Chennai is a city that reassures every person. You feel it the moment you step onto its streets – the quiet safety, an assurance that you belong here. I still remember my first day in the city and the way I felt welcomed even in the most routine interactions with people whom I was meeting for the first time. 

Chennai is also a city which thrives on compassion. While serving in the Greater Chennai Corporation during the pandemic, I witnessed communities coming together in extraordinary ways supporting grassroot health initiatives and leading volunteer-driven vaccination drives. Later, as District Collector of Tiruvallur and as MD, Metropolitan Transport Corporation I was amazed by the entrepreneurial spirit of Chennaites, a force that steadily pushes the city’s edges outward and thus reshaping the city itself.

However, I feel Chennai is essentially its people – warm enough to embrace, wise enough to give space. We have all heard the saying, “Vantharai Vaazhavaikkum Chennai”. Those who come to Chennai will prosper – perhaps because the city teaches resilience while never letting go of kindness.

Heritage anchors Chennai as a city but modernity takes it forward. Along streets carrying centuries’ worth of stories, you now see metro trains zooming overhead and electric buses gliding through the traffic. Even the city’s landmark Marina Beach is preparing for a Blue Flag future.

(As told to Aloysius Xavier Lopez)