Chennai: The First Stop on our India Tour

Three days in Chennai and I wouldn’t say either of us are itching to go back anytime soon. The southeastern state capital, formerly known as Madras, was a late addition to our India itinerary, after we noticed that it was less expensive to fly from Colombo to Chennai and proceed to Kerala on a domestic flight than it was to fly directly from Colombo to Kerala. Regardless, Matt and I were eager to add a “free” extra stop to our tour, and knew that Chennai has a rich history, millions of people, and would diversify our India trip even more. The city was our only stop in the state of Tamil Nadu, and it serves as a major IT hub for the country. Our guidebook tells us that Chennai is nicknamed ‘Detroit of India’ because of its booming motor-vehicle industry. Tamil is the predominant language in the state, but most people we encountered also spoke English. Sometimes their accents could be so different from ours that even in English it becomes difficult to communicate!

Upon exiting the Chennai airport, we were immediately taken aback by the notoriously wild and roaring traffic – something many friends had flagged for us before we made the trip, but is still quite jarring upon a first encounter. Horses, motorcycles, bikes, scooters, buses, vans, and cars share the road without adhering to any lines on the ground indicating specific lanes, and they drive on the left side which adds to the chaos from the perspective of a right-side-of-the-road American. Sidewalks are virtually nonexistent, so pedestrians are forced to walk in the street as well, which can be scary and hazardous. It seemed like every driver had his or her hand permanently pressed on the horn, honking loudly and non-stop. Smog and fumes from all the diesel vehicles filled the air and smelled horrible, leading me and Matt to opt for air-conditioned Ubers rather than open-air tuk-tuks as we had in Sri Lanka.

We rented a room in an Indian family’s apartment near the beach through AirBnB—a sparse fifth-floor walk-up that spanned two independent units off the hallway with front doors that are always left wide open. It seemed to us that two parents, a grandmother, and two daughters occupied the space, and they were always around to give us directions, provide restaurant recommendations, cook us breakfast, and do our laundry, which was comforting and enhanced our experience. It was also enriching to stay with a family just to see how they lived and operated, rather than in a more traditional and isolated hotel arrangement.

In terms of touristy activities in Chennai, there aren’t many offerings; our guidebook was pretty clear on that front. Matt and I still made sure to check out all the main sights, including the rainbow-colored and deity statue-filled Hindu Kapaleeshwarar Temple; the 1523 Portuguese-founded Catholic Santhome Cathedral with the tomb of St. Thomas; the second-longest beach in the world—Marina Beach—with its endless lines of food carts, carnival rides, and statues of important Indian leaders; Fort St. George which was built by the British East India Company and finished in 1653; and a strange, religious and vaguely cult-like campus called the Theosophical Society with its 100 hectares of greenspace in the middle of an otherwise concrete city. We took refuge from Chennai’s hustle and bustle in a massive, sparkling clean mall called Express Avenue, which had a mix of familiar and unfamiliar stores we well as a large food court that included Indian cuisine counters but also a Chili’s, KFC, and Subway. On our last day, we ventured outside the city limits to ‘Covelong’ which had been written up as “India’s first surf town.” It ended up being a small, underwhelming town with a few private resorts and one surf shack that offered lessons. We saw exactly one surfer while we were there, and felt bummed and slightly perplexed by the recommendation to visit Covelong as we returned to the city from the beach.

Checking out the Kapaleeshwarar Temple - one of the main sights in Chennai.

The wind made my hair a bit unruly as I posed for a picture at the beach in Covelong.

While neither Matt nor I were overcome with love for Chennai, we reflected on the positive experience of getting our feet wet in India. There were countless brief and relatively insignificant encounters that ended up providing us with great learning opportunities. We picked out menu items at vegetarian restaurants with absolutely no idea what they meant, only to be happily surprised when our waiter brought out another unfamiliar-looking, tasty meal. We shopped for conservative, Indian-style clothes for me at a textile market, chatting with salespeople and trying to understand the sizing system. We attempted to see a Bollywood movie but found that none had English subtitles, instead opting to watch “Spiderman: Into the Multiverse 3D” and learning that Indian movie theaters offer 15-minute intermissions. We ubered to a hip bar called “Radio Room,” only to find that it was unexpectedly closed that day because of a dry holiday memorializing Ghandi’s death (See my Sri Lanka post about yet another dry holiday we encountered on our trip!). We signed Matt up for a pre-paid cell phone plan with Airtel, which ended up being super complicated and required us to go to a hole-in the-wall photography shop so he could get passport photos taken for his phone plan application.

 Just another lunch outing in Chennai...I ordered the daily special and had no idea what to expect!

Walking around the Georgetown neighborhood in Chennai.

Another funny phenomenon that we were confronted with in Chennai is the pervasive side-to-side head bob motion that everyone seems to do here. We noticed it slightly in Sri Lanka, but not as significantly as when we arrived in India. Apparently, southern India is where the head-bob is most pronounced! This motion is as common as a “nod” would be in America, used in acknowledgement or agreement. See this article for a more in-depth analysis. Since it’s a side-to-side motion, however, it’s hard to disassociate it with a shake of the head, meaning “no” in American culture. Matt and I found ourselves questioning if people were frustrated with us, agreed with us, or if they were bobbing their heads “just because.” We’d always laugh about it after the fact, reminding ourselves that we have to get used to that here. We’ve actually heard the head-bob can be contagious, so we may be bobbing soon enough ourselves.

Overall, Chennai was just so-so. We weren’t sad to leave, but the stop left us excited about all that we will see and do during the rest of our time in India. Next, we visit the beautiful and serene state of Kerala, known for its relaxing backwaters, green landscapes, and slow pace. After Chennai, I think we are both ready to kick back.