The liquor trade in Madras and rest of Tamilnadu is now run by the government. Most liquor shops have been taken over by the government. However bars and pubs in the city's major hotels are managed by the hotels.

BSNL and Airtel (formerly Touchtel) are the two main providers of terrestrial telephone lines in Madras. You can make long distance calls from one of the many booths that display NSD/ISD i.e. National Subscriber Dialling (National Long Distance) and International Subscriber Dialling (International Long Distance). Rates are cheaper during the nights: sometimes one-half of what its costs during the day.

Cell phone rates are one of the cheapest in the world. There are three service providers AirTel, Hutch and AirCel (RPG has been taken over by AirCel). Starter packs and top-up cards can be picked up from numerous outlets. Note that top-up cards generally only work within the home network: you can't use a Bangalore Airtel top-up card in Madras, for example. Reliance and Indicomm, providers of WLL (Wireless in local loop) will soon be full fledged Cell phone Service Providers.

While in Madras its advisable to drink only bottled water. There are several brands that you can choose from: Aquafina (Pepsi), Kinley (product of Coca Cola Company), Hello. It's advisable to avoid non-international brands and brands that you don't recognise.

Madras summers are humid and sultry; it's better to step out with an umbrella, bottled water and some oral rehydration salts (available from pharmacies, the brand name is Electrolyte). These come in handy if you happen to get dehydrated.