By any standard, I’m sure Madras, I prefer to call Chennai that way, will rank the Top 1 Indian City to visit to, live in & enjoy & to work or start a business.
I. Introduction:
The growth of Madras in recent times is astounding & incredible. As The Chief Minister of that State has rightly & proudly Extoled its growth likening it to the growth of the Bamboo shoot: First 4 years or so in the root area, underground & invisible & a marvelous & mysterious growth to 90 feet in a matter of just SIX Weeks after its initial sprouting. After the recent visit to Madras, I found for myself this was true.
II. The New Parameters:
Let’s examine how Madras Fares as per the NEW Parameters set for judging the Top Cities to live in & enjoy:
1.Stability
Personal Risk
Health Care
Culture & Environment
Education,
Infrastructure and
The availabilty of Goods & Services.
(Thank God, I need not dwell upon inane items like places of interest, hotels & restaurants, Parks & Beaches, shops & book-stores, Theatres & eateries, Hotels & sport facilities, Entertainment & night-life!)
I. Stability:
It is a measure to assess a city’s sustainable growth rate. In the spheres of Social, Commercial, Industrial & Financial growth, Madras has made a jump-leap & is definitely well-poised for greater growth. It has become the IT hub of the world & it stands in the fore-front in the matter of attracting foreign investments & enterprises. So lot of job opportunities. All eyes are now toward Madras.
2.Personal Risks:
In matters of personal risks such as accidents, epidemic-prone area (health-hazards), drug-trafficking, Crime, absence of Law & Order etc etc), Madras is the safest & most secure CITY in India. There are these risks, no doubt, but they are minimal & insignificant.
3.Health Care:
No need to tell about it. Hospital & Clinic facilities are in quite a number & at the optimum level. Hospitals of International Standard are located in Madras & patients from other parts of India & other countries line-up for treatment in these hospitals. The city with its sunshine & free Vitamin-D is less prone to diseases. Good Health reigns supreme In Madras. With the new awareness & Changing-for-the-better health Consciousness & Cleanliness (thanks to Madras youths studying or employed in the West), the city is fast becoming a cleaner & healthier Madras. In Health Care Madras is second to None in India.
4.Culture & environment:
When it comes to culture, Madras stands in the fore-front in keeping up its Cultural Heritage & improving upon it. Madrasis are mostly Conservative minded with taste in Carnatic, classical, spiritual & Filmy music. A law-abiding lot! The city reverberates with Music & Dance Concerts (anything equal to its Christmas Season Music Festivals?), Dramas, Harikathas, Bhajans, Radio & TV programmes, movies (Remember the Great Kollywood) etc etc. There are many great Temples ( bearing testimony to Architectural Excellence), ancient Churches & Mosques & new Gurudwaras. The people live a contented life & always keep them the happiest. Madras has one of the most ideal environment & lures people to live in & enjoy life ’ to the hilt’!
5.Education:
Madras can be classified as the Capital of Education, Knowledge & wisdom just as Bombay is adjudged as the Financial Capital & Calcutta as the Capital for Bravery. Let me not go into the details of Great Educational Institutions & the educational facilities available there because of the space constraint.
Who has not heard of the greatness of Madras University, Anna University, Madras IIT, M.E.T (Chromepet) & Dr.Ambedkar Law College, Madras Veterinary University, Music College, Kalakshetra (Dance School), Film Institute, Victoria Institute of Arts etc etc? For education, Madras has no boundaries!
6. Infrastructure: ( I shall speak in broad outlines as it would need a separate book to go in detail).
For those who wants to start a business in Madras: For any Business/ Industry to thrive the following infrastructure is the sine-quo-non:
1. Fail-safe Physical Infrastructure
Qualified Manpower and
Amenities & Facilities.
Physical Infrastructure includes, flight / air travel facilities & traffic available, Highways /Roads & traffic & Space-vacancy for Industrial/ Business/ Hi-tech / R&D. Though this is just adequate in Madras, more needs to be done to upgrade the Madras Air-port & Harbour.
2.Qualified Manpower: Madras is not short of it in many areas. But the shortage in some special areas needs to be investigated & set right.
3.Amenities & Facilities: Madras has adequate Power, oil & Telecom when compared to the situation obtaining in other Cities. But there is no adequate WATER available. This need to be improved on high-priority.
7. The Availability of Goods & Services: Is there any dearth of it? Available in plenty. I think there’s no need to elaborate. Anyway, who is in doubt about it?
III. The other factor that is to be considered before coming to conclusion is ’The Quality of Life’ obtaining In Madras. I feel it is one of the best if not THE BEST. Those who know Madras or lived there know it. We’ve a mild winter, reasonable rain & Sunny Summer seasoned by the Sea-breeze that starts at 2 in the afternoon & She-breeze, for ever. At home & workplace, Air-conditioners are there to beat the heat in summer. Above all, the cost of living is relatively much cheaper.
IV. Conclusion: So judging by the scale adopted in a recent survey for selecting the Top 5 Cities of the World, in which Vancouver stood FIRST followed by Melbourne, Vienna, Geneva & Perth ( when Paris stood 18th, London, Dublin & Los Angeles, a poor 47th), I strongly feel. Madras will be the Top-most Indian City.
Friends: you are free to contest any point I’ve made in support of Madras & tell us why you consider any other Indian city better suited for the TOP I slot?
I’m all ears!
Over to You, friends.