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Walking through history
Chennai Heritage’s first heritage walk this year had S. Anwar leading 35 of us down Triplicane on the Wallajah Trail. It was fascinating and we covered the Chepauk Palace, the gates posts of the Palace which are at the TNCA entrance, the Mohammedan Library, the Triplicane Police Station (which was the old Langar Khana), the Big Mosque, the Anwari mosque, the Shadi Mahal, the Azeempet Arch, Amir Mahal and the Dastagir Sahib Dargah. We wound up at North Mada Street to see the Mylapore Tank, which was donated by the Nawabs of Arcot. Breakfast was at Saravana Bhavan, North Mada Street.
Anwar and his 'walkers'.
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The next day it was Mohan Raman’s Kollywood Tour. It had rained and rained the previous night and almost the first call was from Mohan asking if the tour was on. Well, after the downpours during the ‘Justice Party Walk’ (2008?) and ‘George Town by Night’ tour (2010), this was a mere drizzle and so I said, of course, we were going ahead.
At 6.30, Kodambakkam was at its galeej and galabai worst, but those who had registered were all there. Mohan’s walk was a riot. We tramped through mud and slush to hear him hold forth on the rise and fall of the great dream factories. There is a handful of them still hanging on.
It rained cats and dogs, but that did not bother the heritage lovers who assembled at the Gymkhana Club at 6.15 am for Chennai Heritage’s third walk. The tour began at 6.30 am and I was still at Curzon’s at 7.20 am. The rest of it had to be rather quick paced. Serves me right for going overboard on telling the story of Lady Willingdon. The walk had its difficult bits. The traffic grew in volume (number and sound) and drowned whatever I was narrating through the megaphone. Parking the vans in the service lanes was tough. There were piles of shit everywhere… Who says Chennai is tourism friendly?
The Mount Road Walk began at the Thomas Munro statue and took in nearly 80 landmark sites, existent and non-existent!
It was overall more than a mouthful and I was jolly well glad when we tumbled into Saravana Bhavan, Mount Road, for a hearty breakfast. Ideally, Mount Road needs to be cut into five segments and each needs a heritage tour by itself.
Will Mint Street, the fourth walk, prove as exhausting?
Footnote: The accounts staff in office had a tough time warding off those who still wanted to register for the Walks despite our having announced that the tours were overbooked. Some shouted in anger over the phone, others landed in person to argue it all out and several sent me emails. But what was to be done? There was no way that we could accommodate more numbers, both in view of logistics (getting on and off vans takes time) and police permission.
Posted by Sriram V.
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More spontaneity wanted
After seven years of playing the catalyst role in putting events together in some places for Madras Week, I get the feeling that a lot of it is not as spontaneous as it should be.
We’ve had two press conferences – one in June to announce the celebration dates and call for events, and the second a week ahead of Madras Week to announce the specifics. What if we, the catalysts or coordinators, did not convene the press meets – would we then have had as many ‘celebrations’ of the city or events that are there now? I feel ‘no’.
People, whether they are individuals, heading schools, colleges or institutions, have to be pushed a bit to get events off the starting block. There’s only one school, Asan, that seems to have earmarked Madras Day and Madras Week in its calendar. So, why is the spontaneity missing? Does love of your city not amount to too much, or doesn’t heritage rank high?
So, how do we get more people to celebrate the founding of a city? To the best of my knowledge, Chennai is perhaps the only city in India to have such a week-long celebration bracketing its birthday. There are no clear-cut answers, but I would say the best way is to instil the idea in the minds of schoolchildren in schools so that when they grow up they realise the value of heritage and protecting it.
The other point is that over the years we’ve been having the same people speaking at various forums. We need many others who can speak or make presentations on a variety of other subjects connected with the city. Where are the Tamil speakers like Gnani Sankaran, Badri Seshadri or Ashokamitran? I think some of the older speakers must make way for new and younger ones. One new speaker, however, failed to live up to expectations. Rather than showing hundreds of pictures in his collection, he decided to get teachers of the school where he spoke and to demonstrate how they took history classes. His larger message was to get schoolchildren out of the classrooms, a message that we have often heard, and the point was not lost. But if he had enough pictures to show or stories to tell it might have been much better. (EDITOR’S NOTE: We know of a couple of new speakers and refreshingly new programmes that, unfortunately, had very small audiences.)
Posted by Sashi Nair |
Madras – yesterday and today
Nanditha Krishna of the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation organised not one but two exhibitions for Madras Week this year. One was a display of paintings on Madras by A. Ananda Kumar, a young artist, and the other a display of some splendid photographs of Madras and its environs in the early 1900s taken by the late M.K. Rangaswamy Aiyangar. One was an exhibition of the past seen in the past, the other an exhibition of the past seen in the present.
A famous MKR photograph.
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M.K. Rangaswamy Aiyangar was a prolific writer and photographer. Born in 1886 in Srivilliputhur, he was a scholar of art, culture, religion and music, and wrote many articles on these subjects which were published in leading dailies like The Hindu, Indian Express and various periodicals of his time.
Aiyangar was an eminent photographer and, as asserted by Nanditha, he will be remembered in particular for his photographs of temples. ‘Tirumala to Tillai’, an exhibition of his pictures, was held in Madras, Tirunelveli and Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh in his heyday.
Young Ananda Kumar paints even as he exhibits.
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Aiyangar’s son, the late R. Madhavan, who retired from The Hindu, gifted his father’s collection of negatives and prints to the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation Library.
At the paintings exhibition, I was pleased to see Ananda Kumar immersed in what he does best – paint. As he wielded his brush, his eyes were focussed on an old building on the campus, what was once the residence of Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar. One exhibition was behind him; he was looking to the next.
Posted by Sashi Nair
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Walks can teach us a lot
Can we have a Walk of the haunted houses of Adyar? asks Binita Sashi. Haunted houses of Adyar? I hadn’t heard of them until a daily newspaper published a feature on some of them. Deep inside the sprawling, hidden estates of Adyar are dilapidated bungalows which appear to be surviving in a different time, but are some of them really haunted?
Stories are key to a successful Walk and we may have to do some spadework before an enterprising person launches this Walk.
Uma Vangal teaches film students at the L.V. Prasad Academy in Saligramam. She has lived in Perambur. Now, she says she would like to launch a Walk which can showcase the Anglo-Indians, their lives, hangouts and all. All she needs is some encouragement.
These are positive responses following Madras Day 2011.
To me, though, the growing interest and keenness shown by school students this year are food for thought.
The initiatives must come from the people who educate the young minds.
At least three schools in Adyar are said to have Heritage Clubs. With the help of resource people – dance gurus, officers, businessmen and the rest – who are long-time residents of the Adyar neighbourhood, we could create at least half a dozen Walks which could last 45 minutes.
A Walk down Gandhi Nagar’s 4th main road would be fascinating if it touched on three aspects – the creation and growth of this ‘Co-op’ colony, the great people who lived here, and the changing face of the area.
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How do you manage 62 people who turn up for a Heritage Walk at the Fort, part of which is a high security zone?
That was my challenge at the first of two Walks that I contributed to this year’s Madras Day celebrations.
Online registration was turning out to be a ‘running’ online exchange. When the tally crossed 30, I decided to send formal applications for permission to the police at the Fort and to the zonal ACP. They were friendly.
“Sunday shouldn’t be a problem, you come!”
On Sundays, the car park turns into a mini Chepauk. Over a dozen matches are played on the tar, criss-cross, by young men from George Town and Sowcarpet. The walkers created a new community.
As the audio speakers at the Amman temple outside the main Fort gate crackled into a song and policewomen in salwars designed huge rangolis on the tar, I hoped the spirit of the celebration would seize the security services and help us cross the dry moat.
It didn’t work that way. Men in safaris will be men who have the last word. “You haven’t applied to us so...”
“But it is Madras Day, these are guests and they have come from...”
“But this is a security zone and you have not applied...”
“No, we will not go close to the Assembly complex. We will go straight to. St. Mary’s...”
It took 20 minutes to negotiate quietly. In the end, the Man in Safari said OK and he sent his Constable in Safari and the Fort Station SI in Khaki to be with us, lest we strayed.
We didn’t.
Posted by Vincent D’Souza
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Springing & Zooming in Vadapalani
Madras Week celebrations at Hotel Green Park, Vadapalani, this year received quite an overwhelming response. There were quite a few who had travelled long distances to reach the venue and it was only after the clock struck eight that some began to slowly wend their way back home.
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Pictures show some children waiting expectantly as a little girl gets her fingers
thoroughly soiled on the potter's wheel (left) and a resource person from
DakshinaChitra showing a boy how he can be creative with palm leaves.
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As usual it was the programme for children that set the tone for the evening. Binita and Shrimati of ‘Spring into Reading’ and Gargi of ‘Zoom Kids’, under the ‘Spring and Zoom’ (an activity centre for children) banner made the most of an afternoon, welcoming children to experiment and create products using the potter’s wheel and palm leaves. They were supported by resource persons from DakshinaChitra. Later, there was a peppy demonstration by the students on ‘Madras: Then and now’, complete with song, dance and theatre, touching upon aspects such as traditional games and how children spend their time today compared to those in the past.
In the evening, Chithra Madhavan made a presentation on ‘Lesser known temples of Chennai – some more’. It’s indeed a shame that many of our old temples remain neglected, with inscriptions scraped or gaudy paint plastered over them. Chithra points this out time and again, but nothing seems to improve.
Thereafter, Pradeep Chakravarthy made a presentation on how ‘Kodambakkam (Puliyur) was the centre of Madras’. He took a look at how Madras was organised geographically in the 9th-12th Centuries, what some troublesome local governance issues were and how they were resolved. There is very little about Puliyur in the public domain and, based on what Pradeep explained, there is a whole world out there that needs to be researched. It only shows how little we know about our own local history.
Posted by Sashi Nair
Through the eyes of children
Walking with a camera on the road is fun. Particularly if those with cameras are children.
Some of the children at Vasant Vihar.
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When I thought of a photowalk exclusively for children last year through YOCee, I wasn’t sure if the children would walk at least half a kilometre. But what we saw and experienced was completely different. They walked two kilometres just enjoying and shooting the scenes. They forgot to break for their snacks and even water!
This encouraged us to continue the photowalks this year too.
N. Ramaswamy, who is a regular with Chennai Photowalks, was game to accompany the children last year for Madras Day and extended his support this year too.
The children who walked along north Madras roads, from Royapuram Railway Station to the Srinivasa Ramanujan Museum on Somu Chetty 4th Lane had real fun. The fire temple and the cycle rickshaws and a goshala, a home for cows ... they saw a “different city”, in their words.
For the larger group on Sunday’s walks, there were two big attractions on Greenway’s Road: Brodie’s Castle and Vasant Vihar of the Krishnamurti Foundation of India (KFI). Dr. Aravind, the outreach programme coordinator at the KFI, guided the group inside the campus. He spoke about the flora and fauna of the campus, helped them identify the trees and the insects, bugs and butterflies!
The children looked at the street name ‘P.S. Kumaraswamy Raja Salai’ and ‘Greenways Road’ on the nameboards of shops. They were puzzled.
Posted by Revathi R
Talking through Madras Week
I did not make it to the Madras Week talk by R. Mohan at the Residency Towers. I was told that the talk was fantastic and the spread put out by the hotel lavish in the extreme. But the turnout, it seems, was rather disappointing. I wonder why. Is horse-racing, once the King of Sports, of no interest to heritage buffs?
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When the Madras University’s Music Department celebrated Madras Day, their largest room proved an oven-like space into which were packed in students, faculty and visitors. At one stage I thought both Muthiah and Sarada were going to faint. But all was well. The former, it appears, had merely shut his eyes to catch 40 winks and Sarada was trying to locate a pen she had dropped. The Chief spoke on the history of the University, I spoke on the life of C. Saraswathi Bai and Swarnamalya spoke on Javalis associated with Madras, an excellent presentation. Somewhere in his speech Muthiah hoped that the University would get new speakers for next year (he and I have done our bit for 5 years running). I second that, especially if the ventilation is going to be like the Black Hole of Calcutta.
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Mohan Raman’s talk on ‘Three Women Directors of Chennai’ – T.P. Rajalakshmi, Bhanumathi and Savithri – had a huge turnout at the Savera, none of whom felt he had gone on way beyond the time. Mohan has the knack of exceeding time, yet managing to keep his audience.
After the talk, I was asked by Mohan to drop his mother home. A few turns around Mandaveli and we realised that we were hopelessly lost, with her sense of direction being very close to mine. Sarada and I, however, enjoyed the journey, for the lady had with her a fund of stories that kept us entertained while we searched for the house. Now we know where Mohan gets his talent. A raconteuse as mother and a top ranking lawyer as father make for a deadly combination.
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At the Alumni Club, Chithra Madhavan and I judged presentations made by school teams in a contest organised by Chennai Heritage and steered by Sushi Nataraj. These children who had been on heritage tours were guided by the famous five of Chennai Heritage, around the beach and Park Town. And Chithra had taken them to DakshinaChitra. The presentations were of varying quality and I was rather disappointed that Park Town, my favourite route, was given short shrift by almost all the teams. This was noticed by Muthiah as well, for he said as much in his prize distribution speech. The best team was Bhaktavatsalam Vidyashram, both simplicity in presentation and a spirited dance performance getting them big marks. Second was Children’s Garden School for managing to put together a dance on Chennai AND presenting it despite a complete breakdown of the audio system. Third was Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School.
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In the evening, we had Geeta Doctor in conversation with artist Viswanathan and Ashwin Rajagopal of Ashwitha Art Gallery at the Park Sheraton. The food was great as was the discussion. Cakes and canapes vanished in seconds as the hotel staff looked on in stunned disbelief. But I did not then realise that retribution was just around the corner.
Retribution came at P.C. Ramakrishna’s talk at the Madras Gymkhana Club. The talk was wonderful with PC, in his usual way, making a perfect presentation on the history of English Theatre in the city. But for some reason (and here I may have been at fault, or was it divine will?), there were no ‘refreshments’ on offer. The foodies were disappointed, to say the least, but bore it with stiff upper lip. To give them credit, they stayed on for the presentation and not one asked about the absent victuals.
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I vaguely knew about the Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) and discovered this year that the Club’s annexe stands at an impossibly beautiful location – land’s end, where the Cooum flows into the Bay of Bengal, just off the Napier Bridge and behind Flagstaff House. I arrived there to join an ocean-based two-way celebration – of Madras Week and 101 years of the RMYC.
This was the first time I had been inside the harbour. I was, therefore, blessed to be able to see the creation of Sir Francis Spring (the RMYC was also his baby) and the place where S. Ramanujan, the great mathematician, first worked. On display in the Club building were newspaper clippings, trophies and photographs dating back to the 1930s.
The sail formed the Club’s members setting off in various sailing craft (of which there was a bewildering array of terms and terminologies) and the guests going more sedately in a motorboat. The sea was smooth according to the veterans, but to us landlubbers it appeared rough enough. We were able to see several landmark buildings from the sea, a view usually not possible unless you fly. What was tragic, however, is that the sea front along First Line Beach and much of North Beach Road (along Fort St George) is completely devoid of any land view, thanks to a whole lot of ugly port buildings that have come up. The mind boggled as to what a huge tourism potential was missed. Imagine what a European capital or, for that matter, a Dubai or a Shanghai would have done with it.
Posted by Sriram V.
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