfortable leaning into him and they are smiling about something. Nice, almost cute even.

The girl is probably happy because the guy is acting like he's all sensitive and caring. The guy is probably happy because he gets to satisfy his male ego as the security provider or whatever. Or, the umbrella was meant for one and squeezing underneath that kutti kodai gave them the illusion of sharing. But hey, that's just me. It could've been anything. Feel free to fill in the blanks with any psycho babble that best suits your imagination.

There it is - Mazhai, Kodai and Romantic peelings.

I know you people have a mental image in your head right now. Zoom out on the image and know what you will see - Cupid's darlings are walking right smack in the middle of the road.

There are a lot of places for love struck couples to get comfortable. I'm sure, middle of the road, on a rainy day, in a city like chennai ranks pretty low on that list.

Purinjikoongappa. Thollai Thaangamudiyala.