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The hotel is in the right general area for my favoured area in Nungambakkam: the excellent Landmark Books has a vast array of books, music and general artefacts and, reasonably close by, I enjoyed seeing my friends of many years, Thomas and Thangam Philip, who own the superb crafts shop, Cane and Bamboo, near Commander-in-Chief Road. |
| My favourite watering hole, Opal Inn, attached to the Hotel Ranjith, is always a welcome place for an ice-cold beer after some long walks in temperatures of around 36 degrees. One of my main interests in going to Madras is to have a treat in the superb Indian restaurant at the Taj Coromandel Hotel, Southern Spice, which is very possibly one of the finest Indian restaurants in South India. My friend and manager, Ashok Raju, is the most pleasant and helpful man and nothing is too much trouble for any of the staff. If the dish you fancy is potentially too spicy, it can be made less spicy and, if you fancy a half of two different dishes this can also be very easily arranged. The dips with which they start off with are divine and it is well worth a splurge and I would wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to anyone. |
The beach is, they say, the second longest in the world and made for a lovely, if hot, walk along part of it. Madras’s architecture is fascinating further up past the Fort but I did sigh with relief after taking a photo and then realising that it was the High Court. I was once arrested in Lucknow and threatened with being locked up after taking a photo of their High Court – having asked permission – but no such dramas on this occasion.
That concluded my Indian part of the journey but I must mention Bharathi Cabs with whom I made a taxi reservation and came off the telephone not entirely convinced that I would see a taxi early the next morning. Not only did it come but it came an hour early, the driver rang me thereby negating the need for an alarm clock but the trouble was that, at 4.30am, both of us were sleepy and he couldn’t understand my English and I couldn’t cope with his Tamil. The system worked, though, and Bharathi Cabs seem efficient. |
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Pg 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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