A year in Chennai

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Krow

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I got selected for a one year course in Chennai. Long story short, I need to prepare myself for the stay.

What all am I going to need to buy?

This is the first time I'll be away from home. I am wondering if I should sell my desktop and get a laptop? Will that be good? My config is in my sig, can anyone tell me how much I can expect for it?

Anything else people with experience might be willing to add to my shopping list?

Here is a small tentative list:

Laptop (mostly negative)
External HDD (with eSATA) (maybe)
Pendrive (confirmed)
Sunblock (confirmed, is there any annual subscription offer? :P )
Odomos (bulk buying) :D
SIM Card (Essential)
 
I was thinking you might require essentials like a pillow, bedsheets and the like, since this was in the 'general talk' section. Well, you can survive with a laptop, but the other stuff I mentioned would also help :P
 
ajab.ghajab said:
I was thinking you might require essentials like a pillow, bedsheets and the like, since this was in the 'general talk' section. Well, you can survive with a laptop, but the other stuff I mentioned would also help :P
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Well, the accomodation, food, water, bedsheets, pillows, have been taken care of. Was just asking for accessories not provided at the institution. Like sunblock, odomos? Put this in general talk because I wouldn't want it accessible to non members. :P

NinByChoice said:
You can buy these things in Madras itself. It has a pretty good computer/electronics market.
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Hmmm... I am open to ordering online as well. Will surely consider buying from Madras. :)
 
Anything you need is available everywhere in Chennai or Madras, whatever you may wish to call it.. For all your day-to-day needs, there is Saravana Stores at T Nagar, also the regular Reliance Fresh shops. Pondy Bazaar near T Nagar has a lot of brand shops like Arrow, Raymond, etc. I am not aware of computer shops, but you can get almost any gadget at Mercy Electronics at Thiruvanmiyur.
 
You said the course duration is just one yrs. So if you comeback to your home then why sell it ( Unless you absolutely need the laptop n can't arrange the money w/o selling your desktop) ?
 
sabby said:
You said the course duration is just one yrs. So if you comeback to your home then why sell it ( Unless you absolutely need the laptop n can't arrange the money w/o selling your desktop) ?
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Mostly I am not going to buy a laptop just yet. I think I'll have to manage without one. :(

Added to list: Odomos (bucketfuls). :P
What to visit in Chennai, as in tourist destinations? What about places to hang out with friends (group of about 4-8 of both genders)?
 
oh you will come to know once you get there , its a whole year , just go there and enjoy the dosas and idlis , tamil slang like you would have never heard before , heat and humidity :D, great place :D
 
Chennai has very few places to hangout, and most people are going to suggest the following places - Spencer Plaza, Sathyam multiplex, City Center, Ampa Mall (not so popular yet), Marina, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram :D
 
why not take the second hand laptop or the netbook would be easy for surf any email and watch basic movie for 1 year purpose use ;) and u can visit most place like richer street where they sell large stock of computer part :)
 
ajab.ghajab said:
Chennai has very few places to hangout, and most people are going to suggest the following places - Spencer Plaza, Sathyam multiplex, City Center, Ampa Mall (not so popular yet), Marina, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram :D
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you are missing out a lot of places in that list ... eg : beastnagar beach .. alsa mall , abirami mall ... Mayajaal. etc ...

@OP you dont really need to pack all that stuff :p chennai is not a backward out of the way town ... its a metro you will be getting whatever you need around here. Unless you find yourself a dumpster ... you might not even need odomos... i lived here for all my life and at the max i used a mosquito repellant maybe once in every other year. There are places where they are very high but nothing even a basic repllant cant fix.

I am not sure which city you are from ... but compared to most North India cities the cost of living will be a lot less ... Unless you got some relative living here i suggest to keep some options regaring rooming etc before you get here.
 
wtf is this about Odomos. Chennai is a much cleaner city than what you might think. As kolguy said, unless you are going to stay in a slum, there is not much need for your mosquito phobia.
 
^ ha ha, true that. :lol:

And if you were to talk about computers and electronics, wait till you get to Ritchie street!

One word of advice though, keeping Chennai's climate in mind, make sure you pack accordingly.
 
since its the first time away from home....make sure you get(if not already) hepatitis B vaccination
second in the list might be food/snacks in case you take time to get used to food in a new region
for the rest, you can get it once you are in chennai :)
 
kippu said:
oh you will come to know once you get there , its a whole year , just go there and enjoy the dosas and idlis , tamil slang like you would have never heard before , heat and humidity :D, great place :D
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I can speak the language and I have had my share of Dosas and Idlis! :) Started this thread because I was never very comfortable in Chennai.
Arun.P said:
why not take the second hand laptop or the netbook would be easy for surf any email and watch basic movie for 1 year purpose use ;) and u can visit most place like richer street where they sell large stock of computer part :)
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I guess the computer/parts bit can be taken care of in Chennai then.
ajab.ghajab said:
Chennai has very few places to hangout, and most people are going to suggest the following places - Spencer Plaza, Sathyam multiplex, City Center, Ampa Mall (not so popular yet), Marina, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram :D
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Point noted. How are the beaches? Elliott? Marina?
kolguy said:
you are missing out a lot of places in that list ... eg : beastnagar beach .. alsa mall , abirami mall ... Mayajaal. etc ...

@OP you dont really need to pack all that stuff :p chennai is not a backward out of the way town ... its a metro you will be getting whatever you need around here. Unless you find yourself a dumpster ... you might not even need odomos... i lived here for all my life and at the max i used a mosquito repellant maybe once in every other year. There are places where they are very high but nothing even a basic repllant cant fix.

I am not sure which city you are from ... but compared to most North India cities the cost of living will be a lot less ... Unless you got some relative living here i suggest to keep some options regaring rooming etc before you get here.
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Hey, the institution offers accommodation too, so no need to worry about that. Well, I will be living in Taramani, which I guess is a pretty good area. About the Odomos, actually I had been to Chennai in November some years ago, when there used to be a huge number of mosquitoes at the place of stay. Thanks for the heads up. :)
Spectre said:
wtf is this about Odomos. Chennai is a much cleaner city than what you might think. As kolguy said, unless you are going to stay in a slum, there is not much need for your mosquito phobia.
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I will put that phobia in a closet and dump it for good then. :)
thetoxicmind said:
And if you were to talk about computers and electronics, wait till you get to Ritchie street!
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Itching to get there. :D
One word of advice though, keeping Chennai's climate in mind, make sure you pack accordingly.
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Ah yes, could you elaborate on this please?

jith77 said:
since its the first time away from home....make sure you get(if not already) hepatitis B vaccination
second in the list might be food/snacks in case you take time to get used to food in a new region
for the rest, you can get it once you are in chennai :)
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I am vaccined and raring to go, although I am kind of disease prone, but I was in Chennai only recently and fell very badly ill, so it may not be that much of a problem this time around. :-|

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Darthcoder said:
c0nd0m5...
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Is there any harsh climate variety of those? Maybe a desert/seaside special "India ready" version. :P j/k

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Just remembered another essential thing: SIM card. Which one is best for STD as well as local calls? A friend said Reliance. Is it good? Network is not primary issue, but cost is.
 
leomax said:
Ot
omg,beast! :bleh:
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Haha thanks for the headsup ... guess my laptop keyboard is not up the mark :p

@ OP taramani area is pretty good ... there is a mall around there with a nice foodcourt ... forgot the name ...
 
kolguy said:
I am not sure which city you are from ... but compared to most North India cities the cost of living will be a lot less ...
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Not sure which areas of which cities you are comparing with. Chennai is far more costlier than most North Indian cities. The cost of living at an Adyar or a Besant Nagar or Velachery is far higher than that in a similar area in Delhi.

@OP: Chennai has a very humid climate. And hot. Actually Chennai is notorious for its three season climate - hot, hotter, hottest :D So most of the year the temperatures are in the 32 - 37 range with summers going up a bit. This year has been better than recent ones relatively. Don't bother about warm clothes, or for any rainy season material. Doesn't rain a lot, just leaves a lot of slush when it does :D
 
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