A mixture of Chennai and Madras
Bharathiar, the most renowned Tamil poet ever, lived here. You used to get the world’s best Sambhar Idly here. Muslims and Hindus live here in peace and harmony. You can find both North and South Madras culture here. One of the roads here is famous for its traffic jams that can freak you out.
You must have guessed it by now. This is Triplicane, Chennai’s maddest and busiest localities.
You get the Sambhar Idly in Ratna Café, once and still one of the most famous restaurants in the city. There are stories of people who eat here everyday and those who walk miles to eat here. Right next to the café is Jam Bazaar, famous for its traffic jams and most appropriately so. The traffic is freaky here. You have to drive like a bat out of hell to cross it. Traffic rules just don’t apply. People here think that they don’t exist. You can get kozhal puttu at 5 am. Although I don’t know why the guy makes it at that unearthly hour, he does manage to sell it.
I live 10 minutes away from where Bharathiar used to compose his poems not so long back. That house is still maintained well (on the outside, at least). Close by is the Parthasarathy Temple around which most of Triplicane’s Brahmin community lives.
Over the years, I have come to believe that Triplicane reflects in many ways the essence of Chennai. The blend of its traditional and modern.
But Triplicane hasn’t really embraced globalisation – no multiplexes, towering high rise buildings or huge office towers here. Its people look and behave and certainly cross the road like villagers – without a care in the world.
I may have missed quite a bit, especially the mosques. Do feel free to add your bit in the comments section.
Triplicane is very nearer to “Mariana” Beach and the famous ‘THE chepauk cricket stadium” is in Triplicane Area.Further it is sandwhich between the most commercial centre Mount Road and Religion Centre Mylapore.
right u are: i am a cricket fan. so almost a crime that i missed the stadium. i have even watched a match there. Sehwag crossed 150 that day.
Triplicane has a number of book shops selling college text books and the guides.The books you don’t get in other parts of Chennai will be available here. There are a number of pavement shops selling second hand books
Althought triplicane is very well still famous for all the things that have been mentioned here, an another unique feature triplicane earned in the recent few decades is the name ‘Bachelour paradise’.
You could find so many mansions and guest houses and due to the increasing number of bachelors, the number of hotels/mess(meals center) have exponentially grown.
and there is a street opposite to star theatre , where many foreign visitors stay.
expect a seperate post on mansions.
yes gv sir, but vatsan has already written about it.
Just to add the etymology of the name Thiruvallikeni which became Triplicane in English. The pond in front of the temple was full of lillies, hence the name – Thiru Alli Keni (The Lilly Pond).
I attended to Presidency college from 1967-72 and then went away from India. The aquarium, Buhari non-veg restaurant and the boat building location were fixtures at that time. Boy-girl couples will go off to the beach in mid day and attempt to add that special mahogany sheen to their already dark faces. They were in love and no amount of heat mattered. When I came back in 2002, the sands of Marina have turned a lot browner than I had known. More food stalls had appeared. I have not seen the sands since the tsunami.