|
Chennai, India,
travel to Chennai, hotels in, South India Tour, travel deals, travel
in South India, tours to South India, travel to Chennai, cheap
travel, tourism, tourist, travel guide, discount travel, vacation
travel, travel guide, travel information, travel sites
|
|
Chennai is located near the 13th north parallel and 80 degree longitude.
The city stretches its 19 km length along the Coromandel coast and extends
inland about 9 km at its widest. Its irregular shape covers about 172 sq
km. It is a fairly low-lying strip of land, its highest point being only
60 m above sea level.
Chennai is
trisected by two east-flowing rivers that traverse its width. The Cooum
river almost divides the city into half and the Adyar river divides the
southern half of the city into two. The historic Buckingham canal runs
nearly parallel to the coast almost through the entire length of the city.
The city
has somewhat ungenerously described as having three seasons - hot, hotter
and hottest. Indeed, except for four pleasant months, November to
February, the weather is uniformly hot and humid.... May is the hottest
season with the mercury sometimes touching 42 C and the mean temperature
about 33 C. December and January are the coolest months with a mean
temperature of 24 C. However, the cool sea breeze (which sets in shortly
after 3 PM daily) makes even the warmest of evenings bearable. But
venturing out in between noon and 3 PM during April-August is best
avoided.
The Chennai
monsoon is from October to mid-December - and in a good year (from the
point of view of water-short citizens) the rain on some days during this
period can be quite heavy.
Chennai, (formerly Madras) the
first city of Tamil Nadu, is a comparatively new city. The erstwhile
villages of Mylapore, Triplicane, Ezhambur (Egmore) etc. all now a part of
Chennai, have a recorded historical past centuries older than Chennai.
Chennai, the present gateway to the South of India, is itself, however,
only about 350 years old..
"Madrassis are zealous guardians of Tamil culture which they regard as
inherently superior to the hybridized cultures further north. They have,
for instance, been among the most vociferous opponents of Hindi being made
the national language, and Chennai is the film Center of Tamil Nadu." -
Quoted from Lonely Planet, travel guide to India.
Particularly charming features of Chennai are its allegiance to ancient
traditions, no matter how modernized it has become, and its willingness to
spread out further rather than develop into a multi-storey concrete
jungle. The result is a widespread city still open to skies; a green, airy
city with several vestiges of its rural past; a city that adheres to the
leisurely tempo of life of a world of yesterday; a city whose values of
another day still survive midst of the humdrum bustle of today; a city
that still retains the charm, culture and courtesies of the ages.
|
Incredible Real India - Destination List of South India
|
v
Destinations
- South India
|
|
|
|
|
|
