Midnight Express To Madras

As far as huge Indian cities go, Madras is quite pleasant in comparison to the others

. Still, Madras does have its slums and seedy side, and it is when all is said and done after all, still India. Unfortunately for us, we arrived in Madras by Indian National Railway well past midnight.

We were on a budget but were planning on staying at the perfect guesthouse (officers of the Raj regularly quartered here, a guidebook assured us). The taxi took us there straightaway, but it was full (at least that's what the clerk told us), so we asked the driver to take us to the second best guesthouse in Madras. He vouched for the establishment's comfort and coziness, and preceded there straightaway.

At first, it was hard to tell if the guesthouse was nice or not. The outside facade looked nice enough, and although the front desk was nothing more than a rather tacky red booth smudged with grease stains, we figured it would probably be good enough.

We were led downstairs however to smelly hovel that looked more like a prison dungeon than a hotel room. There was a huge pipe that went straight through the room- it leaked and smelled like sewage. The bed was hard as padded cardboard, damp, and looked and smelled as if the bedding had not been changed since the Raj left! And there were rats!

We left immediately only to suffer the apparent curses in Tamil of the owner. We don't want our money back, I assured him but that didn't appease him. We had to walk a long time to find a taxi, which we took to the big Madras beach where we spent the last few hours until dawn, on guard as there was definite human activity about.

Midnight Express To Madras

By: Dinah Jackson

POST COMMENT

Juicy Delicious Tomatoes - How To Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes Bentley Recall Alcudia Town ASTORGA - The capital of Maragateria Remove The IP Clear - How to Remove The IP Clear right away Men's Pyjamas Применение Химических Насосов В Промышленности Is Richard Katz Jonathan Franzen's Alter Ego? 7 Safe Ways To Get Rid Of Pimples Quickly Tango Passion Using Projectors in Your Speech Особенности Японской Кухни CD Duplicators in UK – for Replicating CDs Cost-Effectively