Chennai (surprisingly but also due to recession) has a lot of people from IIM Lucknow this year. Some of my very good friends are working there… Suddenly they made plans of having a Get Together and asked me to come over… I had never been to Chennai before and thought it would be a good occasion to see the city. Also, we were supposed to go to Pondicherry from Chennai… which looked like a decent plan to me.
The least did I know that on the very same day when I had to fly to Chennai, I had a visit scheduled to one of the Contract Manufacturing facilities of our company. That facility is located in Vapi, Gujarat, some 150+ KMs away from Mumbai… Take traffic bottle necks and bad roads, travel time would definitely be more than four hours…Although my flight was at 8:30 in the evening, I was a little concerned.
I managed to be back in Mumbai on time, thanks to my friends and our HR specially who ensured that we did not waste much time in the facility… It was a good experience being there… Making medicines is not a simple thing… With all the safety protocols and standards that need to be followed, a facility has to be very careful about what is being produced… One small mistake can kill thousands, if not lacs.
My flight landed on time and I halted in Chennai for a night (on Friday) at Sattu’s place before moving to Pondicherry next morning. We had two cars (including Sugam’s new FIAT Linea)… It was a good ride all the way from Chennai to Pondi. The best thing about it was that the sea was pretty close to the road… The view was awesome.
In Pondicherry, we stayed in a resort which had its ‘private beach’… The beach was good there but the water was very rough. Bay of Bengal is known to have high tides… Therefore, we did not venture much into the sea… also we could not spend much time on the beach because it was deserted and the resort people warned us that the local fishermen could come and steal stuffs from us if we stay late there… All this happened after the sunset though… Before that we had our share of drinks and food and afternoon siesta because most of us did not have proper sleep the previous night. In the evening after visiting (literally) the beach, we went to the city and spent some time a trance bar… It was loud & boring and the music was incomprehensible to me so could not enjoy much. However, had nice time walking along the rocky beach.
Back in the resort, view from my room was amazing. It faced the sea and had bigg windows… Since Pondi is on the eastern coast, people say the sunrise is very beautiful. All of us slept inebriated on Saturday night… 😛 So waking up in the morning to watch the sunrise was out of question but even then I could see it from my bed and it indeed was very beautiful. Was too lazy to take a picture though.
We came back to Chennai on Sunday in afternoon. I had a flight to catch in the night… Overall it was a good trip.
It was my first trip to anywhere south of Bangalore… I surprisingly found Chennai to be very clean. Friends say that is not the truth… Chennai is very well a part of India! 😀
However, to my surprise, I was left to guess the reason behind not serving lunch after 3:00 P.M. in the afternoon in any of the restaurants in Chennai… Can some one throw some light on the logic behind?
One more thing, it is not a very good idea to go out on a trip with couples when you are single… it is actually worse with new couples… You are left to do nothing all the while the couples are coupling… 😛
Panache 
What do you mean you “found Chennai surprisingly clean”?!!!! It has always been a very clean place… much more than Delhi or Mumbai. And I think I may know the ‘logic’ behind the non availability of ‘lunch’. I will explain that to you in person sometime. 🙂
Also, all the ‘friends’ who tell you Chennai is not part of India will inevitably be North Indian and mostly from in or around Delhi. 🙂 They hold the same views about North East. 🙂 I reallly really don’t like those people who cannot accept that there are places within this country where people speak a language different from theirs.
@Chellu: I expected this reply from u… 😛 Believe me I actually liked Chennai… it is a good city… no doubt about it! But, I would definitely love to know about that logic 😛
While the city may be clean its resident are far from any form of hygiene known to mankind.
I definitely regard Chennai as part of India and it would’ve been a wonderful place had it not been for its residents!! 🙂 (Like fuddu chelu)