The other one

Set back a little from the road, this is not really an eye-catching property. Forty years ago, when it opened for business, it would probably have been, if only because it was one of the few multi-storeyed buildings on this stretch. It opened in 1975; it seems to have stayed in the '70s even today. The staff are long-timers, and the hotel clock hasn't bothered to keep pace with the hectic life of today. It is therefore something of an anachronism on this stretch. 

But Hotel Maris has a lot of things going for it. The rooms are still in the '70s sizes, which means the guests have a lot of space going for them. The service is reasonable, even if it is not fast. The food is - well, you may not have too many choices in the hotel itself, but with its location, you can step out, across or round the corner for a wide range of choices. That's the big plus for this hotel - its location. It is convenient for folks wanting to go to the American Consulate for their visa interviews, or for those coming in for the music season, and maybe even for those who come in to Chennai looking to get their daughters into Stella Maris, just about half-a-kilometre away.

But the Maris-es are different. The hotel's website acknowledges its neighbour, but disclaims any inspiration for its name. The college is named for the 'Star of the Seas'; the hotel, on the other hand, has a different reason for the name. It was set up, and continues to be owned by the Maris Group, which has its headquarters in Trichy. And that group was named after its founder, Mariapillai!

Peninsular feeling

Somehow, Nimmo Street, a quiet back-street that runs parallel to Santhome Main Road, has always seemed very Iberian to me. I have not been able to pin down why. Is it because it is close to the old Portuguese quarters, or is it because the houses appear so clean washed and white? Maybe the trees and the plants in the gardens along this street give it an air of being cool all the time, without squeezing the sun and its light completely out of of the frame. 

Probably it is because there is a school teaching Spanish somewhere along this street.  Or maybe, it is just that Ms Inez Lebo, the Honorary Consul for Spain, lives on this street, with the consulate operating from her residence?

Wait in line

They say that in Kerala, the only orderly lines you can see are the queues in front of the 'beverages' outlets. Looking for a Chennai equivalent, the closest I can think of is the queue of visa applicants outside the US consulate. In the past couple of years, the consulate has split the processing; things like fingerprinting and some basic document verification happens at a satellite centre on Cenotaph Road. 

And yes, the queue there is as orderly as those at beverage outlets!

East-west connection?

Senegal, on the west coast of Africa, is one of the few African countries that has never had a Coup-d'Etat in its post-colonial history. Over the past 52 years, Senegal has seen peaceful transition of power from one President to the next. In 2012, despite (or maybe because of) the constitution being amended to allow him to contest for a third term, Abdoulaye Wade lost to Macky Sall. 

Senegal has had strong trade connections with India. In fact, India accounts for well over a quarter of Senegal's international trade. Therefore it is not surprising that apart from its embassy in New Delhi, Senegal also has an Honorary Consul in India - and that person is in Chennai. Somehow it is fitting that it is a person running a logistics services firm who has been chosen; Mr. Ashok Thakkar has been Senegal's Honorary Consul for a few years now. 

The next time you are thinking about a trip to west Africa, you know where you need to head to first: McNichol's Road in Chetpet, which is where you will see this sign. Or actually, maybe not. You don't go to the Consul's house on business, you're better off going to his office in Royapuram!

Colourful wall

It apparently happened in January this year, but it was only a few days ago that I noticed it. Going past the normally bureaucratic-gray western wall of the US Consulate at Chennai, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But no, there it was, in glorious colour. Only that my initial impression of random graffiti on the consulate wall was not entirely correct.

It is graffiti alright, and according to Andrew Simkin, the US Consul General for south India, it is the first time that a US Consulate's wall, anywhere in the world, has been allowed to display graffiti. This work, 115 feet long and 4 feet wide, shows lots of hands being held, doves flying, trees, books and a very noticeable combination of the Indian and US national flags. The entire painting project was coordinated by the well known art director Thota Tharani on behalf of the NalandaWay Foundation and executed by 30 children who had been rescued from trafficking / bonded labour.

Surely the cheer on this wall can be replicated in other government-gray buildings the world over - and possibly change the drabness of bureaucracy everywhere!

A different kind of red flag

Sometime ago, I'd written about how the TN Government website as well as the website of the Union Ministry for External Affairs have been lagging behind in listing representative offices of other countries in Chennai. The latter has updated its site to list the Honorary Consul for Zambia; External Affairs being a Central subject, it is not surprising that the state website hasn't included that information yet.

Around the same time, I found that Switzerland's Honorary Consul, Mr. Muthu Ramanathan, was based on TTK Road. Now, I travel a fair bit on TTK Road and had not seen anything to indicate the presence of an Honorary Consul there. Some days ago, however, I realized I had been looking at the wrong elevation. The sign was not at eye level as you go on the road, but just above! The white cross on a red field is very distinctive, of course.

Learnt something else about it - the flag of Switzerland is one of only two flags in the world that are completely square! Any guesses as to which the other one is? Go on, guess, before you take a look at this site!

Our man for Zambia

The Tamil Nadu state government website lists only 15 'embassies' in Chennai - some of them are honorary consuls, but only one is listed as such. The website of the Union Ministry of External Affairs lists 25 honorary consuls as being present in Chennai. Neither of these websites have updated the events that led to this small board coming up on Nungambakkam High Road at the end of May 2008.

The Hindu did report the setting up of this honorary consulate. Mr S.R.Krishnan, who occupies at least part of the 2nd floor of Rosy Tower, has been described as the "the right person in the right place at the right time" by the High Commissioner. It took a bit of poking around to find out that Mr. Krishnan is a Director in a steel company. He must have been engaging quite a bit with the country - it is heartening to find that someone in Chennai has been doing so much work in Zambia, that the country has appointed him its honorary consul here!