Letter from Seoul 51
Chennai
When I want a unique travel experience – especially to parts unknown, I channel Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018). For the unacquainted, Bourdain was a celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian.
By the way, Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential is part of my Holy Trinity, which includes Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), better known by the pseudonym of George Eliot (think Middlemarch), said it for The Ages: “The dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”
Wherever I travel in this world, Bourdain is with me. And so it was when I went to Chennai recently.
With a population of nearly 12.8 million, Chennai is among the top five megacities in India. The other significant urban centers include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. What helps distinguish Chennai is its manufacturing, IT and automotive sectors. In fact, Chennai is considered the Detroit of India.
Chennai was known as Madras for approximately 357 years, from 1639 when the British East India Company established a presence there, until the official name changed in 1996.
In keeping with its megacity status, Chennai has an international airport with 27 airlines operating from one terminal – and one more under construction, and nine airlines operating in two domestic sectors.
Some of the most prominent universities in Chennai include IIT Madras, Anna University, Loyola College, Stella Maris, Madras Medical College, and SRM Institute.
Marina Beach is a prized jewel, one of the longest beaches in the world, running along the city’s coast on the Bay of Bengal.
What’s not to like?
Two ladyboys at a Chennai market
The flower market
The Case of the Curious Cat
