“My name is Heidi. I was born and brought up in Kalpakkam.

Kalpakkam was a world of its own. A township that ran on quiet routines, organised lives, and an unspoken rule that the day ended by 9 pm. Life there was predictable, comfortable, and safe. And then in 2017, I moved to Chennai for college.

By 2018, my family moved to Chennai for me.

While I stayed at the Stella Maris hostel, I almost religiously sneaked out every weekend because home was just a one and a half hour drive away. Every Friday, my dad would pick me up. Every Monday, without fail, he would drop me back before 8 am. That was our rhythm.

Today, I run my own brand called Soulblends, a premium pet cake brand sold across Chennai. Alongside that, I work full time in an IT company on our very own OMR. But none of this came easy or overnight.

One of the most defining moments of my life was moving to Chennai for the first time. House hunting at eighteen humbles you in ways nothing else does. I still remember my mom crying when we realised we no longer had fresh Palar water running freely from our taps. The brown, muddy city water completely threw her off. She blamed me for pulling them away from their comfortable life in Kalpakkam.

Of course, she eventually came around once she realised Forum Mall was just two minutes away. Jokes apart, that phase changed something in me. It pushed me to put my foot down and work harder. If we were making this move, I decided we would build a good life for ourselves in Chennai.

Before building a pet bakery or settling into IT, I was always a traveller at heart. Until Covid, travel was all I chased. With whatever little pocket money I saved, I travelled whenever I could. Travel taught me about people, food, and different ways of life. And since I was new to Chennai, even exploring the city itself made me feel alive and independent.

I studied Travel and Tourism Management in both my undergraduate degree and my MBA. In a way, I found an excuse to travel in the name of education.

The real turning point came when I joined the travel industry. Ironically, I realised the last thing I would get to do was travel. Instead of exploring the world, I was planning journeys for others. I was finally earning, but I couldn’t travel. That realisation hit hard.

It took courage, but I stepped away. I dropped my papers so I could take a break and travel again. Eventually, I moved into the IT sector, which gave me breathing space. Time to work on myself, plan my travels, and slowly build my small business alongside. That phase changed how I look at life. It taught me that earning, passion, and personal freedom all matter. I needed to design a life where they could coexist.

I wish I could say Chennai means warm sunsets, beach walks, or filter coffee nostalgia. But for me, it began with confusion, chaos, and survival.

Chennai, to me, is the day I confidently got onto an MTC bus thinking I had cracked the system. Twelve rupee ticket. No calls home. No cabs. I knew one route and truly believed I was reaching home.

Instead, Chennai casually dropped me on the other side of Vadapalani. No warning. Just me, lost. Ironically, I was only two streets away from home, yet completely clueless. I cried in a random park, called my brother to rescue me, and yelled at my college bestie that only her house was easy to reach.

That day was peak Chennai.

But it changed me. I went from crying on the roads to becoming a full on scooty girl, owning routes like our auto annas.

During Covid, my brother and his friend gifted me my first iPhone. Like many others, I started shooting. I saw Chennai through my lens and fell in love with it all over again. I posted the food I tried, the places I visited, in my little social corner. A thousand views kept me going. A few more thousand inspired me. And then came a million views, which pushed me to edit, post, roam, repeat almost every day.

So yes, this is Heidi. I work full time. I bake and sell online. I shoot, post, and edit in the wee hours of the night. Like Lion Dates akka said, “Tired ah? Enaka never.”

All thanks to this city that taught me independence and how to find my way, even when I’m just two streets away from home. That’s when I truly understood what it means when they say, “Vandhaaraai Vaazha Vaikkum Chennai.””