Nungambakkam

History

Nungambakkam is one of the oldest parts of Chennai. It formed the western limits of Madras until the 1960s, and it was part of Madras since the 18th century.

According to K.V. Raman's The Early History of the Madras Region, Nungambakkam features in an 11th-century CE copper plate pertaining to Rajendra Chola.

According to the Chennai Corporation's records, Nungambakkam village, which was under a Mughal firman, was handed over to the British along with four other villages (Tiruvatiyoor, Kathiwakam, Vyasarpady and Sathangadu) in 1708. These five villages were hence forward known as the 'Five New Towns'. Since then, Nungambakkam has been a part of Madras city. Public buildings and colleges rose in the 1850s.

In the early 20th century, Nungambakkam rose as one of the upper-class European residential areas, housing civil servants and influential members of the city administration. Most of the neighborhood today is built upon the Long Tank which was encroached and eventually made a landfill in the early 1970's. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica records the presence of vast empty spaces and parks in Nungambakkam. Most of Nungambakkam's principal lanes, such as College Road, Haddows Road and Sterling Road, are over 100 years old and appear in a 1909 map of Madras city. Sterling Road consists of trees in both the sides, which is very rare to see in the heart of a metropolitan city. Pizza Hut, Pizza Corner, Mexicano Griller, Maplai Restaurant, Coffee day Lounge, Goddy's, World of Titan, KFC, Reebok, NIKE, ADIDAS, Marrybrown, Just Born, Chicking, BASICS etc. all have opened their shops in Nungambakkam. Traffic is very high in Nungambakkam during peak hours (8am-11am and 6pm-9.30pm) due to various road junctions which connects some important places in Chennai city. There are a lot of ATMs and branches of various international banks such as Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank etc..

The Women's Christian College was established in 1915. The Good Shepherd Convent later known as the Good Shephered Higher Secondary Matriculation School was established in 1925. Loyola College was established as an arts college in 1925.

Valluvar Kottam, a monument named after the Tamil poet Valluvar and inaugurated in April 1976, is a significant landmark of Nungambakkam located towards the end of Valluvar Kottam High Road.

Localities

The Regional Passport Office of Chennai is located on Haddows Road, Nungambakkam. It issues passports to half of Tamil Nadu. Nungambakkam is also home to the Austrian, Canadian and South Korean consulates in Chennai, as well as the British Deputy High Commission.

Transport

Nungambakkam is well connected to other parts of the city. Many of the state-run Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses run through Nungambakkam. Nungambakkam has its own Suburban Train Station on the Chennai Beach - Tambaram Railway Station railway line, which connects it to other parts of the city.

The Nungambakkam station is among the top three EMU stations, along with Chromepet and St. Thomas Mount, in terms of the number of persons who use the facilities on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram section every day.

Geolocation

References

References

1. (22 January 2013). "A village called Nungambakkam". The Hindu.
2. [http://www.chennaicorporation.com/aboutcoc/che_history10.htm. Welcome to Corporation of Chennai. ]
3. [http://www.tn.gov.in/misc/embassies_in_chennai.htm Foreign Embassies in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India]