Its a cloudy and drizzling monday morning in chennai. This summer hasnt been the usual summer in chennai. Of course, when the days have been hot they have been HOT but there have been more than the usual rainy days. For all my fellow ISBians from other parts of the country, who decided to "take the risk" of coming to chennai, its been soothing. Talking of which, many of them think chennai is not as bad as it gets portrayed. The general impression among many non-chennaites, especially those form the north, is that of chennai being this hot humid and sweaty place all through the year, a conservative society, lack of social and night life and a huge language problem (like, "no one known anything other than Tamil"). Some even rejected job offers simply for that reason.

The fact, as they have told me, three months down the line, is that its not all that bad. Yes, chennai is hot and humid and sweaty, but bearable. Delhi is much hotter when in the summer they say. I wudnt know. I have never been to Delhi. And given that this summer has had quite a few rainy and cloudy days, its been all the more comforting for them. Besides, I am waiting for December to come by. There is no "winter" per se in chennai but December and January are months I would love to live in chennai anytime.

A conservative society, yes, any day compared to the rest of India, but they also say people here have a ready acceptance for things that are not so conservative as long as it does not affect them. There is easy tolerance for things non-conservative. Besides, the immigrant population that has changed the face of Bangalore in the past 5-6 years is beginning to do the same here.

As for lack of social and night life, yes, there aren't the numerous pubs and discs to go to as in say, bangalore or Bombay but the few that are there are as good. And there is night life for the one who wants it. There is a thriving population of youngsters in chennai who like to go clubbing and that crowd is only growing. Besides the partying, there are the usual movies and chennai's USP, beach resorts... Just go along the ECR. I wud agree.

As for the language, well many of them said the lack of hindi was being more than made up by the knowledge of english the average chennaite had. That was an interesting observation. Come to think of it, given the emphasis on education for the educated and the lack of other communication mechanisms for the uneducated, english had to take that place.

If there is one complaint that I could agree with, it was the auto rickshaw drivers in chennai. I dont like them too. I think they are a necessary evil. Especially after having seen them in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Bombay, chennai certainly has a minus there.

But all said and done, the opinion is that chennai is a lot better than what is being portrayed. I would certainly agree. More so because, chennai has the one place that I have missed a lot wherever I have gone, a clean and thriving public beach. There is nothing like a gossip filled evening with friends on the sands of the Besant nagar beach under the rising moon :)