After reading many reviews, I am reminding what and all I had experienced in Chennai being here for 2 years and still how long, I don’t know....Below are my good and bad experiences: ----
Good:
Food - For North Indians, there can be a little problem, as the Chennai’s main meal is rice, idly, dosa and sambhar . The south indian food is of course good here (even better then Bangalore), but people from North India and some pure veggies may have to look for some options like - Sarvana Bhavan, Anand Bhavan, Gupta Ji, Hot Chips ...Bit costly but no other option to go until unless preparing it at home.
Other then that, there are many restaurants and hotels to satisfy your taste buds - Barbique Nation, Green Park, JP, Checkers, Chettinadu restaurants, Rain Tree, Hilton etc.
Tourist Places inside Chennai (i visited so far)-
Mahabalipuram (historical temple and beach)
MGM resort (amusement park)
Queens Land (Amusement Park)
Express Avenue (EA - biggest shopping mall and theater here, Marina Beach is 10-15 minutes from here by auto)
T Nagar and Pondi bazar (most busy shopping market)
Sarvana Stores (good shopping mall for your daily needs)
Spencer Plaza (Shopping mall)
Sky Walk (Shopping mall)
City Center (Shopping mall near beach)
Sowcarpet Market (Marwari - North Indian market)
Beaches (Marina, Besant Nagar, Light house etc )
Dakshinachitra (museum of art, architecture, lifestyles, crafts and performing arts of South India )
Guindy National Park
Crocodile Park
Vandaloor zoo
Bird Sanctuary
Many Churches and Temples
Places near chennai (2 - 4 hrs distance by bus)
Tirupati - must visit place
Pondicherry
Yelagiri
Yercaud etc
For more places please visit - mustseeindia.com/places-around-chennai
Good time to visit Chennai is between Sep - Nov .
Apart from normal autos (which charges too much), you can find share autos(no meter though but its very very economical).
By business and IT point of view, the city is growing.
People: Local language - Tamil, but most of the people know English, so if you know English you can survive, like I am surviving. Well, People are helping here.
Bad:
I don’t understand why they don’t keep clean themselves and the city as well. I see many people spiting on the road here and there and not worrying at all. I found most of the people here more dominating also. They don’t listen to your point, what they say is correct. They push you out from the queue and start fighting instead of listening others. If you are from outside, better not to get involved in any bad conversation.
Too much power cut and too many mosquitoes !!! Be aware !!! Very hot and sunny weather most of the months. When it rains (Nov, Dec), it rains like flood !! Too much crowd in buses . The very big Bus Station (CMBT) - not at all clean and smells like hell. So called Metro City but the metro trains is like local small train - open door, no security and full of crowd again. Still more to go to be a Metro city.
I recommend this place to visit (if you are explorer) but keep Chennai at last if you are planning for peaceful holidays in South India.
There is a lot more to share but I will edit more details later on..