City Scare!

It has been a long time since my family shifted from Bangalore to the comparatively small Manchester of the south, Coimbatore and trust me, I hated this decision so much. Yes, I was a little sceptical abut it at the start as I really enjoyed my five years in Bangalore. We lived in Malleshwaram, which if you didn’t know is the Tamil hub of Bangalore and had my school and an ice – cream centre along with a temple right next to my apartment. I went to drawing class and Shloka [prayer] class every week, and I just loved my life. I still love those five years in ‘Bangs’ as I used to call it, but the prospect of moving back to Coimbatore was both exciting and scary. It was exciting because I was like two years old when my family shifted to Bangalore and I hardly remembered about anything that happened during that time, and I was practically going to live in a new city, study in a completely new school with hopefully new friends and live in my home, which is the only thing I remembered from my living here previously, but scary because I was a very outspoken person who had anger management problems which I still have and often had difficulties making friends, but it was not a problem at all.

Mantri! I Miss You!

When we moved to Coimbatore, it was like a village to me. It only had one mall, which was a crisis for me who lived in Bangalore, where I used to visit Mantri, Forum and Garuda mall every weekend! I had problems getting into schools as well. I attended a bunch of schools here in Coimbatore and wrote entrance exams everywhere, and still did not get into any of the schools. Mind you, I did decently in my academics until then, so I was really annoyed.  I finally attended another school called Kikani Vidhya Mandir, and just finished my entrance exam and gave the paper to the invigilator and was about to leave when she asked “Why don’t you write another entrance paper in Tamil?” I was flabbergasted. The only language I knew to write was English. Since I left my previous school immediately after kindergarten, I had no idea how to write Tamil, even though it was my mother tongue and could speak the language. Before I could say no, she just handed the paper to me. my heart was racing. What would I do? Well, most people would have just told the invigilator that they don’t know how to write the language and just hand over the paper. But I did a very different thing. I just copied all the questions and handed the paper over to the invigilator and stormed out of the class before she would ask me to write a Hindi entrance paper.

I was very embarrassed when I left the school complex and was very upset. So much that I did not talk to my dad for a day because he made the decision of moving here! Surprisingly, I actually got selected and was enrolled there, but I still did not like the city. I had difficulty making friends in this place. Once, I got so angry at one person that I smashed my racquet on his head! He was wailing loudly and his parents had talked to my dad about it and my dad was angry at me. A similar thing happened when my cousin visited us during that summer. He had smashed his racquet on the same person’s head!  The only redeeming quality about the city at that time was the weather. It was pleasant all year long.  I heard many people saying that people here are very conservative as well. Coming from a cosmopolitan background, I was really sad, but all I needed was a year or two of living here to say that that was all wrong.

Such Beauty In the Exterior Itself!

I started to go to school after the summer and I was in for a shock. The invigilator I had met during the entrance examination was actually a Tamil teacher! She still eyes me whenever I meet her.  I surprisingly had a lot fun during first grade! I made some good friends and I still hang out with some of them now in eighth grade. Things had resolved with the guy I hit and he became one of my closest friends. My opinion about the city began to change. The people spread rumours about the conservative thing should come and visit the city for a change and then say things about the city.  People here not a tad-bit true about this and is a misconception. Yes, all cities are not perfect and there are a number of people even here who are conservative, but in my opinion very less. All Coimbatoreans are very peace and culture loving, yet modern. I began to dig the mall here. It isn’t as big or classy but is a fun place to hang out and before I knew it, two new malls popped up. The city slowly started developing. New and fun places emerged and the weather, as always, was divine. Now, Coimbatore is a tier-2 SmartCity and one of the safest places in the country to live in. A six-year-old child can be sent alone in a taxi or an auto to another place but would reach there unharmed. Women can safely venture out until late at night. Once a lady actually took a selfie with the men who actually helped her reached her home at around 2 am. Here I am, eight years later, loving every moment of loving here, and wishing my family could come here before!

P.S: For all those people who come to Coimbatore only for Isha Yoga Centre, please visit Koniamman Temple first!