Who is in town

Chennai becomes white. Two years ago, when we landed in the city, there was hardly any white face around. In the five star hotel, which was our first destination, we were even the only ones.
Today you are seeing them in the shopping centers, cycling with their bikes in the streets, on the backseats of Rikshas, they are everywhere and Chennai is getting really "cosmopolitan".

You find them:

a) In the restaurants of five star hotels
b) At Ideal beach resort on Sundays
c) In their offices during the week
d) In the clubs, such as Madras club
e) In the American school dropping their kids - Number 1 best seller
f) In shops, where you buy western life style
g) Birthday parties of kids - Number 2 bestseller


Most of the expats are here with their families and I did not get to know any singles here, as I imagine, life must be incredible boring for a single person. Lets see then, which nationalities are around (whom I know off):

There are two Austrians in town, but lots of Germans. Germans have a big consulate in town and quite a few of the companies (Durr, BMW, BBraun, etc...) have come in with production entities to Chennai. The highlight of the year is the consulate organized German Night, which used to happen around beginning of February and is definitely a social highlight in town and really fun! Watch out for the next one in 2008!

There are bunch of Koreans here as well, as Hyundai and their suppliers have occupied large production facilities outside the town. The issue with those guys is, there are many, hardly speak English, have all Korean facilities (restaurant, etc...) here, therefore they are not mixing with other nationalities

Finns or Finishmen, or how do you actually say this? A hardly populated country in the north of Europe is sending its entire population to Chennai to produce mobile phones for their biggest best selling brand, Nokia. They dont talk much, but are warm hearted and after twenty beers definitely a laugh.

Obviously there is a huge American population as anywhere in the world, but in addtion you find as well few people from most probably all the countries in the world around. I have met, English, Irish, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norvegian, Mexican, Honduras, etc. etc. etc. etc....

It is getting more colourful in town and after a few months you would know most of them as well, as you meet the expats usually at the same places.

Deutschsprachiger Stammtisch Chennai - April

Der naechste und dritte deutschprachige Stammtisch findet am 13. April ab 19:30 im Rooftop Restaurant des Raintree Hotels statt. Bis jetzt wars immer lustig und feucht, darum Zeit nehmen an diesem Abend.



Fuer jene, die noch keine Einladungs SMS erhalten haben, bitte e-mail and christoph.prieler@gmail.com. Sonst haben wir nicht genung Plaetze.

Rent a place

Hunting for a place to live has turned out to be a difficult event. There is not too many properties available in Chennai, which meet Western standards and can be described in three categories:

1. Upmarket houses in the city center around the boat club area
2. Apartments in the city
3. Houses, villas along the East Coast Road

The scarcity of offer in the real estate market together with lots of foreigners coming in has lead to a price increase of around 50% in rental prices for expat housing. I have seen fabulous houses for 50,000 INR per month rented three years ago and really bad stuff for 120000 INR per onth rented out this year. With companies normally willing to pay whatever the expat in India demands, the local landlords are just hiking the prices on a monthly basis and have to open their wallets to fill it with money. I came accross stories, in which the landlord wanted to kick out the expat, if he would not be willing to pay 50% more rent.

As I have experience in a house along the ECR as well in a city center appartement, let me explore the advantages, disadvantages of both.

Beach houses:

• Am I willing to travel around one hour to the city one way, as the ECR can get pretty crammed?
• It is phantastic to live two minutes walking distance from the sea side
• What about cobras (snakes) in the garden? Do I have a provision for an antitoxin in my fridge as my neighbours do?
• How much piece and dark do I stand?
• The more you go south the worse the infrastructure will be. We had times of two days without electricity, therefore a back up generator is a must have! Forget about DSL Internet connections down south and seek as well, where the water comes from in your shower.
• Am I ok, that there is no garbage removal, but everybody burns their waste in the garden, which can stink heavily
• Does your family like insects, who share the space with you, such as cockroaches, ants, etc..?
• Any allergy against lizards?

Dont forget you choose the jungle to live in - it is great to live in midst of wild exotic nature at the beach, but be also prepared for exotic adventures!!