Pokemon Go mania hits Chennai; DT office in game grid

Hooked to the game within days of its release, a number of addicts are roaming with their smartphones around popular landmarks in the city. A freelance art director and a long-time Besant Nagar resident Vishal R didn’t know that the white structure on Besant Nagar beach is also called The Karl Schmidt Memorial. He’d have to thank the Pokemon Go to have given him the opportunity to have known landmarks around his area. 

Pokémon Go is a GPS based augmented reality mobile game released in July. The game allows battle, capture and train virtual Pokemon characters like Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle that many youngsters have grown up with. 

Though the app is not officially launched in India, users have found ways to install it in their phone and go around the city chasing characters. To play this mobile game, one has to actually get out of his or her chair and be on the streets to get hold of one. Players can also visit “gyms,” where the captured creatures can be conditioned as combatants to seize the training facilities. 

A key landmark around Egmore is the heritage Dina Thanthi office building which is one of the most recognisable buildings in the neighbourhood. Many Pokemon hunters were seen darting around the building on the hope of catching the elusive Pokemon character. “I live in the Adyar and most of my gyms were around Adyar and Besant Nagar. 

Because of this, it’s the first time I visited the Annai Vailankanni Church and it is the reason why I visited temples after a long time. I didn’t even know that the white structure at the beach is called the Karl Schmidt Memorial, built in memory of a European sailor who drowned in 1930 trying to save the life of a girl.” 

Some forgotten lanes have now begun to get visitors. And fans are going to any extent to stay in the game. “My office is in Royapettah and most of my gyms happened to be at religious places in Mylapore and Alwarpet area,” says Adithya Sharan a wedding photographer, who has been to the Thousand Lights Mosque, the Wesley Church, Express Avenue and also Stella Maris College. “I had to convince my friend to take me inside till I find the Pokemon. It was a little weird because you stare into the phone, and it may look like I am taking someone’s picture.”