Tag Archives: Chennai

First glimpse of a tamil nadu island

I arrived in Rameswaram by train on India’s south-east coast over a clanking bridge that connected the island to the rest of Tamil Nadu. In those days, there was only the railway bridge to the island from the mainland, so with no cars, everyone walked or biked along the island’s main sandy street.

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my first encounter with india

My Air India flight arrived from Singapore at something like two in the morning. Like a lost lamb, I edged my way through the chaos of coolies and taxi drivers badgering for business. After I slunk into the back of a wonky taxi seat, the driver whizzed through the darkened Chennai streets (Madras back then). 

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Chennai’s Fort St George

I sat in the women’s section of a train that rattled to Fort St George. This was the only place where I enjoyed a real footpath that skirted the circumference of the fort. There were no crumpled sections or potholes. Continue reading Chennai’s Fort St George

Puducherry

I bussed south from Chennai and passed walled plots of coconut plantations, pine trees, an occasional rice paddy field and gained a taste of the old India. But resorts were encroaching on this farmland to the point where some farmers had signs plastered on boundary walls, “This property isn’t for sale.” Continue reading Puducherry