#SriniOnTour so far – Mumbai – Bangalore – Chennai (1st PitStop)

“Finally, here at the mecca of Lord Rajnikanth worshippers!!!” That is what my Facebook status read as soon as I alighted at Chennai central. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, was worried about getting the train at Bangalore… Thankfully, the train was late by 1 hr, not that it mattered, as I had anyways reached the station before 4:00 PM. Nonetheless, the train journey was really fantastic. If anyone wants to go from Bangalore to Chennai, then Shatabdi is what I recommend! IRCTC has done a really great job in terms of the service, the comfort of this train. The food was great too!! Best part about it was, that it just kept coming… First, the samosas, sandwich, appy and a sweet dish. Then breadsticks and butter, followed by soup… You think that was it?? How about the fantabulous dinner you see in one of the pictures above! Great stuff, truly.

 

So here I was, finally at Chennai central at 10:00 PM on a Christmas that was about to end… At the first impression, I got confused… #SriniOnTour has just begun, why do I feel like I’m back to Mumbai?? Yes, the weather was humid, the station buzzing, just like C.S.T… or V.T as I’d like to call it… In fact, Mumbai weather had gone cold about 20 degrees  C at night. But surprisigly or not, there was no trace of cold in Chennai when I touched down.

 

I gave a call to @adivik2000 who had been helping me out with directions to Marina beach! Well, that was the plan in the morning, but until then I also had to find out a place to stay overnight. Which was very easy, with Aditya around… (Yes that’s his name) Turned out, he was around… He looked a little different from his twitter DP, maybe because of his recent haircut 🙂 Well, a short meeting, but great to have met him finally!

 

And what are the odds… @pradx came to drop me off in Mumbai and @adivik2000 came to receive me!! Both of them are from South! That’s just not it… @android_ajit gave me a crash course in Tamil and says he can help me out with Malyalam as well… I’m already loving South India!!  So great to have such friends especially if you are touring alone…

 

So the plan as of now is to take some rest… Get up early in the morning at 5:00 AM and get some great snaps of the Sunrise at Marina Beach… I’ve been told it’s very beautiful in the morning. I’m hoping I wake up early and get there on time… 🙂 Till then I leave you with a few insights on Marina Beach a little pre-tour research that I had done on http://everlater.com/srinistuff (Courtesy : Wikipedia & Tamil Nadu Tourism)

 

Image Courtesy: Insomniac’s Observatory

Marina Beach  is located on the eastern side of Chennai, adjoining the Bay of Bengal. Watching the sun set and rise from the beach is an enthralling experience. Though bathing and swimming can be dangerous, as the undercurrent is very strong, even then people come for swimming here. In the evenings, the beach is virtually a fair ground with various kinds of entertainment and food stalls lining the beach.

 

Hope to get some really great snaps of the beach tomorrow morning and some places in Chennai…