A North Indian in Chennai feels both apprehension and excitement. I, too, went through the same process when my husband got posting orders for Chennai. Apprehensive because I have never been down South, not even as tourist and my mind was hazed by common stereotypes that a regular North Indian has for South India. Added to this were the horror stories about language issues. These are my, Β a North Indianβs experiences in Chennai.
1. Β Β Beach Prawn Shopping
Credit: http://squierj.freeyellow.com/
Those who know me will have no doubts that prawn shopping tops the list. Fresh catch of prawns is seductively displayed in heaps on the beaches of Chennai. Remember to negotiate hard. With time you learn the nuances of the game. They sell in heaps and not by weight. So you have to see that the heap is not misleading. The tactics is to place the big sized prawns on top while the smaller and sometimes the rotten ones are hidden underneath. Trust me it is an art and I am a pro at it now. The trick is to combine Tamil, English, Hindi and throw in a lot of body language to crack the best deal.
βPrawns romba costly solreenga …konjam less amma…β
Tip: Go late evening to get the best negotiated deal. I mean almost Β½ kg of prawns in Rs. 40.
Chennaites have a good business sense. The moment you buy prawns, a lady sitting quietly till now will all of a sudden get hyper active β snatch your packet and start de-skinning and cleaning the prawns while shouting throughout… only 10 rupees, only 10 rupees. Well, not a bad bargain at all!
Ah! I so miss Chennai and prawns.
2.Β Β Β Minimalist Fashion
Nighty seems to be the state dress for women in Chennai. Actually, nighty is the most practical dress in sweltering humidity of Chennai. People here generally follow simple dressing unlike some other states like Chandigarh that can actually give you a complex of being under-dressed. I love Chennai for I could be myself, unkept not that I will grow bushy eyebrows but yes comfy dressing.
3. Β Β The Love for Gajra
Every woman in Chennai gracefully wears a gajra be it young girls, married women, old ladies, corporate working or housewife. And, it is simply romantic! Very early in the morning you have ladies coming up with baskets of fresh gajra and selling from door to door. If you book them on monthly basis (which a lot of Chennaities do) then they will hang a packet of gajra on your door knob and it is the first thing you see when you wake up.Β Every street, every bus stop, and at every market you will find a lady with a small makeshift arrangement selling gajras. I so fell in love with gajra that I pestered Soumen to get one for me and put it in my hair in typical Bollywood fashion. He obliged reluctantly.
4. Β Β TheΒ Footwear Rule
If you are in Chennai then book yourself for a good pedicure membership. Most of the shops have leave your footwear outside policy. They have taken the βwork is worshipβ a little too seriously. Not that I have problems with moving around barefoot but I surely wonβt be comfortable in an unclean and unhygienic place but sadly that is the case with most of the shops. Eventually, I ended up with limited shopping outlets.
5.Β Β Β Wholesome Food
Chennai, the land of idli, dosa and aapams actually offers yummy, healthy and filling food within Rs 100.
At Murugan Idli restaurant a banyan leaf is laid Β as soon as you sit (not even a minute is wasted) and an army of people with traditional pots and ladles will come in such speed that you are left startled. Varieties of chutneys, sambhar, vada, idli, dosa, rasam is served within matter of minutes. For the first timers this can be a little intimidating but soon you enjoy all this quick service.
Each time at Murugan Idli we hogged like anything and even when we had stuffed ourselves with every possible variety of South Indian food and double servings of chutney and sambhar the bill would hardly cross Rs 500 for a group of four people.
The best thing about food in Chennai is that you can eat with hands. Fork and spoon is not even served. My father-in-law, a true Bengali at heart, once said, βAh such is the irony that I am served with palatable food but because eaiting with knife and fork is considered courteous (stupid British systems) I am deprived of savouring the real flavours which emanates only when eaten by hands.β Β Isn’t that true for most of us?
When in Chennai I realized that the South Indian food served in most of the restaurants in North India actually have a Punjabi tadka. The authentic South Indian dosa and sambhar is much different.
6. Β Β Beach Romance
No matter how much a couple fights through the day if they go for a beach walk romantic feeling is imminent β the beach breeze, playful ambiance, moon light and beach food (vendors selling all sorts of snacks) makes you feel light and refreshing.
7.Β Β Β Spencer Mall
I have a crush on Spencer mall. It is so huge with so many shops that you do fall in love with it and keep coming back frequently. The mall has 3 phases, 8 storeys and approximately 1.068 million sq ft, consisting of nearly 600,000 sq ft of air-conditioned shopping units. You can practically spend 24 hours there. My personal record is straight 12 hours of marathon shopping inside Spencer mall. I got lost in there so many times but that was fun too!
Spencer mall has an historical angle worth mentioning. βSpencer Plaza was built in 1863β1864, established by Charles Durant and J. W. Spencer in Anna Salai, then known as Mount Road, in theΒ Madras Presidencyβ, quoting Wikipedia. So, it is just not another mall. It is part of history.
8. Β Β Blind Love for Politicians
When it comes to show love for politicians Chennaities are quite expressive. I have come across men wearing huge gold rings, lockets and bracelets with Amma or Karunanidhiβs pictures. And pure gold jewellery! That is the level of reverence. Often on roadside you can see larger than life cut outs of politicians so designed to resemble a sun with flames fluttering from all sides. It is truly a piece of art.
9. Β Β High onΒ Culture
In the evening giggling girls dressed in Bharatanatyam dress are seen almost in every colony. There is atleast one dance and music academy in eachΒ lane. Such is the love for music and dance in Chennai. We also have the master himself taking classes in Chennai, the A. R Rehman Music Academy.
Sensible audience with understanding and appreciation for literature is key to a commendable theatre culture of Chennai. I watched a play written by Girish Kannad and performed by Shabana Aazmi, Broken Images, that still remains very close to my heart. Unlike Delhi or Chandigarh you will not find a single mobile ringing or disturbance inside theatre and that speaks volumes about audience maturity.
10.Β Lots of Money
From where do they get so much money? Huge saree shops and so systematic that it is unbelievable. Every variety has a different counter. Also no window shopping allowed for the first thing they ask is whatβs your budget? Kanjevaram sarees can be as expensive as 50K . The designs are traditional and you feel feminine wearing them. When it comes to saree shopping, Kumarans in T. Nagar is my absolute favourite.
Who wouldnβt know about gold shopping in Chennai? Gold is quite cheaper in Chennai than any other state and that cajoles you to buy some more. Also the designs are inspired by Dubai and you get some beautiful designs.
Wandering in T.Nagar amidst all these flashy shops I missedΒ havingΒ a hubby with a fat wallet.
Update: This post is adjudged the Top Post on IndibloggerΒ
34 comments
Chennai is a beautiful city in Tamil Nadu . After reading your blog, I really like your post. Thank for providing this informative and comprehensive blog.
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Statues, rajini, degree coffe, sambar vada, CSK, Masala dosa, were missing but it was still great. Next time visit Marina and its promenade and its countless statues,the colonial buildings, temples at mylapore and triplicane, egmore museum, kalakshethra, mahabalipuram rock cut architecture et al. Good post. Great observation.
Thanks. Appreciate your feedback. i do plan to write about my Mahabalipuram experience in a separate blog soon.
Great. Guess you have already visited it. If its for future then try to be in Chennai during early 2016 coz we would have metro rail by then. If you have time to spare then try visiting my blog’s Madras miscellany page . Have scribbled quiet a few things about the city.www.gangsofedathua.com. .happy blogging!
Sure. I enjoyed reading your website
Yea people dig these top 10 stuffs now a days… no wonder it earned you a badge π
Seriousness apart, photos kahan hai bhai?
Photos nahi hai because when we were in Chennai tab DSLR nahi tha….hehe
This was in 2010 π
and you can’t consider taking photos without a dslr? Oh no I must be carelessly toying in the name of photoblogging then :-O
Back then I was not even a blogger so the concept of clicking pics for blogs didn’t exist. I have pics, lots of them but it is all about me, my friends and mad masti we had in Chennai, can’t put them publically
Chalo excused… I can imagine the dark devil dancing in those photos π
Nice presentation and love to hear about south indian city that too chennai
well written…it took me back a decade when i reached Chennai and since then the city charmed me quite a lot …Btw it seems like nighty is becoming a national morning costume π
Thanks π You are quite right about the nighty culture that extends beyond the night.
loved your post…the idli had my mouth watering all along….honest from the heart one of the best travelogues I have come across
Idli and dosa with variety of chutneys is actually tempting…thanks. Your words, best travelogue will ring in my ears for quite some time π Patting my back now…hehe
Oh, nice to hear a third-person’s view of the city I grew in π
Thanks Ashwini. Coming from a Chennaite like you it means a lot. Stay in touch.
That is straight from heart π
I like the prawn experience… so much in Rs.50!!!
mukhe jol ashe gelo π
I too like Chennai for its simplicity.
The amount of prawns I have eaten in Chennai, Indrani it was like daal bhaat. Right from prawn chochuri to pakoda to jhol…prawn in everything. Easy access to prawns is what I miss most about Chennai.
[…] My mind was hazed by common stereotypes that a regular North Indian has for South India plus language issues. Experiences of a North Indian in Chennai. […]
Enjoyed reading this….being a vegetarian I cannot identify with the prawn business part….but the rest sums up some very good observation…being a south Indian as well as having lived in other cities in south India, I would like to add that the best part of Chennai is its perfect mix of culture…you have the ultra modern with the conservative going hand in hand, guiding the youth to build a society which is rich in terms of values…
Totally agree with you, Priya. On one hand IT companies and on the other hand women in simple, traditional dressing and gajra.
Oops never faced this issue, while I was reading your blog, and typed a long comment over here, and the blog gave me that your request has times out, please do it again and my long comment vanished away π
By the way you analyzed these things so closely. I guess I missed the Spencer Mall, I was not aware about that. And I also missed the music, theater and culture part, as I was mostly residing there in hotels only.
Though I must say one thing which we North Indian face there badly is the food issue. Language obviously is a major hurdle though if you know English, and you can break English language quite easily then you can manage there, but managing with foods is a bit difficult. I use to enjoy the foods over there, but whenever I visited Chennai with my mom, I use to carry so many food items from Delhi only π
So sweet of you to leave a meaningful comment π Yes, I agree food is a problem but we managed as we are fish and rice eaters and this is staple food of Chennai. Food is quite spicy and tangy there. However, Dosa was my all time favourite there, so crispy and with varieties of coconut chutney, heavenly!
Love your post!!!! Very well written!!
been in chennai for 4 years…can relate to most of these..i had become an expert in negotiating fish prices by the end of my stay π
Loved this post and as I say, South India is the best – people, culture, food and almost everything π
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Geetanjali love to read your artcle always. Even iin delhi’s kinari bazar they have system of barefoot entry.
Thanks a ton. So is this Kinari Bazar in Delhi, a stronghold of people from South?