fiends, i read a copy of "story of india" written by MICHAEL WOOD. it was an european edition i borrowed from a visiting NRI relative. the book is available in HIGGINBOTHAMS CHENNAI also.
it is a great book. in fact it will be a monumental book on indian history for another 100 years. the book costs 35US$. the documentary film DVD is also available and can be bought online from the story of india website.
THERE ARE SO MANY NEW FACTS LIKE MARCO POLO STAYED IN MADURAI FOR 2 MONTHS. the author has a lot of respect for south india and tamilnadu in particular.
Yeah, Marco Polo did stay in Madurai and experience the hospitality of Pandiya kings. And very interesting he found it too. His account of his travels is somewhat bizarre, but also interesting. Further reading: K A N's Foreign Notices of South India.
marco polo even details 5 crown princes and kings ruling pandya land also talks about a visit to meilapore. the first to link st thomas to tamilnadu i guess. though conti writes in detail about mylapore -say a 120 years later.
recently read about a funny theory emerging now that marco polo never sailed anywhere and wrote his memoirs from dock side gossip that he heard.
We extensively discussed it 2008, hope we are discussing the same, but if I remember correctly there were so many mistakes as well, bias of an British, experts can throw some lights.