2B West road, West CIT Nagar, T Nagar, Madras – 35. This is a famous address especially in the erstwhile Madras. Some knew it as a house which housed about 3 families permanently and a number of families that lived in depending on the time of the year. The house always smelled of filter coffee. There was a large gate at the entrance of the house. There was a badly mowed lawn with a tiny clearing that led to the front door of the house. There was a huge mango tree at the side of the house. In the shade of that tree, resting on the wall of the house, you would always find a black Hero cycle. The front door of the house was almost always open. It provided great ventilation against the sultry heat of Madras. We didn’t have air conditioning back in the day. The open doors signified something else. It was a welcome to all the people who wanted to come in. What’s more was that we would almost always have guests who were sitting in the front room. When there were guests it meant one thing,...