Lonely Planet on Madras

Lonely Planet, while a generally good travel guide, has depicted my unique hometown in a rather unflattering light. What irked me when I read their article on Madras was the clearly partisan viewpoint that celebrates in other Indian cities the same deficiencies one sees in Madras.

Krish Ashok absolutely nails it when he lambastes the obvious bias in the article, and demonstrates that a similar article could be written about any of the large cities in India.

Allow me to add my own Rs 0.02 to his points.

Notes:

• I use "Madras" instead of "Chennai", because no matter what the politicians say, that is how I will always identify my home town. I am however, forced to use the word "Chennaiite" to describe people like me, if only to avoid the once-inoccuous term "Madrasi" which has been forcibly turned into a pejorative by ignorant Northerners.
• I recognize that people love their cities for different reasons. I may not prefer to live in certain cities mentioned in the LP article, but I promise not to diss them.
  

1. Madras is hot. Get used to it. A real Chennaiite jokes about the weather, owns one sweater for when he/she has to visit Delhi, and gets most of his/her work done in the morning and evening.
2. Tamil film stars are 'not that hot'. Let's see. In approximate chronological order, Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayantimala Bali, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Meenakshi Seshadri, Padma Lakshmi. I must be missing something. The only other state that has contributed a comparable number of female headliners to the Hindi film industry must be West Bengal.
   
3. Madras lacks 'historical drama'. Ok, seriously? Madras may not be as old as Delhi is, but it has had a long, distinguished history of its own. It is home to several stunning temples, some of which are more than a thousand years old, and a culture and tradition that has flourished for much longer. It has also had some unique moments in modern Indian history, like being bombed during World War I (any schoolkid in Madras will tell you the name of the German ship that did it - The SMS Emden), being the final resting place of the apostle St. Thomas, featuring prominently in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, among others.
4. Madras lacks the 'optimistic buzz' of Bangalore. We Chennaiites take that as a compliment. Perhaps this sense of realism comes from firm grounding in tradition. Our city grooms us such that we never lose touch with our roots, whether it is celebrating a traditional kolu during Navarathri, learning classical music and dance the traditional way, or even being polite. Madras chooses to assimilate influences into its culture, rather than let them replace what exists already. The strength of its culture also explains why for an Indian city, Madras has a surprisingly large foreign population. The Hindu for example, frequently showcases Russians, Japanese, Australians and Americans who origanally came to Madras to learn classical dance or music, and have since made Madras their permanent home.
   
5. Madras is difficult to get around in. Krish Ashok has already touched upon this, but let me reinforce that Madras has long boasted of one of the best (and cheapest) public bus systems in the country. Add to that an efficient multiple-route suburban train system, and the much awaited Chennai Metro, and you have a good model for public transport that other cities in India could take a leaf or two out of. Autorickshaws are another matter altogether, but the emergence of share autos (or tempos, if you prefer) and call-taxi services has somewhat relaxed their once firm grip on our purses.
   

Its problems notwithstanding, Madras is a wonderful city with plenty to offer, but only to those willing to partake of it. To all the others, we politely say "Thank you for coming. Please come again, and perhaps you will realize the magic of this place next time."

Edit (20/10/2009): Removed Vidya Balan from the list of Bollywood actresses of Tamil origin, since it turns out she's a Palakkad Iyer and not a Tamil Iyer.