I used to laugh vehemently in opposition when my Tamil friends adored Chennai as a great place to live in. Everyone else told me about the tough times North Indians face in Chennai- the language problem, dealing with auto drivers, scorching climate, tendency of the natives to dislike the outsiders, food etc ... I was prepared for the hostile treatment I could receive in the city. To my surprise my one month stay here so far has been really comfortable and a lot of experiences have been eye openers for me. One more month to go and a lot of prejudiced speculations are getting pushed into the stack. I hope and feel that the stack will not do a pop operation.
Food is not a problem if you like south Indian. Dosas, idlis and vadas are the tastiest here. Apart from that there are plenty of places where you get north Indian food. One of the best chaats I ever had was here in Gangotri. Summers of Chennai are supposed to be painful but they are not as intense as they are in North India and evenings are much cooler.
Place is humid but then if you love beaches, you got to go where humidity is. Language problem occurs only with the few illiterate people as most of the people have Hindi or English as their second language in school and can manage to converse in either or both.
So then the only problem I faced initially was with auto drivers and this is how you can overcome to this problem: - Here the meter starts from Rs. 30. By meter I mean drivers’ greedy mind.The physical machine never operates- I am sure for more than half the autos in the city this machine would have got rusted. But I have found a good way of bargaining. All you need to do before travelling is to call up your local friend and know the exact fare. Now, when the auto driver places his bid, tell the exact amount and then say this – “naan dhinamum inth route la poitu varen” meaning boss, I do travel up and down daily on this route. Even Hindi works well (for those who cannot by heart this phrase). You then need to leave that auto and pretend to look for another. 95% of times the same auto driver will come back and agree to your amount. Best practice- never catch a stationary auto, always stop a running auto.
