First Interaction....

When i got the news that i have got Chennai as place of posting i was not very happy about it.But because this was going to be my first job and i had no other big options, i decided to go there as "new" and "different" are two words that fascinate me the most(Not always).
For the whole new batch the training was scheduled at Bangalore for 5 days.I somehow managed to reach at my hotel on the outskirts of Bangalore.It was a great place to be and we all enjoyed our stay over there.
Four of us has got Chennai out of which three were Non-Tamils including me.
After learning the know hows of the business we boarded on the train for Chennai on the final day of our training.
The next morning we were on Chennai Central railway Station.The first hurdle was who will speak to the cab driver fortunately the fourth person of our group a sweet buddy from Kerala came to our rescue as he knew a little bit of tamil.The other two of my friends knew the place so they could bargain because they had completed their studies from the same place.
First day in the office was good as we met everybody in the office.But i realized it very soon that this is not going to be easy for me as i was not able to follow any jokes cracked by my fellow members and i couldn't always tell them to repeat the same in English.
In the evening it was the time for me to taste some food in typical Tamil style.
Me and my friend "Sagar alias jackey" went out to have some Dosai.I tried it and it was good and definitely tasted better than what i had during my hostel days.
Then we ordered some Sathukudi Juice (Mosambi Juice).Jackey called the waiter and ordered like this.
Jackey-"Anna, Rendu sathukudi juice, oru hot coffee."
Rendu-means Two.
Oru- means One.
This was my first Tamil lesson and i had understood that "Anna" stands for "Bhaiya" in tamil the previous night.
One can get very good filtered coffee in Chennai and it is very famous over there.
The very next morning I tasted some Methu Vadai with red, green and white chutney and i still don't know their particular name.
"Uttapam" and "Idli" were two tastes which i didn't like that much so i refrained to try that.
Now my friend was worried that if this is my habit i would'nt be able to stay here anymore because this is what i will get every morning.
In the evening we tried some bread omelet with tea but the taste of omelet was like chutney because they add some green mango chutney in it.I said for God's sake please don't experiment with omelet.
Now to change the taste i tried some "kele ka pakoda or kela bajji".Atleast that was good and i enjoyed it.
In the dinner we ordered some chicken 65 a dish developed in chennai only.Some say it was designed in army mess where it was served on no.65 table that's why chicken 65.Some give some other reason like it was first introduced in Chennai in 1965 for the first time in a hotel.But whatever was true this was a good "haasile mehfil sher type thing for me".
This was a nice beginning of long tale....