It was a late Sunday evening. I was at Egmore to attend a wedding. I wanted to come back asap to Chengalpattu as I was very tired and had to go to work early. I decided to take an express train to Chengalpattu. As I moved to the passenger train section of Egmore station, I found the Pandian Express on the platform. After spending a long time waiting in line to get a ticket, I rushed to the unreserved compartment, only to find it packed. I did not want to wait for another hour to get into the Rock Fort Express. So I did the next possible thing: get into the sleeper coach. I figured out that if I got caught, I would be asked to offload at the next station which…was Chengalpattu. [The train however stopped very briefly at Tambaram also]
I got into S11. I was amazed to find out that a lot of people had taken the same decision. In fact the number of people with unreserved tickets were almost equal to the number of people with reserved berths!!
Maybe I am nostalgic. Maybe it is because I was born there. Maybe neither. I assure you that you can feel it around you that people are from Madurai. When you are among people from Madurai, you do not feel like a stranger. You feel like someone who has just walked into a circle of friends. I was at home…
[The following conversation was in Tamil]
Total Stranger: “So…?”
Me: “Nothing much. The train is very crowded today…”
[A chat on the current state of the railways follows...]
Somewhere in between,
Me: “My native place is also Madurai…”
Stranger: “Cool. Where exactly…?”
If I was talking to some one else, I would have second thoughts about answering that question. Why is he asking this? Is he not getting too much info? What exactly does he want? But if you are from Madurai and you were speaking to some one from Madurai, this how it would have gone…
Me: “Jaihindpuram.”
Stranger: “Me too from the same place. Where in JaiHindpuram??”
Me: “Nehru Street…”
And we spoke like two friends who met after a long time. People from Madurai - people of a different kind!
Point 1
Only in Madurai will you find people who are total strangers to each other, striking conversations on public transport. Each time I get in to a bus at Mattuthavani [Integrated Bus Stand, something like Majestic Bus Stand], I find people engaged in conversation. Contrast that with a scene in a public transport in Chennai. People don’t care whether you are even alive or dead. Madurai. My Madurai.
Point 2
People are warm and friendly. Doing something stupid will not invite laughter and ridicule. But people go to lengths to find out whether you need any help. Only in Madurai, will you find a complete stranger taking time to talk to a nervous student on his way to appear for the board exams. Madurai. My Madurai.
Point 3
On a bus ride from Kallavasal to Palanganatham, there was a person who was new to town. He did not know the exact location of the place he had to go. People in the bus immediately pitched in and tried to give him landmarks and route information. And finally a person got up and offered to take him to his destination. If this happens anywhere in Chennai, we will have no water problem this summer!!
Point 4
Relationships are important to the people of Madurai. The shop keeper in the corner will be invited for marriages taking place in the entire street. Joys are shared with neighbors, and in sorrow too they partake. Teachers are specially respected. Madurai is also the photo-perfect example for communal harmony. Christians, Hindus and Muslims live in perfect harmony. I have not heard about any communal friction in living memory. Recently, the Madurai Corporation ordered the removal of illegal road-side religious structures. People were sad. Some even grieved. But civic sense prevailed. Or rather common sense. People were aware that as the city grew, these structure would cause a lot of traffic problems.
Point 5
People in the present generation live with the ‘you-live-your-life-and-I-live-my-life’. Sometimes we don’t realize that we live in societies and communities and families. No person can live in isolation without his actions every affecting the lives of at least another person. Every person has this in his mind in Madurai.
I agree that some people from the rural areas around Madurai may be a little bit [a tweeny weeny bit] rustic [but definitely not dangerous].
But Madurai also faces it challenges. A lot of people have moved to other places like Bangalore and Chennai and have acquired a little bit of the ‘I-don’t-care mindset’ of those cities. Children who have not lived in Madurai and whose parents or parent is from Madurai, find it difficult to understand why the special curry which was cooked at Amachi’s, has gone out to more than four neighboring households. What is the fun in digging holes all around the place and trying to send your marbles into them? And hey, why does ThaTha have a chat with the newspaper guy, when we see him only when he comes to collect the money?
And as with all things, perfection in nearly impossible to achieve. There are things that I find irritating in Madurai also. 
If you have lived in a big city all your life, you will never know the charm of a small city [at least at heart] like Madurai. My Madurai. I will be in Madurai for a few hours this Sunday. Those few hours will be long cherished till I smell it again.
PS:
1. Did you know that you can get your un reserved ticket money reimbursed, if you are unable to get into the train? There will be a deduction of Rs. 10.
2. For those of you who are from Madurai, you will recognize that My Madurai is also the brand name of a service provider in Madurai.
