An Introduction to Chennai
It was the quest for excellent cloth that led to the founding of Chennai. From the times of Vasco-da-Gama to the British, textile was the major article of trade. As Indian cities go, Chennai is not ancient. While temples and inscriptions abound of the 7th century, not much is known about life in this area. The Chennai of today consisted of the ancient towns and villages of Thondaimandalam, separated from each other by scrub jungle and paddy fields, which in time were integrated into the city that evolved around Fort St. George. This tiny settlement was the 'First City of Empire' and it was from here that life in India developed as we see it today. The Fort St. George, christened in 1640, became Britain's gateway to India and was the nucleus from which an empire grew. The city grew slowly, adding old villages through negotiation, grant or purchase.
The city terrain is flat, spreading from North to South. The port is in North Chennai. Parry's, also in the north, was once the hub of all business activity. Mount Road connects St. Thomas Mount in the south to the north of Chennai. Off Mount Road are Cathedral Road and Nungambakkam, which are excellent localities for offices. The posh residential areas are Boat Club surroundings and Poes Garden. The good residential areas are Adyar and Besant Nagar in the south, Kilpauk and Anna Nagar in the West.

Large independent posh houses are available by the beach in South Chennai. The atmosphere here is cleaner and the quality of water is good but the infrastructure here in terms of power and educational institutions is catching up. The popular industrial areas are Guindy and Ambattur.

The latest developments in Chennai city are towards Elnet Software city and TIDEL Park which houses several IT majors such as Satyam, EDS, Ford IT Division etc. Infrastructure towards the old Mahabalipuram Road is improving with flyovers, MRTS, etc. The government has approved several projects relating to information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, education and training to be instituted along the Old Mahabalipuram Road making it the IT corridor. Some of these projects are National Institute of Fashion Technology, American International School, Women's Biotech Park and Orchid R&D. Many companies such as Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Satyam, Wipro, Danfoss, Polaris, TCS, Pentafour etc have set up large establishments here. Further down this road we have Siruseri where the Tamil Nadu Government is promoting IT companies to set up their office there. "Lee Kim Tah Holdings" a Singapore based Company is setting up a residential township here. The government also propose to upgrade this road on the IT corridor to a 6 lane.