I cross this building very frequently. Every single time I look at it I am reminded of my high school days. The above building used to be my friend’s family home for a number of years.

This house introduced me to a several new concepts. I had never heard of the term duplex house, until I walked into my friend’s house in this building for the very first time during my 10th standard. I was blown away by all the awards that were on display in the visitor’s room. My friend’s dad, director Durai was a famous Tamil film director from the 1970s and 1980s.

Their family used to run a fast-food restaurant, ‘Hot and Sweet Chat Home’ cum Ice-cream parlor selling Dollops ice-cream on the ground floor where you see the three shutters (in the photo). This was probably one of the very few fast-food restaurants in Madras (as Chennai was known then) in that era.

My family moved back to Chennai only in 1994, so the concept of fast-food restaurant was alien to me. My menu of evening snacks included just Verkadalai Burfi (Peanut Candy), Biscuits (Butter biscuit, Milkbikis, etc.), Vadai, Bajji, Bonda, and Onion Samosa. Hot and Sweet Chat Home introduced me to the snacks of Bollywood Gods – Bhelpuri, Pani Puri, Pav Bhajji, etc.

Until then I had only had Arun and Kwality ice creams. Dollops ice cream sounded an ultimate luxury to me. I guess Dollops brief association with Cadbury’s and Cadbury’s dancing female fan ad gave a Halo effect to Dollops. The restaurant used to have outdoor seating arrangement with an umbrella for each table. That was another novel sight for me.

I was introduced to the concept of playing cricket in the terrace in this building. I used to play cricket with my friend Pramod on the 3rd floor; sometimes we were joined by Pramod’s elder brother Prakash and/or their employee Moorthi.

How can I forget the multiple Christmas parties that Pramod that given to us in this building? The entire battalion of friends would descend on this house on Christmas. Not forget all that banter that would accompany the Christmas parties.

During my 11th and 12th after our family moved to Abhiramapuram, I used to frequently visit Pramod’s house in the evenings. Mostly it would be Pramod overseeing the restaurant. We would both be listening to songs on FM radio stations and chatting. I was introduced to listening to English songs on FM radio in this building – songs of Ricky Martin, Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, etc. I was never able to follow the lyrics except for a few lines here and there. I assumed Pramod used to follow them better.

You should have seen the disappointment on my face when I walked into the restaurant one evening and Pramod telling me, “Pepsi Uma had come to the restaurant with her family and had left only a few minutes back?” I never even paused to think whether that was true until after typing the above sentences today.

A lot of evenings we hardly spoke much apart from listening to the songs. But I always felt like those were time well-spent. All good times do some to an end. Pramod went to do Engineering in Coimbatore. Hot and Sweet Chat Home had to be closed because the North Indian cook they had employed decided to go back to his hometown and they were not able to find a suitable replacement.

Pramod’s family relocated to another part of the city. I even lost touch with Pramod in between for a few years. Luckily, I was able to establish contact with him through a mutual friend and his brother. Thanks to WhatsApp, communication with friends these days is much easier. It’s another story that we don’t get to talk much until we meet face to face once a year or so.

Today, as I looked at this building with the shop closed (being a Sunday) and minimal light, I was overcome with sadness. I decided to go down memory lane and write this blog post.

Here is a Haiku to eulogize the good old times:

A magical world
Songs of friendship and banter
A bygone era.