More young are getting involved

A positive feature of Madras Day’s 2011 edition celebrations was the involvement of children and young people.

You found them at the talks and exhibitions, you found them at the contests and quizzes and they got engrossed in lots of interesting projects. The feedback also helped us understand the people of this city.

Yocee, the web site for the city’s teenagers, ran two PhotoWalks – one in Royapuram and the other in Raja Annamalaipuram. Understandably, people do not make an effort to use an opportunity to explore a less known area. But the children who did make it were enriched.

The school exchange tours were revived this year – the concept is to get a South Chennai group to tour an area in the North and vice versa. The low profile schools were more enthusiastic to sign up, though only two tours could be arranged this year.

Rani Meyyammai Girls School toured Royapuram, Tondiarpet and Tiruvottriyur, with members of the Avvai Kalai Kazhagam as guides, while a group from Kavi Bharathi Vidyalaya was taken around the core of Mylapore by volunteer K.J. Suriyanarayan. Ashok Leyland spared their colourful bus for the tours.

Two positives emerged.

The women of the Avvai Kalai Kazhagam wish to be trained in the conduct of these group tours so that they can handle these exchanges themselves. Also, Ashok Leyland has plans to expand these exchange tours so that they are held throughout the year.

Perhaps, there is a need for school managers in K.K. Nagar and Anna Nagar, and in Tiruvanmiyur and Velachery, to build on such city tour exchanges now. If they wish to know how these can be run, e-mail queries to be sent to themadrasday@gmail.com.

The Madras Day attempt is to get schools to move out of their ‘isolation’.

Another strong feature of Madras Day events was the Chennai Heritage Multimedia Contest for schools which is always held on the Tuesday of Madras Week at Srinivasa Sastri Hall (the owners make the hall available free as their support for the celebration). This year, 22 schools took part, some were first-timers. The contest asks the teams to research on less popularly known landmarks and present them in public.

This year, a rolling trophy was instituted in the name of Larsen and Toubro, which has been an active fund provider of many key events. About 100 students participated in the event this year.

While Yellow Bus playschool in Besant Nagar ran its week-long events, it also sponsored a villupattu production based on a city theme by students of Besant Theosophical School, Tiruvanmiyur. 20 students and 3 senior artistes made quite an impression when they presented it and, so, the team was invited to perform at the MultiMedia Contest in Luz.

Surely, this production can be hosted across the city on campuses year after year. School heads can contact BTS now and plan ahead. The project could also inspire other student-centric cultural groups to produce their own creative projects.

Another regular feature is the Madras Quiz for Tamil medium schools that is held in Mylapore every year. What started as an event attended by 30 students from three schools has now grown slowly – this year there were 100 students from ten schools. P.S. Educational Society generously provided its halls free as a gesture of support for Madras Day. R. Revathi devised and ran this Quiz and Rani Meyyammai School in R.A. Puram lifted the rolling trophy and the silver salvers as prizes.

Young people dominated the Heritage Walks too. They formed the majority on the two walks I held - Fort, St. George and Mount Road and at the San Thome Cathedral that was hosted by Fr. Kiran, the diocesan archivist.

The signs are good. That the young are also interested in the city. But there is need for networking, enterprise and initiative.

If you or your institution did not participate in the 2011 edition of Madras Day, do log on to www.themadrasday.in and get inspired for 2012.

Posted by Vincent D’Souza

Discovering the little-known on Mint Street

It rained in the night and so I was quite sure when I got up at 4 a.m. that Mint Street would be at its messiest best. I was not far wrong. We assembled outside the High Court at 6.15 a.m. and were off by 6.30 a.m. in three vans.

We began with the Mint and Crown Cinema. And with Mohan Raman who was with us on the walk there was much information on Raghupathy Prakash and his pioneering work in cinema (all three of his theatres – Crown, Gaiety and Globe [Roxy] – are now demolished).

Our next stop was the house of Ramalinga Swamigal on Veerasami Street. The upper floor of this residence, where the saint lived, is now in the care of caretakers who were not available and so we just saw the place from outside. Interestingly, there appears to be a rather strong rivalry between two groups, both of which claim the Swamigal to be their own. One group hopes to make up for lack of control over the house by displaying a photo of his and demanding that we pay obeisance there too. You might wonder what the Arutperum Jyothi would have had to say.

Entry and exit to Veerasami Street are via Barracks Street which is a teeming slum. I was nearly assaulted by a challenging individual here and so the photographer who was with us suggested an alternative route. An added bonus was that we could see Murugan Cinema, at one time Kinema Central and the Prince Theatre. It was when it was Kinema that it hosted the first Tamil talkie – Kalidas – on October 31, 1931. So off we went and here again, thanks to Mohan, we enjoyed some interesting nuggets.

From Murugan it was back to the vans to the Sumai Thangi Ramar temple, with its exquisite Tanjore painting of Lord Rama, perhaps the original object of worship before the stone idol was consecrated. This was where ‘Tiger’ Varadachariar cut his musical teeth, thanks to bhajans organised by the Tachur Singaracharlu brothers. From there it was on to the Thondai Mandala Thuluva Vellalar School, established in 1864. We then boarded the vans to go to the Hindu Theological School, founded by Sivasankara Pandyaji in 1888. We were welcomed and given coffee and biscuits. To me it was thrilling to recite the story of how C. Saraswathi Bai had her Harikatha debut here in 1909, giving male chauvinism a well-deserved kick in the butt. Of course, with young Bhatt, we managed to tell the story of other stalwart Principals, such as Kurichi Rangaswami Iyengar (who first implemented the noon meal scheme here, which in turn inspired Kamaraj and, later, MGR) and Kulapathi Balakrishna Joshi. We saw the Saraswati idol that Pandyaji worshipped and the first payroll and attendance registers of the school.

Our next stop was the new Jain Mandir, commemorating the presence of the Jain community in this area for a couple of centuries. From here our troubles began, for Mint Street is a one way from this spot and Narayana Mudali Street which was our exit was blocked by a bullock cart. One van managed to make it down the wrong way on Govindappa Naicken Street and reach our next stop at the Ekamreswara Swami temple. The second managed to negotiate the bullock cart thanks to the photographer who, being a local, could cajole the animal and its owner. The third van, as it followed the first down Govindappa Naicken Street, was caught in the act by the police. It was Mohan’s presence that saved the day! Film stars are immune to mundane traffic violations. Ironically, he was not even in that van. Just the mention of his name sufficed.

At the Ekamreswara Swami temple, we walked around the surrounding agraharam, recounting the contributions of the Gujaratis to Madras – the Tawkers, the Goocooladoss Jumnadoss family, the Lodds, the Kushaldoss family, the Mehtas and the Joshis. Then we saw Mani Sunker Davey and Sons, selling textiles for over a hundred years at Luckmudoss Street. We moved on to the Kandasami Temple at Rasappa Chetty Street, built by the Beri Chettys and sanctified in song by Ramalinga Swamigal. Our last stop was the Chennapuri Annadana Samajam, which has fed the poor, the maimed and the orphans since 1890, thanks to the vision of Moogallur Cunniah Chetty.

Tired and hungry we went to Saravana Bhavan on NSC Bose Road. This, incidentally, according to Karthik Bhatt, was the showroom of Surajmall’s, the jewellers. Rather appropriate, don’t you think?

 Posted by Sriram V

From Madras Week’s quizzes

Madras Week was marked by over a dozen quizzes. Here are thirty questions chosen from some of the school quizzes:

1. His stint with advertising began in 1987, with Allwyn’s Trendy Watch campaign. He went on to compose music for more than 300 ad films for the likes of Boost, MRF Tyres and Asian Paints. Name him.

2. Government Stanley Hospital, Kothwal Market, Flower Bazaar, Mint buildings, and Seven Wells – all come under which PIN code?

3. Who is the Leader of the Opposition in the present Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly?

4. In Tamil, this dish literally means ‘Pepper Water’. What was it called in England?

5. If you were using the ‘Nataraja’ service how would you be travelling?

6. What is the popular term to describe the unpopular epidemic adenoviral conjunctivitis infection?

7. Cobra is the journal of which pioneering institution in Chennai?

8. In his autobiography ‘My Days’, who described his first trip to his new school in crowded George Town thus: “Purusawalkam to which I returned in the evening seemed a backwood”?

9. B.A. Lakshmi Narayana Setty was so influenced by the ideals of his guru, who was one of India’s leading religious philosophers, that he named his business after him. What name did he give his company?

10. Prince Courtyard, a premium residential project, is to replace which legendary edifice on Poonamallee High Road?

11. Which Mani Ratnam film has the distinction of appearing in TIME magazine’s All-Time 100 Greatest Movies along with the Apu Trilogy films (Satyajit Ray) and Pyaasa (Guru Dutt)?

12. Dare House, the headquarters of a company, is located in an area named after the founder of the company. Which area?

13. A suburban train station stands opposite the airport, and a nearby hotel’s name also reflects the name of the station. Name the station and the hotel.

14. The Crocodile Bank, DakshinaChitra, and the Cholamandal Artists’ Village are all tourist spots on which scenic stretch?

15. Which freedom fighter introduced the political cartoon for the first time in South India?

16. Where would you find the concept restaurants Ecstasy and ID?

17. MTC bus route 1 connects which two ‘Thiru’s as its origin and destination?

18. Which statue always reminded a West Indian cricketer of an umpire permanently giving him “Out!”?

19. Which familiar educational institution’s Governing Body is the Madras Seva Sadan and which was founded by a knight?

20. Where is the Armoured Vehicles and Armaments Depot of India located?

21. From where in Madras did Gandhiji make a call to the nation?

22. Where will you find the copy of the facade of an old building inside another building that has come up in its place?

23. Where will you find a plaque to mark the spot where a shell from the German ship Emden hit Madras?

24. How many films did M.S. Subbulakshmi act in?

25. Who captained the first Indian cricket team to win a Test match against England at Chepauk in 1952?

26. Which locality in Chennai is named for a flower?

27. Which campus has the relics of two former lighthouses?

28. Who was the first woman Mayor of Madras?

29. Where was the zoo before it was moved to Vandalur?

30. With which pioneering British industrial house did you associate school uniforms till the 1970s?

Answers to Madras Week Quizzes

1. A.R. Rahman; 2. 600 001 (Madras GPO); 3. Vijayakanth; 4. Mulligawtany Soup; 5. Walking (a literal translation of Nada – walk); 6. Madras Eye; 7. Snake Park or Madras Snake Park; 8. R.K. Narayan; 9. Vivek’s (after Swami Vivekananda); 10. Hotel Dasaprakash; 11. Nayagan; 12. Parry’s Corner; 13. Tirusoolam / Trident; 14. The East Coast Road (ECR); 15. Subramania Bharati (in the weekly called India);16. Sathyam Cinemas; 17. Thiruvanmiyur and Tiruvottriyur; 18. Anna statue (on Mount Road); 19. Lady Andal School (which houses this beautiful auditorium), founded by Sir M.Venkatasubba Rao; 20. At Avadi; 21. Kasturirangan Iyengar’s guest house where the Chola Sheraton now is; 22. Spencer Plaza; 23. On the east wall of the High Court; 24. Four; 25. Vijay Hazare; 26.Thiru-alli-keni (Triplicane); 27. The High Court campus; 28. Mrs. Tara Cherian; 29. People’s Park, behind the Corporation’s Ripon Building; 30. Binny’s.