Pondy Bazaar

Pondy Bazaar, officially called Soundarapandian Angadi, is a market located in T. Nagar, Chennai. It is one of the principal shopping districts of Chennai.

Etymology

It is said that the market ‘Soundarapandia Bazaar' was named after Justice Party politician W. P. A. Soundarapandian Nadar whose statue is situated in the square. According to another version, the name has the origin from a shopping complex called Pondy Bazaar, which was one of the initial commercial set up built in 1933 by Chockalinga Mudaliar who was from Pondicherry.

Transport

Theyagaraya Road, which is the arterial road of Pondy Bazaar, suffers from slow-moving traffic. To ease the traffic, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) has diverted buses going to the T. Nagar bus terminus that used to go via Pondy Bazaar. They now travel via the Thanikachalam Road-Burkit Road route. For some routes, such as the 47s and 11s, the buses occasionally go via Pondy Bazaar and occasionally via the diversion.

Private vehicles headed for the T. Nagar bus terminus or for Anna Salai (Saidapet and beyond) are strongly encouraged to either use the Thanikachalam Road route or Boag Road, rather than the Pondy Bazaar route, especially during rush hour.