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 The auto rickshaw guy who swerves in your path, nearly runs you down, and then roundly curses you for not looking; the flower woman with her just bathed, turmeric drenched face adorned with a big bindi, sitting at the temple entrance on a little stool, measuring lengths of fragrant jasmine strung together on smooth, wet,
banana fiber; the impossibly bursting-to-the-seams stainless steel ("paatharam kadai") vessel store... there is a sense of immense nostalgia that creeps up on me for things that probably were so taken-for-granted when I used to live in Madras. Back in the 90s when I left Madras, it was a wonderful city filled with the smells of Madras coffee, turmeric and jasmine flowers, and the sights of silk saris, stainless steel stores, and huge, huge hoardings of Rajnikanth lining the one and only flyover. Today, when I come back to visit, it is no longer Madras. It’s Chennai, fashionably pronounced "Chenn - nnai"! What changed, other than the name? I can reel it off a list! - The flyovers! I feel like I am almost visiting a city in the US. Chennai’s spanking new, traffic regulating, space-saving flyovers are every bit as confusing as those in some cities in the US .
- The population! I almost felt like I was in Kolkatta! Chennai is brimming with people. Back in the 90s, there were some streets in Chennai where a woman couldn’t walk alone at nights for fear of being accosted. Not anymore! Every street in Chennai has people 24/7. There is, indeed, safety in numbers!
- The cool youngsters! I love watching the tweens, the teens and the "youth". You may not realize it, but “youth” is now actually a Tamil word! Check out the Tamil TV serials and listen to the youngsters talk on TV or on the street. They refer to themselves as the “youth”! They are so cool, so casual, as sure of themselves as we were at that age, but seem smarter, bolder, more fun, more lively and more willing to talk, date and relate to the opposite sex. Madras had gender segregation. Not so Chennai!
- The restaurants! OMG! Too many to name - the variety and cross cultural cuisine available is truly vast.  
No one can now accuse Chennai of being as staid and boring anymore. When I left Madras, we “Madrasis” were viewed as inconspicuous as milquetoast, as drab and dull as a rainy day, as rooted in our superstitions and folklore as our famous Adayar Banyan tree was rooted to the ground. No one can say that of Chennai. Chennai, with so many fun spots, so many places to eat out, and so many things to do, is a perfect blend of the old and the new. Don’t mistake me – there still are the gorgeously 9-yard silk-clad mamis, grouped strategically around the temple agraharams. There still are the women with jasmine flower strands woven into their plait, there still are the “veshti” clad men, and the road-side idly-vadai and bajji stands, and the beautiful Marina beach. All these are the Madras flavor of Chennai. What I no longer see in Chennai, are the cycle rickshaws, the quiet streets lined with large, shady trees, and the huge houses. In its place, is the drum beat of constant traffic, high rise apartment buildings, stores, and people everywhere. Other than the external, physical change that changed Madras to Chennai, there is also an undercurrent of cultural change. Madras was indeed staid, self-restrained and rooted in the past. Chennai is all about the future. It is all about the young. It is all about how much the “youth” can achieve and how far they can go. And rightly so! It has been a long, careening ride from Madras to Chennai. But the journey has been worth it. We have retained the character of Madras while we moved into the 21st century. The old and new now co-exist peacefully. Welcome to Chennai! Written by Jaya Shrivatsava
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