Now its my fourth visit to this city known as "the Manchester of South India". And since it is Manchester of South India so I also came here for Industrial visit all four times as my company have it manufacturing and packaging facility in this city. First thing that strike anybody about the city is the cleanliness. I was surprised to see that we have a city as clean as this in India. Even if you go to poor areas (Jhopad Patti), there you will find clean streets and organised housing. You will not find anything strewn on the streets. I had to think twice before throwing and empty pouch of candies. In any other city you can easily drop it on the road from the car but here if you want to do that you will feel ashamed on yourself so I asked my driver to take the car to sideway so that I can throw it. Such is the impact of surroundings on human behavior.
In my first visit I was accompanied by a team from my company, my boss (Suresh Menon) was also there and he has seen both north as well as south India. He told me on the visit back from the factory that you will not find even a single dented car in this city and my God!!!!!! how correct he was I have not seen a dented car here. May be it is something in the style of the people of this city.
This city has got nine lakes as well which I am sure might have been source of water in their prime days but now they are reduced to just the wetlands. I have seen some of these from taxi while going to office but they are no longer beautiful, however they can be made by spending small amounts of money cleaning them.
People and Culture
There are people from all part of country, in fact I believe it will be most diversified city in TN, even more than Chennai, you happen to see all kind of faces in the market and restaurants. Markets are open bit late in night. Although this city just borders Kerala and a place called VeerKeralam is just outside the city but the culture is completely different. I came here after the stay in Kerala where shops are closed before 9 pm you will not get food after 10 but Coimbatore happened to be sweet surprise. I think in future it might open the gates of TN for broader interaction with rest of the country.
All those stories of people hating Hindi are absurd as I have seen people are curious, they want to learn the things and they want to know more about the world. Its good that they respect their culture and heritage but its the politicians who have played on the psyche of fear. They made people believe that outsiders will come and take over them and dominated them. My personal observation is that they have much more enhanced self respect than many other parts of the country and can not be overwhelmed just like that.
However everything is not rosy. there are some people who can cheat you but they are everywhere in all parts of country and a city or place should not be judged by these people. One similar incidence happened with me as well. I missed my bus to Kochin on one of my visits and next one was after four hours so I went to see movie in nearby Ganga theater. Since it was Rajnikant's super-hit movie "Endhiran (the robot)" and that too in first week. So I got front row corner seat costing Rs 10 (yes!!!!! in south India you can still watch a movie in Rs 10), but the person at ticket window cut Rs 40 and when I asked him he said something in Tamil but did not return the money. One person who knew English said one or two sentences in my favour but after that he also became silent after man at window said something to him in Tamil. Such thing happen all over the world thats as everybody is not good but best thing is that even in first week of Rajani movie there was no black and thats the proof of the level of honesty of people. This honesty and simplicity of the people is what I like the most about south Indians in general.
Climate
By now I ahve visited this city in all major climatic seasons. Its neither cold nor hot. In summers temperature goes up slightly touching 40 deg Celsius while in winters it drops to around 15 sometimes otherwise mostly it remains between 25 to 35 degrees. Hence it is one of the pleasant climates. If you want to enjoy winter then you can go to nearby hill station of Ooty. Overall it has got the potential of being one of the best Indian city. I personally I believe it can be alternate development hub for the state after Chennai (which is already crowded and people tell me that Chennai has got the worst climate of all major coastal cities.
My Lesson Learnt
Like all south Indian cities it also has got a huge temple. Actually south India preserved most of what was Indian culture (Please do not ask me to explain it as it will take several books to attempt that and even then you will be unable to understand), in north most of the cultural institutions were destroyed by invaders. Overall it is one beautiful clean (inspite of absence of proper underground drainage system) and peaceful city. There is problem of drinking water but I believe that can be taken care of if water harvesting and reuse is planned properly as the area get sufficient precipitation. This city is one more of eye opener in my south Indian sojourn. My respect for my country has increased after visiting this city. One lesson that I have learnt in particular is that if you keep you city and neighbourhood clean others will also think twice before spreading the dirt and if you make everything dirty [like you find paan (beetal leaf) peek in many north Indian cities] then others will only add to dirt.
This city has got nine lakes as well which I am sure might have been source of water in their prime days but now they are reduced to just the wetlands. I have seen some of these from taxi while going to office but they are no longer beautiful, however they can be made by spending small amounts of money cleaning them.
People and Culture
There are people from all part of country, in fact I believe it will be most diversified city in TN, even more than Chennai, you happen to see all kind of faces in the market and restaurants. Markets are open bit late in night. Although this city just borders Kerala and a place called VeerKeralam is just outside the city but the culture is completely different. I came here after the stay in Kerala where shops are closed before 9 pm you will not get food after 10 but Coimbatore happened to be sweet surprise. I think in future it might open the gates of TN for broader interaction with rest of the country.
All those stories of people hating Hindi are absurd as I have seen people are curious, they want to learn the things and they want to know more about the world. Its good that they respect their culture and heritage but its the politicians who have played on the psyche of fear. They made people believe that outsiders will come and take over them and dominated them. My personal observation is that they have much more enhanced self respect than many other parts of the country and can not be overwhelmed just like that.
However everything is not rosy. there are some people who can cheat you but they are everywhere in all parts of country and a city or place should not be judged by these people. One similar incidence happened with me as well. I missed my bus to Kochin on one of my visits and next one was after four hours so I went to see movie in nearby Ganga theater. Since it was Rajnikant's super-hit movie "Endhiran (the robot)" and that too in first week. So I got front row corner seat costing Rs 10 (yes!!!!! in south India you can still watch a movie in Rs 10), but the person at ticket window cut Rs 40 and when I asked him he said something in Tamil but did not return the money. One person who knew English said one or two sentences in my favour but after that he also became silent after man at window said something to him in Tamil. Such thing happen all over the world thats as everybody is not good but best thing is that even in first week of Rajani movie there was no black and thats the proof of the level of honesty of people. This honesty and simplicity of the people is what I like the most about south Indians in general.
Climate
By now I ahve visited this city in all major climatic seasons. Its neither cold nor hot. In summers temperature goes up slightly touching 40 deg Celsius while in winters it drops to around 15 sometimes otherwise mostly it remains between 25 to 35 degrees. Hence it is one of the pleasant climates. If you want to enjoy winter then you can go to nearby hill station of Ooty. Overall it has got the potential of being one of the best Indian city. I personally I believe it can be alternate development hub for the state after Chennai (which is already crowded and people tell me that Chennai has got the worst climate of all major coastal cities.
My Lesson Learnt
Like all south Indian cities it also has got a huge temple. Actually south India preserved most of what was Indian culture (Please do not ask me to explain it as it will take several books to attempt that and even then you will be unable to understand), in north most of the cultural institutions were destroyed by invaders. Overall it is one beautiful clean (inspite of absence of proper underground drainage system) and peaceful city. There is problem of drinking water but I believe that can be taken care of if water harvesting and reuse is planned properly as the area get sufficient precipitation. This city is one more of eye opener in my south Indian sojourn. My respect for my country has increased after visiting this city. One lesson that I have learnt in particular is that if you keep you city and neighbourhood clean others will also think twice before spreading the dirt and if you make everything dirty [like you find paan (beetal leaf) peek in many north Indian cities] then others will only add to dirt.
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