Chennai

                                         
Chennai  is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is the biggest industrial and commercial center in South India,^[6] and a major cultural, economic and educational centre. Chennai is known as the "Detroit of India" for its automobile industry.^[7] It is the fifth-largest city and fourth-most populous metropolitan area^[8] in the country and 36th-largest urban area^[9] in the world.
The city is host to the third-largest expatriate population in India after Mumbai and Delhi, with 35,000 in 2009 and steadily climbing to 82,790, in 2011.^[10][11] Chennai is the only city in South Asia and India to figure in the "52 places to go around the world" by The New York Times.^[12][13][14] Tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet has named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015.^[15] Chennai is ranked as a beta-level city in the Global Cities Index ^[16] and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey.^[17][18] The city was ranked 38 worldwide, by the number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2012. It Is also home for various popular personalities and home to IT startups. Chennai has also been named in the "hottest" cities to live in for 2015 by BBC among global cities with a mixture of both modern and traditional values.^[19] National Geographic ranked Chennai as world's 2nd best food city and Chennai was the only Indian city to feature in the list.^[20] Chennai was also named as the 9th best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet.^[21] With diverse industries such as healthcare, shipping, finance, information technology,automobiles,Chennai has become the hub for one of the best employment opportunities in the country attracting immigrants from all over India making it the second industrial capital of India. The healthcare offered continues to be the best in India with approximately 1500 international patients per day combining both government as well as private hospitals. .The Chennai Metropolitan Area as recently as January 2015 has been ranked the fourth-largest economy in India, and the third highest GDP per capitaThe origin of the word Chennai is disputed.
There are two different theories for the origin of the name Madraspattinam and Chennaipattinam:
The first theory is that it was derived from the fisherman village landlord Muthurasan palayakara naicker who gave land for St. George fort, East India Company and the name of a ruler Damal Chennappa Nayagar, a Nayakar of Vandavasi who served as a general under Sriranga Deva Raya of the Aravidu Dynasty^[23] father of Damal Venkatadri Naicker, from whom the English acquired the town in 1639. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a sale deed, dated 8 August 1639, to Francis Day of the East India Company.^[24] The second theory states that it was named after the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple; the word Chenni in Tamil means face, with the temple regarded as the face of the city.^[25]
The name Madras originated even before the British presence was established in India.^[26] Multiple explanations attempt to account for the city's colonial name, Madras:

• allegedly derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing-village north of Fort St George.^[27] However, it is uncertain whether the name "Madraspattinam" was in use before the arrival of European influence.^[28]
• the military mapmakers believed Madras was originally Muthu-raju, Muthurasu or abbreviatedly, Mudiraju.^[29]
• other arguments suggest that the Portuguese, who arrived in the area in the 16th century, named the village Madre de Deus, meaning Mother of God.
• another possibility sees the village's name coming from the prominent Madeiros family of Portuguese origin, which consecrated the Madre de Deus Church in the Santhome locality of Chennai in 1575.
• another theory concludes that the name Madras was given to Chennapattanam after it was taken from a similarly named Christian priest.^[30]
• other parties express the opinion that Madras might have taken its name from a fisherman by the name of Madrasan
• from religious Muslim schools, referred to as Madrasahs
• from the word Madhu-ras, which means "honey" in Sanskrit.^[31]

In 1996 the state government officially changed the name to Chennai. At that time many Indian cities underwent a change of name.^[31][32] However, the name Madras continues in occasional use for the city,^[33] as well as for places named after the city, such as the University of Madras, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Madras Medical College (MMC).