Chennai: A city in South India

Chennai is the first city in India that I visited. As my husband's family has been living there for a long time, my parents and I decided to visit Chennai.

It was end of January and was snowing in Istanbul. We were told that the weather in Chennai was warm around those days. We assumed the weather would be warm during the day and little chill in the evening and prepared our luggage accordingly. When we stepped out of Chennai airport, we had a huge smile on our face. We had come from a snowing Istanbul to a hot Chennai! It turns out that there are three seasons in Chennai: its hot, hotter and  hottest!

My husband met us at the airport and we got into his car. As soon as he turned on the engine, he started blowing the car horn. At first, I didn't understand why he did that. While driving also he kept honking every five seconds. As Turkish people we also honk a lot but not as much as Indians. I wasn't used to hearing such frequent honking so I asked him the reason. Apparently, people do not obey the rules much and when they start honking it gives a warning to other drivers especially the bikes not to suddenly cut in front. There are more bikes and cars so you can imagine how messy it could get when bikes from right and left suddenly intrude along with pedestrians too. Briefly, honking means give me the way Im coming! :)

Source: http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Traffic-on-the-Road-Parry-s-Corner-Chennai-Tamil-Nadu-India-Posters_i7880326_.htm

Here is a video on youtube about driving in Chennai:

Their house is on the other side of the city so we spent one hour on the road. On the way, I have seen flyers, coconut and sugar cane sellers, cows, street dogs, crowded old looking shops, women wearing white flower on their hair, men wearing a special type of clothe as a skirt. When you watch Indian movies, you mostly see massive nicely decorated traditional indian houses and you fall in love with their clothing and their lifestyle. At some extend you see poverty in the movies as well, however in reality it looks quite different.

Here is a video on youtube about daily crowd in the city:

Since the labor is cheap in India, almost everybody who can afford to hire someone is having workers at their home. Cleaner, cook, gardener or security guard are the main tasks which can sometimes be held by one to two people. When we reached their community gate it was a different environment. Huge nice houses surrounded by their own gates. As soon as we arrived their gate, the security man opened the door and I said the only word I knew that time is "Namaste". The old man didn't respond to me so i repeated again and I was further informed that locals don't speak hindi their language is Tamil.  

Comparing to North India, Chennai people have darker skin. They are very warm people and if you don't want them to they won't pick their nose into your own business. Unlike Turkey and some cities in India, they won't stare at you if you walk on the streets as a foreigner. So you don't feel like out of the world. Their population is crowded like other parts of India. You will find many people believing different religions but Hinduism is the most followed religion in the city.

The most interesting place I can think of in Chennai is a place called 'Mahabalipuram' where there are really old temples made of rocks. its a one hour drive from Chennai. Unfortunately, when we reached the time was four thirty and we were late for the entry. We only had chance to see from outside and it really looks ancient master piece. If you plan to go there, make sure to check the timings. There are shops around the place where you can find sculpture or some decoration stuff. How many times I have been to Chennai, but couldn't go there. Hopefully next time I will be going to see this magnificent place.

Kaynak: By Ssriram mt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Kaynak: "Mahabalipuram pano2" by Ssriram mt - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

Their eating habits and cuisine is very different from turkish cuisine. In general, Chennai people are vegetarian. Their favorite food for breakfast is Idli which looks like a puffy type made of rice flour. And the famous Dosa which can be eaten anytime of the day. Dosa is my all time favorite. It is also made of rice flour and different ingredients but i just imagine it as a crispy crepe. There are varities of Dosa and i would suggest you to try 'Masala Dosa' (potato dosa) and 'Onion Rava Masala Dosa' (onion and potato dosa). They are really yum. Also there is 'Vada' which is fried lentils paste was quite tasty with yogurt. 

I have a lot to write about Chennai and I hope you had an idea about the lifestyle in Chennai.

Asli Khan