How do the chennai residents spend their weekends?

Thanks to a skewed development of leisure and entertainment avenues — such as malls and multiplexes — the residents, particularly the youth, across the city seem to have different answers to the question. While those in south and central parts of Chennai seem to head almost automatically to the nearest multiplex, mall or the much-favoured ECR, those in other parts of the city are not as lucky. S.Raja, a software engineer from Kolathur, laments: "There is nothing spontaneous about weekends in North Chennai. There are no malls or multiplexes here and getting to the popular multiplexes involves too much planning. ECR is altogether ruled out." He points out that there are affluent people in North Chennai who would not mind spending that extra buck for leisure over the weekend. So what makes North Chennai or some of the other city suburbs unviable locations for multiplexes? A spokesperson of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited said in terms of potential customers (`foot falls'), theatres in North Chennai had as much potential as other parts of the city. The company is doing a market survey there and is keen on acquiring properties. Residents of some of the southern suburbs of Chennai too have limited options. The most common destinations are the Marina and Elliots Beach and to reach these places, residents have to spend a considerable amount of time and money. The Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur is a favoured location. Visitors have a lot of walking to do in the zoo, located on 1,300 acres of Reserve Forest. Other options for the residents are beaches in Neelankarai and other villages off East Coast Road, but they are not fully developed, in terms of facilities and transport. Further, they are not entirely safe for families, considering the number of crime cases reported from that stretch. There are some amusement parks, but families have to pay a lot. There are not many air-conditioned theatres and the few that exist, are known to fleece moviegoers.