This book marks a decade of a column that appears every Monday in The Hindu's Metro Plus, Madras edition. Madras Miscellany has, over that decade, created an awareness and a greater appreciation of the significant past of Madras and of the events and the people who over the years made Madras "the first city of modern India", a description of the City the writer of the column, S.Muthiah, never tires of reiterating. Over a 1500 or so items that appeared in the 514 columns published during Madras Miscellany's first decade appear in the book in three sections:'People', 'Places' and 'Potpourri', the last named being everything else that doesn't fit into the other two sections. And in them there develops a rather comprehensive story of Madras over its nearly 375 years of history.In sum, this is a book for anyone interested in the development of Madras and its considerable contribution to modern India.

The memoirs of Sidney Wadsworth are a vital source on Britain's colonial history during the first half of the twentieth century. Recounting his long and distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service, Wadsworth paints an entertaining picture of the many places in Madras province where he served, with illuminating portraits of the important British and Indian figures with whom he associated. Here we see through his eyes the growth of Indian nationalism and the rise of Gandhi, and the impact of the Second World War on Madras. Reliving his journey from junior member of the ICS to High Court judge, Wadsworth displays a shrewd acumen and a keen eye for the ridiculous. By no means uncritical of British rule, he emerges from these pages as a conscientious, humane and reasonable official--unlike some of his contemporaries--and one able to accept the huge changes overtaking India. The physical and moral demands of his daily routine reveal the commitment of an administration that, for all its failings, steadily pursued the goal of good and impartial government. Also featuring excerpts from the memoirs of other civil servants then in the province, A Judge in Madras will fascinate anyone interested in the colonial encounter.

Madras, Rediscovered, therefore, is a historical guide for those who wish to look around Madras, or wish to find out more about their city, as it is a plea to conserve not only its spacious environment but also its cultural and historic relics, be they Indian or European.