home to manufacturing giants technology majors the city is feeding the appetite of the global citizen today be it cars computers or condoms the sun has set and offices in delhis connaught place are beginning to empty out rahul kalra a consultant with a headhunting firm is checking his email he looks at the clock on his cellphone 630 pm he logs off shuts down his pc and goes to the mens room looking into the mirror he combs his hair practises a smile and goes down to the parking lot to get into his caryou cant be sure whats on kalras mind as he is driving home but one thought is most likely to escape him that most things he cant do without today come from chennai his car a santro is made in chennai the nokia handset which told him the time is made in chennai the dell desktop which he just shut down is also made in chennai so is the saintgobain mirror he looked into moments ago and the samsung tv he is going to switch on once he is home that is also made in chennairahul kalra isnt real he could be a sumit bose in kolkata or a sandeep desai in mumbai what is real is that he represents the young global indian who aspires for a good life he could be someone who never set foot in chennai and has no links with the city not even a distant relative and yet he has a strong chennai connection even the lingerie his girlfriend or wife dreams of buying someday thanks to fashion tv is most likely to be madeinchennai onesixth of the bras sold by victorias secret are currently manufactured in a factory on the outskirts of the citythe chennai connection is going to get even stronger as more and more multinational companies descend on the city to set up their plants and back offices most of them are already here now nokia flextronics motorola hyundai samsung dell caparo saintgobain foxconn perlos jabil salcomp laird wintek ford moser baer accenture ibm delphi the list is as mindboggling as the lineup of musicians who descend on the city during margazhi the music season in decemberbut why chennaithe availability of skilled labour force a friendly business environment excellent state government support competitive cost level and good logistics connections like airport harbour and highway availability of suitable piece of land these are the factors that made us choose chennai as a manufacturing destination says sachin saxena operations director of nokia india nokia which found chennai cheaper than china by 11 produced 125 million handsets in just over two years of operations in chennaithe mercer cost of living survey in march last year rated the cost of living index in chennai as 637 while mumbai new delhi and shanghai were way ahead at 849 823 and 912 respectively little wonder that samsung which started making colour televisions in chennai last year plans