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Chennai: The Land of Temples - S.L.Aishwariya Laxmi S.L.Aishwariya Laxmi is a Post Graduate in Journalism and Communications and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics. She is a freelance journalist based in Chennai, who has been writing since 1998. She has about 150 published articles in supplements of The Hindu, The Economic Times, The New Indian Express, and city centric magazines like Shopper's Digest, and Eve's Touch. Her poetry has been accepted by www.poetry.com for publication in their anthologies and CD recordings which are for sale in the U.S. Aishwariya says, "I am a piscean, love cats, and enjoy comedy and music(pop, alternative). I enjoy reading humourous fiction-P.G.Wodehouse, James Thurber, Erma Bombeck, and love short stories by Saki, O. Henry, Oscar Wilde."

The land of temples and kaapis, Madras Checks and Bharatanatyam-is it changing?

Chennai is a veritable melange of cultures. The Sindhis, Gujaratis, Malayalees, Muslims, and Kannadigas, co habit along with the Tamils in this cornucopia of religious and cultural diversity. The native of each place has a distinct characteristic about him. He brings along his particular set of beliefs, ideals, values and principles wherever he goes. There is intermingling of ideas and cultures - horizons are expanded, and perspectives broadened. That has been the case with Chennai too.

The land of temples and priests, kaapi and Madras Checks reflects its traditionalism every December when the music season is in full swing. Cultural trusts like The Bharat Kalachar run by Mrs. Y.G.Parthasarathy, Dean of the Padma Seshadri School, strive to keep up the richness of the city’s heritage alive. At the Y.G.P. Auditorium every year, renowned dancers like Alarmel Valli give Bharatanatyam recitals to appreciative rasikas. As the students of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan will testify, each year they are asked to watch these programmes and write reviews on them.

The well-known dance proponent, Anita Ratnam conducts ‘The Other Festival’ in the month of December and brings together talented dancers from different backgrounds through the universal language of dance and music. While on the one hand we have music and dance of Tamil culture, at another part of the city, people dance away into the wee hours of the morning to Western trance music. This is another side to this city, which might be alien to many. The ban on discotheques in Chennai (a few months back) would have drawn nods of approval from the Madrasi while sparking off indignation from the young Chennaiite. However, Valentine’s day saw the opening of ‘Flame’ another discotheque in the city. Programmes like Temptation Island were being aired on Star World, introducing a fast paced culture that most grandmothers would be appalled by. This is the culture of sex before marriage, live in relationships and one night stands.

The modern viewpoint is often that young adults are perfectly capable of judging for themselves what is suitable for them. We all have a choice before us. Some of us decide on a healthy admixture of tradition and modernity, while others among us embrace the changes taking place rather rapidly and get caught up in a slightly alien culture. But as someone rightly pointed out, if there is one thing in life which is constant-it is change.

The changing landscape of the city might shock some of the loyalists of the old school of thought, but the old order gives way to the new. We need to constantly evaluate our beliefs and value systems. It being the information age and the concept of global village having become a reality, it is not difficult to find like-minded individuals and expand our minds and horizons. What would have been a daunting task yesterday has now become very easy. The internet is truly a link between hearts thousands of miles away physically, but close emotionally. Three cheers to the worldwide web that has shrunk distances and broadened minds. And let’s hear it for Chennai, a city that offers it all.

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