Chennai (Madras) Things to Do

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The brainchild of Romulus Whittaker, the acknowledged specialist on reptiles, this centre has gained fame as an endeavour for the preservation and propagation of endangered species of crocodiles. The centre also houses a large variety of snakes.

The place is worth visiting if you are traveling to Chennai. Situated on the East Cost Road, the road to Mamallapuram, this Crocodile bank was created will almost all Crocodile species of the world to save them from getting killed, as slowly they have become extinct. It has crocodiles and alligators from Africa, Australia, South America, Asia. This is also a breeding centre.

Our tour operator ( TTDC) did not stop at this place but they preffered to take us to VGB Golden Beach, what a sheer waste of time. We do have this kind of amusement park in almost all the cities in India or abroad. Their hurried call did not allow me to see it properly, all I can say I missed it. I will have wait for my next trip to Chennai.

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Situated at Marina Beach facing the Indian Ocean, RamKrishna Mission Ashram is great Indian centre of learning and meditation. Started by famous Indian Saint Swami Vivekananda at Calcutta , now Ramkrishna Mission Ashram is all over the country. They have schools and a special teaching method. It is seen that all the boys are very brilliant, they score very high marks at all exams and are considered better citizens of this country. The school is open for all cast and creed even Muslims and Christians of India may get education there. The teachers are equally brilliant as they are all past students of the mission, have opted for very difficult life of monkhood( Celibacy).

A place many miss or do not give a thought but in my view the place is worth visiting.

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Marina Beach, one of the worlds longest beaches is 13 km long. The tsunami on December 26, 2004, caused massive death and destruction along the beach. It is said more than 1400 people died.It has been difficult to recover, but the community is working hard to make the area attractive to tourists and vacationers once again.

This beach is one of the land marks of the city, next to Madras Port , visited by thousands of people everyday. But the sea is very rough not really fit for swimming or sea bathing. Yet many people go for swimming every day and some people do not return alive. The people of Chennai just love to visit this place in the evening for stroling or evening dinner( picnic). Next to the beach there are several Udupi and Chettinadu restaurants where you can have your evening meal. Chettinadu Chicken is one of the best chicken preparation we ever had in our life in a hotel near Marina Beach. We went there almost on 5 nights.

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Guindy Snake Park, next to the Guindy National Park. See the deadly King Cobra, pythons and vipers as well as other reptiles. There is a Children's Park adjacent with collections of animals and birds. It was created awareness about the reptiles among the mass as they are friend of human being. Many Indians feel the Snakes are enemy of human being and nature courtesey our Hindi movies propagating superstitions.

The snake show is arranged every hour by experts, who shows how a snake reacts. It attacks anyone only when it is threatened or provocated. It does not drink milk as commonly believed in India, it survives on small animals, birds etc.

We enjoyed the show very much as it was an education for Munu who was seven years old that time.

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This temple is dedicated to the Hindu God Lord Shiva. This is one of the greatest land marks of Chennai City, situated in Mylapore area it is also a great centre for Karnatic Music and Dance. All the known stars of Karnatic music and dance circle could be seen performing here in the temple.

One of Chennai's oldest and best-known temples, said to date to the 8th century, although the present structure dates to the 1600s. Notable above all for its soaring, incredibly detailed 37m gopuram (entrance gate). There is a large water tank behind the temple, used for the Thaipusam festival (Jan-Feb), and plenty of flower shops all around. Within easy striking distance of the city centre. The structure of the temple is so colorful that you will be mesmerised for sometime. I have taken these pictures with my Sony handycam as I did not have a digital camera then in 2004/5, but yet the digital pictures taken with handycam gives the depth of colour, which is amazing.

As in all South Indian temple the Non Hindus are not allowed in the inner Sanctum Sanctorium but they are allowed to see,sit, visit the entire temple. It is expected that the person will be properly dressed with no exposure to body or legs. Half pants or sandow vests are to be avoided by the female visitors.

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Madras Museum is one of the better museums of our country. It has many subjects to offer right from History to Archeology. For first time visitors to the city of Chennai a visit to Madras Museum will give a fair idea about our culture, bravery and life of South India. A must visit place.

Momos are really popular in Assam, Delhi, Bangalore - these are some of the places where I have had this lovely Tibetan preparation. Steaming momos play quite an interesting role in the recent Anurag Kashyap flick Dev D.
Right before the old food court on the 2nd floor at Spencer Plaza, I came across a stall called Motown Momos - a very interesting name, given Chennai's auto industry. They've got quite a few interesting fillings in their momos - apart from the regular chicken and veg, they also serve mutton, cheesy capsicum, and mushroom. They've priced it a lot lesser than one would expect. Plate size is quite generous too, at 6 momos a plate. And the sauce is quite spicy.
In Chennai surprisingly, momos are firstly not as widely available and secondly they're exorbitantly priced. These guys have quite filled the gap. They do home delivery also, the number is 9500137474.

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Ride down to this place on the awesome ECR (East Coast Road) on a nice sunny weekend for a truly unforgettable experience!!
Mahabalipuram lies on the Coromandel Coast which faces the Bay of Bengal. This is an elegant place to watch which a well established sea port was during the 7th and 10th centuries of the Pallava dynasty. This was the second capital of the Pallavas who ruled Kanchipuram. Formerly, mahabalipuram was known and called as Mahabalipuram. The former name of this place ‘Mahabalipuram’ has a history. A very rude cruel king Mahabali reined this place and in a fierce battle king Mahabali was killed by Lord Vishnu and the place was named after the dead, arrogant kind Mahabali.

It was during the reign of King Narasimha Varman I, the name Mahabalipuram was changed. It was renamed mahabalipuram which is called till now. There is a story behind. The name Mamallpuram king Narasimha Varman I was a great and valiant warrior. He was given the title Mamalla which means ‘the great wrestler’ so the name was converted from Mahabalipuram to mahabalipuram considering the great king and his achievements.