Michael Portillo's Bradshaw's 1913 Handbook of Indian, Foreign and Colonial Travel leads him on railway journey through the modern south Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, from the former princely state of Mysore to the first stronghold of the East India Company in Chennai, formerly Madras. In Mysuru, Michael pitches in at a game of street cricket then smartens up to meet the Maharaja at the magnificent Mysore Palace.