Hi, i am basically from Jaipur, Rajasthan and I am living in Chennai, Tamilnadu for almost past 8 months and presently working on Cognizant Technology Solution, Chennai. Before this, i had never ever visited Tamil Nadu or even the south. I had to Join Cognizant, Chennai within 20 Days of my interview, which was Dec, 2013. So, all the decisions and planning was done in too much of a rush and many legal formalities. From relatives and known, me and my family had made a rough outline about Chennai, their culture, Weather, food and other things. The food Scared my mother to opt for Chennai and leave the decision to join Cognizant. But the career path and MNC Working Experience let myself driven to the southern vibes.
About Chennai:
Not digging the historical background, but to tell you how I feel about Chennai and their people.
- Weather: Is humid and sometimes its torturous to survive for a North-Indian. It's different from the summer weather of the north. Its more humid and tangy. So, I shifted to AC PG Even in the Month of February.
- People: The majority of Tamils i have met are kinda introverts. They don't have bad intentions towards you if you're North Indian they are neutral towards us. that is why Tamil Nadu have the less crime rates. They are knowledgeable in their Field, more Career-Oriented and sincere to their work while comparing with other North-Indian Colleagues but Northies gain Points in communication skills.
- Transport : Chennai have really better transport facility with comparison to Jaipur like buses will be available from Morning 4-5 at night 12-1 from most of the routes and you'll find transport at different prices as well, ranging from AC buses to white board buses which costs most expensive and most cheapest respectively. hard to pronounce and remember the places. after many exercises, i can pronounce 'Sholinganallur' correctly but still confused with metukuppam, karapakkam and all the -am's. but i'll recognize them with time. The auto is still costly and way more costlier when he recognizes you as northie. Well, everything comes with a side-effect.
- Food : What If you get only rice in the lunch as well as in the dinner. and everything made up of rice. Biryani, Curd-rice, Sambhar rice, Veg Fried Rice with Veg Biryani Rice, Rice with Rice! Shit! Actually, the rice is south replacement of Roti. They eat everything with Rice. even if you try to come out of rice, it needs bucks.A single Roti cost 10 times than price of Roti in North. And it is also too Raw and disguise to digest. The food is always an issue for north-Indian for their survival in South. But here's a escape, if you're non-vegetarian then you'll occasionally get the North-Indian standard food.
- Communication : Tamil is the Only place in India Where you'll find majority of Non-Hindi Speakers. their Periyar's theories kept them stick to their language and they're proud of it. well, its hard for us to communicate with Tamils but most of the people easily understand english.
- Culture : people here follows traditional culture so the night life is not as good as other metro city. gigs and concerts are very less and some of them might be restricted to language barriers. though malls, pubs and party places are satisfactory if you have good party-loving crowd.
It's not hard to survive here as its seems. you find a good work culture, hard working people and simple-living personalities.
Enjoy to the fullest :)
