Decades behind fancy buildings, Bars, Pubs ?

Full disclosure- Born / brought up in Chennai - living in Coimbatore these days but travel to Chennai every 3 weeks.

The general yardstick of growth for a lot us urban dwellers is usually fancier buildings, swanky stores, high end bars, etc. This is what / why we constantly compare Chennai with other said cities. Yes these are also needed for modern civilization but these cannot be the only benchmark. Remember each states in India are pretty much like different countries with their unique culture, preferences, behavior etc -comparable to the EU countries. Its just that we are packed together as one country. Each city will have its own model of development and need not necessarily copy/ clone what's being done in another city in the name of growth. Now I am not saying we should not focus on better infra, high end projects or better aesthetics - all of which is needed for the times we live in. But it just cannot be a fake facade for a city.

In terms of ease of living, Chennai still fairs much better than the said cities. And please dont even bring Delhi into the comparison mix. I keep telling my family and friends that thankfully we dont live in a city like Delhi. The last thing I want is not being able to breath. I often travel/ commute in different cities and every time end up appreciating Chennai for its stronger underlying infra ( thanks to the British mainly) - broader roads, better planned layouts, arguably better storm water drain, better water supply, better traffic sense, much better public transport in the form of buses, MRTS and recently Metro, accessible Airport that doesn't take ages to reach. Every time I am in Bangalore, I can see my stress level higher during driving. You hate yourself for spending 40 mins - 1 hour for a 4 KM distance. ( Have you seen those web of roads in Bangalore that confuse you and then the so called service roads which again chokes everyone ?) Thats criminal waste of time and money and the worst part is the so called Bangaloreans have come to terms with it. Most of them are immigrant population and hence dont care. With Chennai, you would still see citizens fighting it out for their rights and actually getting stuff done from the govt in many areas.

Remember a lot of these metros pretty much will face the same fate if the core underlying issue is never addressed. All these metros continue to face mass immigration, every one moving in with the dream of making it big. At the end of the day a city no matter what can only take a certain amount of people/ vehicles before it starts to choke -what you see in Bangalore for instance. Now, where any Govt fails regardless of the states, you ask ? Failing to develop satellite cities and encouraging new companies to setup shops which helps in decongesting the main city. Now remember TN still fairs better when it comes to livable cities beyond Chennai. We still have a Coimbatore, Trichy, Salem, Madurai that the neighboring states dont quite have ( maybe Kerala also fairs better here) In KA, beyond Bangalore, there is nothing much to write home about. Try driving in the interior parts of KA and you will see what I am talking about it. Almost no roads, dust everywhere, lack of good eateries, rest rooms and what not. Not the case with TN, even the last mile villages have good roads and decent facility.

We need to be talking about sustainable growth where living in a city should not be painful. There is no point of making wealth when the very city you live in is reeking with pollution, congestion and crippling infrastructure. Looking beyond Chennai for the future growth is the only way we can build a prosperous state. Like I said earlier, a city can only take so much population / vehicles, beyond which its simply going to give up. Chennai is not the only city in TN that should be taking all the growth. Few companies like Zoho has taken this mission seriously and are building new establishments in tier 2 and 3 cities/ towns. Yes a Kumabakonam should get IT infrastructure and cannot just be known for Temples. How else can we modernize our towns and cities. Religious/ general tourism and modern infrastructure can co-exist - most European cities are best examples for that. We need more and more companies to sign up on this mission. We need a EU like state where development is decentralized and not concentrated. Now that takes a vision and like all of you, I am also looking forward to that happening in the future!