CHENNAI

CHENNAI

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu is famous for its unique and diverse culture and natural beauty.

Map of Chennai City| Source: SEBA class 3 book

Chennai is the fourth largest city in India. Earlier, Chennai was famous as Madras. It is located on the south east coast of India. Chennai faces the Bay of Bengal. It is an important port. Ships carrying goods arrive and depart from the city to all parts of the world.

Chennai remains warm throughout the year. The coastal areas receive pleasant sea breeze. The city receives rainfall during winters. People wear cotton clothes throughout the year.

Chennai can be divided into two parts. The old city of George Town lies towards the west of the port. The other port is towards the south of George Town. Anna Salai, the main road runs through this part of the city.

The officers of the state government are located in Chennai. The Governor, the Chief Minister and the other ministers live and work here.

The main food of the people here is rice. It is eaten with curd and sambhar. Some popular snacks are idli, dosa, vada, biriyani, onion tomato uttapam, panganalu or paddu, pongal with chutney, sambar, vada, etc.

Pongal celebration

All important Indian festivals are celebrated here. The most important festival is Pongal. It is a harvest festival. It is dedicated to the Hindu Sun God, the Surya, and corresponds to the Makar Sankranti. It is celebrated in January. The celebration lasts for three days.

The people of Chennai are very proud of their culture. They prefer their own local language – Tamil, then any other language. English is also widely spoken here, but Tamil is more popular than English.

Bharatnatyam is a popular dance form of Tamil Nadu. Bharatnatyam is the oldest

Bharatnatyam

classical dance tradition in India. Carnatic music is also famous here. The Bharatnatyam remained exclusive to Hindu temples through the 19^th century.

Chennai is popular for its cotton textiles. Other industries include cars, trucks and railway coaches. Railway coaches are manufactured in Perambur. Tanks are made in Avadi. Chennai’s film industry produces a large number of films. It has also become an important centre of the information technology industry.

The main attraction of Chennai is the Marina Beach,

Marina Beach 

 which is the second largest beach in the world. Children love to go to VGP Golden Beach to enjoy different rides and a toy train.

Other places of tourist attraction include Fort St. George, St. Thomas Church, Gandhi Mandapam, Chennai Art Gallery, Snake Park and Government Museum, Edward Elliot’s Beach, Breezy Beach, Arignar Anna Zoological Park etc.

The Vandalur Zoo in Chennai was the first zoo in India.

Vandalur Zoo, main entrance

The two temples – Parthasarathi Temple and Kapaliswarar Temple are worth seeing. Beautiful stone carvings and gopurams are carved in these temples. Mahabalipuram near Chennai is the famous for its rock- cut temples and chariots. The Shore Temple is 1300 years old. Some famous temple of Chennai are – Ekambareswara Temple, Sri Vadapalani Andavar Temple, Kandhakottam , Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam Temple, Ashtalakshmi Temple, Adeeswar Temple, AnjaneyaSwamy Temple, etc.

kapaliswarar Temple

The Chennai Metro is a very transit system serving the city of Chennai. It is the third largest metro system in India after Delhi Metro and Hyderabad Metro.