Travels in India - First Impressions
Our fears were soon put to rest when we were met by a delegation of four very excited and helpful Indian faces welcoming us to Madras. We were taken aback to receive garlands from our host to be Captain Alfred Thacker. Alfred was to prove quite an amazing 72 year old retired sea captain. His organisational ability and willingness to make this mission as he calls it work was quite exceptional.
Chennai is a city of some 8 million people. It is a busy buzzing mass of humanity. The first thing that any traveller to India will notice is the amount of bicycles and motor cycles and buses on the road and of course the legendary white Morris Cowley the enduring symbol of a Britain that once was the workshop of the world. Today even the great Rover car that once was a symbol of British reliability and value is now being touted around the Industrialts of the world to see if one will take pity on the car workers of Longbridge . Its ironic that it now looks as though China will end up coming to the rescue of the workers of Birmingham. Talking about cars and cities, it seems as though every driver in the Medras is anxious to peep his horn. How they know whose who I will never know. For the next week however we will have no need to drive we will hand our lives and decision making powers over to Alfred who has already put together our every move for the next week.
We arrived at the Thacker's flat a spacious apartment in one of the better districts of the city. Sulu Alfred's wife welcomed us and had a light supper she had prepared. We were glad that our hostess could see we were tired and didn't insist that we stay up to get further acquainted, by this time it was into the small hours of the morning we more than happy to go to sleep in an air-conditioned room. Next morning Alfred explained to me that his neighbours across the street were rich gold dealers from Arabia. Outside their house on the pavement I could see a man at a table ironing clothes. Further down the same street you can come across a tailor crossed legged working his sewing machine. India has an economy built on small time services. You can even get your washing picked up from the door by the dobbie women, however if you have any delicate clothing it might be best not to pass it on. It will come back clean but perhaps a bit more thread bare. The women wash the clothes the traditional way beating them against the huge flat stones at the side of the river that have been used for centuries to clean clothes.
