Chennai: Our Experience

Summary

While there are a couple of nice attractions and the train system is very efficient, Chennai is like every other metropolitan city in India – the streets are clogged with traffic, the weather is oppressively hot, the air is heavy with smog and sights of any great interest are thin on the ground. Visiting Chennai is a waste of your precious travel time.

Chennai: Our Experience

 

23rd December, 2013 (Day 1)

 

We arrived into Chennai on a short 2-hour bus trip from Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram). For most people, Chennai is either an entry or exit point for South India; for us, Chennai was our exit point from South India. Having spent a month in South India, we decided to spend a day here just to see whether this city had a soul or any attractions worth talking about.

 

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After a refreshing shower at our hotel in Chromepet (Southern Chennai, close to the airport), we took a train to Fort St George located south of George Town. This is historical territory as the fort was Britain’s first bastion in India, the nucleus from which an empire grew. This was the East India Company’s principal settlement until 1774, when Calcutta (now Kolkata) was declared the seat of the government. Today, it is the seat of the government of Tamil Nadu who is housed in the buildings known as the Secretariat and the Legislative Council Chambers.

Walking around Fort St George, we got to see the Neo-Classical buildings built by the British in the 17th century. These are the oldest buildings in India built by the British and, unfortunately, most of them are in disrepair. As we walked around, we imagined what they looked like during the British days and the scenes back then.

 

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From Fort St George, we took a train to the Government Museum Chennai located in Egmore. The train system in Chennai is awesome (fast, reliable, comfortable, clean, safe, cheap) and we used it practically everywhere we went in this city. Egmore also happens to have the main train station for regional trains to and from Chennai.

Although I’m not a big fan of museums ( as they are filled with so many small objects that I get bored and tired), I really liked the Government Museum. Housed across several British-built buildings known as the Pantheon Complex, this excellent museum is Chennai’s best. It is spread over five sections, each with a specific collection of objects. The 30,000 odd exhibits range from rocks and fossils to books and sculptures. The highlight of our visit to the museum was finding a copy of the Magna Carta, apparently India’s only copy.

 

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After spending a couple of hours browsing through the antique objects in the museum, we walked across the road to a Chennai restaurant – Hotel Thayif  for lunch. This is a Muslim budget restaurant and if you don’t mind rubbing shoulders with the rickshaw drivers, this is an excellent place to have a mouthful of delicious Muslim food. Muslim cuisine has its origins from Persia and was introduced into India when the Persians invaded the sub-continent in the 16th century. I love Muslim food, having grown up eating it in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

 

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After lunch, we took the train to the old Brahmin suburb of Mylapore with its beautiful temple towers, old-time silk emporia and dingy cafes. This is a nice place to stay in Chennai if you plan to spend more time here.

There were three attractions in Mylapore that we had planned to visit; our first attraction was Ramakrishna Math Chennai.

Ramakrishna Math is a great place to visit to get away from the stress and chaos of city life and enjoy the tranquility and peace of the monastery. Ramakrishna Math is a monastic organisation for men brought into existence by Ramakrisha (1836-1886), a 19^th century saint of Bengal. Being a native to Bengal myself, I have great affinity for Ramakrishna and respect his values and teachings. Apart from visiting the shrine, we also enjoyed walking around the lush gardens and watching the monks in their orange robes as they went about their daily business.

 

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The next attraction we visited in Mylapore was Kapaleeshwarar Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is Chennai’s most active, largest and most impressive temple. Lord Shiva is symbolised as a peacock (mayil) in this temple, thus giving the area its original name, Mayilapura, the “Town of Peacocks”. Although, as non-Hindus we weren’t allowed to enter the main sanctuary, we still enjoyed walking around the compound admiring the colourful gopurams with their tiny sculptures of gods and goddesses.

 

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Our next stop was Santhome Basilica, a soaring Roman Catholic Church built by the Portuguese in the 16th century.  What is so extraordinary about this basilica is that it is built over the tomb of St Thomas, an apostle of Jesus. He is believed to have preached between 52 A.D. and 72 A.D. before he was martyred on St Thomas Mount. Both Graham and I learnt about Doubting Thomas as children in church and it was wonderful being able to visit his tomb under the basilica. Here, we were able to see a bone from his hand and the weapon used to murder him. Some of his relics are also on exhibition at the museum in the basilica complex.

 

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As the sun was setting, we made our way to Marina Beach, the second longest beach in India. Stretching over 13 km (8 miles) along the city’s eastern flank, this is a popular place for Chennaites to visit after the sun has gone down. You can visit it in the morning when you can watch fishing boats being launched by the fishermen around 6:00 am. In the evening, the beach becomes a colourful pageant with boys playing cricket or flying kites, families enjoying the sea breeze after a sweltering hot day, vendors selling souvenirs, and food carts offering fast-food snacks. As we walked along the sand, we stopped at several food stalls – Graham had a bhutta (grilled corn cob) at one while chatting with a local man about his family, while I had a plate of papri chat at another.

 

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For dinner we were undecided about where to go as there was no one restaurant that stood out. After walking around for what seemed like hours, we decided on Palki Restaurant Chennai which is located in Gopalapuram. Initially, we had plans to dine at Coconut Lagoon but they were closed for renovations so we choose Palki next door. Palki has a multi-cuisine menu specialising in North Indian, South Indian and Chinese cuisines. After dining here, we thought that while the service and ambiance was of high standards, they needed to improve the quality of their dishes to match their expensive prices.

 

 

24th December, 2013 (Day 2)

 

The following morning, we made our way to the airport to catch a Spice Jet flight to Kolkata. On arrival at the airport, we realised that we needed to have a copy of our flight itinerary with us in order to enter the airport lounge. So, we had to go to the Spice Jet assistance counter and get one printed out for Rs 100. For anyone reading this blog who is planning on visiting India, remember to always carry your flight itinerary with you when going to the airport.

 

Now that we have visited Chennai, we can safely say that there is nothing in the city that is worth stopping there for. While we did like a couple of attractions and the train system is very efficient, Chennai is like every other metropolitan city in India – the streets are clogged with traffic, the weather is oppressively hot, the air is heavy with smog and sights of any great interest are thin on the ground.