Looking back

The recent letters about Hotel Oceanic brought back fond memories of Madras and San Thomé.

I always say that our generation was the one that went through the most revolutionary change in our lives. Nagesh’s song Madras nalla Madras brings back nostalgic memories of our homely city, and of what it could have been, but for the mindless “development” brought about by decades of senseless “town planning!”

My parents lived in Raja Annamalaipuram, which was a quiet, peaceful area. All the houses were built on four-ground plots by order of the Corporation, and they had large gardens. We had a few mango and gooseberry trees, whose fruits I would take to school and share with my friends.

Since we had a large backyard, my father, a lover of nature, had built a shed and kept two jersey cows in it.

My father J. Thangavel rose to become the Chief News Editor of All India Radio. But he was more happy to write for Tamil magazines and movies. He penned several lyrics under his pen name ‘Surabhi’. The most popular lyric of his was “Konjum Purave” sung by the legendary MLV for film Thayulam, among others were ‘Mapilai Doi’ by AM Raja, and ‘Roja Malar Venuma’ sung by Balasaraswathy. I was fortunate enough to be present at the recording of a couple of songs by PB Srinivas and P Susheela for the devotional film Bhakta Sabari. Sometimes music directors sat in our shed at the backyard and composed music, while our cows listened. Father also started a small poultry unit at the far end, when the poultry industry was just beginning. Our neighbours bought milk and sometimes eggs for their children. But they complained about the crowing of the roosters, cackling of the hens and the smell from the very cows that gave them pure milk!

By the mid-1970s things began to change, and we had sold off our livestock and prepared ourselves for a more “modern” lifestyle! So, here we are, cribbing about the peaceful past even while enjoying the myriad electrical and electronic appliances which have made our homes more comfortable.

Usha Sundar
sundarusha@rocketmail.com

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A verse response

Simply couldn’t resist the temptation to wake up the poet in me after reading Ranjitha’s verse (MM, April 16th).

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A telephone line in its 100th year

Ramesh Kumar of the Indian Commerce & Industries Co. P. Ltd., 57, Prakasam Salai, writes:

Our oldest telephone line completed 99 years on July 11th and has entered its 100th year.

The BSNL invoice featured above says that our telephone line was installed on July 11, 1915. This telephone line was subscribed under Beehive Foundry Engineering Works (when it was still with Oakes & Co.). It was only in the early 1990s that we got the billing addressed to the present parent company, the Indian Commerce & Industries Co P Ltd.

I attended the school opposite Beehive Buildings in Broadway from Class 1 to SSLC, and most of my after-school hours and holidays were spent in our office premises where I frequently roamed around the entire office and workshop. One day, I chanced upon an unused letterhead lying in the stationery cupboard. Since I was interested in dated material, I saved the letterhead, which I still have. It is also featured above.

I think this letterhead was printed no earlier than 1952 (since it bears the name Kowtha Steel Products which was started in Ramavarappadu near Vijayawada – then known as Bezwada – in January 1952) but no later than 1953 (since in September 1953 the Excelsior Oil Mills was razed in a fire accident).

Our telephone number as seen on the letterhead was 2020, presumably the original number allotted to Beehive Foundry at the time of installation in 1915. It could also have been a three digit number which was later changed to four digits. I wouldn’t know.

The telephone connection was originally with the Oriental Telephone & Electric Co. till Madras Telephones took over in 1923.

The number changed to 21071 (I don’t know precisely when, but that’s the number I have known from childhood).

With the introduction of the Kalmandapam Telephone Exchange (in the early 1980s, I think) our line got shifted to the new exchange and we were allotted 555021.

When the Harbour Exchange was opened, the line again got shifted to this exchange and we were allotted 512221.

With the introduction of 7-digit numbering, the number changed to 523-1477 and with introduction of 8-digit numbering, it changed to 2523-1477 and continues to remain so.

A phone line in the same location since its installation in 1915 has gone from 2020 to 21071 to 555021 to 512221 to 5231477 to 25231477 and all this while the Telephone Exchange kept moving, while we remained rooted to the same premises!

The same is the case with our door number, which went from 95 to 27 to the current number 57, while the street name changed from Popham’s Broadway to Prakasam Salai.

At the bottom of the letterhead I have, is the logo of the Engineering Association of India (reproduced below) of which we were member and have remained so in its various avatars.

This association evolved as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) of which we continue to be a member.

I am not sure if Beehive Foundry under the ownership of Oakes & Co. was a member of the Indian Engineering Association (IEA) or whether we carried forward that legacy, but here again is a situation of a company’s membership remaining for a long period, unbroken even while the association in which it is a member changed its name, form and structure.

Footnote

The history of the CII began in 1895 when five engineering firms, all members of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joined hands to form the Engineering and Iron Trades Association (EITA). The name changed to the Engineering Association of India (EAI) in 1912, reflecting the Association’s decision to exclude traders from the membership and concentrate fully on promoting the cause of manufacturers. Till 1942, IEA was the only all-India association of the engineering industry and represented, mainly, the big engineering companies, particularly the British firms. This led to a situation where the interests of the Indian firms (mainly medium and small scale) were not sufficiently represented. Thus, the Engineering Association of India (EAI) was established in 1942.

After Independence, the public sector assumed the lead role in industrial development. Keeping in view the greater interests of the engineering industry in the country, in April 1974, the two associations – IEA and EAI – merged to form the Association of Indian Engineering Industry (AIEI).

In 1986, there was a change in name from AIEI to the Confederation of Engineering Industry (CEI), reflecting the growth and expansion of the organisation since 1974. CEI then became an apex body for manufacturing industries at the national level.

With effect from January 1, 1992, in keeping with Government’s decision to opt for the liberalisation of the Indian economy, the name of CEI was changed to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).