Chennai is under heavy security (as it should be) cover for the visit by the Hon’ble Chinese President and Hon’ble PM of India. I had a meeting in the afternoon at the Secretariat, George Fort and then a #TiECon Chennai dinner at ITC Grand Chola, the same hotel where the Chinese President is staying. To avoid traffic blockades I travelled by local commuter (Electric) train service from Mambalam to Fort for Rs.5 (US 7 cents), then an auto ride to the secretariat for Rs.50 (US 70 cents).
After the meeting a friend dropped me at LIC Metro station, from there a short metro ride to Little Mount metro, 700 metres walk from there to the dinner venue (ITC Grand Chola). Returning home I took the metro from Little Mount to Ashok Nagar, changing to Green Line from the Blue line at the Alandur station.
Overall, smooth journeys today, without the worry of any traffic jams and with the added benefit of good exercise through walking which compensated for the rich food I ate for dinner at ITC Grand Chola.
Update 14th October 2019:
When things go smooth, the hard work of the security forces and officials involved is not seen or appreciated, let us change that.
As a citizen of Chennai, I wholeheartedly feel credit and appreciation is due to our city’s police force and to all the intelligence agencies from India & China that were involved in providing a safe and convenient stay during the visit of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble President of China Mr Xi Jinping.
The City Police did a fabulous job, by announcing in advance the traffic diversions which helped the general public to plan our commute better – considering the high profile of the two leaders they needed to have some restrictions in place.
At TiE Chennai we had our annual event in the same venue (ITC Grand Chola Chennai) where the Chinese President was staying, but the police and ITC staff ensured there was little disruption to our event which had nearly a thousand attendees coming on both days.
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