My Stay at Chennai

My Stay at Chennai:

Chennai is among the four major metropolitan cities in India & the biggest city in south India. I landed in Chennai on 3rd Sep 2010 and stayed there till 10 Feb 2012.I had decided to move to Chennai to pursue my career in R&D which was my area of interest. It was a tough decision as I had always stayed in Nasik and at home. But something in me told me that I have to get out of my shell & explore world outside.

I took a flight from Mumbai to Chennai. Chennai is known as the Detroit of Asia as it has many automotive companies and tier one supplier’s. As the flight reached close to Chennai I could see a huge factory of Hyundai from a birds eye view. Due to congestion at the airport the flight couldn’t land & it ventured into the Bay of Bengal I could see Marina beach & huge ships close to the beach. It was a beautiful sight. My impression of Chennai from top was it was very green & had less sky scrappers if I compared it to Mumbai. Finally the flight landed at the Kamaraj airport. My first impression was it was very hot outside. There was a guy outside airport with my name written on placard waiting for me. I took the taxi & reached golden county an accommodation provided by Mahindra & Mahindra for its engineers working at Mahindra research valley.

My first impression of Golden County was it was very remote place, far away from civilization & humans. No mobile coverage, no internet, no TV, no AC, no bus connectivity & I didn’t know anyone there. But this is what I like being at a quite place close to nature. Before coming to Chennai I had made up my mind to see most places in south India. Mahindra research valley (MRV) my office was inside Mahindra world city (MWC) which is a Special economic zone (SEZ).As our bus entered the SEZ I was amazed at what I saw. This was my first visit to a SEZ. It was huge 1550 acres of land was occupied by companies like Infosys, Wipro, BMW,TVS Wabco, Mahindra, Renault Nisan etc. Those buildings looked impressive & it seemed I was out of India. At the end of SEZ was the Mahindra research valley(MRV) 150 acres of land reserved for Mahindra’s new automotive research facility .I would stick out my neck & say this is currently the best automotive R&D facility in India. Great place for an engineer to learn how an automobile is developed.

I had a tourist guide book of Chennai & noted down the places to visit in and around Chennai. During my stay in Chennai I could visit Marina beach, Besant Nagar Beach, St Thomas Mount, Santhome church, Periyar science and technology centre, IIT Chennai, Guindy National park, Corcidle park, Kovalam beach, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Salem, Yercaud, kodai kanal, Nagapattnam, Venankanni. Marina beach is 13 km long, the second longest in the world. It is a sandy beach with a very long approach from road towards sea. I found huge crowd at Marina beach enjoying the beach & the breeze from the sea .Marina beach has many vendors selling coconut, sea food, toys, peanuts, fruits etc. One can see children walking on rope at Marina beach to earn their daily bread. I wondered if they manage to go to school. Primary education is a fundamental right by law in India but seldom implemented. On the beach the I thought of the 2004 Tsunami & wondered how horrible it would have been for the people standing on Marina beach on that fatal day.

Besant Nagar beach is the best beach in Chennai cleaner & less crowded. I enjoyed going to this beach on most weekends and there is a church on this beach which I visited often. St Thomas Mount is a Church build on a small hillock near the airport. This is the place where it is believed St Thomas an apostle of Jesus attained martyrdom. This place is of great importance for Syrian Christians of India & Christians across the world. This church was build by the Portuguese in the year 1523 AD. I was very happy to have got a chance to visit this historical place where once St Thomas resided. On the walls of the Church I read a powerful quote from bible which went like this “The mightiest lion may go hungry but the child of god will never go hungry”. Another church named Santhome is beautiful church at Chennai build by Portuguese in 16^th century and again reconstructed in the year 1893 AD by the British. It holds the remains is of St Thomas and only other church to have this distinction of being a tombe of apostle is the St Peters basilica at Rome.  

To be continued….