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If you come into Chennai by air, your drive to the city will almost invariably face a bottleneck at the Kathipara junction. That's the point where the Grand Southern Trunk Road, Mount Poonamallee Road and the Jawaharlal Nehru Road meet up. But the bottleneck is not just about traffic; the grade separator at this junction, though nearly complete, currently contributes to a small part of the holdup.

A small part, now that the free-flow link between JN Road and GST Road has been open for a month. This photo was taken when going under that link, towards JN Road. In less than a year, those mounds of earth would have been replaced by greenery; all the links are expected to be operational before April 2009. And then, one can whiz through from the airport into the city in no time at all!

(Oh, yes. Traffic volume will still be a factor in your whizzing.)

Fruit Shop

Footpaths on Chennai roads, if they exist, are often taken up by shops selling all kinds of things. For the most part, nobody really wants to move them away. They are useful mainly because they are everywhere, one can always manoeuvre around them - that slight inconvenience is set off by the economy of shopping at these footpath outlets.

Come summer, the number of such outlets seems to multiply rapidly. Many of them are of course seasonal, dedicated to the variety of fruits that summer brings with it. This shop on CP Ramaswamy Road is usually a small affair, just under the tree, with maybe 3 or 4 kinds of fruit. But now, it has spread itself out and has spilled onto the road. Of course the shop needs space; forget the 3 or 4 kinds - there are now some 6 kinds of mangoes alone. And then sweet lime, oranges, grapes, apples, pomegranates, sapota, bananas, musk melon.... I'm sure I've missed out on a few that fell outside the photo frame.

Colourful - and tempting!

Departure Gate

Somehow, it seems that most departures - and quite a lot of the arrivals, too - at the Aringar Anna International Terminal (the Chennai airport, in other words) happen after the sun goes down. I don't remember ever being at the international terminal in the daytime.

Wanted to take this photo, but was slightly apprehensive about it. Until a couple of years ago, taking photographs inside airports in India was illegal; with the growing number of mobile phones and cameras, the authorities just heaved a sigh and junked that section of the law, I guess. Still, the word might not have reached the cops on duty and I did not want to get into a debate with a policeman at 2.00 am. So, a quick photo and scoot!

Compared to the Chennai Central railway station, the airport seems completely impersonal - it certainly does not comes across as being symbolic of a proud heritage; people have far less time to gather around or to exchange notes. Entry into the building itself is restricted and no one would like to stand around outside, when there is nothing to do but just stand around! Not a great option at night - like I said, the terminal probably shuts down when the sun comes up.

(Is there anyone who has travelled out of this terminal during daylight hours? Just curious!)

The Eater's Digest - 2

Sometimes, you don't give credit to a good idea just because it has been in-your-face for a while. I had long assumed that this bakery on CP Ramaswamy Road was just one more of those many 'cake shops' over Chennai. It was only recently when they re-did their signage that I noticed the 3-way partnership that has created this enterprise; the Corporation of Chennai, Chennai Culinary Institute and the Rotary Club (Madras East).

Is there any other outlet of this bakery in the city? Would hate to think that it is just a one-shop initiative - so if you have seen any 'Winners' other than this one, do let me know where!

No more letters

This building stands at the corner of a space that is otherwise taken by a BPO firm. Over the last century and more (109 years, says 'The Hindu'), this building has seen the bustle of clerks sending letters, maintaining their savings accounts and of course, waiting for news from (many?) loved ones. As the premises of the Santhome Post Office, it had prime location, across the road from the Santhome Bascilica; one can imagine all those expatriates coming over after the church service to see about their letters (oh, okay, they may not have kept it open on Sunday, though!).


The building was closed down last week. The owners decided it was unsafe for occupation and the tenants decided that the Mylapore Post Office, just a bit down Kutchery Road, was good enough to handle the traffic generated at the Santhome one also. It will be sad to see this tiled structure go down - thus taking down one more of Chennai's quaint buildings. But we must progress!

Playful Park?

A couple of years ago, one of my friends from Delhi misunderstood where I was going to on a workday morning. He thought I was going down to a beach for the day, while I was trying to let him know I was going to be working out of the most high-tech office space in the city. For a while there was confusion, while we were trying to understand what each other was saying.

To me, that bit of conversation highlighted how much part of us the Tidel Park has become. No one in Chennai will think of anything other than IT or ITES if you say 'Tidel' to them. But I must admit, it does sound like a theme park by the Bay of Bengal, fed by the tides!

The building itself looks grand and it is quite a good start to the IT Corridor - and to think that, less than 10 years ago, it was the beginning and the end of the Corridor!

A day later

Chennai has a claim to have had the first ever May Day rally in India, in 1923. The Marina Beach was Chennai's equivalent of London's Hyde Park and therefore a natural spot for Comrade Singaravelar, a labour union leader, to have a meeting there, calling for recognition of workers' rights; a demand that's still repeated every May Day in different parts of the world.


Until the installation of the 'Triumph of Labour' statute in 1959, there was probably no focal point for the various labour unions and workers' federations to rally around; since then, every May Day has seen the statue being cleaned, polished, garlanded and being the backdrop for speeches and rallies. The statue itself shows four men toiling to move a rock and was sculpted by Devi Prasad Roy Choudury, who was the first Indian principal of what is today the Tamil Nadu Government College of Fine Arts (then the Government of Madras School of Arts and Crafts). It is quite fitting that the statue is installed close to the site where the country's first commemoration of May Day was held.


Obviously the photo does not do it justice - but if it did, you might not need to go over and see it on the Marina!