Long back in school days, some news channel showcased the upcoming India base IT company – Infosys. I vividly remember they showed the Infosys Bangalore head office, a single office then, with staff dressed in casuals, desktops all around and the vibrant work culture, a new trend set in the 90’s for IT outsourcing companies.
As a school girl, that image was fixed in my mind and unknowingly I told myself, someday I should work in such company.
Dream come true and I landed on the earth belonging to Infosys. So much so I wanted to be in Infosys, Chennai was the last place I would have preferred to be placed in. Few things I knew about Chennai were idli, dosa and half saree. I never considered Chennai to be a metro city.
To my surprise the 4 years at Chennai were the most exciting time of my life. I was like the Swami of Malgudi Days, facing new adventure and new challenges every day.
Leaving aside the humid and hot climate of Chennai, everything else makes the city a nice place to live.
The entire city has a nice blend of urban and traditional mix with old style houses, ladies in kanjivaram silk sarees decorate their houses every morning with rangoli (kolam), moghra flower (malli pu) fragrance all over the place and every house has unique tempting aroma of sambhar and rasam.
On a breezy evening, one can enjoy the sunset at the Marina beach, longest beach in Asia with British architectural white government buildings by its side.
Chennai Central station and Chennai Koyambedu bus terminal have sophisticated and well managed setups for any travel around the state.
All around the city the instructions and information are very much in English. The auto drivers are quite helpful and if you call him anna (brother in tamil) he might actually believe you to be his sister and safely take you home.
The city is very clean and has lots of greenery around. Huge old trees in the middle of the road have been given the status of temple and are wisely protected from the busy traffic. Cheers to the public who care for their city. I have seen roads and huge flyovers being built within the city, in almost 6 months. the local government here definitely works.
T-Nagar is a lively place to be, for all types of shopping and multi cuisine joints. There aren’t much road side eateries like in Mumbai but the joints around T-Nagar are a variety. You can try chettinaud meals in Hotel Virudhunagar, kerala cuisine in Entta kerallam or Murgan Idli chain for anytime steaming south indian snacks and amazing filter coffee. There are many Punjabi dhabas around atleast 7-8 of them with sardarjis speaking fluent tamil.
All stores are minimum 7 floored and exciting enough for anytime window shopping. Pondi bazaar is like a flea market.
All stores are minimum 7 floored and exciting enough for anytime window shopping. Pondi bazaar is like a flea market.
My pick would be the old Nalli’s store. The store has a very traditional feel and they have sarees for every taste, ranging from price 100 - 10 lakh Rs. If you are a non saree wearer then you may actually develop the liking for sarees, it's that maddening. Nalli 100 or Nalli nur as they call it, I with modern designs and equally good.Saravana stores is like Disney land for shopping. Sundari Silk is a super classy shop and you may always find your pocket small to buy anything there. But the shop has very classic decor and a nice South Indian feel. Any purchase from here is considered a style stmt.
Probably only in Chennai you will find gold and silver shops of 7-8 floors and around 10 -15 shops in a row, all completely crowded. For a change you can go window shopping to GRT Tanga Maligai (gold palace).
Chennai people have immense belief in god/goddess and have exclusive temples for almost everything. They have special temple to bless travelers before they start the journey, a temple to be visited before you appear for general exams, another temple for praying before you appear for competitive exams and the list goes on.
One of my favorites was the Bodyguard temple for protection of vehicles. All vehicles right from Mercedes to scooter would line up at this temple. The priest takes keys from all, to be kept in front of the idiol's feet and then would do an elaborate aarti for the safety of the car and the owner. They would tie black cloth and purify the car by sprinkling sandalwood paste on it, to keep it away from bad omen.
The local train and bus services are very good in the city but just an evening stroll around any place is quite relaxing.
Another cool places to hangout is the Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam area, City Center mall @ Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai. Mylapore, Adyar, Besant Nagar, Velacheri are beautiful residential areas. Every beach in Chennai are clean and very beautiful but my favorite is Besant Nagar beach.
On the way to Mahabalipuram, the ECR road is a nice long drive and a must stop is the Dakshinachitra (Cross cultural living museum of art, architecture, lifestyles, crafts and performing arts of South India) and Saipuram Shirdi Sai Baba Temple situated at Injambakkam.
The best cinema hall you can visit is Satyam, the interior is funky with multiple hall, hot popcorn in exotic flavours. Tamil movies are very dramatic and even though I didn’t know tamil I watched all movies of Rajnikanth, Surya and Nayantara. Around this place is a nice cafe called Amethyst, ideal place for a guy to propose his girl with just a bunch of roses. At this cafe the guy could get away with a ring.
I am happy that I choose to work and live in Chennai and not follow the general perception of people about Chennai. It also further makes me believe, that always take the opportunity that comes your way and life may have a new experience hidden somewhere which you can cherish for lifetime. For me Chennai is like second home now and anytime I visit, it gives me the maternal home feeling.
