Hoping for positive changes

While namma ooru welcomes the New Year with a great bash, it is time for us to hit refresh and look forward to a great year. As we welcome 2018, we got in touch with prominent people from various walks of life, as they open up about their expectations this year in their particular fields and also about the changes they wish to happen this year.

Sujan Mukherjee, executive chef, Taj Coromandel

Chennaiites have become more experimental when it comes to food. Most of the classic and top restaurants have their own organic farm and have started using the produce in the kitchen. I think this trend will catch up among other hotels as well.

People will go back to their roots — traditional recipes will be back in the kitchens. Rather than going for preserved food items and ingredients, I urge people to use local produce and local ingredients.

Since there are many  restaurants opening in every street, we can expect a tight competition when it comes to food scene in the city. This will urge chefs to come up with unique menu with signature dishes.

Sidney Sladen, Celebrity Fashion Designer

One major change in the fashion of 2018 will be the influence of abstract. Both ethnic and western clothes will have abstract prints on them. Gothic presence will also be there as they are making a comeback.

2018 will be dominated with a lot of blush pink and blue. 3D cutout flowers, with appliqué designs are also the trend. Chennai as a city is growing a lot in terms of fashion. It’s not just the increase of pub culture that has led to the rise in importance of fashion trends. Star World, Netflix and Amazon Prime are giving us a lot of international content which inspires a lot of fashion trends. Not only celebrities, but the regular public is also investing a lot of time and thought into what to wear for what occasion.

Since the younger lot is into travelling more, the sense of fashion has improved and this year will be a great change for the city with respect to fashion!

Vilassini Sundar, Surfer

The announcements that surfing will be a part of Asian Games 2018 and Olympics 2020 have got us all pumped up — and we’ve even started our preparations for the former. One positive change, I would like to witness in the city is, I would like more women to take up surfing — because in comparison to men and even women from other states, the number of female surfers from Chennai is very less. Apart from this, I would also like the sporting bodies to support and give us more recognition. For the beginners and aspiring surfers, I would urge you to take up the sport around February and  March because it is the best time to get trained.

Arasu Dennis, Socialite and F&B consultant

This year will be fabulous for Chennai with respect to nightlife. There was a huge increase in the number of pubs in 2017. That was just a trailer — you’ll see more pubs, bigger brands and popular food industries coming to Chennai in 2018. The industry is getting really competitive.

Since the number of watering holes are increasing, the supporting industries like food and tourism will also get a big boost this year. We’re becoming more and more like Bengaluru. If we also started having breweries like them, then the city will be at a whole new level.

The dining and drinking experience is getting better. The club culture mindset, that parties only happen on the weekends, has been broken and the standalone pubs have become a hangout spot to dine. The costs are also in budget unlike star hotels and are located in popular spots in the city.

Eddie Prithviraj, Director of Exodus and Unwind Center
The year 2018 will be a very exciting year for the people of Chennai, as several amazing international music festivals and concerts have been lined up this year. What we would like from the public is encouragement and support — by coming for the events through the year and enjoying the music, culture and the renowned artistes, who will be performing. In the case of our Unwind Center, we would like to see all the upcoming artistes of 2017 turning into professionals in 2018 — it’s a cycle that we keep seeing them grow and making to the top and we are very proud of them. I’m sure we will also see a big change in the music industry, where Chennai is going to be on the top and set the bench mark in terms of events, venues and artistes!

(Compiled by Merin James, Priyanka Shankar and Balajee C R)