What can I tell you about Tamilnadu? The land of my birth.

Madurai Malli (jasmine), Kumbakonam degree coffee,  Ambur Thalapakatti biriyani, Kanchipuram silk, and the Kaveri delta.

Locals will spend a million bucks on gold and diamonds.

They may even like their purchases.

But they won’t truly feel satisfied till they get a cheesy calendar or plastic bag as a “compliment.”

The shops here together earn a reported Rs. 20,000 crore annually — the spread comes from “black money” or unaccounted and untaxed transactions– by selling silk and gold to some 200,000 shoppers everyday.

During Diwali and other festivals, this number swells to a million shoppers a day.

This is four times what similar shopping neighborhoods such as Mumbai’s Linking Road, Delhi’s Connaught Place, or Bangalore’s Commercial Street earn.

I grew up in Chennai in a Tamilian family.  So it is a particular pleasure to put together this edition.

Welcome to our Tamilnadu edition!