A Chennai-based realtor who moved back to the city after spending nearly three years in Bengaluru has caught the internet’s attention after sharing how living in India’s tech capital changed the way he views Chennai’s growth story.
In a LinkedIn post, Sai Ganesh, a real estate entrepreneur, shared that he returned to Chennai nearly three months ago and said that his time in Bengaluru changed the way he views his hometown. “Bangalore gave me the lens to see Chennai differently,” Ganesh wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The entrepreneur said that he is now living on the outskirts of Chennai, working out of a mango farmland, building his real estate practice across developing corridors and hosting international guests through his Airbnb properties. “Every day, I see something I probably wouldn’t have noticed earlier: Chennai’s outskirts don’t feel like outskirts anymore,” he wrote.
He pointed to apartments coming up alongside farmland and industrial corridors developing alongside residential communities. “Highways, logistics, manufacturing, ports, IT, healthcare, education and housing are gradually connecting into one larger economic ecosystem,” Ganesh wrote.
(Also Read: Chennai man shares ‘small things’ he loves about Bengaluru after 1.5 years in city: ‘People often ignore them’)
How Bengaluru changed his perspective?
{{/usCountry}}(Also Read: Chennai man shares ‘small things’ he loves about Bengaluru after 1.5 years in city: ‘People often ignore them’)
How Bengaluru changed his perspective?
{{/usCountry}}Reflecting on his time in Bengaluru, Ganesh said that the city helped him understand the impact a technology-led economy can have on an urban region. “Bangalore showed me the incredible power of a technology-led economy — the talent, startups, migration, offices and housing demand that can transform an entire city,” he wrote.
However, he said Chennai has a different strength that particularly interests him: diversification. He listed manufacturing, logistics, ports, automobiles, EVs, electronics, aerospace, IT, residential development and agriculture as sectors contributing to the region’s growth.
Rather than focusing on Chennai’s current status, Ganesh said that he has become increasingly interested in imagining how the wider region could look like over the next 15 to 20 years. “I’m increasingly less interested in asking: ‘Where is Chennai today?’ And more interested in asking: ‘What will this entire region look like 15–20 years from now?’” he wrote.
He further said that returning to Chennai has given him a new perspective on the city and its surrounding areas. “That’s the perspective Bangalore gave me. And that’s what coming back to Chennai has made me realise,” he wrote.
“Bangalore gave me the lens. Chennai is giving me the canvas,” he added.
He concluded by saying that he was looking forward to building, learning and observing the transformation of Chennai and its surrounding region “from the ground.”