I'm sure most of you wanted to find out what was I doing in Chennai right now. So here is my fair share of experience in Chennai.

We landed here on 31st October 2005. The airport wasn't what we have in mind but has been anticipated. Since it was the night flight, there weren't so much hassle to get my baggage. The feeling of into a new strange place suddenly overwhelms me. There weren't anybody to rely on except for the company staff, Ms Padmini and her nephew Ajay who warmly welcomed us here.

That night, on the way to our accommodation, we were greeted by loud honking from vehicles that wheezed by. Huge billboards lined the streets which mostly advertise about the IT companies that they have here. Traffic-wise wasn't that bad neither fantastic. I see a lot of room of improvement to be made.

Upon arrival, on the secluded street beside the ever famous Sivaji Ganeshan's house, we came upon our humble stay house. Owned by Mr Babuji Jacob, the place was well equipped with all the facilities we can find here. The water commodity was a bit of an issue so we had to practice water conservation on drinking water. It is not our everyday luxury to experience such things.

The first few days I had was a really dramatic experience as I had trouble adjusting quickly to the strange environment here. In my mind, I tried to adapt myself mentally. Suddenly, I have to be on my own. I don't know the neighbourhood that much. Not much of neighbours except for a local neighbour who I suspected a widow and the care taker of the apartment.

The place is just a haven for us at the moment as we still have yet to venture further out there. Of course, conversing with them is easy because generally the locals speak English and I seriously think is a good language for international communication. At one point of time, I sometime see the school-going children went to school bare footed. It was really a pitiful sight.

As we venture the common streets, the street vendors lined their goods waiting pensively for customer to come by. There were also numerous black-auto rickshaws whom I bargained before. It was interesting to sit in the three-wheeled vehicle.

For work, we had to call in a taxi from a local company, Sree Devi. Initially, it was pretty efficient and cheap but it has been under-standard a couple times. We had no choice because it seems that it is only one of the transport mode that we are comfortable with.

Scandent Solutions in Chennai has been homely. Sometimes, their ever busy schedule couldn't keep up with us and we had to be assigned to their prominent teams every now and then. Their efficiency in keeping their work done has been a great experience. You could see how well each team integrated with each other and also we got to see the employees working for major clients who based largely in the west. A truly multi-national company.

The food here is quite interesting. Of course, we couldn't expect to see all the food in Singapore but at least they do have pizzas. Most of the restaurants here serves vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. It is quite distinctive with their promient green and red oblong enclosed circle on every product and menu items.

We didn't dare to be that adventurous to try the street foods so we opt for restaurants which offers economically good food. Restuarants from Harrisson's, which a few metres away from our workplace offers variety food dishes to choose from. We also tried one of their posh restaurant Mainland China, which offers luxurious Chinese dishes that are not so commonly found here. Malaysian Pelita restaurant also offers malaysian local dishes like mee goreng and famous teh tarik. It was indeed a very reputable restaurant which delivers something that is common to us.

Overall, Chennai still have a lot of time to improve its image as one of the top cities in India. With its keen politcal figures which has their photos on the street walls, the politician have the great interest to develop Chennai even better. It would have been better for Chennai to develop its transport routes especially the roads.

In the news, one of the Chennai police stations has an ISO certification which is definitely rare sight to be seen.I bet Chennai is going to be a major competitor with Goa in 20 years time. Chennai is a city of hope for India.