Engineering alumni suggest ways to road safety

(by A Special Correspondent)

The Alumni Association of the College of Engineering, Guindy, hosted the annual Dr. T. Muthian Memorial ­Lecture on the theme of ‘Road Safety’ and the following recommendations that evolved out of the presentations and discussions were prepared and forwarded to the Traffic Authority of Tamil Nadu by Dr. K.P. Subramanian, Prof. C.T. Sriramulu and Dr. G. Umadevi:

I. Driver Training

Driver training institutes to be streamlined with educated and trained instructors.

II. Enforcement

Living again a heritage in Chennai

I remember it all so vividly, as if it was yesterday. A thousand fireflies glinting like so many shards of diamonds in the grass below and the sound of the crashing waves in the sea serenading us as we walked up the colonnaded steps to the 200-year-old house near the ramparts of Fort St. George. Its serrated walls were sharply etched against the night sky, the air, I can still recall, was mildly scented with raat ki rani and, as if to complete the magic, strains of Strauss’ waltz wafted out as we entered the vast reception hall of our gracious hosts, Major and Mrs. Joe Dhairyam. “Welcome to the pretty bride,” boomed our splendidly moustachioed host. “Your whippersnapper of a husband tells me you are a history buff. Well, years before me Lord Warren Hastings lived here and Lord Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, visited often. Perhaps even Clive who actually lived across...I hope you are suitably impressed!”

I was totally transfixed, spellbound, overwhelmed by this long introduction to army life, the magic of Fort St. George and a house that seemed to ­capture it all. Romantic arches held up impossibly high raftered ceilings from which elegant fans dropped down forever, the ghostly light of candles brought to life magnificent Daniels’ etchings hanging on the walls and lit up old silverware. As my husband and I waltzed to the Blue Danube, I wondered how many had tripped the light fantastic here before us on these polished wooden floors. Had Hastings led his Maid Marion in a quadrille, since the waltz was considered rather sinful at that time or did he have two left feet? Was Wellesley as accomplished on the smooth wooden floor as he was on the field of battle and did Clive take a turn on the dance floor with his pretty bride...?

Later in the evening, we all strolled past St. Mary’s Church, the oldest church built for anglican worship east of Suez, past Clive’s residence, now a museum, and around the historic square where soldiers had once marched to the drumbeats of the East India Company and where floggings and even the odd hanging took place. With its 42 rampart-enclosed acres, the 200-year-old Fort was where the French and the English slugged it out for domination in the last Anglo-French war which the French lost but not before destroying large portions of the Fort. It was later rebuilt by the British. Spooky ghost stories did the rounds as we walked around the enchanted gardens. And I definitely remember wondering if the ghosts of Clive and his bride stalked us or if that clop cloppeting of horse’s hooves was the Duke of Wel­ling­ton doing the round.

Twenty years later, we were back in the evocative house, to dine with our gracious hosts, Brig. and Mrs. Muthanna. The house on the ramparts of the fort looked a little worse for the wear, the fireflies less in number, the music of the sea less enticing. Both house and I had aged, yet the magic of bygone days and the velvet touch of history had us in their thrall. We stood in the verandah and looked past the Fort walls and moat at the sea, where the East India ships had lay at anchor once upon a time, to offload fresh-faced arrivals and take back spices, textiles and other goods.

The years that have followed have seen us making frequent visits to the Fort from the back over the moat and through the ancient wooden gates. The ostensible purpose is to draw our rations of foodstuff and firewater from the canteen, but mostly to wander around. Past enormous Grecian pillared structures with flights of stairs over which we swept up in the grand manner to pick up kerosene and sugar! Into tiny garden squares within, often with gnarled peepul trees. What tales of romance, retribution and reckless courage the trees could tell ‘of days gone by, of not returning time’. We often walk past ancient barracks, some inhabited by troops, some collapsed in a heap of masonry, some restored. St. Mary’s Church is a favourite destination with its poignant gravestones long forgotten, and epitaphs in a language which symbolises the ‘passage’ of time.

The other day, 40 years after my first visit, I walked back to “my house”, to pay a visit to my memories. The house on the ramparts of the Fort still stands, but is today a Nursing Officers’ Hostel. So, wrapping the haunting mystique and my memories around me I walked back, away from the site of (as Arnold Toynbee put it) a “vanished civili­sation that of British Raj in ­India”. And of the many layers of history that make the ­composite complete India of ­today.

In memoriam

Remembering a heritage warrior

Had he been around, Raja would have turned 42 just as this issue of Madras Musings rolled out, for his birthday was on 15th September. But it was willed otherwise. Barely a couple of days after the Madras Week celebrations had concluded, he had called at my office, to collect a copy of my book on the historic residences of the city. He had gently reminded me that his own house could have merited an inclusion and I promised him that if there was a second volume, I would definitely do so. Conversation then moved on to the success of the August 17th-24th celebrations.

He was very excited about the response to the exhibition on stamps, coins and other artefacts relating to the city that he and his mentor D. Hem­chandra Rao had organised at Rajaji Hall. Next year, he promised, it would be an even grander affair. The city will turn 370, he said, and we will have a postage stamp released and not just a special cancellation. As he departed, I asked him the secret of his ever-ready smile and his sprightly talk and walk. He attributed it all to yoga and a happy frame of mind and that was that. A couple of days later, Vincent D’Souza informed me that Raja was gone. Killed in an accident in Mambalam Railway Station. It is something that I am yet to come to terms with.

My acquaintance with him was not a very old one. And, therefore, grieving even more in his memory was Hemchandra Rao with whom he had worked since 1996 or so. Rao remembers first seeing Raja at the Madras Coin Society’s exhibition at the Vaishnava College. He remembers how Raja and his sister, Lakshmi Srinivasan, would go through each and every exhibit and talk about them animatedly. A year or so later, Rao and Raja worked together to help Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary V. Kalyanam put together an exhibition on ‘The Father of the Nation’. In 2002, Raja, under Rao’s guidance, put together the Coin Society’s annual issue. From 2005, the two organised every year an exhibition with Madras as its theme, for Madras Week. The first year, 2005, it took place in the then newly restored Clive House in the Fort. It later shifted to the Museum Theatre and for the past two years was held at Rajaji Hall. Rao says that Raja was one man who never hesitated in spending money from his own purse for this event or, for that matter, any other event connected with heritage. His logic was simple: if the event was not exciting enough for the organiser to sink in his money, then who else would?

Dr. Prema Kasturi, who worked with Raja on the Coin Society’s issue, says that from being a collector of coins and stamps, Raja graduated to becoming an academic and gave talks and wrote papers on the subject. She remembers in particular a series on archaeology that he wrote for a magazine brought out for HR specialists. He also teamed with noted archaeologist and historian Dr. Suresh. Raja contributed a piece for the ‘Record of Madras’ being brought out by the Association of British Scholars, Chennai Chapter. The release of the first volume of the publication was the last public function in which he participated.

Raja was a magpie collector of sorts. He collected not just coins and stamps, but also wedding invitation cards and copies of the neighbourhood journals that come out in Madras. His name was regularly featured in the “Things People Keep” column of The Hindu. He was also very proud of his house and was very happy when I included it in my itinerary during the Chindadri­pet Walk I did on August 24th.

The way Raja and his family regained possession of their ancestral home on Iyah Mudali Street, Chindadripet, would fill a book. Legal battles stretched over twenty years before the squatters could be evicted and Raja’s mother gained possession of the place. When they moved in, the 140-year-old building was a mere skeleton, the previous occupants having stripped it of many of its doors and windows. Even the spiral staircase was to be sold to someone. Raja and his sisters, along with their mother, decided that since the house was structurally sound, they would restore it and live in it. Today, it is a building that stands out and locals always point it out to those who come searching for old, architecturally significant buildings in the area. And the staircase was the apple of Raja’s eye. Raja’s visiting card had the motto “Let’s be proud owners of our heritage” and carried a photo of his house.

His line of activity – investment consulting – took him all over the city and he covered the entire area by public transport and foot. He felt that this was the best way to observe the city! Perhaps if he had owned a vehicle and used it instead of trying to board a train on that fateful night, we would not have lost a true heritage enthusiast.

Raja’s sister consoles herself by stating that perhaps the role which he was to fulfil on this earth was over. But the heritage movement is poorer by his passing. His cheerful attitude and his “can do” spirit will be hard to match.

He sold his home
to start a school

He was a Madras-born Gujarati, but he was well versed in Telugu as well as ­Sanskrit and this stood him in good stead in his career as a teacher. But it was as a lawyer practising in the District Court of Tanjore, the land of his forefathers, that R. Sivasankara Pandya began his working life after student days in Presidency College. He, however, soon realised that his true calling lay elsewhere. Returning to Madras, he taught at the Pachai­yappa’s High School and, later, at the Pachaiyappa’s College.

Deeply distressed at the indifferent attitude of the youth towards Indian heritage and culture, he felt the need to take steps to change their mindset. In 1882, he started weekly classes to teach the tenets of Hinduism. These classes were held in his own house, The Castle of Diligence, at Pachai­yappa’s High School and also at the premises of the Hindu Excelsior Reading Room. The Hindu Excelsior was a magazine which he founded and edited.

A charismatic speaker, he also gave religious discourses in various places in English, Tamil, Telugu and Gujarati. Dr. Nanjunda Rao, the famous doctor philanthropist of that time, wrote: “I came to know of Sivasankara Pandyaji lecturing in English on the Bhagavad Gita on Sundays and I began to attend his lectures, where even from listening to various Upanishadic quotations in explanation of the Gita my faith in Hinduism in its new light began to increase.” Sivasankara Pandya also founded the Arya Dharma Vidhyashala in 1886 where Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and English were taught. The school began each day with an hour dedicated to prayer and religious instruction. The next year he started the Hindu Tract Society with a threefold aim: The defending of Hinduism, the advocacy of Hindu social reform, and furtherance of the cause of morality and learning.

It was around that time that an incident occurred at the Madras Christian College which deeply hurt the sentiments of the Hindus. One of the professors of the College, the Rev. Laidlaw, while condemning idol worship stated that even his shoes might as well be worshipped. Also, there was a rumour of an attempt to convert a Hindu student. Sivasankara Pandya, on learning of these, felt deeply hurt and wanted to start an institution that would teach Hindu values as well as impart quality education and started working towards this goal. His activities were not looked upon favourably by his employers and John Adam, the then principal, demanded his suspension. Sivasankara Pandya quit his job in order to work full-time on establishing the Hindu Theological High School.

To raise funds for the school, the first major step Sivasankara Pandya took was to sell his house. He went collecting funds door to door. A very rich person once invited him home and insulted him by giving just a pie as donation. Unperturbed, Sivasankara Pandya magnanimously acknowledged the donation by issuing a receipt. However, help was forthcoming from others, a handsome contribution of Rs.15,000 coming from Baskara Vijaya Sethu­pathi, the Raja of Ramnad. Other significant contributions in the early years were from one Ramakishnaiah Panthulu, who donated Rs.9044, and Amba­ram­bedu Munuswamy Muda­liar, who donated Rs.10,000 and also his house at 31 Muthaiah Mudali Street. The school showed its gratitude to the last-named by later starting a Primary Section in his name.

The school was inaugurated on January 14, 1889, with Sivasankara Pandya as its first Principal. The first managing committee comprised Sivasan­kara Pandya, Sowcar Lodd Krishna Doss Balmukunda Doss, Sowcar Chaturbhuja Doss Kushal Doss, and T. Gopinatha Tawker of the family of famed diamond merchants. In later years, the management committee included such prominent members as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, C.P. Rama­swamy Aiyar and Rao Sahib Prof. Srinivasachariar.

Sivasankara Pandya dedicated himself whole-time to the task of strengthening and stabilising the institution. He even declined an offer of Rs.20,000 by the Maharajah of Vizianagaram to translate the Mahabharata into English as it would necessitate his giving up school work. Thanks to his guidance and leadership, the school made steady progress and earned the praise of many distinguished educationists, including the Directors of Public Instruction. The Hindu too was an active supporter of the school.

The school was visited by many prominent persons, among them M.K. Gandhi in 1896 (long before he became Mahatma) and Swami Viveka­nanda in 1897. Gandhi, then a lawyer in South Africa, wrote in the Visitors’ Book: “I had the honour to visit this excellent institution. I was highly delighted with it. Being a Gujarati Hindu myself I feel proud to know that this institution was started by a Gujarati gentleman. I wish that institutions (like it) will crop up all over India and be the means of preserving an Aryan Religion in its purity.” Swami Vivekananda remarked during his visit that the work in the cause of Hinduism deserved all credit as it was being undertaken at a very difficult time when Hinduism was considered only as superstition by the Europeans.

The Hindu Theological High School has produced many distinguished alumni over the years, notable among them being Dr. Kesari (of Kesari Kuteeram) and Bhagwan Das, the son of Ramnath Goenka.

Sivasankara Pandya was a good writer and wrote a book called Modern British Wisdom which was dedicated to Queen Victoria and in whose praise he composed a poem called ‘Victorian Rule’. Other books written by him included Dravida Bala Nithi Bodhini (Moral maxims in Tamil, with English translation), and The Empress of India and other Poems. His Hindu Excelsior series, which consisted of small books on various themes based on Hinduism, was well received. Madras Christian College commended his literary activities thus: “He labours with indefatigable patience and simplicity of purpose which are refreshing. Mr. Sivasankara Pandyaji has entered a field in which much good work may be done, work valuable from a purely literary point of view as well as from that of moral instruction.”

Sivasankara Pandya, an ardent theosophist, passed away in February 1899 at the relatively young age of 45 years. The School recently unveiled a statue of him.