I am not a hard core north indian. We are from madhya pradesh which means we are as neutral about food n lifestyle as they come. Its pretty straightforward for us with no biased roots, we don't have delhi fashion genes like my sister or bangalore urban love like most of our IT friends or food love like pune people. You can mould us to love what we find simple and convenient. We moved in chennai in 2010 and lived there almost 5 years. Those five years shaped us for our upcoming life so perfectly. Some of things we picked up in chennai were socializing with older families and kids, drinking in pubs and dancing till feet hurt, relaxing near beach even if its super hot and humid and those sangeetha breakfast combos alongwith staying in most raved about expensive resorts. Its all so far apart and still we infused it all in. It all happened because of chennai.
I am going to express my love in chennai in next few paragraphs. Chennai has a cool vibe to it. If I was ever willing to settle in india, it would be chennai anyday. Why you ask ?
Simplicity of City just struck me. This city has everything from vijaya mall to local pubs. Whats even more striking is you fit everywhere in chennai. No one judges you. These people are simple and more concerned for their families, they don't have the time to waste on taunting north indians. I never saw this in any other part of india. Even when I go in my own city, I see eve teasing. Never once in 5 years, I was commented on even though I wore shorts to most local shops too. They don't want to be a part of hooligan culture. If you show them how much better you are, then they will not back off. As long as you fit right in, you won't face any problem.
Cool n Hot : We moved from bangalore where girls were using malls to show off all nice curves dresses which I don't mind at all. Then some day though you feel am I even entitled to be in mall with normal tshirt jeans wavy hair. Chennai doesn't care. I have seen girls dressed up like they are off to wedding then there are families in traditional wear then there are girls like me casually walking in slippers. HAHA chennai people don't give a damn. Wear whatever you want, even bermuda people are seen shopping. Its hot and they wear what is comfortable. Noone cares about fashion. Even if they do, people don't stick their eyes out to look at them. Basically, its super basic. The basic dress code for pubs is shoes just shoes for guys. There is no need to go dress shopping. Go casual. Kids who grow up in south india are so balanced, they are cool,smart, funny and still grounded. I can't say the same thing for north indians. A chunk of them are somehow trying to raise smart mean snobs.
Food : How can someone not like the food here? Its so nice, there are so many dishes you will never get to eat in north. South indian food is super healthy, their thalis are tempting. Their food is spicy, their sambhar has flavor, their rasam their podi. Then you have the luxury of dining out morning 6 to night 11 which isn't so bad. I know people want overnight places well they are there too. Have you tried bajji with masala? Have you tried nellore dosa? Have you tried appam with curry? For vegetarians specially, Chennai has so much to offer. People give up saying there is no north indian food. Well, there is sooooo much more to relish. How much writing this has tickled my taste buds. If your craving still says north, go bombay brassierie.
Restaurants with ambience : Ohh all you richie riches out there, try chennai's best restaurants like raintree or chola or leela palace or amethyst. You don't have beach view elsewhere,do you? I like how the pubs here work, I know they are open till 12 only, it just says start with happy hours :) Why I like them is the crowd is so sober, you have so much floor to dance on.Everyone maintains distance, there is no rubbing or bouncer scenes ever. There is tons of great people to chat with or just be on your table and enjoy. In fact food served is great too. People can be so choosy, they end up wasting time regretting when they could have just let loose and danced. I have seen girls in salwar suit in pubs all the time, simple whatever suits you whatever is comfortable and easy, go with it. Loved this flexibility of chennai. Have you been to GRT yercaud?
Location : Its hot and humid all year. Yep that part is true. The very first week I would faint whenever I went out, hemoglobin people. It was mid of may and then as we kept going out, our bodies adjusted. I liked the sun the heat. Also what you don't see is there is ocean breeze all the time. Oh my god, miss miss that breeze. Evenings with breeze are perfect for walks. September to January isn't even that hot. The beach was perfect on not so crowded days. Trust me, its beautiful if you go on not so touristy beaches. Try tiger caves near chennai or best book a nice resort in mahabalipuram with beach view. That beach my friends is awesome, its not clean but then I didn't say it was andaman you were staying in. Get a air conditioner, hire cabs , make the most of it.
Language Not an Issue : I have met so many people who are under the illusion that chennai has language problems. Well depends on who and what you work with. In 5 years of stay, there were occasional 2 or 3 times when we actually needed interpreter friends. Other than that, everyone speaks english or there are people willing to translate if you smile and ask for help. I am telling you language is not even an issue. They don't have the time to hate north indians or hindi, if they know bits of hindi they will try to talk to you. We judge too much.
South Indian cinema : Have you ever tried south indian movies? They are full of drama action, in 3 hours they show a fully packed entertaining movie. What you are too sophisticated to see their well thought stories. I stopped seeing bollywood movies after this. There is so much to see in tamil movies, dhanush rajnikant act like they are the character not like a certain shahrukh or salman. Have you seen bahubali or moonu or endhiran? Expand your movie rack, get and see these movies. I am telling you good direction story writing is here. Bollywood is just a few families making all money in same dynasty with breakup love crap. At least south cares about their audience. You have to book early to see movies here but its just 120 bucks, can you imagine even popcorn costs more than that. They have all hindi english movies too. Have you been to luxe cinema, its so gorgeous. Come on people, everything is here.
Changed my Perspective : Give it some time, city will accept you. When we would go back, everyone had the same questions n views. Chennai south indian, everyone is so black ( wanted to slap this person so badly ) they just eat rice ( in way more tastier forms you can imagine) they are rude to north indians( their language sounds rude, its just the way they talk ) they are fat and big( so many in north are fat and sick). I don't hate north but people should not judge someone on basis of their color or food, we are all born with flaws. Hmmm chennai taught me to be humble and still posh at the same time. You can have audi and still wear loongi. Why is it weird? Just coz well dressed people in suits own money is it? Chennai has taught me to me so much more acceptable of different food n different kinds of people from kerala, karnataka, tamil nadu, andhra. Did you know they have awesome homemade biryani masalas? Then there is this dal masala that you add to rice dal, so yummy. I had a muslim friend in her 70s who cooked the best keerai(greens) curry you could have, then there was this chinese who got me hooked to different kinds of noodles. This city has the perfect mix of people who are open, independent with no insecurities. Women are so classy, kids are not brats, men are humble and simple. All this simple mindedness saves time and money. The peace and happiness that comes in letting go is just beyond explanation.
Who do you think is more confident? A lady who gets up 2 hours before to just put on makeup and perfect dress or the one who stands tall operating a idly shop in her gajra( flowers put on hair) . She doesn't give a damn if you judge her. I am not against anyone, just saying this city this place gave me the best years best people best learnings of my life. Be receptive to everything. Smile and world smiles with you. Respect their culture. Wherever you go, pick nice qualities from folks n places, everyone has something you can imbibe in. Make yourself better, not bitter.
I am going to express my love in chennai in next few paragraphs. Chennai has a cool vibe to it. If I was ever willing to settle in india, it would be chennai anyday. Why you ask ?
Simplicity of City just struck me. This city has everything from vijaya mall to local pubs. Whats even more striking is you fit everywhere in chennai. No one judges you. These people are simple and more concerned for their families, they don't have the time to waste on taunting north indians. I never saw this in any other part of india. Even when I go in my own city, I see eve teasing. Never once in 5 years, I was commented on even though I wore shorts to most local shops too. They don't want to be a part of hooligan culture. If you show them how much better you are, then they will not back off. As long as you fit right in, you won't face any problem.
Cool n Hot : We moved from bangalore where girls were using malls to show off all nice curves dresses which I don't mind at all. Then some day though you feel am I even entitled to be in mall with normal tshirt jeans wavy hair. Chennai doesn't care. I have seen girls dressed up like they are off to wedding then there are families in traditional wear then there are girls like me casually walking in slippers. HAHA chennai people don't give a damn. Wear whatever you want, even bermuda people are seen shopping. Its hot and they wear what is comfortable. Noone cares about fashion. Even if they do, people don't stick their eyes out to look at them. Basically, its super basic. The basic dress code for pubs is shoes just shoes for guys. There is no need to go dress shopping. Go casual. Kids who grow up in south india are so balanced, they are cool,smart, funny and still grounded. I can't say the same thing for north indians. A chunk of them are somehow trying to raise smart mean snobs.
Food : How can someone not like the food here? Its so nice, there are so many dishes you will never get to eat in north. South indian food is super healthy, their thalis are tempting. Their food is spicy, their sambhar has flavor, their rasam their podi. Then you have the luxury of dining out morning 6 to night 11 which isn't so bad. I know people want overnight places well they are there too. Have you tried bajji with masala? Have you tried nellore dosa? Have you tried appam with curry? For vegetarians specially, Chennai has so much to offer. People give up saying there is no north indian food. Well, there is sooooo much more to relish. How much writing this has tickled my taste buds. If your craving still says north, go bombay brassierie.
Restaurants with ambience : Ohh all you richie riches out there, try chennai's best restaurants like raintree or chola or leela palace or amethyst. You don't have beach view elsewhere,do you? I like how the pubs here work, I know they are open till 12 only, it just says start with happy hours :) Why I like them is the crowd is so sober, you have so much floor to dance on.Everyone maintains distance, there is no rubbing or bouncer scenes ever. There is tons of great people to chat with or just be on your table and enjoy. In fact food served is great too. People can be so choosy, they end up wasting time regretting when they could have just let loose and danced. I have seen girls in salwar suit in pubs all the time, simple whatever suits you whatever is comfortable and easy, go with it. Loved this flexibility of chennai. Have you been to GRT yercaud?
Location : Its hot and humid all year. Yep that part is true. The very first week I would faint whenever I went out, hemoglobin people. It was mid of may and then as we kept going out, our bodies adjusted. I liked the sun the heat. Also what you don't see is there is ocean breeze all the time. Oh my god, miss miss that breeze. Evenings with breeze are perfect for walks. September to January isn't even that hot. The beach was perfect on not so crowded days. Trust me, its beautiful if you go on not so touristy beaches. Try tiger caves near chennai or best book a nice resort in mahabalipuram with beach view. That beach my friends is awesome, its not clean but then I didn't say it was andaman you were staying in. Get a air conditioner, hire cabs , make the most of it.
Language Not an Issue : I have met so many people who are under the illusion that chennai has language problems. Well depends on who and what you work with. In 5 years of stay, there were occasional 2 or 3 times when we actually needed interpreter friends. Other than that, everyone speaks english or there are people willing to translate if you smile and ask for help. I am telling you language is not even an issue. They don't have the time to hate north indians or hindi, if they know bits of hindi they will try to talk to you. We judge too much.
South Indian cinema : Have you ever tried south indian movies? They are full of drama action, in 3 hours they show a fully packed entertaining movie. What you are too sophisticated to see their well thought stories. I stopped seeing bollywood movies after this. There is so much to see in tamil movies, dhanush rajnikant act like they are the character not like a certain shahrukh or salman. Have you seen bahubali or moonu or endhiran? Expand your movie rack, get and see these movies. I am telling you good direction story writing is here. Bollywood is just a few families making all money in same dynasty with breakup love crap. At least south cares about their audience. You have to book early to see movies here but its just 120 bucks, can you imagine even popcorn costs more than that. They have all hindi english movies too. Have you been to luxe cinema, its so gorgeous. Come on people, everything is here.
Changed my Perspective : Give it some time, city will accept you. When we would go back, everyone had the same questions n views. Chennai south indian, everyone is so black ( wanted to slap this person so badly ) they just eat rice ( in way more tastier forms you can imagine) they are rude to north indians( their language sounds rude, its just the way they talk ) they are fat and big( so many in north are fat and sick). I don't hate north but people should not judge someone on basis of their color or food, we are all born with flaws. Hmmm chennai taught me to be humble and still posh at the same time. You can have audi and still wear loongi. Why is it weird? Just coz well dressed people in suits own money is it? Chennai has taught me to me so much more acceptable of different food n different kinds of people from kerala, karnataka, tamil nadu, andhra. Did you know they have awesome homemade biryani masalas? Then there is this dal masala that you add to rice dal, so yummy. I had a muslim friend in her 70s who cooked the best keerai(greens) curry you could have, then there was this chinese who got me hooked to different kinds of noodles. This city has the perfect mix of people who are open, independent with no insecurities. Women are so classy, kids are not brats, men are humble and simple. All this simple mindedness saves time and money. The peace and happiness that comes in letting go is just beyond explanation.
Who do you think is more confident? A lady who gets up 2 hours before to just put on makeup and perfect dress or the one who stands tall operating a idly shop in her gajra( flowers put on hair) . She doesn't give a damn if you judge her. I am not against anyone, just saying this city this place gave me the best years best people best learnings of my life. Be receptive to everything. Smile and world smiles with you. Respect their culture. Wherever you go, pick nice qualities from folks n places, everyone has something you can imbibe in. Make yourself better, not bitter.
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