Sowcarpet
Encyclopedia
Sowcarpet is a sprawling neighborhood in the northern part of Chennai
, India
. It is a bustling commercial area of the city and a range of wholesale markets are located here. Sowcarpet is one of the older neighborhoods of the city with narrow streets and vintage buildings. The place bustles with business seven days a week, and there is hardly a thing one cannot buy here in Sowcarpet.
There is a sizable north Indian community living here, that it can be called chotta Mumbai
. Marwaris
from northern India (mainly from Gujarat and Rajastan), mostly money lenders and businessmen, settled in and around the area during the 1950s. One can see women walking about in colorful north Indian traditional clothing and jewellery. Many of the store signs and name boards are in Hindi or Gujarati scripts. In fact, the neighborhood derives its name from Sahukar-pet. Sahukar means money lender in Hindi.
Most Streets in Sowcarpet are rather narrow, with a few exceptions like Mint Street. The buildings lining the streets are so close to each other that they look like they share a common wall. With thousands of people thronging the streets of Sowcarpet, the area can be bustling with energy and messy. The sight is typical of the crowded bazaars of Indian cities - a potpourri of different vendors and artisans, trading and making a variety of articles. The wholesale market for several goods are in Narayana Mudali street, Govindappa Naicken street and Rattan Bazaar. The area around Kasi Chetty street and Mint street is famous for shopping and one can find varieties of north Indian chat and other delicacies. Patni Plaza and Naidu Plaza are some of the well known shopping malls in the area.
There are many temples in and around Sowcarpet namely Kandhaswamy temple, Ekamparameshvaran temple, Renuka Parameswari temple and a couple of Jain temples. The area also houses a mosque and a church. Sowcarpet is close to Parry's corner and just a few kilometers from the Central Railway Station in Chennai. All the buses going to Parry's corner could be used to reach this area.People are attracted to this place because of the cheap rates and also because it is the main shopping centre for Chennai.
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is a bustling commercial area of the city and a range of wholesale markets are located here. Sowcarpet is one of the older neighborhoods of the city with narrow streets and vintage buildings. The place bustles with business seven days a week, and there is hardly a thing one cannot buy here in Sowcarpet.
There is a sizable north Indian community living here, that it can be called chotta Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. Marwaris
Marwaris
Marwari or Marwadi or Rajasthani people are Indian ethnic group, that inhabit the Rajasthan region of India. Their language Rajasthani is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages....
from northern India (mainly from Gujarat and Rajastan), mostly money lenders and businessmen, settled in and around the area during the 1950s. One can see women walking about in colorful north Indian traditional clothing and jewellery. Many of the store signs and name boards are in Hindi or Gujarati scripts. In fact, the neighborhood derives its name from Sahukar-pet. Sahukar means money lender in Hindi.
Most Streets in Sowcarpet are rather narrow, with a few exceptions like Mint Street. The buildings lining the streets are so close to each other that they look like they share a common wall. With thousands of people thronging the streets of Sowcarpet, the area can be bustling with energy and messy. The sight is typical of the crowded bazaars of Indian cities - a potpourri of different vendors and artisans, trading and making a variety of articles. The wholesale market for several goods are in Narayana Mudali street, Govindappa Naicken street and Rattan Bazaar. The area around Kasi Chetty street and Mint street is famous for shopping and one can find varieties of north Indian chat and other delicacies. Patni Plaza and Naidu Plaza are some of the well known shopping malls in the area.
There are many temples in and around Sowcarpet namely Kandhaswamy temple, Ekamparameshvaran temple, Renuka Parameswari temple and a couple of Jain temples. The area also houses a mosque and a church. Sowcarpet is close to Parry's corner and just a few kilometers from the Central Railway Station in Chennai. All the buses going to Parry's corner could be used to reach this area.People are attracted to this place because of the cheap rates and also because it is the main shopping centre for Chennai.