Chennai is no more the conservative orthodox city as was being perceived a few years back – the city’s recreation scene has evolved multi-fold over the years and more and more options are available for recreation, entertainment, food, drinks, music and party life.
Even when it comes to food, there are all types of cuisine here — right from Persian to Korean, the list is exhaustive. The people here are open to trying new things and experimenting with new flavours. This has encouraged many national and international chefs to venture here for a brief stint and showcase their craft during food festivals, workshops and pop ups.
Pubs have been springing up with new themes and concepts and the best ones see a full house even on weekdays. Weekend party scene and nightlife is vivacious as they are thronged by both young and old to escape from the stress of a busy work life.
Atreya Tiwari, owner of a popular pub, is of the view that Chennai not only has a decent party and nightlife scene, but the crowd is also more disciplined when it comes to following rules like no drinking and driving. “Just in 3 years the party going crowd has multiplied in the city and with some bars and pubs having the licence to go on till early morning hours, people are enjoying the freedom. Chennai is surely catching up as a party capital of the south I can say”.
Music festivals, rave parties, surfing events, comedy clubs, Chennai has seen them all now. Techno music festivals in Chennai are perhaps the most sought after as it sees people coming from other south cities like Bangalore, Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Kochi”, says Zen, a popular city DJ who has been in the industry for 15 years now. “These music festivals usually see a full house not for the artistes who are performing but for what the festival has to offer at large. It’s more about the fun and activities offered at the event and only a small percentage of the crowd actually attends it for the artiste”.
Adventure zones have been multiplying too. Right from trampoline parks to futsals, the choices to unwind on a weekend for the young and the younger are expanding. Theme parks to snow parks, we now have more than one option to choose from as compared to a few years back.
Preethika GN, a travel blogger, works through the week in a sales role for a media company. For her, weekends are important to unwind and recharge and when she is not travelling, she is definitely trying out new places in the city. “I am happy at how Chennai has grown over the years. It is no more boring with nothing to do and no places to go to. Nowadays we are spoilt for choice. My husband and I pre-plan how and where we would spend the weekend as places are usually crowded and we don’t want to be disappointed. We make it a point to explore anything new that the city has to offer”.
