3. - 24 December: Chennai

The cool and foggy weather does not make for a great day to walk around so it's going to be mostly indoor time.

Morning depart for city tour visiting the National Art Gallery, housing exquisite Chola bronzes. Proceed to Fort St George, St Mary's church, Fort Museum, drive along the Marina Beach, Senate house to San Thome Cathedral and the Kapaleshwar Temple dedicated to Shiva. The usual tourist stuff...

Lunch with N. Ravi, editor of “The Hindu”, one of the most important newspapers in India, published here. A very sophisticated and highly cultured person, gives us a most interesting perspective on the Indian debate on globalization. He is very well informed of global affairs. India fears globalization because of China which is penetrating local markets at a fast pace.

He comes to pick me up at my hotel and offers to drive to the restaurant in his car. I decline as I have my own car, and figure will need it later. But he was not just being polite, he was being practical: traffic is horrendous and it would take us longer to get to the restaurant than the time we would spend at the table.

He also gives us names and phone numbers of “The Hindu” correspondents in each and every city we are going to visit over the coming days in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and these will prove to be interesting sources of local insight and suggestions!

2. - 23 December: shopping in Delhi and flight to Chennai

Morning with Massimo, an Italian friend who is a diplomat at our embassy here. Has lived in Delhi for a couple of years with his family. It’s not easy he says, despite the obvious advantages provided by the service. They imported a container of mineral water from Italy, which I found a bit excessive: it is definitely not advisable to drink tap water here, but there is plenty of mineral and mineralized water to buy.

They also had a robbery in their house and had to intervene to moderate the reaction of the police that is usually very violent with thieves.

We go for a round of shopping in the warehouses of south Delhi, enormous stores of old stuff from the houses of old nobility, dusty remnants of the era of the Maharajas. I am tempted to buy everything! Prices are reasonable and shipping costs by sea are negligible, but this is big and important material, difficult to keep in a normal home. I end up buying nothing, though that will only plant the seed for a shopping spree in Cochin later in the trip...

In the afternoon transfer to the airport for departure by Air India for Chennai. We stay at the Hotel Taj Connemara. Dinner at the hotel with a rather fake touristy dance performance. But then again, we are almost the only foreigners, so if this is meant for Indians perhaps it is not so touristy after all...