MARINA BEACH
World’s second largest natural
urban beach in chennai and largest in Indian country along the Bay of Bengal,part
of the Indian Ocean.Marina beach is a popular hangout of humans and sea animals
alike in Chennai.Swimming and taking a dip in the sea is legally prohibited,if
the distant horizon with huge waves crashing around don’t have you spellbound
for hours on end.An endless sandy expanse stretching from Fort George in the
north to
Besant Nagar in the south.The average width of the beach is 300m(980ft)
and the width at the widest stretch is 437m(1,434ft).
Before the 16th
century,there are frequents of
inundation of lands near the coast due to rise in sea level.When the sea
withdrew,several ridges and lagoons were left behind.On the southern side of
Fort St.George one such sand ridge ran from the mouth of the Cooum to the
present site of the Presidency College.On the rear side of the ridge was
a huge depression on which the college grounds were later developed.The ridge
is the site of the present day beach.
When Fort St.George was built in
1640,the sea was too close to the fort.Shortly after Independence,the Triumph
of Labour statue and the Gandhi statue in march to Dandi stride were erected on
the beach.Both the statues were sculpted by Debi Roy Chowdhury,an artist who
became the first Indian Principal of the Madras School of Arts and Crafts.In
1968,a number of statues of icons of tamil literature was erected to mark the
first world tamil conference including Awaiyar,Tiruvalluvar,kambar,Subramaniya
Bharathiyar and Bharathidasan and the Europeans Bishop
Caldwell,G.U.Pope,Veeramunivar,Anna Samadhi was built in 1970 and the MGR Samadhi
in 1988.More recent additions of statue includes kamaraj and shivaji ganeshan.
Marina is possibly one of the
cleanest beach when we come across india,but it has lost its glory,beauty and
natural heritage over the years to pollution.It has been focused with
conservation efforts and cleanliness drives in recent years.There are number of
food stalls and different sorts of shop crowding the beach with the triumph of
labor and Gandhiji’s march to Dandi statue towering in the skyline and
statues of many notable figures of tamil literature and MGR Samadhi.The popular
fun was banned out from few years back,cricket balls flying at you in all
directions.
There is a 34 foot artificial
waterfall on one part of the beach and another attraction is Marina Beach Aquarium,country’s first aquarium
built in 1909 has rare species of tropical and fresh water fishes.