Madurai - Part 4

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 5

 

With a one week break which included sleep, food and loads of report works, visit to the 1st (to me) mall in Madurai took place. It was part of the official visits.

 (A little background over here) There are 2 malls in Madurai - Millennium mall and Vishal de mall. The Vishal de mall in PPkulam was the one I visited. It was just 2 months old. Most of the 3 floors were filled with branded shops. It was not crowded and many (including the auto driver) had no idea about the existence of that mall. I got a auto from the bus stop and went to the mall and later realized that I was cheated and that the mall was very close to the bus stop. 

There was a very small parking area which (according to the shopkeepers) was a very big drawback of that mall. Most of the shops in that mall belonged to Kalyani franchise. I visited almost every single shop in there and learnt many info like the average salary for the store manager is 5k per month in a franchise shop. The shopkeeper has a target (price in terms of apparels and number in terms of footwear) to be reached every month. And if that is reached an additional 30k + incentive (which is to be shared by everyone in that particular shop) will be provided. I started to the mall around 10AM and this info collection lasted till 3PM (thanks to one lady who made me wait for 1 hour and later said she was too busy to talk with me even for 5 minutes). I felt extremely hungry and when asked to one of the shopkeepers they said that the food court exists in 4th floor. And also Inox is to be opened in that particular mall very soon. The foot court had many shops which were all new to the business. They had a rule that no two food item between the shops should be repeated. The shopkeepers were much friendlier in the food court than anywhere else. Something which surprised me a lot was the fact that most of the shop keepers had done MBA or were doing MBA. It was almost 6PM when I was outside the mall and that was when I noticed people getting in the mall (mostly youngsters).I can proudly say that every shopkeeper in Vishal De mall is a friend of mine now :)

The second I was outside I noticed that the mall was in near chokkikulam which was very very close to race course road (my old huz). I almost ran on the road to go to my old huz which had all my childhood memories locked in it. The place where I used to wait for my school bus, the road where my grandpa used to take me by walk to reach my school bus stop, the entrance near which there is a security room where I used to sit all day long and wait for my parents to come home from office. The road which I used to take whenever my parents scold me and I would walk out of the huz wit one small yellow cloth bag with 2 dolls and 1 dress inside it. 

I requested the security and went in the colony. The swing my dad had built for me to play was still there. The shuttle court my dad used to play every evening and I used to look at him like a great hero, that memory which made me become a shuttle player was still there. The SBOA school bus on which I used to climb, the wooden steps handle on which I used to slide all the time, the old bungalow inside which I used to do go exploring after I read secret7 or famous5, the place where I learnt cycling, the spot where I tasted my first and last non-veg food, my initial days dance performances, my music class brought all those memories of golden days flooding back. 

There were some hard feelings too. The tree catching which I used to swing was cut, the 'not allowed' area where the water tank was present (where I used to go for partying and cook food by cutting the leaves and little vegetables around and pour water, add salt to it and play) was cleaned and was made visible to everyone. The place I used to play cards with uncles was dirty, the place I used to practice karate was used as a shuttle court and the far end to it where I used to play cricket with big annas and note the score using a charcoal on the wall - well that wall was whitewashed and painted in gray. It looked clean :(

Then I felt I was back to my place, my own place where my soul belongs to. My native - my Madurai. From that day on, no matter how much the city changes, it would never feel alien to me till my heaven rests in there.