travel and tourism

CONCERNED THINGS WHILE TRAVELING:

TRAVEL AND TOURISM:

"My faourite thing is to go where i have never gone",said by arbus diane.So travelling gives a sense of joy and memorable experience.The object of travel is not to set a foot on foreign land but to last his foot's on one's own country as a foreign land. When one realizes that his/her life worthless he/she commits sucide or travels.So travelling not only for joy.
So in this blog we see some tourism varities in all over the world.

chennai has many areas which is fully dedicated to business activities.some of the areas are t.nagar,parrys,mambalam.this are the major spots that plays vital role in chennais economy.

T.NAGAR:
Thyagaraya Nagar (also spelled Tyagaraya Nagar, and abbreviated T. Nagar) is a large, primarily commercial, locality in Chennai, India. It is situated in the middle of the city, south-west of the Anna Flyover. It is named after Sir P. Thyagaraya, whose Justice Party was in power when the settlement was laid out. The place is an important centre for shopping and entertainment, and also a major hub for the intra-city bus service.

Prominent Localities

Prominent Localities of Thyagaraya Nagar include

* Pondy Bazaar
* Panagal Park
* Ranganathan Street


* Pondy Bazaar, the main shopping area, stretches for around a kilometre on Thyagaraya Road. Pavement shops found in Pondy Bazaar sell a variety of items, including clothes, toys, and electronics, at cheap rates.

*The area around Panagal Park is known for its silk saree shops. Many prominent jewellery stores are also found here. The variety in shopping options makes T.Nagar one of the most crowded areas in Chennai during the festival seasons.


Culture:

T.Nagar offers a variety of entertainment options. It has recently grown to become a major hub for the Carnatic music festival-season, with a number of sabhas (such as Vani Mahal and Bharath Kalachar) hosting famous performers.

It also has a number of parks, cricket grounds, and other recreational facilities. The RKM cricket ground adjoining GN Chetty road hosts division IV and V city-league games.

Parry's Corner:

Parry's Corner is one of the central business district in Chennai, India. Often referred to as simply Parry's, it is situated near the Chennai Port, at the intersection of North Beach Road and NSC Bose Road. It is named after Thomas Parry, who set up the EID Parry Company in 1787. The corporate headquarters of the EID Parry Company stand on the corner. The place is an important center for commercial banking and trading, and also a major hub for the intracity bus service. Nowadays the place is so busy with heavy traffic, vendors and road side push cart food vendors.

Chennai has a well developed transport infrastructure.

Roads.
For the proposed elevated expressways, see Chennai Elevated Expressways

Chennai's economic development has been closely tied to its port and transport infrastructure.

The city and metropolitan area are served by major arterial roads that run either in an east-west or north-south direction . Anna Salai — or Mount Road as it is more popularly called — is the city's most famous road.

It traverses most of central and south Chennai and leads on to the Grand Southern Trunk Road (National Highway 45) to Thiruchirapalli.
The road runs in a north-east to south-west direction. Other arterials include Kamaraj Salai (north-south), Poonamalee High Road (east-west), Radhakrishnan Salai (east-west), and Sardar Patel Road (east-west).


Chennai is also served by the Inner Ring Road that circled the metropolitan area when it was built. The proposed Outer Ring Road will further improve the traffic flow around the city. In addition, the recently constructed Chennai byepass road, that connects NH 45 to NH-4, and in future, NH-5 has allowed freight traffic to byepass part of the city, and provides a convenient alternative to the Inner Ring Road. Most of the arterial roads lead to the National Highways and State Highways.



Five major National Highways radiate outward from Chennai:

* Erukancheri High Road to the northwest, becoming National Highway 5 to Kolkata;
* Poonamallee High Road (Periyar Salai) to the west, becoming National Highway 4 to Mumbai(via Bangalore and Pune);
* Mount Road (Anna Salai) to the south-west, becoming National Highway 45 to Tiruchirapalli and the interior of Tamil Nadu;
* Madras-Tiruvallur High Road (MTH Road), built parallel to NH 4 to the west, leading to Tiruvallur;
* Beach Road to the south along the coast, becoming East Coast Road to Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry and beyond.

Public Transport:

The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) foundation stone laid by Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi in 1999 and was opened in 2001 in Koyambedu in western Chennai by the then Chief Minister Ms. J. Jayalalitha. The CMBT is the largest bus station in Asia, and serves as the terminus for all intercity buses from Chennai. The CMBT is located on the Inner Ring Road, replacing the older terminus on the Esplanade in the city centre. State transport and private bus services to all major cities and towns in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states start from here.





Most of Chennai's intra-city transport requirements are met by an extensive public transport system. The bus service, which is run by the government-owned Metropolitan Transport Corporation covers the city and its suburbs. Bus services are generally considered efficient, but buses on some routes can get very crowded at times. The bus service, which plies about 3084 buses on 626 routes, moves an estimated 4.03 million passengers each day.

*chennai is the only city to have govt buses.no private buses can be seen*

AC BUSES:

mtc also introduced ac buses in the city with many facilities.



The buses have many passenger friendly features including

- Tilting the bus on left or right side and increasing the height of the bus according to the requirements. (volvos need this to run on our roads :( )

- The suspension would also ensure jerk-free travel for commuters

- Physically-challenged and elders can board the buses with their wheel chairs.

- provision for wheel chairs to be fastened with the seats.

- LED scrolling boards will also be in place in the front, rear and sides of the vehicle for route information.

- Automatic doors in the front and rear with sensors, provision for laptop connection and mobile phone charger, channel music system and public announcement (PA) system to give information to passengers will be the other attractions

In addition to the bus service, private metered call taxis and fixed-rate tourist taxis are available at all entry points to the city like airport, mofussil bus terminus and central railway station.

Metered/unmetered autos ply across the city and are extensively used. In the case of autos though, drivers often demand flat rates especially for short distances(say 1-2 km) and certainly need some bargaining.

RAILWAY NETWORK:
in addition to the road,chennai has a complex rail network.
Suburban System

The Chennai suburban railway system can be broken down into five sections:

* Chennai Central — Tiruvallur — Arakkonam — Tiruttani
* Chennai Central — Ennore — Gummidipoondi — Sullurpet
* Chennai Beach — Tambaram — Chengalpattu — Kanchipuram — Tirumalpur
* Chennai Beach — Royapuram — Washermanpet — Korukkupet — Ennore — Gummidipoondi
* Chennai Beach — Royapuram — Washermanpet — Perambur — Arakkonam


The system uses broad gauge. The section from Washermanpet to Beach handles predominantly freight traffic from Chennai Port, and is not geared well to serve passengers.

MRTS System

* Chennai Beach — Velachery
* Velachery — St. Thomas Mount (under construction)
* Thiruvanmiyur — Mamallapuram (proposed)

The MRTS system is planned to meet with the Tambaram branch of the existing suburban network at St. Thomas Mount. The plan envisages the MRTS line to proceed north from St. Thomas Mount, forming a ring around the city and ending at the northbound Central-Gummidipoondi line.

Smart Card:

The Smart Card looks similar to a debit card, issued by the suburban railway at ticket counters for Rs.100 currently. This Rs.100 includes Rs.50 refundable deposit, and Rs.50 travel value. The travel value can be used to purchase platform and travel tickets for the Chennai suburban trains. The smart card is valid for 6 months from the date of purchase and the extra amounts of travel value can be recharged whenever needed. It is found that very few people are using this smart card.

Smart Card is very beneficial in terms of avoiding standing in long queues saving precious time, and also keeping track of the money spending on the trains travel. The touch screen ticket vending kiosks are provided in many stations, for using the smart card services. The kiosk has a multilanguage interface, featuring Tamil, English and Hindi. The user has to place the smart card, select destination zone, destination station, number of adults, number of children, one way or return ticket and via stations. The ticket is printed for the user.

Main Railway Terminal Stations:

There are two main railway terminals, the Chennai Central station, which is the city's largest railway station with trains to major cities and towns in India, and Chennai Egmore, with trains to cities and towns within Tamil Nadu.

chennai central:

Chennai Central, formerly known as Madras Central is the main railway terminus in Chennai. It is home to the Southern Railways and the most important rail hub in South India. Trains from here connect the city to other states of India, while trains to other parts of Tamil Nadu (excluding Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Tirunelveli) are catered to by the Chennai Egmore station. Chennai Central is the main hub for the Chennai suburban railway. The building of the railway station, one of the landmarks of Chennai, was designed by the architect Henry Irwin.



Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during British times. Chennai Central has been greatly instrumental in earning Chennai the famous sobriquet "Gateway of the South"


chennai egmore:

Chennai Egmore is a railway station in Egmore, Chennai, South India. The station acts as the arrival and departure point for trains connecting Chennai and southern, central Tamil Nadu and Kerala.This is one of the two main railway terminals in the city along with Chennai Central, which serves the north and west bound trains from the city.



water transport:

chennai port:
Chennai Port is the second largest port of India, behind the Mumbai Port. It is over 125 years old. This was a major travel port before becoming a major container port. It is a substantial reason for the economic growth of Tamil Nadu, especially for the manufacturing boom in South India. Its container traffic crossed 1 million TEUs for the first time in 2008. Though much smaller than ports such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, it is expanding in the coming years.



AIRWAYS:

Chennai International Airport

Chennai International Airportis located in Meenambakkam, 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Chennai, India. It is the third largest international gateway into the country and the third busiest airport in India after Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, and the main air hub for South India, handling around 12 million passengers in 2007 and serving more than 50 different airlines. It is also a hub for Jet Airways, Kingfisher Red, Air India and Paramount Airways. It is also an important cargo terminus for the country, after
Mumbai.



Facts and Figures:

Currently, Chennai airport handles about 25 aircraft movements every hour, which will be saturated by the year 2014-15. However, peak hour traffic handling capability will be exhausted much earlier than that. Anna International Terminal handled 3,410,253 passengers in 2007-08 and has the capacity of handling 3M passengers annually, Already it has surpassed the passenger handling capacity. Similarly, Kamaraj Domestic Terminal, which handled 7,249,501 passengers in 2007-08, has the capacity to handle 6 million passengers annually. Here again the terminal demand far exceeds the capacity. In all Chennai airport handled a capacity of 10,659,754 passengers in 2007 - 08. The airport handled cargo of a total of 270,608 tonnes in 2007 - 08.

Chennai architecture and monuments:

Chennai architecture is a confluence of many architectural styles. From ancient Dravidian temples built by the Pallavas, to the Indo-Saracenic style (pioneered in Madras) of the colonial era, to 20th century steel and chrome of skyscrapers. Chennai has a colonial core in the port area, surrounded by progressively newer areas as one travels away from the port, punctuated with old temples, churches and mosques.

Styles of architecture:

The Government Museum, Egmore, in the Indo-Saracenic style.

Indo-Saracenic and colonial style

In the city, one can notice the British influence in the form of old Cathedrals and the mix of Hindu, Islamic and Gothic revival styles that resulted in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. Many of the colonial era buildings are designed in this Indo-Saracenic style. The colonial legacy of Chennai is most apparent in the vicinity of the Chennai port. South of the port is Fort St George. The stretch between the Fort and the port is occupied mostly by the High Court buildings and several clubs, some of which have existed since the British era. A little south of the Fort, across the Cooum River, is the Chepauk cricket stadium, another British staple, dating from 1916. North and west of the port is George Town, where dockyard workers and other manual labourers used to live. George Town is now a bustling commercial centre, but its architecture is significantly different from areas closer to the Fort, with narrower roads and tightly packed buildings. Most of the colonial style buildings are concentrated in the area around the Chennai port and Fort St George. The remaining parts of the city consist of primarily modern architecture in concrete, glass and steel.



Tamil style

Some residential areas like Tiruvallikeni (Triplicane) and Mylapore have several houses dating from the early 20th century, especially those far removed from arterial roads. Many of them were built in the traditional Tamil style, with four wings surrounding a square courtyard, and tiled sloping roofs. In sharp contrast, the apartment buildings along the larger roads in the same areas were built in 1990 or later

Ripon building:

Ripon Building is the seat of the Chennai Corporation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of three types of architectural styles - Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian.

The Ripon Building is white in colour and is located near the Central station in Chennai. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by a builder named Loganatha Mudaliar. the Building took four years to build at a cost of 750,000 Rupees. Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government. Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India laid the foundation on December 12, 1909.


Madras high court:
The Madras High Court, one of the landmarks of the metropolis of Chennai, India, and believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world[citation needed], is located near the beach, one of the important central business districts of Chennai.


Valluvar Kottam

The Valluvar Kottam, constructed in 1976, is an auditorium in memory of the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar. All 1330 verses of the poet's epic - the Thirukkural, are inscribed on the granite pillars that surround the auditorium. There is a 101-feet high temple chariot structure with a life-size image of the poet in it. The base of the chariot shows in bas-relief the 133 chapters of the Thirukkural.



Other interesting buildings:

The Government Museum (designed by Henry Irwin and completed in 1896), the Senate House of the Madras University and the College of Engineering, Guindy are some more examples of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture.

Other buildings of architectural significance are the Presidency College, built in 1840, the Ripon Building (now housing the Chennai Corporation) dating from 1913, The War Memorial, Vivekanandar Illam, The Museum Theatre and the Ramakrishna Math temple. Adjoining the Governor's residence (Raj Bhavan) at Guindy, there are five mandapams (or memorials) dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, the first Indian Governor General C Rajagopalachari, former Chief Ministers of the state Kamaraj and Bhaktavatsalam and one to Martyrs in general.

Among the Churches are the 'Cathedral', 'St. Andrew's Church' (referred to as "the Kirk"), St. Thomas Mount Church.

religious monuments:

St. Thomas Mount Church:
According to legend, St. Thomas was one of the first Christians to reach India and to preach Christianity. He is believed to have reached South India in AD 52, and spent the last years of his life in a cave on this hill. Tradition states that Thomas was assassinated by a shot of an arrow in AD 72, by persons hostile to him. Thus, the hillock acquired the name St. Thomas Mount



A small relic-filled Church built in 1523 by the Portuguese stands at the summit of the 300 foot high St. Thomas Mount. The place was visited by Pope John Paul II during his visit to India on 5 February 1986. The Indian Army operates an Officers training Academy (OTA) on the mount. The South line of the Chennai suburban railway has a station named after St. Thomas Mount here.

chennai classic homes:


War Memorials:

A visit to the War Memorials of Chennai is the best way to discover the heroic past of India. The memorials are dedicated to those soldiers who laid their lives for the welfare of the nation as well as those who died as martyrs, serving their nation. These war memorials have been built to pay homage to those great souls. Some of these War Memorials are located within the boundaries of the city, while some are located at the outskirts. Two most famous and visited memorials in and around Madras are given below

Victory War Memorial:
The Victory War Memorial is located to the south of Fort St. George. This memorial is also known as 'Cupid's Bow'. A circular rock and marble structure have been built here, in the memory of those who sacrificed and lost their lives for the country's honor, during World War I. It is situated on Beach Road of Chennai, near Island Grounds.

Rajiv Gandhi Memorial:
Rajiv Gandhi Memorial is another must visit spot on your tour to Madras. It is located at a distance of about 40 km from the main city. The memorial is precisely situated at Sriperumbudur and is dedicated to the former Prime Minster of India, Raiiv Gandhi. He was assassinated in the year 1991 by a human bomb.

central prison:

The historic Madras Central Prison that was constructed in the year 1837 and was operational until a few years ago will soon be reduced to rubbles.The sprawling nine-acre campus situated in the heart of the city, which is also one of the last few heritage sites, has housed several prominent personalities like former chief ministers C. K. Annadurai, Jayalalithaa, M. Karunanidhi.

The prison, which was originally used as a transit point to house criminals and freedom fighters before they were eventually transferred to the central prison in Andaman, has even housed pre-Independence era personalities like Hindu nationalist leader Veer Savarakar, who spent a few days here before he was sent to Andaman.

According to prison officials, the prison is expected to become a part of the government general hospital.

Chennai celebrates a number of festivals. Pongal, celebrated in the month of January, is the most important festival of and is celebrated over a period of five days. Tamil New Year's day signifying the beginning of the Tamil calendar usually falls on April 14 and is celebrated widely. Being a cosmopolitan city, almost all major religious festivals like Divali, Eid and Christmas are celebrated here.

PONGAL:

Pongal is one of the major festivals celebrated in the Chennai city of India. It is basically a rural-based festival, but is also celebrated in the cities with great enthusiasm. Pongal marks the end of the south east monsoon and the harvest season in South India. It is celebrated in the Tamil month of Thai, which is considered quite sacred. The festival involves the worship of Sun God, Mother Earth and the Cattle for bearing a good harvest. In Tamil Nadu, it is celebrated continuously for four days.



Moreover, there are many legends associated with the Pongal festival. According to the folklore, the first day of Pongal is celebrated to pay homage to Lord Krishna, as he lifted the Govardhan Parvat (mountain) to save his people from the incessant rain. In relation with the third day of the Pongal, it is said that Lord Shiva sent his divine vehicle Nandi - the bull, on the earth, to give the message to the people that they must have an oil bath everyday, while they must eat only once in a month.


DIWALI:

This festival of lights is usually celebrated in Oct, Nov. It generates an atmosphere of gaiety, friendliness and excitement. Diwali is celebrated with new clothes, spectacular firecrackers and a variety of sweets in the company of family and friends. Dhanatrayodashi; Narakchaturdashi, Amavasya (Laxmi poojan), Balipratipada and Yamadvitiya (Bhaubeej) are the five days which comprise Diwali, and each day has a peculiar religious significance.



some other festivals are:

Vinayaka Chathurthi
Navarathiri
Karthigai Deepam

Chennai Sangamam:

The only Festival of India that belongs to people of all religions, as well as to the non-believers. The harvest fest of Tamil antiquity - The Pongal re-discovering itself as urban thanksgiving. It's Chennai Sangamam. More than 2000 performers will ignite the spirit of Chennai for seven days with around 4000 performances. All in parks, streets and beaches. From January 10-16, 2009. Welcome to the longest and biggest Open Festival of India, presented by Tamil Maiyam & Dept. of Tourism and Culture, Govt of Tamil Nadu.

The most important point is that the event is open for all and happening in the public places.so each and every citizen of chennai can able to enjoy this.

History

The idea of organizing a festival during Pongal showcasing the culture of Tamil Nadu was conceived by Kanimozhi, Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu and daughter of M Karunanidhi and Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj, founder of Tamil Maiyam, in September 2006[3]. The festival was rolled out in 2007, with patronization of the Government of Tamil Nadu

places where events takes place:

Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore
Anna Park, Royapuram
ELLIOTS Beach, Besant Nagar
Tower Park- ANNA NAGAR
Lady Wellington School
ECR Road – Palavakkam

"chennai sangamam 2009";

The Chennai Sangamam 2009, which inaugurated on 10the January exists at many places around Chennai, stimulates the festival mood. In welcoming Pongal – the harvesting festival that falls on January 14th, this celebration gives a feel of nearly in traditional way. What this arts turn to be only temple festivals special in villages, which seen rarely in today’s world, this truly aware the need and significance of our unique arts. The idea comes out in supporting and raising the declining artists, and helps in discovering certain norms in public. Year by year I could think its popularity and we all began to look forward this festival around. In my view it has a bright future not alone being celebrated, and to make our existing arts to keep in active and some more in spreading to other districts, could certainly witness a growth.



Karagattam was familiarly known by most, as they take places first and more in festivals and cultural programs. Karagam is mean to decorated vessel. So as one have to perform dance movements, placing them on head without let to fall the vessel. It’s uneasy to see how stable the vessel on head, to only active the body more or less towards music. Have seen this kind of dance in movies alone, and the one ever get out of mind is famous Tamil movie Karagattakaran (karagam dancer). The current song is Mankuyile poongkuyile... from Karagattakaran, do check for the karagattam.



Poikkal Kudirai Attam (Dummy horse dance) is a skill trained performance. It’s wonderful to see someone standing and balancing on two pieces of wooden legs, and caring a dummy horse on hip to move up and down to band music. Wearing colorful cloths hiding there legs, and wooden legs to hoof. It is unheard in the raised band music; called Naiyandi melam.



Kavadi attam is a devotional dance dedicated mostly to lord muruga. Unlike those carried on shoulders balanced by a stick and something curved like with fixed feathers on each end, what I see last evening was a stool like thing carried on head with a cone like decorated, as they roll, it revolves colorfully.

CHENNAI CULTURE:

CHENNAI is Popularly called the "Gateway to the South", Chennai culture is distinctly different from that of any other city in India. Being a cosmopolitan city, the culture of the city reflects its diverse population which has resulted in a unique blend. Though a modern city, it continues to be traditional and conventional in certain ways. Traditional music, dance and all other art forms of Tamil Nadu are very popular in the city. One can find a unique blend of culture from traditional foods to fast foods, from ancient temple architecture to modern high-rises and from classical music and dance to the growing nightlife in the city.

MUSIC:

The city is known for its classical music shows. Every December, Chennai holds a five week-long Music Season, which has been described as one of the world's largest cultural events. The Music Season encompasses performances (kutcheries) of traditional Carnatic music by hundreds of artists in and around the city. This happens during the Tamil season of Margazhi and this period is a festive and joyous time in chennai. The mercury lies in the low twenties and the music rendered by the great musicians is soul-stirring and sensational. Carnatic music makes the December season a must-experience for visitors to Chennai.




DANCE AND DRAMA:

Chennai is also known for the classical Indian dance, the Bharatanatyam, which is also the official dance of Tamil Nadu. An important cultural centre for Bharatanatyam is Kalakshetra (Sanskrit for "place of the arts"), located on the beach in the south of the city.




Chennai has a vibrant theatre scene, with a large number of Tamil plays being performed. Political satire, slapstick comedy, history, mythology and drama are some of the popular genres of Tamil plays. Prominent theatre personalities include Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar, K.S. Nagarajan, Cho Ramaswamy, Indira Parthasarathy, R.S. Manohar, N. Muthuswamy, Crazy Mohan, S. Ve. Sekhar and Y. Gee. Mahendran. English theatre is also popular in Chennai.

Kollywood:

Chennai is the base for the large Tamil movie industry, dubbed Kollywood after the locality of Kodambakkam where most of the movie studios are located. The industry makes about 300 Tamil movies a year, and its film soundtracks dominate the music scene in the city.


Art:

Chennai has played a vital role in the evolution of traditional and contemporary art in India.

Lalit Kala Akademi, at Greams Road conducts regular exhibitions of works by established and emerging artists.

The Cholamandal Artists' Village is a unique centre of art and craft where artists and sculptors work in their own studios to supplement their income from the sale of paintings or sculptures. A permanent gallery attracts visitors throughout the year.

Chennai has produced some of the finest artists in India like KCS Panicker, K.M.Adimoolam, A.V.Ilango, R.B.Bhaskaran, R.M.Palaniappan.

There are also couple of emerging artists like Aparajith, Benita Perciyal, Sivabalan, cheenu pillai, Sheela Maradi, Ramasuresh who have made a mark for themselves.