I loved Chennai .......

Hey back after a long time.....

Had been to chennai for 15 days.And i loved it there.
The city was very much like Mumbai in a few respects. But it still had a distinct flavour to it.

Similarities with mumbai like traffic jams at peak hours,well-connected bus service,auto rickshaws available at every nook and corner.

The city doesn't sleep after 7 unlike some cities i have been to.I could move around at 9-9.30 alone in a rickshaw. Didnt feel out of place for a moment.At one point of time, 2 of us ladies were on the street at 11-11.30 in the night due to an emergency.And it was not bad at all.People on the street didnt look at us as if we had done a direct landing from Planet Venus.Nor did they look at us giving looks of 'lets eat them up'. So in 1 sense it felt safe.

Chennai was much cleaner than aamchi mumbai.Also more organised in terms of traffic management.Though jams hote hain but not the 'not-moving' types. No city can beat mumbai in those.Also no wall of the city was left empty.They either had paintings of political leaders or film personalities.They also have full lighted portraits of goddesses and rajnikant etc. Cool ones.And statues all over the place.Best part is, name of the person is written in tamil.

Coming to tamil. The localites understand only tamil.So as soon as u say "Tamil no" which means u dont know tamil, u turn into deaf and dumb communicating only through actions.If u r lucky, the autowala might understand few bits and pieces of english.It was funny talking to an autowala or shopkeeper in english though.

But But But..... If u want to experience mumbai in chennai, go to a place called T nagar on a holiday in the evening. Atleast 1 crore people inside each of the stores.Clothing, jewellery etc.I felt claustrophobic at that time.

Even when it was pouring cats and dogs in the western and central parts of India to the extent of floods everywhere, it was completely dry in chennai. In the 15 days i stayed there, it just rained once, that too just a small shower.Weather was very hot and humid.But thankfully on the day we had been sightseeing around chennai, it was cloudy.So we didnt have the sun glaring at us.

We had been to a beach named besant nagar on a weekday evening.It was only there that i could get my photo clicked without anybody else in the frame.Only me and the sea.Meaning, the beach wasnt crowded like the way it is here.Also this beach was extremely clean.Sand was so soft as if u were walking on a combination of satin-silk and wool.

My friend kept saying she wanted to see the sunset.And i kept telling her she couldnt do that in chennai.Atleast not in the waters.She didnt believe me.Most people think sunset has to be seen in the waters. But the point is Chennai is on the coast of Bay of Bengal which is towards the east.So u can see sunrise and not sunset in the waters. We are so used to the beaches in Mumbai, Goa, Kerala, that this technicality slips our mind.

Coming back to chennai, people there are very helpful.One of my friends was getting late to go somewhere and thats y was running towards the area.A guy on a bike stopped and asked him where he was going.He actually dropped him at the place he wanted to go.Who would do that in mumbai.Also people there do not believe in taking risks. They r straightforward people, doing their work, watching rajnikant movies and leading a clean life.

Got an opportunity to watch classic tamil movie Sivaji.Ahhh what stunts, i must say.How many getups he changed in a 3 hour movie. Above the age of 50 and romancing a petite 25 year old.Didnt really understand a word they said, but i had so much fun.Even a hera pheri or andaz apna apna or Angoor havent made me laugh as i laughed in Sivaji.Three cheers to Rajnikant.

Things of Interest -
Away from Chennai - Pondicherry,Tirupati,Mahabalipuram,Kancheepuram,Rameshwaram

In Chennai - Marina Beach,Besant Nagar Beach,Shopping in T nagar (Silk sarees in Nalli and gold jewellery),Murugan Idli for authentic south Indian food (not to forget oil pudi),Chettinadu Chicken,Spencer Mall(Beware u can get lost inside),Mysore pa from Krishna Sweets, Theme Park on way to Mahabalipuram, TTDC conducted Boating with awesome colour of water,1-2 pubs i didnt get a chance to go to.

All in all, it was fun trip.Paid holiday from my office as gift.I think Tamil Nadu Government ought to hire me as the marketing manager or tourism development minister for chennai.What say people........