A wish for the City

A small, experimental stall behind the Gandhi statue on the Marina was put up by volunteers. People were invited to tie a wish for the city on its birthday. This is an idea should multiply next year; let’s say, similar stalls at 10 or 12 locations across the city. Contact: www.themadrasday.in

Singing for the City

August 16th was a pleasant Saturday evening and those who frequent the Natesan Park in T’Nagar were in for a pleasant experience! The members of the Madras Youth Choir had gathered there to celebrate the 375th year of the founding of Madras in a unique manner. The children’s choir and the senior choir presented songs of social relevance, human values, civic sense, environmental awareness and patriotism and enthralled the audience with their music and the strong messages the songs conveyed.

– Rajashree Bhaskaran

A song for the City

The Madras Song a tribute to the memories and magic of Madras. It was launched by the Murugappa Group to celebrate Madras 375. Catch up with the song on YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/MurugappaGroup

Walk and taste

There were several food walks during Madras Week – and every participant tasted the food items at every stop. The stop seen below was in Mint Street.

Discovering Anna Nagar

Thirupura Sundari Sevvel, an architect-planner by profession initiated a project to study and map the history of the first planned layout of Madras City. Although Anna Nagar may not have a centuries-old heritage like Madras, it is certain that a few decades from now Anna Nagar too will have heritage to cherish.

Some little-known facts about Anna Nagar

• The area was a barren land and was chosen to hold the India International Trade and Industries Fair (IITIF) in 1968.

• Various pavilions were erected as complete concrete structures and semi-permanent ones.

• The parking lot for vehicles was where Kandasamy Naidu College is situated now.

• Shuttle buses were operated to the fair pavilions from the parking lot.

• The Tower Club is located in the building that was the Kerala Pavilion (with lots of modifications).

• The Tower inaugurated in 1968 gave a panoramic view of Madras city; the Tower has a cycle track which was later closed for cycle movement (as scooters were going up and down as pleasure rides).

• The Park around the Tower was developed in stages in later times.

• Residential plots were sold at Rs 2000-3000 with a 75 per cent Government subsidy to build houses to promote the layout initially, since very few takers were there for this area that was without facilities like schools, hospitals, markets, etc.

• Government officials being the first to be allotted plots, the area is populated largely by government officials.

• The first blocks of houses were built opposite Tower Park (which is now W-Block).

The T-shirt of the Anna Nagar Social History Group which organised contests for the young and old to help them 'discover' their locality.

• The Ayyanar Statue in W-Block, just past the Dr. Visvesvaraya Tower Park Arch, was built during the second World Tamil Conference during the Chief Ministership of C.N. Annadurai.

• The Blue Star bus stop in 2nd Avenue is just an incidental name without any history/landmarks behind it as buses stopped here and there was a small shop by it with the name Blue Star.

– D. Mohandas

Connemara creates nooks of its history

The lobby of Vivanta by Taj Connemara had a surprise for people who were not frequent visitors to the place. In a corner, the wall has been turned into a gallery of historical photos of the hotel and people associated with it. Alongside is a set of two colonial-styled chairs and centre table, with a marble top. There is also a book with a few pages tracing the hotel’s history. A smart executive then led me to another part of the lobby where a set of 12 photos of the halls and rooms of the vintage hotel are displayed. More is being planned – a walkthrough for interested guests who will be offered some wine and given a quick history of the Connemara. Other institutions, a century and more old, would do well to emulate this.

– Vincent D’ Souza