Madras Notes

Pertinent observations from a 1 1/2 day trip to Chennai

I had let my US visa expire in 2017, and since I plan to travel there again this year (for purposes of my company), I’m having to go through the whole shebang of getting a new one.

Now, they’ve changed the process, and difficulty of getting dates means I need to go to Chennai not once, but twice - yesterday I went to give my biometrics, and I’m going three weeks later again for the proper interview.

So this meant that I did my second trip to Chennai in twelve years (and will be doing a third soon). A few pertinent observations.

• I took the Vande Bharat on the way to Chennai. In terms of efficiency, it was brilliant. I left home a little after 2 pm, took the metro to the station (KSR stop - I need to change lines at Majestic, but the walk from KSR metro to the platform is far more pleasant than the one from Majestic to the platform). I was at the platform at 2:40. Train was at 2:55. 7:20 I rolled into Central. 7:25 I was in a cab, and in my hotel room at 7:45!

• Apart from the quickness, I still haven’t got what the big deal about Vande Bharat is. Somehow the leg space around the seats didn’t seem as large as what I remember from the last time I took a Shatabdi (in 2012!). There were way too many large suitcases on the overhead rack for my comfort (maybe it needs more luggage storage space at the ends of the compartment?).

• And it was noisy. Bloody noisy. Lots of large family groups in my bogie, and I was glad I had carried along my “big headphones” (Sony WH1000-XM4) to cancel out the noise. I put them on the moment I sat in my seat and took them off when the train was really close to Central.
  
  I normally don’t do long podcasts but this train journey gave me a chance to catch up, and I listened to this interview of computer scientist and entrepreneur (and friend) V Vinay with Amit Varma.

• I realised that Indians speaking in English I can listen at 2X (compared to 1.5X for Brits or Americans speaking English). So in 2 hours this got done and I got on to the Rest Is History’s long series about Custer’s Last Stand. I did 3 episodes of that before I got to Chennai

• This is a theory I developed on my cab to my hotel - cities magically become far more liveable when you have more money. The point about getting triggered going to Madras, among other things, had to do with my experiences of unfriendly auto drivers upon exiting Central. This time I simply booked an Uber Premier, which arrived quickly, and off I had gone. That I was headed to a nice hotel also helped.

• Uber Premier really works in Chennai, based on four data points. It’s expensive, but the drivers simply turn up without a fuss, the AC is always on and the cars are clean. I don’t know if there is some price regulation of the same in Bangalore that results in a much inferior servce.

• Chennai hasn’t licensed microbreweries yet, which means two nights in a row I drank Kingfisher (once at my hotel with one friend; the next night at Gandhinagar Club with another). The humidity also means you can drink plenty of beer without much “peer pressure”.

• The visa biometrics went off without incident. The only freaky part was that I wasn’t sure if they’d let in electronics, and so I’d left both my phone and smartwatch in my hotel room before walking there. So I went nearly an hour without knowing the time (until I saw a clock at the VFS office). I’ve made a mental note to take along my “real watch” when I go for my visa interview

• Chennai seems quite “compact” compared to Bangalore. I pinged Vengi asking if we can meet. He had said, “sure, but I can’t get out of my office. You’ll have to come down OMR”. I instinctively braced for a Whitefield-like experience. Then he told me it’s “20 mins from IIT gate”. It was rather peaceful getting there and back. Again, the reliability of Uber Premier (on the way back) helped

• Twice in two years I’ve roamed around IITM with someone I share program and branch with, but not year. Last year it was the legend Mohan Ravichandran. This time round, it was Helmet’s turn to accompany me as I went around campus. It also helped that we both were in the same hostel, and he came there with me as well. And took this photo of me at my old room.

  

  Last time round, my room descendant was inside but refused to open the door upon knocking. Today it was latched from outside but there was no sign of him. The graffiti around the room remains.
  
  If someone can connect me with him (whoever currently stays at 226 Narmada Hostel) it would be “interesting”

• I noticed this typo close to the administrative block that neither Helmet nor Sanjay (another hostel junior - though I didn’t overlap with him; I had met him him for a while before I met Helmet, and he walked with us for a bit) noticed. Clearly the “alumini” who contributed to the naming of this avenue didn’t check spellings.

  

• Notice that I’m wearing a T-shirt without collar above. I had only carried such T-shirts for the trip. Which meant we weren’t allowed into the bar at the Gandhinagar Club where I met Ranga. Thankfully they had a lawn area without any such snootiness, and served us beer and excellent snacks there. It also helped that thanks to recent rains, Chennai was relatively pleasant yesterday

• I took Bangalore Mail for my return journey. For four years, it had been my “workhorse” and preferred mode of transport between Bangalore and Chennai. However, I’m not sure I’m a fan of this any more. For starters, the train has become more efficient! What used to be a comfortable 7 hour journey in ~2001 (approx 10:30 pm to 5:30 am both ways) is now a 5 1/2 hour journey.
  
  I boarded at 10:50, and decided I’ll get off at Bangalore Cant (let’s see what RCB does in tonight’s game!). The train was scheduled to get there at 3:55 am (according to indiarailinfo), and so I put an alarm for 3:45. As it happened the train only got to Cant at 4:30. My sleep had nevertheless been ruined, and I came home and slept until 9, when my daughter woke me up asking me to make her pancake

• Train timetables have insane buffers in terms of the time taken to travel INSIDE Bangalore. I remember in February, when my daughter was returning from a school trip to Kerala, her train got to Carmelaram (near Sarjapur) an hour late. So we started chilling in terms of leaving home to receive her. Finally, by the time it got to Yeshwantpur, the train was on time (and we’d just got there to get her).
  
  It was similar this morning.

• The design of the AC 2 tier coach means there is a “half coupe” in the end. I got the upper berth in that. The issue was it was too close to the door of the compartment, which kept opening every 5 minutes. So my already bad sleep got worse. In the morning, when it was time to get off, random people entered our “half coupe” to wait to get off.

Anyway the lack of sleep means for the next trip to Chennai (for the “real” visa interview) I’ve booked Vande Bharat both ways. Which also means less time there, and I won’t be able to go to IIT.