Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Detroit of the East

It is 369 years old , but yet refreshing and enthusiastic as a new born baby. It is cursed by a few for its misgivings, but hailed by many as better than the best. I can say that I am arguably the biggest lover of this interesting city of Chennai. When people from many other places in India visit Chennai, their first impression will without doubt be 'This is the most boring place I ve ever come across'. When you query those people further, the reason they say is never satisfying or proving their point. Though Chennai is the fourth largest city in India and one of the four major metros people might argue that it has the least number of shopping malls for any city in India(though many are creeeping up now), Not enough places to hangout, no hindi or other language spoken, no clean water(though its a matter of past now) etc. I have the answers for those who argue Chennai is a dull city.

Yes. Chennai does not have enough malls and hangout places. that is why people from all classes are able to survive here. With the invent of Mall culture comes increase in Cost of living. Chennai is a city a person earning 50 rs can also survive along with people making mllions. It is one of the very few Indian cities to have a moderate cost of living index even now.

Yes. Chennai has not seen a rampaging growth like Bangalore. And so we are living a peaceful life with lesser road traffic and even lesser tension. We have to take a lesson from Bangalore on how the growth of a city should be. You have a thousand companies across the city connected with poor roads and even poor transport.

Autowaalaas are a menace in Chennai. but why the hell do you need an auto when you have an extremely well connected railway system and a much improved MTC bus service(With very good roads and flyovers). With the invent of AC buses and MRTS trains, Autorikshaws are the least used mode of transport in chennai.

People dont speak Hindi in Chennai. Correct, even we do not expect peoople to speak Tamil in Bangalore or Mumbai.

Apart from this Chennai is the only city to maintain a balance between the two major sectors- IT and Manufacturing. Where else in India do you have an Infosys, TCS, HCL on one end and Hyundai, Saint- Gobain, TVS & Ashok Leyland at the other end. Not to forget other giants like Dell, Seimens, Samsung etc.

And you cannot say there are no places to hangout. You have the beaches ranging from the vibrant Marina to the peppy Besant Nagar to the calm Thiruvanmiyur to match your moods. You do have a few malls to shop out(Spencer Plaza is a place for all, jus like chennai) . And though thereis a dearth of Pubs in chennai, you can still find a few.

The safest city, where you can find policemen patrolling 24 hrs. You can not relax a signal even at 3 am.

There are a lot of problems you might face in chennai, ranging from water to the heat and dust, but this city gives you a joyfull and rollercoster experience, but only if you make up your mind to have one.

3 comments:

CMCK said...

I second wat u say...

The bottom line is why does one have to comment on how a city is - its all abt the people around you who make your time;not the roads & shopping malls & autowalas ..lol
wonder what chennai has to do with an autowala's attitude :)

Ashok said...

autowalas r te face of te city..especially to people from outside..u always c best autowalas n mumbai and te worst s chennai.. te cheat u, they r rude and they use bad words (i undergone all this thing, eventhough i know tamil) and if u ask anyone who visited chennai will say this( understood from my company people)..as for as public transport s consider te best s mumbai and chennai stood second n India. beaches r te best place 2 hang around n chennai..as if i know there s less illegal stuff going in chennai compare 2 other metros.. also it would be better, if u talk abt the food items in chennai,.. tats te best part of chennai.. evryone (irrespect of state and country) likes chennai food.. regarding language its not yet globalised but again its a good place for manin mainthergal(don forget tat mumbai s not a place for marathis) i ll post my blog on mumbai and definetly will touch te other cities.. bangalore growth is well ahead of chennai..

Vijay Ramanathan M said...

Machi..I was in hosur and i ve been to bangalore many times..."Bangalore is a city whose growth is too much for its own liking"..you can ask the people who have ran away from bangalore to chennai and hyderabad...it may be full of gloss and fun, but its not the place where you can live for a long time...