Lonely at the bottom

Lonely Planet has decided, for some unfathomable reason, to list out the most hateful cities in the world. Chennai, my hometown, has been ranked 7th in the list.

What's most laughable is the reason that they give for its existence in the list: because it is "lacking Mumbai's prosperity, Delhi's history or Bengaluru's buzz".

Now, I'm sorry, but that is the most ridiculous thing that I've heard. That's like saying Idlis are a hateful food because they do not have the texture of the dosai, the flavour of the pongal or the simplicity of the upma.

 Chennai is what it is, because it lacks the "prosperity" of the excrement covered slums of Mumbai publicized by Slumdog Millionaire, the "history" of India's first school sex scandal from Delhi, and the "buzz"-ing noises in everybody's head after the Shri Ram Sene are done with beating them up in Bangalore.

None of those cities are hateful, but they're not all milk and honey either. Like Chennai. Or the Lonely Planet author's hometown, somewhere in malaria infested Africa.

Sod off, Lonely Planet.

PS: Happy New year and all that.