26th March Kodai to Madurai to Chennai (Madras)

First reflections on visiting Kodai after a 35-year gap: It is a roller-coaster experience of highs and lows to visit Kodai for me – highs when you meet someone who knows about the old days, who puts value on the school experience, when you see the same wild animals still roaming your old hunting grounds, and can still (barely) make a hike similar to Tope, and to see buildings and rooms that have remained the same, like the chapel or quad or our old place in Arcotia. It is a down when you see Kodai students that all seem to be from Bombay or Korea, and who do not say “Hi” or seem engaged in old Kodai activities, when the boys’ dorms are converted to girls dorms and piano practice rooms, when you see the mess made of 7 Corners and Bryant Park and the shops along the Lake Road near the old boat house, and the development of modern townhouses behind Wyadra, the drivers blowing their horns without reason as they circumvent the Lake, and the messy stalls around Silver Cascade and other once-pristine spots. It is great to see old friends like Tim Heineman, or George Penner, and find out about their lives in India, and great to catch sight of Heineman’s old Kodai compound where I learned to ride my first motorcycle, the 1943 Norton we had purchased in Bangalore, and to see the house where various of our staff had lived when they were our teachers. Walking through all the horns-blowing cars on 7 Corners and then down the road to the old Budge were not as evocative – true that everything does seem smaller, including distances between compounds in Kodai. The Ghat Road itself is not too different, although there are some sizable towns besides Shembugganur along the way now including Perumal Malai and a big one above Oothu.

Travel:  We rose early, had our last Carlton breakfast, turned in our keys to Yvonne and started down the mountain in our small taxi, that had both rear window winders broken, but seat belts that worked.  We passed many Hindus celebrating a Spring ritual of some type.

Milk is in the containers

It was a bit more than 3 hours to Madurai Airport, where we had to wait a half hour to check in, then a couple of hours before our plane left for Chennai (Madras formerly), a flight of about an hour.  We took a cab to our Hotel Mount Heera, which at $50 was OK since it was close to the airport, but due to hotel internal noise and a low-powered AC was probably not the best choice.