"Like many of her nostalgic historical spots, gone is the old magic of Mylapore; a magic that survives only in books and in the minds of those who read them. The side streets are lined with dilapidated buildings, many with crumbling British colonial facades, reminiscent of Madras and the British Raj. The temple’s tank, lying outside its present enclosures, was recently converted to a sewage disposal basin. Ah, but the commerce throngs in the midst of the heat and dust. The bookshops always abound with the latest instant-success publications and I was forever on the lookout for my rare books. "

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