Nanganallur...
Once a Suburbun.. now it is one of the important part of Chennai. An area which is fully covered by Residences.. No sign of any industries ...!
There are other small towns like Madipakkam, Alandur, Adambakkam closer to Nanganallur. But people prefer Nanganallur since it has broader roads and few other benefits including some beautiful temples !
Nanganallur - A small flash back
Nanganallur is an area developed in the last 40 years.. Prior to that it was full of paddy fields.. People initially bought land for 2000 rupees and came here.
There was no Pazhavanthangal or Tirusulam Railway station then. People need to get down at either Meenambakkam or St Thomas Mount to come to Nanganallur.
The area started developing after Nanganallur Co operative society laid out plots and it was Central & State Government officials who came to Nanganallur first. Then slowly others also bought plots and started moving in.
Pazhavanthangal Vs Nanganallur
Nanganallur does not have a separate railway station in its name. You need to get down at Pazhavanthangal.
But Pazhavanthangal and Nanganallur are like twins. You cannot separate both of them;
Pazhavanthangal is a small area compared to Nanganallur. There are few streets closer to railway station with the Pincode 600 117 (Pazhavanthangal) and in some interior place, in some of the streets, suddenly the name Pazhavanthangal comes again.
Unlike Nanganallur, Pazhavanthangal does not seem to have any identity of its own. Its identity is largely dependent on Nanganallur. In fact majority of people who get down at Pazhavanthangal station goes to Nanganallur only; those who go to Pazhavanthangal will be a small minority.
Roads and names
The roads in Nanganallur has very simple names; If you take Thillai Ganga nagar, the names are Thillai Ganga Nagar First street, Second street, etc. It goes upto 45th Street. Similarly BV Nagar also has roads named First street, Second street. Likewise more than 100 streets in Nanganallur are with number only !
 |
| A road with a different name... ! |
Commercial Road
Once upon a time the Commercial roads in Nanganallur is MGR road; nowadays it is the Fourth main road, Nanganallur !
Vasanth & Co, Viveks and Co, Murugan Idly shop, GRT jewellery ... You can see half the shops available in T Nagar in this road.
On the same road, we have Chidambaram stores, which is one of the oldest provision shop in Nanganallur. Even today there is a bus stopping with the name Chidambaram stores.
Parks - Work outs
There are so many parks in Nanganallur. Particularly Independence Day park is the biggest one. This park had so many trees; but half of them were uprooted in the Varadah cyclone.
Independence Day park gets so much of walkers at 5 AM itself. People also do Yoga here. Also they play shuttle and do various other activities here.
On the other side, people who have just finished their running are doing stretches. These runners are named as Bandits. They run on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 5.15 AM in this park. People who are interested in running can meet and join them on their pinned running days.
There are many small parks around the 100 feet road. Also there is a skating ground near 100 feet road.
Bus Terminus
Can you guess this place? It is Nanganallur bus terminus at 7.30 AM ! Completely Empty !
Bus Terminus
Can you guess this place? It is Nanganallur bus terminus at 7.30 AM ! Completely Empty !
This is the adjacent Uzhavar Santhai;It also was not opened at 7.30 AM
There are few things which make you to wonder is it a Village or Town. See the poster.. normally it will be villages where you can see it..
 |
| Birthday for One year old... How it is celebrated ! |
Temples
There are more than 100 temples in Nanganallur. People call it as Temple city and Chinna Kanchipuram.
Main temples here include Guruvayoorappan temple, Iyappan temple, Raja rajeswari temple, Ragavendra temple, Devi Karumari amman temple, Muthu Mariyamman temple, Ezhuramman temple, Lakshmi Narayanan temple, Artha nareeswarar temple and Lakshmi Hayagreevar temple.
And the most famous of all will be the Anjaneya temple with 32 feet Anjaneyar idol. This has become a landmark and important identity for Nanganallur
One need not bother about dinner in Nanganallur. There are
various temples that give Prasadams and if you visit temples like Anjaneyar,
Hayagrivar etc you can complete your dinner.
Water and Drainage
Metro water and Palar water connection is available in most places which is a very good advantage. However in some places during summer, metro water comes once in few days only and if the borewell is not giving yield during summer, such families/ apartments need to buy water from outside.
Drainage connection has come to most part and is a great relief.
Banks
- - - - -
Most of the Nationalised (Indian Bank, IOB, Syndicate
Bank), Private Banks (HDFC, Axis, ICICI,
IDBI, Repco ) and even the recently started Equitas bank has a branch here. So
it is a pensioners paradise !
Food
Lot of branded shops like Adyar Ananda Bhavan, Murugan Idly shop, Grand sweets restaurant are available; On the other hand, there are many good messes too.
Sri Durga Nivas is an old hotel in Nanganallur; Very simple, cheap and best. So people prefer this hotel.
Hotel Rajaputra, Cheese and Breeze, 80 degree east, Annaprasannam are some of the very good hotels in Nanganallur.
A friend informed that the central part of Nanganallur will not have much Non veg hotel nor shops selling meat/ chicken. One can get them near Vanuvampet church or Velan theater.. but not in the area in between these two.
The same friend also informed that few years back 75 % of the residents will be brahmins while it has come down to may be 50 - 60 % now.
Theater
Ranga theater is one of the identity for Nanganallur; off late it is losing its significance as people prefer to watch the movies in Phoenix mall or PVR.
Madipakkam Kumaran has a better sound system (4 D) than the Velan theater (2 D sound). Since it is also few KM away from Nanganallur people prefer to go to it.
Houses - For rent and Sale
The plots which were sold for few thousands is now worth 1.5 crore to 2.5 crore.
Once upon a time, if one stand in Renga theater, they will be able to see Nehru school and the Pazhavanthangal railway station. Nowadays difficult to see open spaces !
The per sq feet rate for flats is about 7000 to 8000.
Rentals start as low as 8000 for a single bed room. A decent double bed room house can be found for 12000 and above.
People also say that the rentals have come down a bit in the last few years.
Schools and Colleges
Nehru School is one of the oldest and first school in Nanganallur. Modern School (CBSE) and Prince school (State Board) are the other popular schools. Both of them get State ranks regularly !
We also have schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya, Best Matriculation and Chellammal.
We also have schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya, Best Matriculation and Chellammal.
One of the long pending request for Nanganallur residents is to have a college here; Mr. Rama Rao from Nanganallur Welfare association has made request to start a college in Nehru school premises or in some other area, but the proposal is still in cold storage.
Comedy Corner
Comedy Corner
 |
| A Board in BV Nagar saying that Goat milk can cure Diabetes :) |
Nanganallur times
This magazine comes out once in 2 weeks on Saturdays and is circulated to more than 40000 families. Available in online also
Clock Tower.. new development
5 clock towers have been installed recently and the best thing is they recite Thirukkural once every hour.
3 sub ways and flooding
There are 3 sub ways in Nanganallur; Thillai Ganga nagar sub way, Meenambakkam Sub way and Pazhavanthal sub way. During heavy rains at times some of the sub ways over flow and the traffic gets affected.
During 2015 flood, most of the areas in Nanganallur was not flooded. It is the areas near Modern school and Market which was flooded. In other streets, water ran in the road but did not enter the houses.
Final analysis
Nanganallur - Plus
Broad roads; Temples (Elders prefer to settle down here for this reason) - Very close to airport - Proximity to railway station (People can reach to most places in Chennai using this train) - Availability of buses
 |
| Large roads..... |
Minus
Not many really; Affordability (For buying a new house) is an issue. Hence for new houses many prefer nearby areas like Madipakkam or Medavakkam.
Few areas have water problem (Reduced substantially after the arrival of metro water)
To conclude..
This is one area which is liked by both youngsters and elders.. Has all important facilities of a metropolitan city and still keeps some of the traditional values..
No wonder people who come here do not want to move to other places !
No comments:
Post a Comment