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Chennai,
Tamil Nadu, India
Chennai, formerly Madras, is the 4th
largest city in India. It began as Madraspatnam, a fishing village, where the
British East India Company built a fort and trading post in 1639-40. The weaving
of cotton fabrics was a local industry then, and the English invited weavers and
merchants to settle near the fort. By 1652, the factory of Fort St. George was
recognized as a presidency (an administrative unit governed by a president). The
company then began expanding its control. By 1801, the last of
the local rulers had been shorn of his powers and the English had become masters of
southern India, with Madras as their administrative and commercial
capital. ♣
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Heroes of the
day (beach)
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Memorial for MGR
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Catch of the
day
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Government
museum complex
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High court,
George Town
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Lawyers
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Shanties &
circus near Fort
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CMBT bus
station
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"In the [train's] dining-car ... South Indian languages, excessively
vowelled, rattled about me. The South Indians were beginning to unwind; they
were lapping up their liquidized foods. Food was a pleasure to their hands.
Chewing, sighing with pleasure, they squelched curds and rice between their
fingers. They squelched and squelched; then, in one swift circular action,
as though they wished to take their food by surprise, they gathered some of
the mixture into a ball, brought their dripping palms close to their mouths
and
- flick! - rice and curds were shot
inside; and the squelching, chattering and sighing began again."
[--VS Naipaul, An Area
of Darkness, p240, 1962-64] |
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