There's something magical about the Madras Gymkhana Club. Right from their massive swimming pool, to their polite waiters, to their overly sweet cricket drink and their butter toasted chicken sandwiches, nothing has changed in all these years.
When I walk in there, I'm greeted like a long lost daughter who doesn't visit often enough. The waiters ask in surprise, looking at my screechy tot, "Your son?" and I nod with a smile.
Time really flies. The MGC love has passed on from one generation to the next in my family, starting with my dad, to me and now my 4 year old. He jumps back into the pool like a slippery eel, each time I try to pull him out.
I drink his leftover Cricket and the crows in the lawn steal his french fries. I'm a child all over again, only this time I've created my own.
If the Gymkhana pool could speak, it would tell you tales of a fat 10 year old girl, an ambitious 21 year old, an almost bride at 27 and a single mom at 36. The pool embraced me like always in her warmth, washing over me and soothing me, melting all the pain away.
The MGC was such a big part of my childhood, I cannot even begin to put in words, the waves of nostalgia I feel each time I walk into those familiar corridors and well moved lawns.
Change is not the constant of life. Stability is. And the MGC is the epitome of constant and reliable. It's a home away from home.
I will always root for this 139 year old charming young lady!
