April A-Z Challenge: A Tale of Four Cities [S]

Blog entry #19

Shah Rukh Khan | Secunderabad Railway Station | St. Thomas Mount | Sharda Residency

Shah Rukh Khan (Mumbai)
Also called King of Bollywood or King Khan, I was a fan ever since I watched my first ever movie in the theatre when I was one and a half years old - Dil Toh Pagal Hai (DTPH). No, I don’t remember that, it’s just the number of incidents my parents and relatives tell me that make me aware of that fact. They also tell me that from the movie, I would try to sing a song called Pyaar Kar. There’s a line that goes "Tu bhi sun bekhabar". At two years of age, there’s no way I could pronounce a tough word like "bekhabar" - too many plosives there! So, along with me, my parents would also sing it as "Tu bhi sun bebagar, pyaar kar" :) 

Secunderabad Railway Station (Hyderabad)
Travelling in Bus No. 212 to and from campus to Secunderabad Railway Station has been a different story each time. During the first two years, we travelled in groups (see my post on D) so we kept company amongst ourselves. The last two years, invariably, I’d find students with whom I don’t usually chat or hang out with in campus. So, it was a good opportunity to connect with such folks. The times I’ve travelled all by myself, I’d play a game with myself - memorise car number plates, calculate the sum of the last four digits of the license plates, and try and remember all the bus stops in-between my source and destination. The penultimate stop was Patny - this was where we’d get off to take a cab to go to high-end restaurants in Banjara Hills or Jubilee Hills. Or travel to our friends’ houses located in Begumpet or Himayat Nagar.

St. Thomas Mount
I’ve travelled to this place, called Adambakkam, by cab, auto, local train, metro, and my own car. Since here’s where my aunt’s house is, it was like my second home until I got married. My aunt and I hadn’t spoken much over the years other than meeting over summer holidays, whenever we would visit Chennai from Mumbai, or when there were a cousins' meet in Bangalore for vacations. But during the last two years, we developed such a strong bond, I can easily say our relationship is one of the best. Once we discovered we were so alike in different aspects, we would chat and giggle for hours together, each of us enjoying the other’s company. I’ve observed this pattern among few other girls too, where the bond they have with their Periamma (or Peddamma, or Mom’s elder sister), is extremely special.

Sharda Residency
This is the building in Bangalore where yet another aunt of mine stays. She’s my Mom’s eldest sister, and my aunt and uncle have lived in this house for as long as I can remember. When my parents shifted to Bangalore, this place was also 12 minutes away by car (see my post on M). An all-cousins meet here, when all of us were little school kids, takes me back to the times when Bangalore was indeed a garden city…

Image courtesy: Google ©