At first glance, the title of Nirmala Lakshman’s new book, Degree Coffee by the Yard, seemed like some kind of literary device. However, on further reading, I found a whole chapter devoted to the much loved brew which Tamilians expertly transfer from tumbler to dabara and vice versa, either to reduce the heat or to create frothness or both. Needless to say, this is one of the lighter chapters in this brief biography of Madras.

In this ‘biography’, Lakshman weaves personal anecdotes about the city of her childhood and the city where she grew up in the 1960s and 70s, with a chronicle of historical and sociological facts about a city that has kept changing over the years to what it is today. It is a story that begins with finding among excavtions in the Pallavaram area a hand axe (the first discovery of an Old Stone Age tool in the Indian Subcontinent) by British geologist Robert Bruce Foote in 1863-64. Going on from there, in relating the story of Madras (Chennai), Lakshman says, “What is perhaps most interesting about the region is that archaeologists and historians both affirm the continuous presence of human beings in the area since the Palaeolithic Age. If we leap forward a million years or so, Roman coins and painted pots found in areas like Egmore, Kilpauk, Chetpet and Mambalam are a sign that there were flourishing communities and people living in the region were involved in trade with lands across the seas. In fact, the town of Mylapore was known even to the Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy (who lived at the end of the first Century CE and into the second Century CE) and figures in his writings as ‘Mylarphon’.”

Going beyond references to the Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties and to the Kalabhras and Pallavas are mentions of two present-day landmarks, the Parthasarathy Swamy temple and the Kapaleeswarar temple. The former is the only Vishnu temple where the deity has a moustache and the punnai tree in the outer courtyard of the latter temple is said to be the oldest in Chennai. Mylapore (where the Kapaleeswarar temple is located) also witnessed the coexistence of the early Buddhists and Jains and was called Mayura Sabda Pattinam. Fearing persecution, many of these people might have converted to Islam. The Kapaleeswarar temple’s tank was built on land donated by the Nawab of Carnatic and, till today, Muslims are allowed the use of the tank on Muharram day.

Moving ahead to 1639, Lakshman points out that “Fort St. George (Madras) became the citadel of British administration in India long before the Crown acquired Bombay or founded the city of Calcutta. It  was the first Corporation to be granted a seal by the British  East India Company in 1687.”

Striking an anecdotal note elsewhere in the book, Lakshman tells us about her connection to the much-loved Tamil idol Subramania Bharati through her maternal grandfather, to the freedom movement through Mahatma Gandhi’s visits to her house, the simplicity and administrative ability of Kamaraj and the rise of the Dravidian movement. She recalls a visit to the beach with her children many years ago when she spied the Chief Minister of the day, M. Karunanidhi, sitting with his associates on the sands. She pointed this out to her older son who went up to him and said, “Hello, my name is Narayan” to which the Chief Minister replied, “Hello, my name is Karunanidhi.” And as though being politically correct, she mentions the prodigious memory of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa which the late veteran stage actor R.S. Manohar told her about. When he challenged her to answer questions from a tome she seemed to be skimming through, she was equal to the challenge, answering about a dozen of them, quoting even the page numbers.

As a journalist whose mandate is a wide range of interests, she also looks at the arts and at sport. She offers an insider’s view of Chennai’s ‘December Season’ where over 2000 music concerts are held during a couple of months, mentions the rise of the colloquial gaana paattu, and offers much informaton on cinema and theatre. She also emphasises that though Chennai, like all other cities, has an enormous appetite for cricket, it stands out by displaying a rare knowledge of the game and a sense of appreciation for home and opposition teams alike. She recalls “the response from the crowd when Pakistan dared to take a lap of honour (after winning a match) in Madras, to thank them in 1999. The crowd greeted and cheered and gave them a standing ovation.”

Lakshman may conclude by asking the question ‘Is home the outer world, the neighbourhood (Alwarpet in her case) or the inner world, our aspirations? but she has already answered it earlier when she observed: “A sense of community, mutual dependence and a common dream that the city is the answer to our dreams and is the glue that holds the city’s many layers together.”

The book, a part of an Aleph series on Indian cities, will strike an enjoyable note with many a reader who knows Madras that is Chennai, but is an all too brief introduction of it to others.