A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, A.R.Rahman, Chidambaram, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Jayalalitha are some of the names that come to my mind when people talk about Tamilnadu. This blog is more of a consolation note to all my friends who come from other states, and end up spending a very memorable but unfortunately sober time, in Chennai.
For starters, Chennai is the best place to have warm beer…probably because that’s all that you can have since you don’t get chilled beer anywhere around the state. The government owned Liquor shop, rather called as ‘Tasmak’ do not have coolers and would pass off easily to be on the top 3 most unhygienic places on the planet. For those hard drink lovers, don’t expect anything more than the standard ‘Old Monk Rum’ or ‘McDowell Whiskey’ to be available. Expecting anything more…??? I suggest you take a drive to Pondicherry, a French settlement, located around 180Km from Chennai. Pretty much all kinds of alcohol ranging from the most sophisticated to the country kind is available at ½ the price as against anywhere else within the state.
All night clubs/ pubs/ discotheques…??? Relatively the numbers are very less for a metropolitan city and I guess it would still take another 5yrs for the people here to get used to that culture and for more such places to open up. In either case, after a lotta’ hunting and searching, Ive made up a list of some of the best hangouts available in town. Mail me at ivan.pravin@gmail.com in case you guys need a copy as well.
Climatic conditions are pretty much the same as Mumbai with respect to humidity and temperature. So people used to climate at the ‘Fashion Capital of India’, would be able to snuggle in quite easily. There are quite a few chill out spots like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Thirparappu, Kutrallam that you can trip down on weekends to beat the summer heat.
Although voted by a vast majority of Indians as one of the worst cities in India, at a global level I guess decisions on ‘Worst City’ are made based on more factors, such as
- Climate
- Pollution
- Disease & Sanitation
- Medical facilities
- Infrastructure
- Political violence & repression
and infact 2 major Indian Cities are in the list, preceeding Chennai. Surprising...? Check out:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/three-indian-cities-among-worlds-worst-cities/87411-2.html
Food…? Chennai people by far eat rice…rice…& more rice…which probably explain the huge tummy that has more or less turned out to be a mark of identification for all South Indians. For all those roti, naan & chapatti lovers, food would probably be a major problem. However, good news for all non-vegetarians for you get an entire variety ranging from the ordinary- chicken, mutton, fish, pork, crab to the more exotic beef, turkey, ducks, rabbit, frog, boar, birds, squids, shark etc. Being a food lover myself, who feels hungry throughout most parts of the day while I’m awake, the abundant availability of non-vegetarian food has been one of the major reasons for me surviving in Chennai.
Leaving out the rest, I guess the biggest challenge for any non-Dravidian moving to Chennai would be the language problem. Tamil- one of the oldest languages in India (also a direct derivative from Sanskrit) is by far the only language used. Added to this people here have a strict ‘No Hindi’ policy, inspite if Hindi being the National Language. I guess it all started out from the fact that Hindi was rather a language of Aryan origin and not of pure Indian origin as Aryans themselves were immigrants from outside and not the native Indians. This being my second time in Chennai, I see a very positive trend, in the native crowd using Hindi. Guess one of their biggest additions was myself ;-) , for I learnt Hindi after an amazing 2 yrs in Pune, Maharashtra (more of that in future posts…!!!)
All in all, skipping the liquor and language problem, I really don’t believe that there are any other major flaws with this city; not there in other Indian cities. Given the due time, exposure and support from people of all cities & states, Chennai might reach heights of recognition, for in the end its about our country 'India' than individual states...
JAI HIND...!!!
7 comments:
Chennai, Tamil Nadu can be called a beautiful state for those people who has not seen any other place in the entire India. This place for anyone who is from outside Tamil Nadu will hate it. Nothing is good here to appreciate. No proper food, drinks, roads, transport. Autos are cheats. In my entire tenurity of 8 months in Chennai I have not found a single thing to appreciate and I am sure you will never find a single thing to appreciate.
I have written many things about chennai in different blogs.
Please check out one of the blogs where many people have written about chennai.
http://www.shaarique.com/chennai-sucks
And the names that you have written who are from Tamil Nadu, please check the updates:
A.R.Rahman- Rahman may be born in Tamil Nadu but he learnt music in UK and he is known for his hindi and international numbers.
Rajnikanth - Is not a tamil and he is a Maharastrian.
Jayalalitha - One of the most corrupt politician I have ever seen.
Now the things that people from Chennai are proud of , let me just add some light to it.
1> Marina Beach. You call it a beach? Never maintained, dirty, full of waste and shit. Even small beaches at Puri or Shankarpur or even Digha has better beaches. Which are clean and tidy.
2> ECR road? have you been to DND FLyover at Delhi, outer Ring Road in Bangalore, or Rajarhat in Kolkata,they are better roads. I left out the Mumai Pune Expressway as comparing that road to ECR is like an insult to a road of that kind. How can ECR have resturants in it? The resturants are at both the side of the road. Learn English first.
3> Have you been to Haridwar or Hrishikesh or Kali temple at Kolkata, or Haji Ali at Mumbai or Golden Temple at Amritsar. They are anyday better temples. Here if you walk a kilometer, you will find temples, so volume wise I am sure the number is surely high, but quality, you wont get it.
4> Murugan Idili -who the hell on this earth wants to go to a resturant and have IDLI? If I need to go to a resturant I will have variery of other options. Thanks chennai for not giving me options of variety of resturants, I am able to save a lot and my entire credit card outstanding is Rs.0.00.
5> Tidal Park. Have you seen EC or ITPL in Bangalore, or Infinity at Kolkata, or any other Software Technoloy Park in Noida/Gurgaon, you will understand what I mean to say. Tidal Park can never come close to it.
6> Safer than other metros? Safety in which respect.People dont have normal driving or riding sence. They drive on the wrong side, use lights on high beam, never use blinkers, never wear helmets, triple riding on bikes, buses are over crowded and also rashly driven, auto drivers thinks that they are the son of Rajanikant and drive like hell without any sence.
7> Never seen any Sivaji Ganeshan’s movies so cannot comment. I know old is gold so I also watch olden movies may be hindi or english or my language. But still I get time to watch the quality new english , hindi and also regional movies. But sad to say, you being of this generation, you also dont watch those crappy Tamil movies, which can be compared to porn movies. Hats off to you dude.
8> Disc and pubs. Boss please dont talk about it. I am not a guy who regularly goes to disk to waste my money. I prefer sitting at my house, watching movies and drinking during my off days. Here you dont get any quality liqur at any of the so called liquor stores called tasmac, so I have stopped drinking. Again a lot of thanks for saving my money. To add to that, discs and pubs, do you know the meaning of that. I have seen better places.
Awaiting your reply….
well...I guess you must be frustrated after a long stay here...but yes, i shall answer to be best of my abilities
1. This place for anyone who is from outside Tamil Nadu will hate it.- I have been in 5 states so far and have been able to adjust here as well...I guess we all need to be more of an optimist and an oppurtunist because only such a person would see that the beer glass is half-full and not half-empty... ;-)
2. Nothing is good here to appreciate. No proper food- Yes, it is always a problem for people who move from south to north as well...so its a mutual problem bound to occur in such a large country.
3. drinks- I agree on that and am trying to make a change here by spreading the word...suggest you try that too
4. roads- I disagree as I find it of pretty much equal standards as any other metropolitan city, infact better than some...
5. transport, Autos are cheats- guess that because of the language problem...I suggest you learn tamil... :-D
6. And my dear friend all those names come in my mind for very special reason...
A.R.Rahman- for him remembering his origins inspite of such fame unlike some indians who leave the country...
Rajnikanth- Inspite of being someone from other state he has found so much fame, money and love from everyone here...which is more than what I can however say for few other mediocre critics who live in other states, cribb all the while and go back home with negative feelings...
4. As for the corrupt politicians list, plz check:
http://hindustan.net/forums/showthread.php?t=510
Hope you know that India as a whole itself is corrupted...and instead of changing it lets not point at corrupt politicians who are too many in number to point out...
On a closing note, I do feel bad for the fact that this supposedly horrible City is finally the one that gives you your bread & butter and not your own...For I believe that any self respecting man, one such as yourself should have immediately left such a city instead of being a hipocrate who stay in a friends house and yet badmouths about the same...
Buddy...with such mentalities no wonder India stands at this sad state...Hope to see your attitude improve and spread the spirit...!!!
Dude please cut the act of being smart, there is no place which is the best in the entire earth. Every city has its own pro's and con's.
Have you ever been in bangalore roads, 70% of the roads are one way, or have u ever got stuck in the God Damn Bannerghatta road.. the food served in bangalore is no better that ********
Do you remember the blue line buses.(the killer buses) in delhi. Now tell me which city buses are not crowded.
Dude as far as your drinking appetite is concerned, why dont you go to Bikes and Barrells, Dublin, Flame, Distil, Paasha or Zara(giving some transactions to ur credit card).
Obviously this is a better metro, we dont get bomb blast or terrorist attacks,or maoist rebels roaming with AK 47. btw the way the traffic(driving) is far better compared to bangalore or anyother metros
And as far as roads are concerned, ther are roads which are worse than ecr's and the omr's throughout the country,This defntly is better road compared to the other roads. The reason why ecr is prefered is for its scenic beauty(seashore)
The beach- india has the worlds second longest beach(chennai), why do u have to go to place where people shit, there are many better private beaches.
Murugan idlli is for idlli's and dosa's (as the name suggest) what else do u expect to be served, continental ?
"who the hell on this earth wants to go to a resturant and have IDLI? " wtf do u mean by that, dude thats the staple food here, you cant go to china and ask for roti's can you? so dude get this point, this part of the land we take iddli, dosa and rice, here people dont like roti's and chappati's(its the same when a southie goes north).If you dont like it learn cooking.
And as far as ivan's english is concerned, dont you think a guy who can design a blog all by himself has better english than one who comments about it,
Talking about movies- dude if you are talking about the "this generation hindi movies" please the story line and the costumes are just skimpy. Most of the award winning movies come from south.
Rather than cribing and writing foul things in many blogs, why dont you just relocate.
Dude, i too am a stranger to this chennai.. though i dont like it, i dont hate the city where i earn my bread and butter.
Hello dude,
1. Regarding being optimist. I have tried my best to find out something good about this place, and I have failed misarably. Eben I tried to get inspired from non Tamil colleagues and friends, but all of them are equally or more frustrated with the place. So however hard I tried, I couldnt feel optimistic hee.
2. Regarding food. I have been to many parts of india where they had their own local diet but still options for people who does not belong to that state were also present. But here it is not the same sceneratio. You can only get shitty food here.
3. You accept the point that drinks not available, so will not comment on that.
4. Roads. I have seen better roads in other parts of india, like in Delhi, Himachal, some parts of UP, Maharastra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bengal, Orissa, and also some parts of Bihar.
5. Transport and learning Tamil. In one word, impossible for me. When I was in Bangalore, I could understand Kannada and also speak broken or one liners, but here will not try as i told here I dont feel like.
6. Rahman. Please name a few indians who has left the country? And for your kind information Rahman has his base in LA now and not in chennai and all his recordings happen there.
rajani. Called by most as Rajani anna. he even tried to do films in other languages but he was a severe failure. So he decided to stay here with some people who love seeing his logic defying stunts and dancing with heroines half his age.
For the closing note, i understand that you feel bad that someone hates the place that is giving the bread and butter. I also tried hard to find out something good about the place and also had too positive attitude, but everything failed and so from that the frustration comes out. Any human being will never stay in friend's house and also tell bad things about the same, but if someone is stuck in an odd jungle with nothing familiar, anyone will surely abuse that place and call it hell.
Waiting for your reply.
Hey buddy...
1. Since you have failed to entertain yourself here in Chennai, I shall help you with this...expect me to come up with something new on weekends...
2. Hmmmm...as far as i know food in office is bad...food outside may not be what you like but definitely not bad...i think fried rice, byriani etc are available at hotels outside and these Pizza hut, cafe coffee day etc...either way outside food is just for once or twice a week for all i guess...but if that's the routine for you, i suggest you start cooking as that would be food that you like and good for your health...
3. I don't agree on your view of the roads however...although I have been in Maharashtra & Karnataka only from the 7 states that you have mentioned...
Guys who have traveled to these states are welcome to comment on the roads here...
4. Agreed- that this place will be an odd jungle during the 1st year...but i have seen lotta people who are more comfortable here than me, inspite of spending lesser time...what do I do about it? I try to learn from them, to make myself more adaptable...
All in all...I'd brief myself into one single line:
Lets try lighting candles instead of cursing the darkness...
Ivan,
FYI,Hindi is not India's National language...
it is a fantasy,Please read our constitution.India does't have national language but only official languages.We have 13 official languages and English, Hindi used as link language between state and center.
chk this for more info..
http://india.targetgenx.com/2007/10/14/you-think-you-know-what-indias-national-language-is/
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