A weekend in Chennai

A Trip to Chennai after a longtime.

More than half the people I know from college are in Chennai.So found two days to be insufficient , especially considering the other plans I had apart from meeting people

Chennai weather was better this time.

Got down at the Central, crossed over to park station and boarded the suburban train to Guindy.Waited for Satish to come.

After a few hours of sleep we went to the Nanganallur Anjaneya temple.The temple was good.It was a saturday and I expected the temple to be crowded but crows management was pretty decent.

Then we decided to try the flying train service.The service was extended to Velachery just a few days back.We planned to goto the beach station, eat at The Saravanabhavan near DARE HOUSE.Buy some DVDs/VCDs and then return to Velachery.

The train had very few people.The trip to the beach station took only 30-35 minutes.

Most of the stations on the way , were located in inaccesible points, the triplicane station being a case in point.Also most of the stations along this line were located a few KMs away from the residential hubs.So you had to come by a two wheeler , park it in the station.Board the train and Chances you will have to travel a few kilometres to your destination , from the station where you get down.So you have to use another mode.It will be great if they integrate the 2 different train systems and then somehow bring the buses in , under a single MRTS System.There will be issues about revenue sharing between different central and state departments.But in the interest of the commuters , those issues have to be resolved.

We came at around 5.

Young kids were busy bursting crackers.Very few houses were decorated with diyas.In Madurai , most houses are adorned with diyas on the day of karthigai.
I miss madurai :(

Went out to meet a few people.

SUNDAY

Went to the IIFT exam.came back at two

Watched the match.Then arbit browsing.

Went to Ascendas IT Park

Ascendas has a very large Food court.Food courts in malls like Spencer's or Citi center or The forum in Bangalore can't come close to this planet yumm in seating capacity.

Ascendas is neat and well maintained.Right at the entrance , in Level 1 you have shops,Cafe coffee day and a good food court.So a lot of people , who have nothing to do with ascendas IT Park come in just to eat/shop.I am not sure if that happens in any other major IT park.

Some Observations:

Travelling in Chennai is much simpler.You have trains and buses. Roads are also better at least in comparison to Bangalore.

The last time I was in Velachery , the road along the IT corridor was in a pathetic state.I don't think the full stretch is complete yet.But at least the first half is over and had made travelling easy.

The flyover near the Kathipara junction , was just a project on paper some 20 months back.Today work is progressing at a very rapid pace.I am sure , it will be "dedicated" to the state of Tamil Nadu in a few months.

Similar construction activity in Bangalore will take atleast thrice as much time.I hope the construction of the Bangalore metro and the Devanahalli air port change that.

IT companies are spread all over Bangalore.Electronics city, ITPL , White field , the entire stretch of the outer ring road at least till Marathahalli , Airport road and many other areas have huge IT campuses.
In Chennai , most IT campuses are located along the IT expressway or else in far away places like the Mahindra city.IT Parks in other areas are just coming up.So traffic is not that bad in Chennai.

It is my belief that Chennai has always had better roads than Bangalore.


Got a lot more to say..But got work takes precedence...