A Very Small World -1: The Austrian Professor

In April 1958 I came to Tambaram as an instructor at the Flying Instructor’s School of the Air Force.    Tambaram is a suburb of Chennai.    In 1958 however, Chennai was still known as Madras.   Smallest of the four Indian metros of that time, it was a charming little city with a character of its own that was lovable.     Though its climate could be described as being hot, a cool sea breeze cooled the city down every evening to a very comfortable level.  Similarly, every morning a smart land breeze swept the dust of the city from its sky out to the Bay of Bengal.   Compared to the north of the country, the air here carried very little dust.    Low and medium clouds prevailed overhead for most of the year preventing the earth from getting scorched by the sun.  The city was blessed with a beautiful string of sea-beaches.   It had nice roads and disciplined road traffic.   Comfortable electric trains connected the city to its suburbs.  All in all, it used to be a city well worth living in.

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A Strange Kind of Honeymoon

The Indian Air Lines Viscount brought me from Kolkata to Madras just before eleven on the morning of 14 October 1959.   It was a fine morning when I landed; the breeze from the sea was cool and the sunshine bright, but there was sadness in my heart strangely admixed with the jollity and merriment of the past three days.