Chennai – A blend of the modern and the traditional

The Ashtalaxmi Temple

Historic Fort George

The Stately Government Museum

The Colossal Thiruvalluvar Kottam

Asia's Longest Beach-Marina Beach

Recently, we visited the metropolitan city, Chennai. We were totally enamored by its wide roads, orderly traffic, cleanliness and efficient public transport system. There are very few private travel operators as the Corporation’s buses run regularly and at great frequency, within the city’s limits and also to its mofussil areas.

Since our guest-house was located right near the Parry’s bus depot, it was very convenient for us to go to Koyambedu for the CMBT (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus) for our sight-seeing trips around Chennai. This 45 minutes’ ride was itself thoroughly enjoyable, as we passed by heritage structures like the Chennai railway Station, Rippon building, etc. The ride over the heritage Harris bridge and with a view of a small island with a huge tree on it in-between a placid lake, was out of this world!
Then we rode over spiraling flyovers deftly constructed for the smooth one-way movement of traffic. We felt as if we were on a roller-coaster ride! The absence of unruly riders, traffic snarls and jams made it a dream ride. We noticed that unlike Pune, there were very few two-wheeler riders in Chennai; thanks to its superb public transport machinery.
The CMBT stand was just too good to be true! An ISO certified Bus Terminus is possible, I realized, only when I saw this certified Depot. The vast, clean and swanky waiting area, with authorized stalls, restaurant, seats, fans, clean toilets and drinking water facilities overwhelmed us. There was a pre-paid auto booth at its entrance and police on duty to handle any enquiries. Stalls sold the subsidized mineral water branded under the former Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s name as Amma mineral water, for just Rs. 10/- . When we entered the Terminus, we saw a counter manned by Health Personnel who attended to needs of the passengers who could need medical aid. This service and medicines were provided free of cost. A security officer was monitoring a dozen monitors of CCTVs, in a booth. Lady police constables constantly shooed away the beggars and vagabonds out of the premises.
A huge, decorated kiosk with a life-size cut-out of the former Chief Minister’s photo beamed at us. It contained the photos and video of her implementing various welfare schemes for the needy people of Tamil-Nadu, such as providing things, cows, etc.
A Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation’s (TTDC) Office was situated behind the kiosk from where we obtained pamphlets regarding the sight-seeing tours conducted by TTDC and also the tariff rates of various TTDC hotels.
Wherever places had been dug up for the Chennai Metro, the areas were neatly demarcated with tin sheets on which strings of lights served as warnings for motorists, in the dark. No rubble lay around.
We noticed that all the buses had their destinations marked only in Tamil, which could be troublesome for non-Tamilians. Women safely commuted, wearing loads of gold ornaments! However, the unscrupulous auto-drivers were a bane!
We saw the Ashta Laxmi temple, with various forms of the Goddess on two levels. The stone-hewn idols were benign and beautiful. Then we saw the Parthasarathy temple dedicated to the Lord Krishna and Lord Balaji with his two consorts. This temple was also ISO certified.
The half-day’s sightseeing tour of Chennai that we had booked, was a whirlwind tour of all the must-see attractions like the historic Fort George, the first Fort constructed by the British in India; that housed a museum, the Government Museum with priceless antique sculptures; the profusely carved Thiruvalluvar Kottam, dedicated to the memory of the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar; the snake park at Guindy, with its collection of reptiles; the Padmanabhaswamy temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu reclining on Sheshnag with Goddess Laxmi beside; and lastly, the famed Marina beach, Asia’s longest beach. There, horse-borne policemen patrolled its shores. We watched the milky waves lashing against the beach with awe.
Later, we visited the Kapaleeshwar temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. Peace permeated us and our Chennai sight-seeing ended on a blissful note.
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The copyright of this travelogue and photographs is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.