An emotion like no other - Madras

As you turn three hundred and seventy six,
With all your elegance and inexplicable charm,
My mind wanders back to one fine morning in '96,
When the headlines on The Hindu made me frown.

"Madras to be rechristened Chennai", it read*,
And I was unsure, if it was for better or for worse,
And while I have grown up adoring Chennai, without heed,
Madras was, and will always be, in it's own way, diverse.

Be it IIT, the Port, or the High Court,
"Madras", adds to them, and old-world charm,
Cotton, Curry Powder, and that famous Fort,
It has made an indelible mark, in it's sojourn.

Madras reminds me of simpler  times,
Of watching Sachin in Sharjah and Bond in Goldeneye,
Of playing scrabble and singing rhymes,
And that occasional irritant, "Madras eye".

Blessed am I to be born in such a city,
Whose denizens have welcomed visitors as their own,
Where a conversation begins with "Filter Kaapi",
And you always feel, truly at home.

Happy Birthday Madras! :)


* - My assumption :)

Theosophical Society, Adyar,  Madras