CHENNAI: THE LAST CITADEL OF CONSERVATISM FALLS IN MODERN INDIA

Chennai, the capital city of the State of Tamil Nadu, is India's fourth largest city in India, and one of the fastest growing in the whole of Asia. Once considered a conservative city, this metropolis has changed a full three hundred and sixty degrees in the past ten years, and is now almost equal in urbanization and high-quality comforts, equal to or even better than what one can find in any metro or big city in India.

The changes are visible everywhere. For instance,a single plot of land (2400 square foot) in the fastest growing suburb of this metropolis -- the old Mahabalipuram road, that is now home to the best multinational and Indian Information technology companies -- costed just around 1200 US dollars around twelve years ago,(at current prices, with one US dollar equivalent to around 41 Indian rupees) is now hundred times the same figure! In fact, owning an apartment in this part of the city is now considered a presitige issue, what with the big names like the Hiranandani and DLF groups of North India entering the fray.

Not just that. The retail revolution is very much alive and kicking. What was once the exclusive preserve of T.Nagar, the commercial hub of the city is now spread out in areas like Adyar, Alwarpet, Purasawalkam and the Old Mahabalipuram road.

Not so long ago, one could just get to eat only the typical South Indian foods like iddli, vada and dosa in thousands of middle-class restaurants in any part of the city. Not any more. The same restaurants supply the best of North Indian dishes, and a huge variety of non-vegetarian restaurants have also come up, with tastes varying from the traditional Chettinad to the Western kind of food. One can now find Chinese,Thai, Korean and even Japanese food in the city three star, four star and five star hotels,and eating out is as common as it once was in other metros like Mumbai and Delhi.

Chennai is home to Ford and Hydai, two multinational giants who are now expanding their production bases like never before. Feeding these multinational giants with high quality manpower are the city's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, and the Anna University -- two of India's top fifteen technological institutions. In fact, the Information technology majors recruit bulk of their manpower from Chennai's good engineering colleges and there are at least fifteen of them in the self-financing category.

Chennai is also the only city where one can find a large number of Deemed Universities, whose degrees are recognised by the Central Government, and the University Grants Commission. The SRM University, the MGR University, the Bharath University,and the Satyabama University, are all headquarted here,and these Universities have now attracted
students from Malaysia, Singapore, and Africa. The standard of education in these Universities is now sought to be made as good as in Anna University. The city's University of Madras is one of India's oldest universities that recently celebrated one hundred and fifty years of glorious service to the nation.

The rich and growing middle-class is now spending like never before. Chennai is now one of the country's top markets for new cars, two-wheelers, cell phones, luxury apartments, and the neo rich from other cities who are busy buying fancy farm houses some eighty kilometres from the city, but reachable in just around eighty minutes, thanks to the good condition of the highway roads that lead one to other cities South of Chennai.

People still go to the city's numerous temples to worship, and are more religious and pious than their other metro counterparts. But the below thirty yuppy-yuppy generation which earns fat salaries,is becoming more permissive and is rapidly breaking all barriers -- inter-caste and inter-state love marraiges are now so common and are accepted as a fact of life. The city has now acquired a cosmopolitan character, thanks to thousands of young North Indians who now work in the various information technology companies and the growing Business Process Outsouring sector. Hindi, the language once considered a pure North Indian language that would simply reduce Tamil -- the official language of the State of Tamil Nadu -- to a secondary status, is now widely spoken, and thousands of young students eagerly learn it in the city's schools and colleges.

Chennai is home to Sankara Nethralaya, an excellent eye care hospital in Egmore, a posh locality of the city. This institituion is reputed to be the best in Asia, and has attracted thousands of patients from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and even the West, since the cost of treatment is very reasonable when compared to what one would have to spend elsewhere. This hospital also performs free eye surgery for hundreds of poor people. Apollo hospitals,the largest Corporate hosptial group of India, is headquarted in Chennai. In fact, Apollo group of hospitals is in the forefront of medical tourism in India, with its pricing being a fraction of what it would cost in the USA and other western countries. Its infrastructure and intellectual capital is equal to the best in the world.

On all the possible three sides, Chennai's radius is now expanding to over sixty kilometres, and it will not be before long that other districts like Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram are amalgamated with it. In any case, industrialization is now the catch-word, with an investor-friendly State Government lapping up private investment in every form.

There are certain problems like lack of drinking water, but with several projects down the pipeline and desalination plants coming up, this should also be tackled.

Chennai is no more the convervative city it once was. Its facilities and the wealth that is now seen everywhere makes it a very exiting place for business, leisure, medical treatment and, of course, spirituality.

Three cheers to the new Chennai!

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