A stroll through Marina will let you see the sights of the glorious Madras of the past and the intriguing Chennai of today, all at once.
From police riding patrol horses, ice cream trucks, balloon shooting spots to waves gushing at our feet, there are experiences aplenty to cherish in the second longest beach in the world.
Today, there are statues aplenty (with fascinating histories) that beautify the beach, the most prominent being the Triumph of Labour statue. The statue depicts the hard work of labour class and was sculpted by Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhry in celebration of the May day march. He also sculpted the dandi-march inspired Gandhi statue. In 1968, the first World Tamil Conference saw the statues of various Tamil icons erected on the beach.
The buildings lining the beach such as University of Madras, the Senate House, Presidency College and the Ice House are also rich storehouses of history. For instance, Vivekanandar Illam, also known as ice house was the building in which British used to store imported ice before refrigerators were invented. If you want a lesson in Chennai’s history, we say the Marina would be a good place to start.