During my visit to Chennai this January for Proto.in, I was really surprised to know that Chennai does not have restaurants that serve Beer or alcoholic drinks. Not only that, it does not have any pubs or Disco’s. If you want to go out and enjoy a couple of drinks, the only place would be 4 or 5 start hotels. Now thats a real dampener for person like me who really enjoys going out and having evening drinks with friends.
However, it seems that outside of Chennai, South Indians seems to have a huge appetite for Beer. According to the latest figures released the growth was mainly led by the key guzzlers down south, with the largest market Andhra Pradesh vaulting 15.4%, Tamil Nadu 11.6% and Karnataka 24%. Another big market, Maharashtra, however, witnessed sedate growth of 5-6%, with Mumbai city recording a minor dip.
Among the northern markets, Rajasthan saw volume jump by 26% while Haryana appears to have grown at around 30%. However, it is believed that Delhi remained sober with 3% rise in volume depletion.
In fact, Uttar Pradesh, which saw significant changes in excise, was one of the rare exceptions reporting degrowth of nearly 7%. The eastern markets also shaped up well during the year on a smaller base though, with Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkand growing between 20-25%. [ET]
Honestly, Chennaiites are missing on one of the important pleasures of life :)
Disclaimer: I am not promoting drinking out here. Views expressed here are purely personal.
Well said boss!!
This is quite the contrary of the views many tamils have. They think “Tamils drink a lot.” While the major contributors to this ‘sarakku’ survey could be the politicians and the state-owned TASMAC, there is also a good side to it.
Chennai and TN do not have the mindset to accept the culture of “enjoying an evening with beers”. If you don’t believe me, look at the warnings messages in movies and TV shows that speak about alcohol. But if you wanna enjoy night life, try out the ECR. There is always a rotten space in every city. Chennai is no exception.
Mr.Muthu, i kinda disagree here because being sobre or wanting to be a teetotaller doesn’t come under conservatism. It’s may be because of this conservatism that Chennai enjoys minimal crime rate as mentioned in some article in this very site. But when it comes to IPL, only because the cheerpersons of Chennai [and Pune this year] are decently clad, does my mom allow me to watch the matches. And only because the cheergirls of other teams are not that ‘decent’ in their outfits [especially Bangalore!;)] do i watch the matches of the latter teams with more interest. That could explain why software engineers from Chennai have such a great time working in Mumbai and Pune [We can’t help but watch with our mouths wide open, all those chapathi-flour skinned girls walk past us in a Mumbai mall]
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Thanks for your Article
Chennai lives under a huge blanket of so called conservatism. The local politicians make sure to exploit each and every ounce of this to their mileage. Have you looked at the Chennai Super Kings cheerleaders? Is that a joke or what? And have you looked at the tamil movies?
Hypocrisy is sometimes called Chennai.
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Hey Vijay, Thanks for dropping by.
Seriously, don’t you think we needed to have a place to chill out in the evening for couple of beers after 2 hectic days at Proto.in :)
Philip, I agree with you completely, there sure is no night life in Chennai !!
true, i have been to Chennai so many times. There is no place as boring as Chennai. The night life just sucks.
Ah, the matters that brings memories of Proto.in :)