Traditions and customs in Chennai

1. Carnatic music season

December and January bring hundreds of concerts across the city's sabhas, in a festival that has run for a century.

• Best time: Mid-December to mid-January

2. Bharatanatyam

The classical dance form of Tamil Nadu, taught and performed here at the highest level.

3. Kolam

Rice-flour geometry drawn at the threshold each morning, redrawn daily and never permanent.

• Best time: Dawn

4. Pongal

The four-day harvest festival in January, when rice is boiled over until it spills — deliberately.

• Best time: Mid-January

5. Filter coffee at home and out

Taken seriously enough that the quality of a household's decoction is a matter of reputation.