Chennai's weekly events

My weekend ended with some serious sporting royalty at the finale of the MRF Challenge 2016 on Sunday. A list that included Adrian Newey, Harrison Newey, Mick Schumacher (son of Michael Schumacher) and most importantly, Sachin Tendulkar. As you can imagine, the post-race dinner at the Hyatt Regency saw

an enthusiastic audience, for more reasons than one. An exciting finish to the season, and what better than the presence of cricketing legend Tendulkar, who wasn’t just there to give out prizes, but spent a fair amount of time at the track earlier on in the day. After talking about his association with MRF, when asked to give the young sportsmen advice, he said, “I spun my car off the track, so I’m not sure what advice I can give them”, to much laughter from the audience. The self-admitted Formula 1 fan wished them all the best, after doing the honours and handing over their trophies. The podium saw, by the narrowest of margins, Harrison Newey in first place, Joey Mawson in second and Mick Schumacher in third.
M

eanwhile, across town, a different kind of frenzy was underway at Sunburn, with the masses making their way to the coast to catch DJ Snake live in action. Opportunities such as these don’t present themselves often in Chennai, and judging by the volume of people at VGP, no one wanted to miss the chance. If you were lucky enough to find yourself in the VIP section, a great time was to be had. For the rest, it was more of a mosh pit vibe surrounded by teenyboppers, all of who didn’t seem to notice or mind. The music trail continued at Phoenix MarketCity, but with more of a family friendly feel, with the Global Isai music fest. Drawing a crowd as diverse at the artistes themselves, over the span of two days, the fest made for both great photo-ops and a one-of-a-kind musical experience.
Closing the week was an evening hosted by FICCI FLO, where they

presented ‘How tolerant are we?’, a talk by Arnab Goswami. The audience saw prominent faces from across Chennai, and bubbly and small talk were replaced by thought-provoking discussion. It wasn’t all serious though, with the man of the hour showing us his softer side, patiently answering all the questions from the audience, on everything from his new channel to his unique style of presenting, eliciting more than a few laughs from the crowd.