One of Southern India's most important centres since antiquity, Madras formed the crux of British India's control of the trans-Deccan - an area dominated by large princely states that had declared their allegiance early and thus preserved their fiefdoms. As such, even after the nation's sudden independence and the ignoble ends of those feudal realms, the city forms the core of the new Republic's policies in the South and remains hotly contested between establishment Congress stalwarts and the growing 'Dravidian' movement, between Telugu and Tamil linguistic movements, and even hosting a significant HSS subparty.

Even outside the political realm, Madras is one of the most rapidly industrialising cities in the south, with several significant architectural and development projects planned in and around it. For better or for worse, the city seems to be transforming monumentally with every passing month as it reinvents itself into the future - a characteristic it shares with the nation as a whole.