Chennai & Me

- Hari

It’s my home town and no wonders why this place is close to my heart. For that reason, everyone is attached emotionally to their home town. In those days, I remember Madras only for the beaches and VGP amusement park which we use to visit during our summer holidays. In early 2000, when I had to settle here for my higher education and for a person who was brought up in a small hamlet from interior Tamilnad, Chennai suddenly became an alienated world. I was perplexed why I was here and bit nervous. She was getting fast for me and those days are indeed ‘ever green’ as she took me over this transition process smoothly. Our country is known for the diversity and each city is different in its own way. The language, the culture, the people and the society are different and it is ‘equally easy’ to get adopted once you start loving them and start associating with it. Thanks Chennai for teaching this to me.

Above Vindhyas, people use the term ‘Madrasi’ to refer Chennai. Some of my ‘North Indian’ friends (I hate this differentiation, yet using it for easier understanding) even laugh at her for being very different from the rest of the country.

Some of the most noticeable ‘Madrasi’ culture:

1. Tamil, Tamil and only Tamil. It’s Tamil everywhere!

2. Same as point 1. ‘Naan Hindi nahi malum’ sirji type people.

3. HOT weather

4. Idly, vada, Dosa, Pongal serving hotels

5. Yellow Auto rickshaws and ‘Tanglish’ speaking auto drivers.

6. Green Tappa MTC ‘PUSH BACK’ buses

7. Salty water

8. ‘Party na enna nu kekara Makkal’

9. Tamil movies, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan.

Each place has similar uniqueness and identity and it should not be changed. As I mentioned earlier, we are attached to our language, religion, culture and place emotionally that we think all others are inferior. Infact on a positive note there is more to the Madras culture than just Auto rickshaws and Tamil movies.

Ø Chennai has designated places for non tamil speaking people such as ‘Sowcarpet’ or ‘Kilpauk’ for Marathis & Gujarathis/Rajasthanis. There is a street off greams road near to Apollo hospital for Bengalis. Chennai has a larger number of Telegu speaking population & a recent survey pegged the non tamil population in chennai as 20%.

Ø Chennai is second only to Bangalore in IT exports. It provides direct employment close 3 lacs youngsters in IT/ITES space. ‘Tata consultant services’ the largest IT company & Cognisant technology solutions have their biggest development centres in Chennai.

Ø Chennai is also known as ‘Detroit of South India’ with a total installed automobile production contributing to 32% of India’s total production & she is establishing her leadership in electronic manufacturing as well. Chennai is home to companies like Hyndai, Ford, Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi, Daimler, BMW, Nokia, Dell, Samsung, Flextronics, Motorola, Foxconn, Caparo, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Apollo tyres, JK tyres, Michelin, Infosys, Wipro, IBM, Accenture, HCL, Amazon, Shell and also to homegrown companies like Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS, L&T etc

Ø Chennai was ranked 29 in early 1990’s in the world’s top 30 cities. In 2003, it was ranked as ‘second’ best city to live in India by outlook. In 2009 E&Y survey, Chennai ranked 3rd best city in India surpassing Bangalore, Calcutta, Pune and Hyderabad.

Ø Chennai was the first city to introduce the ‘mall culture’ in India. The spencers mall in Mount Road was the first organized retail space in the country.

Ø The famous domestic brand MRF tyres which has been endorsed by most celebs including Sachin is known as ‘Madras Rubber Factory’.

Ø Chennai is the one of the top Asian cities to attract major chunk of FDI (Foreign direct investments). Most of the investments are in the Chennai- Sriperumbudur, Chennai – oragadam corridor making it the biggest industrial corridor of south India.

Ø Chennai airport is the busiest airport in South India & the 3rd busiest airport in India after Mumbai and Delhi. (Both domestic & international traffic put together). Chennai is called ‘gateway of south India’

Ø Chennai is the least polluted city among the metro despite having more than 25 lakh vehicles on the roads and on an average 800 new vehicles getting added on every single day.

Ø Chennai is the leader in ‘medical tourism’ with people coming from countries like Pakistan, Srilanka, Myanmar, Israel to Chennai for advanced medical treatments. Chennai offers access to high end medical treatments with lower cost. The leader in healthcare sector in Chennai are Apollo hospitals, Ramachandra, Miot, Bilroth & Fortis. Ø Chennai’s Marina beach is the second longest beach in Asia.

Ø The chennai Mofussil Bus stand in Koyambedu (CMBT) is Asia’s biggest with capacity to handle more than 1000 buses.

Ø Chennai took her name from the king ‘Chennappa Nayakar’ who donated this piece of land to British’s East India company to set up their trading company here. She was formally known as ‘Madras’

Ø Chennai is the safest metro in India, having the lowest crime rates when compared to cities like Mumbai & Delhi. The city never came in the terror rador, thanks to the political setup which gives equal rights to all section of society. There has been no or less communal tension in this part of the country.

Ø India’s biggest salt water lake (Pulicat) is situated near Chennai. The Vandalur Zoo situated in Chennai is the oldest zoo in India. It was located initially near the ‘Central railway station’ before shifted to Vandalur due to space constraint.

Ø Next to Mumbai, Chennai is the only city to have the best metro connectivity. The EMU services running in Chennai- Kolkatta sector, Chennai- Arakanom sector and in Chennai beach- Chengalpet sector connects chennai with 6 satellite towns such as Arakonam, Tiruvallur, Tirutheni, Kanchipuram, Chengalpet & Gummidipoondi thereby facilitating mass transportation of work force.

Ø Hundred years ago, Chennai had several lakes near & within her vicinity. The present upmarket area of Nungambakkam, Mahalingapuram, commercial heaven like North Usman road, poor man’s land like Choolaimedu, Aminjikarai was then covered by ‘Long lake’. There is a place still in Nungambakkam known as ‘Lake area’. A road near Nungambakkam known as ‘Village road’ establishes the fact that these areas including Chetpet was used for cultivation. Aminjikarai derives its name from ‘Amainda Karai’ due to its proximity to ‘Long lake’ and ‘Cooum river’. The present day ‘Pallavaram’ is known as ‘Pallava puram’ which was under the jurisdiction of Pallava kingdom.

Ø The british used the St Thomas as ‘residential area’ and the present day ‘George town’ as ‘Commercial area’. A well laid road was created to connect the George town & St thomas mount which is now called as ‘Mount road’ (Or Anna salai)Ø Chennai metropolitan area (1130 sq kms) has a population of over 7 million. Of this, 43.5M lives in 179 sq km making Chennai the most congested metropolis. Successive government’s failure to emphasis planned development lead to this chaos.

Ø The City boast some of the finest pubs, bars & also have places such as Mylapore/Triplicane which boasts several cultural shows still retaining its old charm. Chennai is a perfect blend of this tradition and modern. Whether it is party in ‘Dublin’ or Kutchery in ‘Music Academy’, whether it is ‘Evam’ English play or ‘Terukoothu’ in Royapuram.

Ø Chennai is never really hot compared to hinterland & plateau regions of India. The cool breeze from the sea reduces the temperature & increases humidity. But the high humidity increases ‘sultriness’

Ø The current Buckingham canal was used by British to transport rice & wheat from Andhra.

Ø Chennai & Tamilnadu produces largest number of engineering graduates next to Andhra Pradesh. The Anna University (College of Engineering, Guindy) is one of the oldest & best in class engineering institution.

Ø During the regime of Dr MGR (as Chief minister) the city faced acute water shortage which forced the government to consider ‘Trichy’ as Capital of Tamilnadu. This proposal was later shelved due to stiff opposition across various quarters. Chennai’s underground water considerably improved between 2001 & 2006 as the government insisted compulsory ‘rain water harvesting’. The city is the first to get the ‘Desalination plants’.

Ø Chennai’s MRTS (Mass Rapid transit system) is the first of its kind in India to run on the elevated tracks. (Kolkatta metro was underground)

Ø AR Rahman is known as ‘Mozart of Madras’ since he hails from this city. Chennai is also proud to have personalities like Kamal Hassan, Mani Ratnam, Viswanatha Anand, Narain Karthikeyan who put this country in global map. The tennis star ‘Laendar Paes’ was trained in the Tennis Academy setup by NRI ‘Amirtharaj’. Chennai also hosts ‘Chennai open’ the only ATC tennis tournament in India. Chennai has a world class ‘racing track’ in Irungattukottai.

Ø The Mahindra world city near Chennai spreading across 1500 acres is India’s first private SEZ in its size.

Ø When the present congress government allowed foreign universities to setup their campuses in India, Chennai is the first city to get one. The Virginia university one of the oldest in US is setting up its first campus in India near chennai.

Chennai is known as ‘conservative’ city and there is absolutely no merit in it. To me, a city can be called as conservative not on the basis of ‘spending power’ of the people but on the basis of thoughts & her adoptability. It’s sad that cities like Mumbai where the north Indians are brutally beaten up & city like Hyderabad which is demanding separate statehood are considered as ‘cosmopolitan’ and city like chennai which has absolute tolerance & respect for other culture/language is given the ‘conservative’ tag. I hope the things will change & chennai gets her lost glory soon.

Attaching one of the oldest map of chennai