Originally Posted by
app_engine
To start with, "Ashoka Plaza" , a shopping complex right next to the bus stand where there was this music shop that played terrific music. There was a cassette disti on 1st floor and the ground floor had City Color Lab that gave me fantastic pictures. (Many of my friends recommended IAB, Indian Art Buerau at x-cut road for prints but I loved this place that gave bright output and one of my pictures of sooryOdhayam at Palakkad was such a lovely one that I used it as a greeting card 100's of times). It was fun to give the Konica roll (was called Sakura during college days and we used to buy in Trichy burma bazAr and get one hour prints in the Sevana hotel) and wander in the Gandhipuram area before getting the prints :-)
"Wander" means, spend time in the cassette shops, sometimes buy clothes, visit one or other of Annapoorna's in the area (one right in bus stand, one in the entrance of x-cut road, one in lachchumi complex...well, x-cut road + lachchumi complex deserve a separate post), have tea / thEngA bun / bun-butter etc in one of the tea-shops with music etc. What a simple life, carefree and full of fun those days! I still remember one tea-shop close to Thiruvalluvar state bus stand that had such a classic sweet-bun served with butter and 'iLamai idhO idhO' for Dec 31 night:-) Close to the aarvee / amaravathi hotel...