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About Chennai

Chennai city (Tamil: சென்னை [ˈtɕennəj]),  formally 'Madras' welcomes you with a warm “Vanakkam” (“Vanakkam” in Tamil means “welcome”).  This 350 years old city is still strongly rooted to its culture and tradition in spite of its urbanization.  Chennai is the fourth most populous metro in India.  Nevertheless, the traffic and pollution is much less compared to the other three metros.  Its economic growth was accelerated by automobile industries, IT Sector, hardware industry and healthcare industry.  It is the second largest software exporting city in India.

History of Chennai

In 17th century when the British gained control over the two separate towns Madrasa Pattinam and Chenna Pattinam, they merged it and referred it to as Madrasa Pattinam.  Chennai Pattinam got its name from Chennapa Nayakudu from whom the British acquired it.  Madrasa Pattinam was derived from Muthurasa Pattinam reigned by King Muthurasa.  Even before the British rule it was reigned by various South Indian dynasties like the Pallava, Chera, Chola, Pandya and Vijay Nagar Dynasty.  Even before that Chennai has been of great importance from 1st Century.     Some Neolithic instruments which belong to the 1st century were recovered from Pallavaram Pit in Chennai.

Weather

The tropical weather makes it all the more hot and humid in Chennai.  Summers in Chennai are normally scorching hot.  April to June is the peak summer in Chennai when the temperature ranges between 30° to 40°C (100 to 108°F).  July to September is autumn season when the heat comes down and the city eagerly gets ready for the winter to set.  It is advisable to carry an umbrella in the winter.  Winter sets in in October and continues till December.  January to March is the spring season in Chennai.  If you are planning to visit Chennai don’t miss the winter and spring seasons.  Refreshing rains not only make Chennai look greener, the season will reinvigorate your inner spirit too.

Places to See in Chennai

Marina Beach

There is nothing like a breezy walk by the beach, watching the sun go down.  Marina which is facing the Bay of Bengal is the second longest beach in the world after Miami.  It is 12 km long.  It is also a joggers’ paradise in the mornings and lovers’ paradise in the evening.  The beach turns into a fair ground in the evenings.  Small stalls are set to sell sea shells, snacks like “bajji” and fried fish, balloons, kites etc.  Swimming could be dangerous here since the under-current is very high.  Still it does not prevent the people of Chennai from enjoying a swim in the salty waters of Marina.

There is an aquarium close to the beach which gives us a glimpse of the type of aquatic life in and around the marina.  Lining the beach are statues of famous Tamil scholars and noted personalities.  Towards one end of the beach are memorials of Mr. MGR and Mr. Anna Durai, who were former Chief Ministers of Chennai.  Towards the other end is the ‘Ice House’ which is now converted into light house.  One of the prime reasons for Chennai’s economic growth is its port. St. George’s Fort which is facing the Marina beach is a monument that is an archeological marvel.  The fort museum still preserves some of the monuments left behind by the British.

Museum

The museum preserves a large variety of items from dinosaur’s bones to fascinating bronze statues of Lord Nataraja.  The museum holds everything that preserves the culture, history and it’s a monumental pride of Chennai.  The Museum has 46 galleries widely spread over an area of 16.25 acres.  The Connemara library is also located within the campus of the Museum.

Valluvar Kottam

Valluvar Kottam is built in remembrance of the famous poet Thiru Valluvar, who wrote Tiru Kural.  It was written 2,000 years ago.  It has 133 chapters and 10 verses in each chapter.  Altogether there are 1,330 verses in it.  The inscription of all the Kurals are found in the hall of Valluvar Kottam carved on stone pallets.  It also has a huge chariot with life size statue of Thiru Valluvar.  Thirukkural has been translated into 37 languages so far.

Places of Worship

Chennai is famous for age-old temples.  In spite of most of these temples being located within the city, a divine peace prevails inside these temples.  A few of these famous temples in Chennai are Marundeeshwarar temple, Kapaleeswarar tempe,  Parthasarathy temple and Ashtalakshmi temple.

Marundeeshwarar temple

Marundeeshwarar temple is a Shivan temple located in Tiruvanmiyur quite close to the beach which spreads over an area of 1 acre.  The temple was built during the Chola period somewhere in the 7th century A.D. It is here that Lord Shiva enlightened the saint Agathiyar with the knowledge of herbal medicine.  “Marundu” in Tamil means medicine.  This is how Eashwar in this temple got the name Marundeeshwarar.  God Shiva is also said to have blessed Valmiki to write the epic Ramayana here.  Tiruvanmiyur is name after Tiru Valmiki vur which eventually became Tiruvanmiyur.

Kapaleshwarar temple

The temple is located in Mylapore.  It was built in the 7th century.  Later the Portuguese destroyed the temple and it was rebuilt by the Vijaynagar Kings during the 16th century.  So the temple architecture is 350 years old.  The temple is a typical Dravidian style temple in which superlative Gopuram’s mark the threshold of the temple.  The temple is full of exquisite sculptures.  Goddess Parvathi who was in the form of a peacock, performed worshipping rites to God Shiva in this temple.  Mylapore is derived from “Mylai” which mean peacock in Tamil.

Parthasarathy temple

Parthasarathy temple is located in Triplicane close to Marina beach.  It was built by the Pallavas during 8th century A.D. Lord Parthasarathy is one of the incarnations of lord Krishna.   Parthasarathy means the chariot of Arjuna as in the epic Mahabharata. Lord Krishna is worshipped in the form of Vishnu, VenkataKrishna, Rama, Ranganathar and Krishna, which are the five incarnations of Lord Krishna.

Ashtalakshmi temple

This is one of the recently built temples.  It was constructed as recently as 1976 and built with Dravidian style architecture.  It is built on the shores of the Besant Nagar beach on the Bay of Bengal.  This temple was built for eight forms of Goddess Lakshmi.

San Thome Cathedral Church

St. Thomas who was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ came to Chennai to spread Christianity.  This church was built on his burial site.  The Mount where he lived and preached was named St. Thomas Mount after him. 

This church is constructed using Gothic architecture and is a national treasure. It rises about 155 feet or 47.25 m above the ground. The nave is roughly 34m x 10m. There is an awesome sanctuary. The walls have an abundance of stained glass windows depicting the Bible stories of St. Thomas and many of the apostles. At the St. Thomas Basilica is stored an ancient painting of Mother Mary, in front of which, St. Francis Xavier, another great missionary used to pray.

Velankanni Church

Velankanni Shrine in Besant Nagar is a replica of Shrine Velankanni in Nagapatinam.   It is smaller in size compare to the original Church in Nagapattinam.  It is dedicated to Mother Mary and Infant Jesus.

Guindy National Park

Guindy National Park is 8th smallest national park in India.  It is located in Guindy which is in the heart of the city.  It is close to the Raj Bhavan and the Indian Institute of Technology.  Adjacent to the National park is the ‘Snake Park’.  The Snake Park has many deadly species of snakes for the public display.  This park preserves reptiles and amphibians too.

Besant Nagar

The place Besant Nagar in Chennai is named after Annie Besant the founder of the Theosophical Society.  It also has the Kalakshetra, which is a school for traditional dances like Bharathanatyam and vocal music.  Besant Nagar is one of the posh localities in Chennai.  It is also close to the Besant Nagar beach.

Nehru stadium

It is built to accommodate 40,000 people at a time.  Within the stadium is an indoor multi-purpose stadium which accommodates 8,000 spectators

Birla Planetarium

Birla Planetarium is a Science Center where, when they switch off the lights we can see the planets, twinkling stars and moving meteors at the reach of our hands.  It is open on all days except for national holidays. 

Shopping

You have Shopping malls like Spencer’s, City Center, and Express Avenue in Chennai.   Where many shops are brought under one roof, making us spoilt for choices.  Pondy bazaar is the best place to do comparison shopping.  Items in Pondy bazaar shops can be bought (bargained) for at half the price of what the vendor initially quotes.  Most of the branded shops have branches throughout the city.  Chennai is famous for colorful silk sarees with intricate designs woven by hand, jasmine flowers stringed together to decorate the hair, decorative terracotta items and sculptures.

The next piece of information is taken from Wikipedia.org ..

Chennai has sister city relationships with the following four cities of the world.

 

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