Chennai Simple

The first thing that struck me about Chennai was its simplicity. It has none of the chamak dhamak of a metro. At Broadway – the main city bus station, from where I boarded a bus to the IIT, it took me a while to realize I had indeed arrived in Chennai and not a small township around it. Simple folks, dressed modestly. The women wear loads of flowers – perhaps the only cosmetic accessory they allow themselves.

As the bus stirred on to the main road, I had to convince myself it wasn’t a Sunday. Cool traffic. As the bus gained speed and distance, I kept waiting for images of a busy metro to emerge -- high rise buildings, spectacular shopping malls, trendily dressed men and women ---- but the monotony of simplicity just refused to break.
After an hours journey, that cost me Rs 5.50 paise, I got down at the IIT gate. The ELTAs had arranged for our stay at IIT’s Mahandi hostel in its huge campus. I did not expect its volunteers and office bearers to be waiting to receive delegates at the gate a day before conference. But this was just the beginning of the enthusiasm and resourcefulness that volunteers were to display throughout the three day conference. You had just to look in their direction for help and at least four would leap up saying ``Yes Sir.'