Nov 11, 2004 12:19 PM
11590 Views
(Updated Nov 11, 2004 12:21 PM)
This review is dedicated to kalil.rahman anna as a gift from a fellow Coimbatorean and for pushing me all along to write the review
COIMBATORE ? Spell the word and I am caught in a spell. It is my hometown where I spent nearly silver jubilee of my life and eagerly look forward to at least two more. I can o on writing about Coimbatore and would be caught for length even if MS(taking suit from Google, MSN and Sify) enhances the 8K Limit to 80K. Before going into the review, let me present a few basic facts relating to Coimbatore. through the website https://coimbatore.tn.nic.in(Sorry, Caught for Length, as usual).
One point in the profile that bothers me is the epithet. The epithets ?Textile City? ?City of Hopitality? ? Textile city? and more prominently ?Manchester of South India? do not capture the essence of Coimbatore and are not holistic in any sense. I took up the job of giving Coimbatore a fitting epithet in my own hands. Presto, Hereafter Coimbatore would be called the Sweet City, and the centennial work of my cerebrum for MS would just justify that.
As per the 10th edition of Merriam Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary, the word Sweet is defined in these supreme seven ways
(1)PLEASING TO THE TASTE & FEELINGS
(2)PLEASANT & GRATIFYING EXPERIENCE
(3)HIGH SUGAR CONTENT
(4)HAVING CRUSH ON
(5)NOT SOUR, RANCID, DECAYING AND STALE
(6)SKILLFULL & PROFICIENT
(7)MUCH LOVED
Coimbatore has a lot of things that would definitely please your tastes and feelings. First its climate would definitely touch you. The city enjoys a great climate that never gets very hot or exceedingly cool. As it is exposed to the Palghat gap of the Western ghats, it enjoys a salubrious climate. Coimbatore is the largest supporter of floating population and today there exist very few natives of the city like yours truly. And people in Coimbatore have always followed ?Adhithi Devo Bhava? and the way a huge lot of community coalesces together is a sight that would please the feelings of even Hitlers and Mussolini?s. If you are connected with India?s development and industrialization, there would not be a more pleasant feeling than the flourishment of industries in this part of the country. Though almost all the industries are in the city, the textile and automobile units are more popular.
I mentioned in the last para that Coimbatore supports a whole lot of floating population. If you ask them, the city they would reply in unison that it is a pleasant and gratifying experience to live in the city. Most of them take this city as a second home, and after some time they may forget Home Sweet Home. This should be attributed to the unrivaled hospitality offered by the city. The people here tend to be very respectful and selfless; their innate hospitality makes them treat a stranger better than the native. No doubt the city got its name ?City of Hospitality?. We do treat Guests as Gods. Another factor that lures in a lot of people to the city is its relatively cheap cost of living compared to other cities in state.
High Sugar Contentis definitely in Siruvani, Coimbatore?s foremost source of drinking water. Siruvani is the second sweetest water in the world, and the sweetest water available for public supply. Centuries before the rest of the world took to mineral water, Coimbatoreans drank the Siruvani water, which is better than any mineral water in use. Your visit to Coimbatore is worth for a tumbler of Siruvani alone. I am sure that the hearts of Coimbatore people are also full of high sugar content. I can even get the services of a diabetic specialist to confirm the same. Coimbatore people do possess a soft and sweet heart, and they have constructed more than a 100 state of the art hospitals with varying specializations just to preserve this high sugar content heart. And I can continue this with Sri Krishna Sweets ?Mysurpa?, Dhirijilal ?Pazhgova?, Annapoorna ?Badusha? and so on?
The people in Coimbatore tend tohave a crush on a lot of things. Foremost among them is Education. There goes an old joke that if you want to put the Genie in the bottle, you can ask him to count the no. of students in Coimbatore rather than the sand particles in the beach. From nursery schools to research schools, every class in Coimbatore fully blooms with the students, who never get tired of studying here. And for the stats Coimbatore has more no. of educational institutions than the capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. Coimbatoreans always have an all clear appetite and they would feed on everything that is legally edible.
There may be streets in Coimbatore without a name, but not without a food stall/hotel. Be it Chinese, Western, North Indian, Chettinad, all South Indian, Pure Vegeterian, Sea Foods, Kerala, and Hyderabadi, all types of food items are available in the city; the people also patronize them with an open mind, irrespective of the infra structure or cost- Taste only maters. Industry and Business also has found fancy with the people, as the smart working people of Covai always keep the corporate activity abuzz. Unlike most of the counterparts, the people here still have a crush on the proud culture. You can always see the city busy with religious festivals, Natyanjali?s, Carnatic music etc and the youth participate in these activities as they do in 21st century leisure activities.
Let not the unfortunate bomb blasts of February 1998 and the forthcoming riots frighten you, Coimbatore is not a sour, rancid, decaying and stale. Quite true, there was unbelievable tension on the city in that forgettable February. But we people recovered as quickly as possible and re constructed the city in no time. Today after a half dozen years of the accident, Coimbatore functions as no such thing had happened and continues to be prominently progressive. Of course, the industrialization here had caused an impact on the environment causing fearing air pollution and water scarcity, but the politicians, people and public authorities have already got ready for a cleaner and greener Kovai.
Coimbatore is full of Skillful and Proficient people, each one blessed richly with tumultous talents and predominant professionalism We have produced great scientists and engineers like G.D.Naidu, sports superstars like Narain Karthikeyan, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, big businessmen and philosophers like Dr.N.Mahalingam, Dr.B.K.Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Vedanthiri Maharishi, prolific authors and cine artists like Raghuvaran, Rajesh Kumar, Shivakumar, Bhagyaraj etc, and even MSians like me, kalil anna, asyis and abis They are just examples and if you want a list I have to mention the 50 lakh and odd people in the city.
How do I explain the meaning ?Much Loved?. Yep!Ask any one who has been to Coimbatore how he liked the city? He would definitely reply it as a place he LOVED MUCH. If you have missed this LOVELY EXPERIENCE so far in life, think no further we are accessible by bus, train and plane.