Hush hush?

Much before the concept of 'competitive clusters' was born, Chennai had its own little manifestation of the idea. Though my first visit - and almost every visit since - to Agurchand Mansion was to chug down a bottle of flavoured milk from the Aavin outlet which used to be on the ground floor, it was always the signboard of Globe Detective Agency that would catch my eye. It was one of the first businesses that I could direct people to, if they had only asked me.

There was a time when Globe was the only detective agency in the city (or at least the only one which publicly declared its presence and its services); over the years, competing firms dropped their secrecy and put up their signboards. Somehow it seemed that there were more such signboards in Agurchand Mansion than in any other building. There must have been some advantage in nestling up with competition (easier to listen at the door when you see a prospective client walk in?), because even today, the building hast at least three firms advertising their presence - that's almost one-fifth of firms in Chennai which have the word 'Detective' in their name.

The others are scattered around the city. But who knows - they'll have their eyes and ears everywhere!

Something more about Agurchand Mansion can wait for another day; just had to get the hush-hush connection off my chest!