Idle Strolls

Fort St. George, the earliest settlement of the british in india, is the place from where the city of madras, or chennai, began to expand into its present form. the fort complex has some of the important and interesting spots associated with the colonial history of the city - the first part of a walk around fort st.george is  here . lets continue our little peek around the fort with some more spots in this second part. robert clive, who arrived as a teenager in madras in 1744, spent his early years in the fort as a junior clerk for the east india company. after enlisting in the british army and quickly making his mark, he married his friend's sister in st mary's church and lived in what was known as the 'Great House', right across the church, inside fort. st george. the 'clive house' or the admiralty house inside fort st.george the house was originally built by an armenian merchant in the early 1700s, and was let out to clive and his wife in 1753....

Chennai has many parts of it which are much older than the city itself, but its origin as a city begins in 1639. A certain Francis Day of the English East India Company along with his superior Andrew Cogan, and dubash (interpreter) Beri Thimmappa , negotiated a deal with the nayak rulers of the region and purchased a small piece of land close to the sea on august 22nd 1639 - and hence the day is celebrated as Madras Day by lovers of the city. The plan was to establish a trading settlement at this location, which was closer to weaving centres and cotton cloth cost less to obtain. Almost a year later, the earliest construction on the piece land was dedicated on april 23rd 1640, and was named Fort St. George - because april 23rd was the feast day of st. george's, the patron saint of england. Fort st.george was the first fortified settlement of the british in india, and it was from there that the city expanded. its interesting history also includes being captured by the french, re...

Every city has its own shopping district - most are either famous for high end shopping, or things like farmers markets, artisanal stuff, etc. chennai's shopping scene also has its share of malls with big brands, and the famous retail district of tnagar which is the silk and gold hub of the city, etc. what sets chennai apart, however, are the streets of north madras. (well, to those who call the city home, it is still north 'madras', and not north 'chennai'.) the area is called by various names, like george town, parry's corner or simply parry's, or to most people from the southern parts of the city, just 'town'. encompassing a large area from the bay of bengal or the beach railway station in the east, to the central station in the west, it has long been a trading, commercial, and banking hub, existing right from the city's earliest days. so what exactly is special or unique about shopping in the area ? many of the streets here deal exclusiv...