A information entrepreneur

It was funny to read in The Hindu the other day, that Chennai's monopoly bus operator, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation does not have a printed bus guide.

It was funny because the MTC many years ago produced not just a guide giving route information, but even a good system map. It appears that as technology advances, policy regresses and a well-run transport network has gone to seed.

Back to the question of travel and transit guides, I found an entrepreneur on board a Tambaram - Beach suburban train selling an interesting pocket guide for the wholly affordable price of three rupees. Besides a set of time-tables for the suburban rail system, it has details of the State Express Transport Corporation bus services, emergency phone lines for hospitals, 24-hour pharmacies and call taxi companies.

The guide contains the following address: English Tamil Publications, 29.81, Red Hills Road, Opposite Gupta Convent, Villivakkam, Chennai 49. Phone: (044) 2617 4439.

This nifty guide suggests that it would make an ideal hand-out for trade unions, film fan associations, political parties, residents welfare associations and so on. I completely endorse the value of such a publication.