Awareness of symptoms of pulmonary TB and promptness of action taken to seek the treatment by the sufferers in an urban area, Madras, was studied. A total of 796 patients were administered questionnaires, out of whom, 600 were men and 196 were women. The mean age for men and women were 37 years and 32 years respectively. The proportion of patients drawn from all the 3 selected areas who took action within a month was 40 percent, within 3 months 65 percent and within 6 months 84 percent. The proximity of the medical facility in the city enabled a sizable proportion (53%) to take action within a month. Among symptomatics reporting within a month, the bacillary cases were proportionately low which tended to increase as time elapsed. Regarding the psychological impact of the disease on the patients, there was a sense of optimism in a large proportion of patients due to a very favourable response to good treatment. Varied attitudes of the relatives towards the patients, consistent with Indian stereotypes were elicited.