Chennai

Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 7.60 million (2006), the 368-year-old city is the 36th largest metropolitan area in the world.

The city is a large commercial and industrial centre, and is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. Chennai is the automobile capital of India, with around forty percent of the automobile industry having a base there and with a major portion of the nation's vehicles being produced there. Chennai is also referred as the Detroit of South Asia. It has also become a major center for outsourced jobs from the Western world. The 12-kilometre long Marina Beach forms the city's east coast and is one of the longest beaches in the world. The city is known for its sport venues and hosts India's only ATP tennis event, the Chennai Open.

The name Madras is derived from Madraspatnam, the site chosen by the British East India Company for a permanent settlement in 1639. Another small town, Chennapatnam, lay to the south of it. In due course the two towns were merged, and the term Madras was favoured by the British. However locals used to refer to it as Chennapatnam or Chennapuri. The city was renamed Chennai in August 1996 as the name Madras was perceived to be of Portuguese origin. It is believed that the original Portuguese name is Madre de Sois, named after a Portuguese high authority who was one among the early settlers in 1500. There have been suggestions though that Chennai may not be a Tamil name while Madras may be of Tamil origin.

Climate :


The city has somewhat ungenerously described as having three seasons - hot, hotter and hottest. Indeed, except for four pleasant months, November to February, the weather is uniformly hot and humid.... May is the hottest season with the mercury sometimes touching 42 C and the mean temperature about 33 C. December and January are the coolest months with a mean temperature of 24 C. Howerver, the cool sea breeze (which sets in shortly after 3 PM daily) makes even the warmest of evenings bearable. But venturing out in between noon and 3 PM during April-August is best avoided.The Chennai monsoon is from October to mid-December - and in a good year (from the point of view of water-short citizens) the rain on some days during this period can be quite heavy.

Religion and festivals

Chennai's culture reflects its diverse population. The city is known for its classical dance shows and Hindu temples. Every December, Chennai holds a five week-long Music Season, which has been described as one of the world's largest cultural events. The Music Season encompasses performances (kutcheries) of traditional Carnatic music by hundreds of artists in and around the city.

Chennai is also known for the classical Indian dance, the Bharatanatyam, which is also the official dance of Tamil Nadu. An important cultural centre for Bharatanatyam is Kalakshetra (Sanskrit for "place of the arts"), located on the beach in the south of the city.

Chennai is the base for the large Tamil movie industry, dubbed Kollywood after the locality of Kodambakkam where most of the movie studios are located. The industry makes about 300 Tamil movies a year, and its film soundtracks dominate the music scene in the city.

Chennai celebrates a number of festivals. Pongal, celebrated in the month of January, is the most important festival of and is celebrated over a period of five days. Tamil New Year's day signifying the beginning of the Tamil Calendar usually falls on April 14 and is celebrated widely. Being a cosmopolitan city, almost all major religious festivals like Deepavali, Eid and Christmas are celebrated here.

Transport

Chennai International Airport  is situated at Tirisulam, 7 Km south of Chennai. It has two terminals, Kamaraj Terminal, handles domestic flights connecting 20 destinations across the country with Chennai.

The International Terminal, named Anna Terminal, connects major destinations like London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Muscat, Bahrain, Dhahran, Jeddah, Singapore, Kula Lampur and Sri Lanka.

Besides AIR INDIA and INDIAN AIRLINES several International carriers viz. BRITISH AIRWAYS, LUFTHANSA, SINGAPORE AIRLINES, MALAYSIAN AIRLINES, AIR LANKA, OMAN AIR, GULF AIR and SAUDIA AIRLINES are operating flights to and from Chennai

The city and metropolitan area are served by major arterial roads that run either in an east-west or north-south direction . Anna Salai or Mount Road as its more popularly called is the city's most famous road. It traverses most of central and south Chennai and leads on to the Great Southern Trunk Road (National Highway 45) to Thiruchirapalli. The Road runs in a north east to south west direction. Other arterial include Kamaraj Salai (north-south), Poonamalee High Road (east-west), Broadway (east-west), Radhakrishnan Salai (east-west), Sardar Patel Road (east-west)etc. Chennai is also served by two ring roads namely the Inner Ring Road and Outer Ring Road that circle the metropolitan area. Most of the arterial roads lead to the National Highways and State Highways

Education

Schools in Chennai are either run publicly by the Tamil Nadu government, or run privately, some with financial aid from the government. The medium of education in private schools is English. Government run schools offer both English and Tamil medium education, English being preferred by a majority. Private schools are usually affiliated to the national CBSE board or to the Tamil Nadu State Board. A few schools are affiliated to the ICSE board and the Montessori system. A few schools also offer the International Baccalaureate and the American systems. Schooling begins at the age of three. After two years of kindergarten and twelve years of schooling, students take up non professional or professional university courses.

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (1959), is located in the south of the city and is internationally renowned for its engineering program
 

Shopping

Chennai leads the rest of the country when it come to the retail experience with some of the swankiest and largest retail stores setting up shop here first. These stores sell western and ethnic wear. For traditional arts and crafts visit Cottage Emporium, Poompuhar Emporium and Victoria Technical Institute all of which are at Anna Salai. For exotic Kanjeevaram silk sarees Nalli's Rasi and Kumaran silks at T Nagar are a delight.
Both plastic and paper currencies are widely accepted.

More about Chennai ….

*Leisure & Entertainment
*Hotels
*Clubs and Resorts
*Restaurants and pub
*Movie halls
*Amusement Arcades/Parks
*Discos