CULTURAL QA 08-2023-21 Dear friends,
All the QA in this posting are also about Chennai. I am settled after retirementin Chennai in 2005. The greater Chennai is devided in to 2 coprporations.Chennai corporation and Tambaram corporation. I am residing in Tambaramcorporation. The growth is enormous inlast decade in Chennai Gopalakrishnan 21-8-23 Q1 What is the largest mall in Chennai? A1 David, Lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (1998–present)Thu There are many malls there in Chennai and mostly all malls arelarge with sufficient parking and shops and restaurants. Though largest mall will be, 1. Phoenix MarketCity: Known for its sheer size and diverseofferings, Phoenix MarketCity is one of the largest malls in Chennai. It boastsa wide range of national and international brands, along with a plethora ofdining options, a multiplex cinema, and entertainment zones. 2. AeroHub Mall: Situated near Chennai Airport, AeroHubMall provides a convenient shopping experience for travelers with a mix ofretail stores like Levi’s, Adidas Lee Cooper, and dining options like Popeye,Burger King, KFC, Junior Kuppanna, A2B, and entertainment facilities like PVR,LED. Its proximity to the airport makes it a unique destination for last-minuteshopping or relaxation before or after a flight. 3.Express Avenue: Located in the heart of Chennai, ExpressAvenue stands out for its modern design and a comprehensive array of shopping,dining, and entertainment choices. It is a favorite among locals and visitorsalike. My note- Though the phoenix mall is biggestmall, it’s location blocks the road trafficvia Velacheri from Parrys Q2 Isa Vande Bharat Express train between Chennai and Tirunelveli feasible? A2 Auto And Art, Traveled every single route in SouthernRailway! Jul 15 Currently trains take 10.5 hoursand more from Chennai to Tirunelveli and mostly run overnight. There are hardly any day-time trains in the sector and those that arethere are slow and inconvenient. There are many night trains but theseare invariably sold out long before the journey date due to the extreme highdemand for travel in the sector. The track is not strengthened for most partand maximum speeds vary between 100 and 110 kph, with many even slower segments. Remember, the line was built over a 100 years ago in the British era,to connect the princely state of Travancore to the MadrasPresidency. Most people do this route as an overnightjourney ONLY because of how long it takes Due to the paucity of trains, the Bus lobby dominates theroute with overnight sleeper buses. There are an estimated 300–400luxury buses running in this route (including Madurai - Chennai, Kodaikanal -Chennaietc) and they take about 9–10 hours as well. Now imagine, the train track is strengthened and trains can run at 130KPH all the way from Chennai to Tirunelveli. The distance of 620 kms can beeasily covered in 7 hours! This means someone starting at 5 AM inChennai can reach Tirunelveli by noon, and someone starting Tirunelveli at 3 PMcan reach Chennai by 10 PM. Who will want to undertake anuncomfortable 10 hour overnight journey, if instead, you can spend less thanhalf a day sitting andworking comfortably in an AC coach with a recliner seat, laptop power ports, 2full meals and other refreshments served at your seat en-route, access to cleantoilets throughout the journey (instead of waiting till the busdriver feels like going to the toilet, and stops the bus at a smelly and dirtytoilet somewhere in rural TN in the middle of the night!) Imagine not having tosomehow get to crowded Koyambedu to board your bus, and then retrace the pathall the way back to Tambaram! Imagine being able to get down at Guindy andcatch the MRTS/Metro rail to get home rather than haggle with rude auto-wallahsin the early morning as you arrive in Chennai. The list of nice things you can imagine with taking theVande Bharat train instead of that sleeper bus is endless. Now a section of people argue that Vande Bharat is expensive. Theycompare with second class sleeper non-air conditioned regular fare and this isintentional and devious. It is an attempt to discredit the Vande Bharat.Someone paying Rs. 1500 and taking a Volvo Sleeper bus is not going to take thenon-air conditioned second class sleeper. The fare for Vande Bharat will bearound Rs. 1200 for the Chennai- Tirunelveli trip, which is less than whatthese sleeper buses charge. By running a Vande Bharat with 16 coaches, 1200passengers can be ferried across, eliminating the need for 30 sleeper buses! IfTejas express is also extended to Tirunelveli and made to run at similarspeeds, that is another 30 sleeper busses gone. In fact, nearly all expresstrains can run at or close to 130 KPH once tracks are strengthened. If Railways introduces 5–6 dayservices (as prevalent on Chennai - Bangalore route, which as 2 Shatabdis,Vande Bharat, Brindavan, Double decker and Labhag expresses in addition somelong distance trains that ply on the route during daytime), 200 buses caneasily be eliminated. No wonder, then that the bus lobby does not wantthis. They have fought tooth and nail against the introduction of any new daytime train services on the route for decades and successfully managed toinfluence the powers that be, not to speed up existing trains. While Chennai - Bangalore routehas 6 pairs of day time trains, Chennai - Madurai has one (Tejas Express,introduced after a lot of push by railway passenger associations) State Government is also notinterested to improve train service cutting through the most major artery of TN(Chennai - Trichy - Madurai - Tirunelveli), as their own fleet of long-distancebuses will find fewer passengers and also because sale of diesel to all thesebuses will dip. The State Government makes a thick slice of VAT taxes on Dieseland this will suffer. Less individual owned cars on the NH due to better trainservices, will result in less road tax (as fewer people prefer to buy cars todo their monthly trips to their south TN native places in comfort) and lessertoll collection. The business lobbies who runthese highly profitable sleeper and luxury buses probably have a strong hand ininfluencing the state government to keep the playing field in their favour.More people using buses, more traffic on roads, more fuel sales are all in thestate government interest. More fast, comfortable trains means more power tothe traveller and more revenue to Indian Railways and the Centre My note- All the views told bythe person answered is his own. 1 During British regime, the railway route to South Keralawas Chennai,-Trichy- Madurai- Tirunelveli- Chenkottai- Aryankavu- Quilon,Trivandrum as a meter gauge train. Ihave travelled in this route a number of times. 2. Even now the catering servicein this route is very poor. Passengers have to collect food items fromTirunelveli. Q3 Whatis the best way to get from Chennai to Rameshwaram, by flight or by train? A3 Suresh, Lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Jul 6 I had travelled to Rameshwaram byflight as well as by train. Flight - From Chennai to Madurai , then from there we needto take a cab , which will take 2.5 to 3 hours max. If you start in day time from Chennai by flight,then you can reach by evening to rameshwaram. Then you can take aroom and the next day you can do poojas and return on that day itself. Train - I think there are some trains ( around 3 to 5 trains ) , whichstarts around 5 to 6pm from Chennai and reaches around 6 to 7 am the next day.Immediately, you can freshen up in some room there and complete all poojas andreturn back the same day or the next day. Bus is also there, but I have nottravelled. It takes around 12 hours in Bus also. Lots of buses are there fromKoyembedu, Chennai. Train is more convenient if you have two days time, otherwise you cantake a flight route. You can also book the rooms /Pooja everything from Chennai, provided you know somebody there through goodreference. Otherwise go there and do it. Many people get trapped in online bypaying more, hotel room not good and good services are given during Pooja.So be careful, this is only to caution . My note- Not only hotel rooms are bad, but vegetarian food also. For Brahmins performing prelude to Gayasrardham, we haveto book with sasthrikal, he arranges in some home cooking and srardha with nine Bhokthas.The sankalpam is lengthyand done before taking bath. When I went to Rameswaram, Istayed at Sringeri mutt residence there. The sand from Dhanushkoti is collected and taken to Allahabad and atTriveni, it is added to water. This has to be done preferably before threemonths after sand collection. Q4 Irecently moved from Mumbai to Chennai. I could not tolerate the weather andhumidity. How do I manage this? A4 Journalist May 16 We reside in a second floor, 2BHK in Chennai and have split air conditioners in the hall and bedrooms; almosta centrally air-conditioned setup We make it a point to use ACs only from mid-march to mid-August afterthorogh service. I start my day with a vigorouswalk at the sprawling Annanagar Tower Park. In the humid, hot weather I sweatprofusely but enjoy it. I come back and have a nice oilbath - body and head - in cold water. I manage to sit and work underthe fan till noon when I draw the curtains and switch on the AC in minimum withthe fan in second speed. Between noon and 5 pm the AC is switchedoff thrice for an hour each. At 6 the windows and doors are thrown open. At 7 I go for a cold-water bathand come back to the air-conditioned chill, which I enjoy till 10.30. The AC isswitched off twice during the period with the fan running. I hit the bed at 10.30 pm and theAC is on in minimum till 4 a.m. I'm up at 5.30 a.m. My power bill for two months wasRs.3350, which might touch 5000 in the next cycle before dropping to Rs.900 assummer eases. I make it a point to have a bodybath with minimum use of soap every time I come back home after an errand orwork-related meeting. That's my recipe for survivingthe onslaught of the Chennai heat-humidity combo. I'm here for 21 hot years. You, too, can adopt and survive.The key is fitness and smart use of ACs. My note- Though as the personanswered AC is used till mid August, this year it is still 360C mostly. The last electricity bill was above Rs 15000-00 for my home.In my wife’s words- I use AC throughoutfrom 6 AM to 10 PM in my small room. Fact is I switch OFF also in betweenfor about an hour in between. Q5 How much luggage can you carry in an autorickshaw from the airport in Chennai, India to Beach Station (T Nagar)? A5 InfoSage, Former Insight Investigator (2018–2022)May 11 Usually, auto-rickshaws are smallvehicles that are notdesigned to carry heavy luggage. As per government regulations, thedriver is allowed to carry only up to 40 kg of luggage, and any excess luggage may attractadditional charges. It is recommended to use a taxi or a cab service to transport heavy luggage. Moreover, it is advisable to negotiate the fare with theauto-rickshaw driver before the journey, as the fare may vary dependingon the distance and the time of the day. It is also important to ensure thatthe auto-rickshaw has a working meter, and the fare is calculated accordingly. My note- Nowadays most autos request extra money for luggage. In Chennai airport only cabs areavailable. Getting a cab is only possible. I have found plenty of autos inTrivandrum air port. All the above QA are from Quora digest to me on 20-08- 2023. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers .Compiled and posted byR. Gopala krishnan, on 21-08-2023 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1815681969.859739.1692604335205%40mail.yahoo.com.
