And the winner is...

THE WAR'S been on for a while. Which is a `hipper', better and nicer place to be? Chennai or Bangalore. Every Bangalorean swears by his/her city. And no person who calls himself/herself a Chennaiite would give up on good old `Madras'.

Bangalore, they say, is heaven on earth; it's got a great pub culture or a Scorpion's share of the phoren band concerts - Deep Purple and Bryan Adams blessed them with an appearance. And what did Chennai get? A Lou Bega last year and Vengaboys this time.

That certainly says something, doesn't it? While Bangalore learns to rock, Chennai sure knows how to party. Come on, we have the best of nightclubs around - be it the flashy HFO, the classy G2, the clubby Klub 53 or the breezy EC41 by the beach. Besides, Chennai has indigenous rock happening every week and that too live while Bangalore waits for the Americans to bring it to them.

Any Bangalorean who got to party-hop in Chennai last Saturday would have re-christened himself a Chennaiite - cars lined up on Sterling Road, teeny-boppers shook a leg to an Aussie DJ's beats on Montieth Road, party animals almost passed out by the beach by sunrise and indoors of G2 turned into doors to heaven.

And what does Bangalore have? Pubs with cover charges that show you the door well before midnight. It's a place where public transport dozes off early and wakes up late unlike good old Chennai where's it perfectly safe to hang out by the beach at least till midnight, that too with police protection.

Chennai has Besant Nagar beach, we have Marina. But then, Chennai also has a 30 plus weather, Bangaloreans point out. ``We have the best weather in the world, round the year,'' Bangaloreans scream.

``Let them chill out with their 70's attitude. They are old fashioned folks. We are hot and happening,'' Chennaiites instantly argue. ``We have more scope for hipper cotton clothes,'' they add with a wink. But then Bangaloreans are quick to say: ``Oh, everybody knows Bangalore has a better fashion sense. We know how to dress up''.

``You people are dressed up all the time, because you don't have any occasions otherwise to dress up and be noticed,'' goes the Chennai missile...

By Sudhish Kamath

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