Spencer Plaza--The New Old

I felt like I was visiting a heritage building when I visited Spencer Plaza on the New Year's Eve. This place that was once the only mall in Chennai, which people would throng over the weekends, is now deserted. When the city is partying hard on the last day of 2016, there were hardly three cars parked outside this building. The security guards were old and lethargic. It felt like they were tired of not having a lot to do, just like the mall. This mall, that used to be the only get away for most youngsters in Chennai fifteen years ago, is left alone, like an aging person. This was the place that many large brands opened their very first showrooms in Chennai and those retail hubs seem to be closed down on the New Year's Eve. Ten years ago, when I used to work for a PR firm, which also had clients interested in doing promotional activities in malls, I used to get in touch with mall authorities in Chennai. The atriums in Spencer Plaza were always booked. They used to be so busy. One had to plan well in advance to get a space for promotional extravaganza in those large atriums and the rentals were exorbitant for those days. Today I found these atriums empty. People don't go there anymore. The escalators that amused many people in Chennai who saw them for the first time in their lives, and who used to take several trips in them like in a merry-go-round, are still working. But there were no one to use them. The only shop that had people thronging today was the liquor shop (ok, the only shop other than the ATM). Everything else had their shutters down, with the residual flex posters in these shops flaunting some old fashion trends. What worried me the most was the closed Landmark. Somehow I always felt this book shop did well during its days. It ached a bit to see it's name board still hanging there.

"This is stupid", I thought. But it also felt genuine. With all the remnants from the past (ok. Not so long ago, but still it felt like it was), it just made me feel that things age and with age we forget. Now I know why I'm no longer thrilled about the New Year.