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C
hennai is one of the four major international airports of India.
The Kamaraj Domestic Airport and the Anna International Airport
are located at Tirusulam, 7kms south of Chennai. The city has
representation of almost all airlines of the world. Many major
international airlines have regular direct flights to Chennai.
Domestic airlines operate daily flights to all major cities
of the country from the domestic terminal.
Chennai
is the headquarters of Southern Railway and well connected
to all the major cities in India through a wide network of
railways. Trains operate from Egmore Junction to different
parts of the state while interstate trains originate from Chennai
Central Station.
Egmore Railway Station
The entire area south of Periyar EVR High Road (earlier known
as Poonamallee High Road) and the curve of the Cooum river
is known as Egmore. This was originally a small village that
the East India Company acquired in the 17th century, as it
began to expand its territories. Egmore was also one of the
earliest residential localities, where wealthy company merchants
built palatial homes surrounded by luxuriant garderns - the
so - called "garden houses" that were extremely popular in
colonial Chennai.
The Government college of Arts and Crafts, founded in 1850,
stands on Periyar EVR High road. This striking Gothic building
and its art gallery were built by Robert Fellowes Chisholm,
who was also appointed its superintendent (principal) in
1877. Its first Indian principal, Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhary,
was a renowed painter and sculptor in the 1950s. The artists'
village at Cholamandal was established by bis
successor, Dr KCS Panicker. Today the prestigious Government
College is one of India's foremost art schools. Its gallery
has regular exhibitions of contemparary painting and sculpture
by artists and students.
To its west is the Egmore Railway Station, another of Chisholm's
architectural gems. This is a handsome building, constructed
in Indo - Saracenic style, with unconventional flattish domes
and pointed arches. The station, operational since the early
20th century, connects Chennai with the rest of Tamil Nadu
and the south.
Today Egmore is the up - market commercial heart of Chennai,
a concrete jungle of offices, department stores, boutiques
and hotels. On Pantheon Road are the largest showrooms of
Co - Optex a unit of Tamil Nadu Handloom Textiles
Cooperative, which sells handwoven silk and cotton saris
and fabrics from the state.
The
Chennai city is well linked to all the major cities in Tamil
Nadu and other neighbouring states through an excellent road
network. Interstate buses operate at regular intervals from
Chennai. Many private operators are available for domestic
and interstate transportation.
Chennai
has a major seaport. Many passenger vessels dock are at Chennai Harbour.
Passenger services are operated from Chennai to neighbouring
countries and to Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
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