Chennai is a vibrant combination of the old and the new, of tradition and change. Here, relics of the Raj stand happily alongside state-of-the-art cyber parks. Chennai, the gateway to the east coast, is a new city as compared to some others in the south of India; but the colors of its history and contours of its geography make it a fascinating study. The first city of Tamil Nadu was re-christened Chennai from Madras less than two years ago, and that was only the opening of a new chapter in a book that covers 350 years already. Chennai is lapped by the waters of the Bay of Bengal in the east and blown by the Deccan winds from the west.