Weekend At Thiruvananthapuram!

Had been to Trivandrum over the weekend to attend a close friend’s wedding. The wedding went well but more overwhelming than the number of payasams served at a hindu wedding,are the memories I had associated wit Thiruvananthapuram :)
Trivandrum is a place which brings back a bunch of memories for me- some good, some bad n some UGLY!! Hehehe….
I had 3 years of my schooling there- n I ve had a mix of feelings when I was back after a very long time. It was in Trivandrum, I met some of my best friends n some of my worst enemies, had my first crush, watched my fist movie in a theatre wit friends, it was also there that I slogged for my first board exam, studied for my entrance, attended chemistry tuitions at insane hours in the morning( like I said – this constitutes the ugly ;)).
But there is something so magical bout the place that even when I return after 10 yrs its still the same…well almost… cos there s a new Big Bazaar- which Im told is the latest hangout for Tvm’ites, n then CCD, Dominoes pizza , etc which were unheard of then . The people are still the same nice , friendly ,smiling ppl. Very traditional. Early morning I could still hear the Suprabathams coming from the nearby temple… when I passed thru Kedaram shopping complex I remember the hanging out I did wit my frens there after tuitions, Triveni supermarket reminds me of the time I saw a rat playing hide n seek through the rice chaaku..ewhh. There used to be a store called Campus were I used to buy my clothes from- it was supposedly a trendy place at the time.. But I couldn’t find it this time .. maybe it closed down after competition from Big bazaar n Naaz. And of course there was Kalavara hotel were my parents used to take us for a once in a blue moon treat to eat burgers n chopsuey. Talking of hotels how cud I forget Chinnus near Kesavadasapuram, were countless ‘Gelf’ returnees ( including us) used to drop in after sitting for couple of hours in nauseating Air India flight hungry after eating the weird food combo served …waiting in anticipation for the chilly chicken n hot parottas . yummm!! It was always the first stop in our agenda after getting in the crowded ambassador car filled wit loving relatives who had come to pick us up.. the love was so intense they wud forget that there were 4 of us n our baggage n finally we had to sit on each others lap to fit in , wit the luggage on top of the car .
Those wer the gud old days… sigh!!
Now things have changes, I have changed … its nice to know that I have memories that still can bring a huge smile to my face