the modern city with traditional values
My excitement is sky-high for my trip to the de-facto gateway to south India — Chennai. With my experience of living in Mumbai for 2 decades and traveling to Kolkata & Delhi, I know these senior metropolises are not just modern urban economic growth hubs but deeply rooted in a strong cultural heritage, tradition, and high spirit. No wonder they excelled so much.
It’s a story of my day in Chennai, I’m not sure though if a day is enough to get the essence well, but feel it wasn’t that short. One thing I’m certain of is that it has all the ingredients to make it an interesting read.
Chapter 1 : A Nightmare
I reached the Chennai (Koyembedu bus stand) by midnight, around 3 hours later than the expected time as many buses were canceled or rerouted due to the weekend crowd. I was unsure about the right location to stay and thus didn’t book it in advance. My city tour will start from Mylapore, but couldn’t find anything good there online. However, a co-passenger confidently recommended staying there and suggested there are many guest houses. So immediately after getting down, I booked a bike cab to Mylapore, near Kapaleeshwar temple.
The ride started with a bit of delay due to confusion caused by the Bus stand having two entrances. Riding on the road at this hour is always fund. Chennai was largely sleeping except for vehicles on the main roads. The cab dropped me at my destination at around 12:45 am. Mylapore being a market area it was utterly quiet with hardly a few people on the street.
I walked around the streets, reading the signboards of the closed shops on both sides, looking for any hotel or guest house. There were shops for all kinds of items. It was a nice walk but didn’t see any hotel or guesthouse. I thought it was better to use Google Maps. Like earlier, a few hotels with poor to average reviews flashed. I visited a couple but didn’t like any.
Finally, I found one which was sort of fine and the room charges are also as per the facilities. While checking the room I noticed that the a/c was not working and the pillow cover had some stains on it. While proceeding with the booking, I mentioned to the receptionist about the a/c and pillow cover. Surprisingly he got annoyed and replied that everything was fine and he would not make any changes, rather would not give me the room now. It was 1:30 am and I didn’t have any energy to find more places. I told him it was very late and I’ll manage somehow without any changes, but he didn’t budge.
Not wasting more time, I took a rickshaw and went to a hotel nearby which was a bit niche. I normally like to keep my travel and stay simple but I had limited options and getting some sleep for the long day tomorrow is important. I checked in, took a shower, and went to bed in no time.
Chapter 2: Breakfast, Breakfast & more Breakfast
My morning was quite early, as planned, to cover maximum places. With some clouds in the sky, it was pleasant so I decided to walk to the temple. On the way, I saw a cafe serving many cyclists and a other few customers. The coffee shop, Chennai Coffee(Vivekanand Coffee), has a niche ambiance to goes unnoticed and the nice strong fragrance of filter coffee pulled me in. I relished the banana slice cake and refreshing filter coffee, both were delicious.
Mylapore is full of famous restaurants/cafes/street-side eateries serving traditional food. I wanted to cover as many as I could, so decided to take a meal break after every place I visited.
The first stop was the famous Jannal Kadai Window stall. They serve via a window that opens in the same lane as the temple’s entry. I ordered Idli and Wada which is served with sambhar and a couple of different Chatnis. He used silver paper on the plate to keep it clean and avoid washing.
Idli was very soft and Wada fluffy, though a bit less crispy from the outside to call it best. Nevertheless, having it hot with delicious sambhar and chatnis is just yummy. I was tempted to try other snacks too but stopped myself as there are many more places to cover.
Well, one interesting incident to share. A guy there was also having idli sambhar. His sambhar might have leaked from silver paper into the plate making it a bit dirty. The shopkeeper asked him to rinse the plate with water before giving it back. That made me extra careful, anyways the men in Chennai, especially the elderly ones, are no-nonsense and quite tough fellows.
Then visited the famous Kapaleeswar (Shiva) and Goddess Karpagambal (Parvati) temple. The architecture was similar to other temples in the south, with a tall Gopuram (entrance) with many statues colored with vibrant colors and many temples within the campus. I appreciated that at the entrance they had kept a board describing the meanings of names, history, related festivals, and legends of the temple and Mylapore region. Such things help the devotees and enhance their overall experience. The temples in the south give ash and kumkum to apply on the forehead. Here they have kept a few bowls outside every temple for dropping the remaining ash which otherwise people throw somewhere in corners, making the place dirty. The compound was very clean and everything was so nicely organized. In spite of being the weekend, it wasn\’t very crowded. I had a very enriching darshan. One interesting sight was seeing airplanes flying pretty low over the temple.
It was time for the next meal, which was at a nearby restaurant- ‘Mami Tiffin Stall’. I wanted to try their special dumplings called Kozhukatti but found that it’s only served on Fridays, starting at 4 pm. Mami has an open kitchen and chefs prepare food with great efficiency. I ordered Pongal which I complemented with sambhar and the chatnis. This is the first time I was trying Pongal so can’t say how authentic it was but the preparation was quite flavorsome and I enjoyed it fully. Whole peppers were put in it which gave a nice spice shot in some bites. I felt they could improve on cleanliness a bit though.
After a nice spicy breakfast, I followed the map to a rose-flavored milk joint called Kalathi Rose Milk. I reached the location but saw no milk shop, rather there was a small shop selling biscuits and other packaged snacks. Since the signboard was in Tamil I checked with the shopkeeper and was surprised to know it’s the same. I ordered their signature product — Rose milk. It’s served in a small 200 ml bottle worth Rs 20. It was nostalgic for me as rose milk was the most common beverage in summer during my childhood days and now it’s somehow replaced with cold drinks. The milk was very delectable and refreshing, a little extra sweet though. Good that the quantity was less else my stomach would have exploded. Like many other shops here, they accept only cash payments.
I then proceed towards Santhome, a 500-year-old cathedral built over the tomb of Thomas the Apostle. I was overwhelmed by the majestic grandeur of the Roman architectural marvel in the middle of the city. It’s painted snow white and huge towers make it look like a castle. Being Sunday, the sound of melodious carols is coming out. The aura was such that I almost stayed on the road mesmerized by the grandness of the building and the sound of carols. I went inside and, it was magnificent. I attended the Sunday mass for around 30 minutes, then walked out as it was getting late. I did a quick visit to St Thomas’s tomb before leaving the campus.
A small walk behind the church took me to iconic Marina Beach though this part of the beach was very silent, I felt not many tourists wander in there. Few local teams were playing cricket by using the shoulder lane of the road as the pitch and the vast open beach as the ground. It’s fascinating to see how the coastline is pretty much part of life. I continued my walk on the beach going towards the lighthouse. A road running parallel to the beach has 100s of street fish vendors on both sides and many many more shoppers which have stalled the traffic completely. I felt lucky I chose to walk.
My clock was showing 11 am which is not usually considered the right time to be at the beach in the hot summer of Tamilnadu. Tamilnadu gets rains mainly with North-East monsoon and it starts pretty late in the month of October. Though we get some showers (called summer rains ) in July-Sept with the South West monsoon of India. Today being cloudy since morning, the weather is very pleasant even at this time. It took me around 15 minutes to reach the Lighthouse.
The lighthouse at Marina Beach was a triangular tower painted in red & white bands and is still functional. It has a lift to the 9th floor, and then climbing some stairs takes you to the gallery. It gives a nice bird\’s eye view of the city, a road looking like an airstrip to the horizon, the endless Marina Beach, and the eternal sea. I spent some time here absorbing the view and took some nice clicks, though I was expecting a nice cold breeze too which was missing. Surprisingly there were not too many stalls at the beach considering its vastness and very less tourists. I wanted to try some cuisines at the beach which I had read a lot in online reviews. I suppressed the inner cry primarily because I was feeling quite stuffed and wanted to keep some appetite for the lunch at the famous Buhari restaurant. I promised myself that I’d definitely come back again to Chennai for it.
Chapter 3: 65 Puzzle Solved
For my next destination — Parthsarathi temple, I took an auto-rickshaw. We had a short innocent negotiation for the fare. He told me Rs 100, I offered Rs 50, and he reduced it to Rs 60 and I agreed. Interestingly the same strategy worked for the couple of auto rickshaw rides later as well. All the drivers I met were so nice, and they very shared the details of all the places of interest we passed. The road to the temple runs parallel to the beach like the Marine Drive of Mumbai, though you can’t see the ocean here as the beach is wider and shops & monuments were built. The road is wide and well-maintained, I’m sure the bikers would be hitting the gas on their power machines during night hours. Some administrative buildings & colleges of European architecture, cricket stadiums, temples, etc. on the way reminded me of Mumbai, my favorite city in India.
Parthasarathi temple as the name suggests is the temple of lord Krishna along with another temple of Rukmani. Here is a huge idol of lord Vishnu illuminating strength & power whereas in the adjacent temple was the goddess Rukmani with a face radiating love & care, looking so graceful, adorned in a beautiful saree and pieces of jewelry. A fascinating thing I noticed in temples in the south, many couples doing special puja wear their traditional dresses. Men in dhoti with upper bare body looks like scholar/guru and women in silk sprees, adorned in jewelry and wearing flowers in hair look no less than a goddess, they resemble Shiva and Parvathi.
My friend and her sister were going to meet me at my next destination a— ‘St. George Fort’, as per my Chennai itinerary. I did basic research and take this friend\’s help to prepare this itinerary which covers many places of interest along with places of interesting food. The only thing missing is the inclusion of any special ice cream shop. Well, on my way to St. George Fort, I crossed the Zapier bridge which was completely painted as a chess board to promote and celebrate the Chess Olympiad going on in Mahabalipuram, Chennai. It was looking quite interesting and many folks were stopping there to click photos.
After reaching the Fort I came to know that it’s converted into a secretariat thus only the museum and church are open to the public. The Museum was quite big and well-maintained. It gave a good knowledge of the British era in Chennai and the entire east coast. Their weapons, coins, paintings, statues, armor, uniforms, scriptures, etc were kept for display. Not being a museum person, I was skeptical initially to come here but was very fascinated now to see the century-old history of places which I’m exploring now.
St Mery Church is on the other end of the fort. It’s an Archeological preserved monument now and was closed. It was a beautiful structure but could be skipped as it’s a bit long for walking in the afternoon and didn’t get to see anything from inside. My friends called me to inform me that they would be late so would directly meet me at the Buhari restaurant. I took a bike cab to Buhari and loaded the cab driver with my questions about the old or new buildings on the way.
Buhari is a famous landmark in Chennai and the birthplace of a popular recipe called Chicken 65. Every restaurant in the South serves Chicken 65 or its other siblings like Paneer 65, Mutton 65, etc. I’ve been always curious about the number 65 and got the answer from Buhari. They invented and introduced this recipe in their restaurant in the year 1965. They kept the name Chicken 65 to keep it crisp and funky. Buhari is also famous for Biryani. The restaurant has a niche and modern ambiance. It was pretty crowded thus I had to wait for around 30 minutes. We ordered their famous Biryani & Chicken 65, and both of them were pretty average and couldn’t stand their fame. It could be due to the heavy rush on that day.
Chapter 4: Culture, Cuisine, Cult and Craziness
With two Chennaites as your guide who need the itinerary now, the best is to go by their recommendations. We proceed towards a cult tourist place – Broken Bridge; which is a bridge to nowhere. It was a big bridge over the Adyr river connecting Elliot’s beach to Santhome but in the year 1977, it collapsed partially due to the strong current of the river and was never repaired after that. Apart from some youngsters, there were no other tourists there. One has to climb almost 5 feet in height to get on the bridge, as the access road is also washed out. Well, the effort is worth it as it gives a superb panoramic view of the city, creek, river, ocean, and beach. The weather god was still with us and made the sun remain behind the clouds. I’m sure it will be mesmerizing to watch a sunrise from here.
After this old cult place, we moved to a recent cult – an ice cream cart ‘Kuchice’. It has become extremely popular that people queue for half an hour before it arrives. This cart comes at 6 pm and leaves in a couple of hours. We reached by 5:30 pm to find around 10-12 people waiting, which increased to 50 in the next 15 minutes and crossed 100 by 6 pm. The ice cream cart’s arrival is nothing less than a celebration. His ice cream candies are rich and yummy. Many flavors to choose from, some of them have around 5 layers and others have delicious toppings. Such ice cream on candy was my first experience. I relished the ice cream but more than that the craziness of Chennaites for food won my heart.
It’s dinner time and the duo suggested ‘Madurai – Kumar Mess’, known for traditional cuisines. Going by the name, I thought it would be a small roadside stall but to my surprise, it was a niche restaurant. Kumar Mess is a famous restaurant chain in Madurai and this place is its franchise. Banana leaves were arranged on tables for serving. We cleaned the banana leaves with some water, not sure if it’s part of the tradition. We ordered Biryani and other famous cuisines including seafood. The food was satisfying, flavourful, and so delicious that even after so much food throughout the day, I couldn’t stop myself from overeating.
This eventful day is slowly coming towards its end. It was great to visit this supercity where people are proud of their literature, culture, and traditions. A day I’m not going to forget. I had many nostalgic moments as being here many places reminded me of Mumbai, a place I love. After some time I was standing on the same bus stand I was present last night.
While coming to the bus stand, I saw directions boards with names of a few places I couldn’t cover today, I felt Chennai inviting me to visit again.
Bye Chennai, see you soon
