Guindy

Guindy கிண்டி
Neighbourhood
Ashok Leyland Corporate Headquarter in Guindy, Chennai
Nickname:  Gateway to Chennai
13°00′24″N 80°13′14″E / 13.006700°N 80.220600°E / 13.006700; 80.220600
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Chennai
Metro	Chennai
Government
• Body	Chennai Corporation
Area
• Total	7.88 km2 (3.04 sq mi)
Elevation	37 m (121 ft)
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	600032
Vehicle registration	TN-09
Lok Sabha constituency	Chennai South
Planning agency	CMDA
Civic agency	Chennai Corporation
Website	www.chennai.tn.nic.in

Guindy is a neighborhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Road, and GST Road meet here. It is one of the important nodal points of road traffic in the metropolitan area. It is also a commercial hub. Here is headquarters of Ashok Leyland This junction serves as the entry point to the city limits from the suburbs. It is surrounded by Saidapet in the North, Kotturpuram and Adyar towards the East, Velachery in the South, Adambakkam and Alandur in the South-West, Parangimalai in the West and Ekkatutthangal in the North-West. Guindy is home to many important landmarks in the city, the most famous amongst them being the Guindy National Park. It also serves as a main hub for several small and medium scale industries (Guindy Thiru Vi Ka Estate). Transportation to/from the neighborhood is catered by Guindy railway station and Guindy metro station.

Etymology

The precise origin of the word is unclear. According to regional Hindu tradition, the sage Bhringi is said to have performed penance on the Parangimalai hill, before which he had to circumambulate the regions surrounding the hillock, considered as an abode of Shiva). The place where he completed the circumambulation and left his kindi (vessel) before starting the journey to the hilltop is said to have been named as kiṇḍi,^[1] and later the region's name was anglicized as Guindy during the British Raj.

Transportation

Guindy is well connected by road and train services. Many buses ply through Guindy and connect it to the rest of Chennai. It is also well connected by the trains with Chennai Suburban Railway and Chennai Metro. Guindy is also located 10 km away from the airport.

Government House and Guindy under the British Raj

The governor lived in Government House, Fort St. George, a palatial residence with numerous servants, and had an official Daimler car at his disposal. There was a head butler called Muniswami, who ruled with a rod of iron. For the governor's ceremonial use, there was a glittering coach with prancing horses, accompanied by a bodyguard of Indian troopers with red uniforms, glittering steel accoutrements and pennoned lances.^[2]

There was also Guindy, a spacious and elegant country home on the outskirts of Madras, surrounded by an extensive park. Nearby were a golf course, hockey pitches, riding stables and the Guindy Horse Racing Track.^[3] From May to October each year during the hot season, the Madras Government and its officials, the governor and his family went to Government House in the hill station of Ooty or Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills.^[4]

Location in context

Important landmarks

• Guindy Race Course
• Guindy National Park
• Raj Bhavan, Chennai
• College of Engineering, Guindy
• Anna University Chennai
• Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
• Snake Park
• Cancer Research Institute
• Guindy Thiru Vi Ka Estate
• Guindy Links

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guindy.