Welcome to Chennai, India
An outsider would find it hard to imagine why the Kanjeevaram saree is such an indispensable wardrobe staple in a city as tropical as Chennai.Much like how incredible it is that the 36th largest metropolis in the world should be able to so steadfastly hold on to its ancestral cultural riches. Tamilnadu is home to several local classical art forms - music, dance, sculpture and literature - and Chennai, its capital, reflects its grandeur.
Chennai was Madras until 1996, and to the British, an important naval base and a pivotal administrative centre for their rule in south India. It, thus, carries a noteworthy flavour of the colonial as well. Its economy boomed when Europe discovered its trading significance. EID Parry, one of the oldest companies in India, was set up by Thomas Parry, a European merchant who came to Madras in 1788. Binny & Co., Spencer's, Gordon Woodroffe, Best & Crompton, Higginbotham's, Hoe & Co and P. Orr & Sons are some other prominent old-time companies in the city.
The city is located on the south-east coast of India, in the Eastern Coastal plains, on the north-eastern part of Tamilnadu. Its climate is humid throughout the year, with a wet spell from October to November. Temperatures shoot up to 42 degrees Centigrade, and the minimum temperature recorded 15.8 degrees Centigrade.
Tradition is the trademark of this conservative city, and Tamil is the most common language spoken here. It's a state of affairs that unprepared newcomers might not find very accomodating at first, but this bustling city has enough and more for the persevering seeker of Indian culture.
Like we said, Chennai is the cultural capital of south India, and the Madras Music Season is its flagship event, with hundreds of artistes performing at the festival. You'll find an abundance of Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music, Tamil theatre and the Tamil film industry (also known as Kollywood), here. Kollywood produces about 150 films a year, and Madras was even home to the Telugu film industry until a couple of decades back.
Temple architecture, something that Tamilnadu is well-known for, can be explored here, especially in the neighbouring seaside village Mamallapuram. The city also has several historical churches that were built by the Europeans.
Chennai is a key gateway to the rest of southern part of the country as well as to the rest of the world. Its domestic terminal is the 3rd busiest and the airport is the 2nd busiest cargo terminus, in India. Its connectivity to South East Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America, makes it a lucrative commercial hub. Also, Chennai port is India's 2nd busiest container hub, and handles automobiles and industrial cargo. The city's second port, Ennore, handles coal, ore and minerals.
The economy of Chennai is led by the automobile and auto components industries. The city also contributes more than 50% to India's leather exports. Software services and electronics manufacturing are the other major industries here, followed by financial institutions (including the back offices of the World Bank, HSBC and Citibank), telecom (Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson have their R&D facilities here) and pharma (with Pfizer's R&D office).
Chennai is home to the Indian Institute Of Technology Madras, one of India's premier educational institutions. Anna University, Madras Medical College (MMC), Madras Institute Of Technology, Stanley Medical College (SMC) and SRM University are other noteworthy places of learning that the city has to offer.
Chennai's sporting scene is pretty action-packed. While cricket is the most popular sport played here, there's hockey (the Chennai Veerans are a Premier Hockey League team), tennis (Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan hail from here) and motor sports (with the Madras Motor Sports Club) as well.
Here's hoping you'll down that plate of dosa and that bowl of sambar in no time, and start exploring the city!