Behind The Scenes | Chennai Summer Unedited

I went back to Chennai from Seoul with the intention of coming back within two weeks. I live in my own ideal world where things are uncomplicated and visas are easy to process. I ended up staying in Chennai for a little over two months. Chennai is my birthplace, my hometown, a place that I've always wanted to leave. For 4 years now I've been on the move, going back to Chennai sporadically for holidays, visits, birthdays and weddings. I thought this was going to be one of those trips.

It wasn't.

I should have had more time on my hands to focus on creating content and drawing. But I didn't. The 8 weeks flew by. Somehow within the shortest span of time, I managed to find a routine and had full mornings and evenings. We live in an age where photos are the new words, emojis the new punctuation. It's easy to capture your memories but also never to share. Here's some of mine from the 2 months, unedited.

There were too many weddings to go to. Here is the #foreveralone club pretending to have a tryst with Love.

Lunches looking like the delicious carbohydrate bombs they should be. Have to follow these up with naps.

The family now lives in Bangalore and the rest of my Indian life is in Chennai so I did a lot of travelling between the two cities.

Went to listen to my sister at poetry circles at this cool space, Lahe Lahe, in Bangalore

Day trip to Pyramid Valley International - the largest pyramid in Asia. The Maitreya Buddha pyramid is a meditation centre. I discovered it when I was in architecture school and hitch hiked there many years ago. This time, the family came along and as everything is around them, it was more comfortable

This is a japonaise. It's not Japanese. It's kinda French but I haven't met anyone in France who knows it by this name. It's also my most favourite thing to find in Indian bakeries. Keeps you on a sugar high for the rest of the day.

My mother and my aunt are probably the biggest hippies on the planet. This time round I went with them to the astrologer's who predicted when I would get married. I had a nice laugh. I went because I'm curious and open-minded and all but I'm also never going back.

These slippers (or chappals as we call them) are methiyadis. It's a Chennai brand and any cool person in Chennai wears them. They're versatile, durable and incredibly comfortable. Find someone in another Indian city wearing them and you know immediately they're from Chennai. It's becoming a bit too popular now though. We're not very happy. It's OURS.

Got to water this garden and witness stunning sunsets everyday.

Site visits with friends to see what they're upto in the architecture world. One of them is trying to defy the law of physics by building staircases that hang in the air.

So. Many. Weddings. Also, no one should have an outdoor wedding when it's 35 degrees outside

Salsa classes with Alex and @karunya

This is Thomas. He Who Can Make Me Laugh Instantly. Here, he is actually 'working' on a book review. We spent a lot of mornings/afternoons working on our projects

Iz my beautiful mum, dad and sister after we celebrated my father's birthday at Danushkodi.

And there's the moments that are not on camera. Playing badminton everyday, marvelling the bougainvillea in full bloom along the streets, getting an eye infection, dance practice for all the weddings, art parties, dance parties, cat parties and so much more. I think it was nice to go and find an entire support system in place, one whose foundations are unshakeable. One which will accept you however long you've not been in town for. One which won't care about all the unanswered whatsapp message and Skype calls. One that you can leave but also fit right into when you come back. Before I knew it, my visa came. My trip suddenly ended. I caught a flight and came back to Seoul. I think for the first time in my life, I will be homesick. It's been a pretty good summer.

Goodbye, Sea. I'll be back sometime else.

How's your summer going?