The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chennai charms expatriates, despite defects

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Monday, Jan 05, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chennai charms expatriates, despite defects

Kannal Achuthan and Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Vibrant culture, restaurants offering international cuisine and air connectivity are the enchanting features

— Photo: N. Sridharan

COSMOPOLITAN: An expatriate family take a shopping trip in Thiruvanmiyur. The increase in the number of retail chain stores and malls has made living in the city more convenient for these international residents.

Chennai: Chennai is steadily becoming more cosmopolitan. The city has always had a sizeable expatriate population but the numbers are growing with several multinational firms setting up base here.

The city’s vibrant culture, restaurants offering international cuisine, malls that stock international brands and air connectivity make it convenient for expatriates to live here. However, haphazard traffic and poor sanitation are turnoffs. Despite these factors, many expatriates say it is a pleasure to live here. They have started clubs, sports leagues and websites to bond with each other.

British photographer and numismatist Rod Hudson, who arrived here 10 years ago, thought that Chennai was a very boring city although its colours made perfect photographs. But his perceptions changed. “I fell in love with a person who is a Chennaiite… it was aftet I married her that I began discovering the city’s different aspects such as its cultural delights,” he said.

Mr. Hudson says the city has grown rapidly. “When I first came here, I used to find myself on Mount Road every week, because that used to be the only happening place. Now I confine myself to the Adyar and ECR areas,” he says. The traffic is something that he dislikes. “As far as I am concerned, Indian faces are the best in the world but Indian drivers are the worst,” he says.

The traffic and pollution made Frenchman Dmitri Klein shift base to Puducherry. The founder-president of Children of the World India, an non-governmental organisation, Mr. Klein said his family had stayed in Chennai for two years to start a vocational school for tsunami affected children. But he preferred to relocate to Puducherry because it was closer to French culture and less congested.

German national Niels Schoenfelder of a private architectural firm has been living in India for the past seven years. “Many people of foreign origin, who prefer to stay on, are passionate about something here,” he says. He likes the city because he found that even at work, people are warm and friendly.

Foreign nationals have also integrated with the local community by taking part in various activities. Shalina Kurien, a member of the Ashraya Church, said its weekly service is attended by people from various parts of India and the world over.

Apart from diplomats, businesspersons and artists, the city’s also educational institutions attract foreign nationals. Fumiko Arai Chandramouli, dancer and Japanese language teacher, came from Japan to Chennai to learn Bharathanatyam at Kalakshetra in 1993. “People here communicate well,” says Ms. Chandramouli, who is married to an Indian. There is only one thing that annoys her. “I find that people make a habit of not being on time. In Japan, everything is on time. If a train comes in a minute late, the company will tender an apology,” she says.

Italian-American chef Thom Petty, who runs a restaurant in Chetpet, has fallen in love with the city . “I can’t think of any place else where I’d rather live. I’m often greeted with doubtful looks when I tell people this but it’s the honest-to-God truth,” he states. He also says that the availability of international cuisine is getting better by the year.

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