Day 78 : Friday May 28th. Chennai

Before arriving at the central bus station, I tried to ring Sreedhar, my contact in Chennai, to let him know where I was to give him a better idea of when I was due to arrive. But I received a message saying 'this phone is switched off...' On arrival at the bus station, there was no sign of Sreedhar, and the message was the same. I thought I was in for a bit of bother, so I decided to get out of the heat and to form a new plan which meant having a cup of tea and a think.

I decided to find a lodge somewhere near to the bus station and to get some sleep for a few hours- then I might feel strong enough to deal with being lost in Chennai. When it was cooler, I would head for the airport, and find a lodge that was reasonably close to the airport.

And then a stroke of luck. As I was writing a text to Sreedhar, he appeared at my side. He'd been stuck in traffic trying to get to the bus station, and the number I'd been dialling for him was an old number. My mistake, as he'd sent me the new number (now stuck in my old phone). He said that his home was about 10Km away, so we set off - he on a scooter and me on my bike. The ride was quite tough because of the heat and the crazy Indian city traffic, but soon enough, we were at his home.

After something to eat and a bit of a rest, we headed out. We visited a crafts shop on Mount Road, and I bought as few items for my wife and children. I also bought something for Eileen, who can't see very well - I bought her a tiny elephant made from sandalwood, so she could smell it if not see it. When we got home, we discovered the tiny elephant appeared to be missing from the wrapped items.

It was hot. One way to cool down was to have drinks, preferably cool ones. Many drinks are made from fresh fruit, but a drink is also made from crushed sugar cane. I'd never had one before, nor seen one being prepared. The cane was first cleaned by scraping the outer surface with a knife, before it was passed between two rollers which got closer together with each pass. The juices were then mixed with crushed ice to form a refreshing drink.

We headed for the Marina Road, where there was a slight breeze from the sea shore. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly buildings were on this road, which was lined with statues of significant Indians. Closest to the Government buildings stood a statue of Gandhi, but the most popular meeting spot for most Chennaians was the statue of Kannagi. (Her husband was falsely accused of theft, and put to death by the King Pandya. Kannagi proved his innocence to the King and then cursed him and his kingdom of Madurai before burning it to the ground.

The beach was enormous. Apparently it is the second longest beach in the world, and the longest in Asia. The longest beach is in Florida, USA.

It was slightly cooler with the sea breeze. I had a paddle in the ocean, but for some reason no-one else did.

We went to see St Thomas Basilica, and I was so pleased to visit it. Thirty years before I didn't get the chance. It is one of only three churches in the world built over the tomb of an Apostle - the others being St Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Cathedral of Santiago De Compostela in Spain (St James).

The head of the spear that killed St Thomas is kept inside the museum attached to the shrine. This was brought to Mylapore, and buried alongside his body.

Behind the church, and below ground, is the chapel of the Tomb of St Thomas. Mobile phones and video phones were forbidden, but since I'd switched the flash off, I thought it might be ok to discreetly take a picture for the memory. I liked it in that place. St Thomas was my kind of saint - and I think we've all got a bit of St Thomas in us. He'd believe nowt of what all his friends had been saying, unless he had the proof, but once he'd got it, there was no stopping him, right until the end.

Sreedhar's friend, Sarosh met us at the church, and then we headed for the beach once more. Sarosh was a good friend to Sreedhar - they'd met at university some years before and had remained very good friends.

We talked about jobs and especially about opportunities for engineers in India and the UK. Although Sreedhar was well qualified, with an M Sc in Advanced Manufacturing Technology from Manchester, getting work was difficult in England because there weren't many opportunities in manufacturing in the UK and there were visa issues to deal with too, and in India Sreedhar was over-qualified for most jobs and he didn't have the work experience of some less-qualified applicants.

After a pleasant evening, Sarosh headed towards his home and Sreedhar took me on the back of his bike to his house.

It was quite late when we got in, and I was tired. I slept well.