Chennai-bound?

Nick-H

I was going to disagree with that.

Then I realised what you meant!

galahad

1. Is there a nightlife?! Or afternoon life? Or anything...
: Dublin ,Park Sheraton.
:Sparks,Hotel Savera
:a few spots on the East Coast Road.

But wait a minute.Why are u looking for nightlife here?
Have 2 dosas with pudina chutney,follow it up with a glass
of milk,and sleep.
And get up early in the morning,and go to run!


2.For TRiathlon stuff:
I recall a triathlon event happening an year back at the IIT(Indian institue of TEchnology) campus.
www.iitm.ac.in
This place is near Adyar.
If u are locating anywhere close to this place,u can drop in there to run,cycle and swim.
It has a great swimming pool.In that campus,u can run like a dream without caring about stepping on poo-poo,or worrying about the traffic.U will get a few spotted deer and black bucks for company.


But what I do not want u to know is that the Snake park is close

I can assure u from personal experience that there are no snakes in the campus.Whatever snakes that might have been here would have been quickly transferred to the snake park.And for Chrissake leave that paranoia b4 u come to madras!Snakes do not bite unless provoked.They are for sure,less provocative than those damned pet dogs that some peeps have.

Sama

__________________
MY INDIA, 2005-2008
"Once you have felt the Indian dust, you will never be free of it." (Rumer Godden, 1975)

Lou Wilson

Chasing Rainbows in Chennai a great read by Colin Todhunter.Some info here
http://www.hackwriters.com/IndianTV.htm
"
He is on IndiaMike known as ColinT" and a frequent contributer. Has spent much time from maybe a different point of view than what you are looking for but this is the best travellers writing that I have ever read.
Here is his email: colin_todhunter@yahoo.co.uk

I would not get too involved in outdoor heart pounding activities. As any city in India the air is very polluted. Also smells like rotten eggs because of the slow moving river. But other than that I like Madras.
Lou

Nick-H

The air here only smells bad (and it can be far worse than rotten eggs ) when you are very close, or even crossing the Buckingham Canal or the Couum River.

On a bad day on the main traffic streets it can get a bit bad too.

It is a hot, dry city and sometimes dust can be a problem.

But most of our air is perfectly breathable!

Especially if you are an ex-pat on ex-pat economy a person can expect to live in one of Chennai's leafier greener areas: expect a very pleasant life!

ColinT

So many people I meet say that the pollution in Chennai is awful. OK, stuck on Anna Salai in a traffic jam and it is awful. But apart from that I hardly ever notice it, given that sea breeze! May be I'm immune to it but its certainly no worse than Delhi etc.

(Thanks Lou! Hope the fountain-selling is going well. my homepage)

Nick-H

Even stuck in a jam on Anna Salai is not as bad as those dreadful days in central London when all the fumes just sit there. It is not so much fumes you can directly see and smell in London, but your lungs let you know, all the same.

Would anyone come and live here if the air smelt of rotten eggs?

I've known rural English towns where the stench from a local brewery (and whether you like beer or not, brewing it is a disgusting process to be near) was worse than anything in Chennai.

If people don't like the place, fair enough. But lets cut down on the myths please?

Lou Wilson

An update on all of Colin's writings can be found at http://www.travelwriters.com/colintodhunter

A great perspective of India life in Chennai and elswhere.

Lou

Sama

The garbage dump a few miles from my house smells worse -- on a day with the wind blowing the right way -- than anything I ever smelled in Chennai.

Lou Wilson

You are absolutely correct. Chennai smells like any other big city in Asia - the high sulfur diesel, the leaded fuel the open garbage fires etc etc. But there is a another smell it is the S L O W moving formenting garbage filled river which only gets cleaned out during the monsoon. The smell of rotten eggs is the closest I could come to a desription of the odour.
This is a true but yet Chennai Madras has an appeal to some. I myself love cities.; Maybe its because I was born literally in the last house of a dead end road that was an hour from town in Canada. Madras is a favorite of mine that I have to visit even for a short time. It has an energy like no other.
Lou

Nick-H

Chennai is a big city. You only smell that smell when you are close to one of those watercourses.

I live a few minutes away from the Buckingham Canal. Can only smell it when within a few yards.

Merchant

Ah, but Chennai also smells of the jasmine in the lovely ladies' hair.

Nick-H

And coffee. And vegetarian food. And incense.


Oh, and urine: that one I would not be able to deny!

girlone

Hmmm, you are selling it so well...

Nick-H

I'd be the last to pretend it's perfect ...

But I like it

We've had monsoon rains of late, and that has left some rather nasty-smelling black sludge on some of the streets...

Not to worry too much about that (long-termers should try not to live in the lowest street in their district, though) as most of the year we are dying for rain and wondering if it will ever come.