Regular Articles

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

COVID’s impact on affordable healthcare

by Our Special Correspondent

Like most public crises, the pandemic has impacted the poor and the marginalised more than the stronger sections of society. Philanthropic organisations play a key role in helping the vulnerable through these difficult times, ensuring their access to essential goods, services and care. Chennai’s not-for-profit medical institutions are doing a stellar job in this regard, […]

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

Lost Landmarks of Chennai

Sriram V

A Place for Biden Ever since Joe Biden, now the US President elect, announced his intentions to run for that high office, interest in his ancestor with Indian connections has peaked. He had himself spoken of his great great great great great-grandfather George Biden, who after service with the East India Company, settled down in […]

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

Pavithra’s Perspective

The Bridge to Nowhere When at around three o’clock one balmy afternoon (when is it not balmy in Chennai?) I phoned my friend and mentioned my location, his horrified shriek nearly deafened my ear. “You’re where?” “The Broken Bridge. The one that just … stops in the middle. The one which comes in all those […]

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

Our Readers Write

The Beach House I am always fascinated and even now by this building – what a location.When I came down to Chennai after retirement in 1999, I saw this in a dilapidated condition. I brought this to the notice of Mr. Muthiah. He perhaps spoke to someone and it was slightly repaired and whitewashed. Later […]

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

Short ’N’ Snappy

Joe Biden, the Tamilian The US is to shortly have a new President, provided the present incumbent makes way. The new Vice-President is a woman who has a Madras connect and, the city, so The Man from Madras Musings notes, has made much out of it. Uncles, aunts and distant relatives have begun crawling out […]

• Vol. XXX No. No. 14, November 16-30, 2020

Quizzin’ with Ramanan

Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’s first 10 questions are on current affairs and next on ‘man’s best friend’. 1. How did a children’s rhyme ‘Baby Shark’ by South Korean company Pinkfong make the news recently? 2. Sean Connery, the first screen James Bond who passed away recently, won an Oscar for his performance as Jimmy Malone, a […]

• Vol. XXX No. 13, November 1-15, 2020

How the hospitality industry is coping with Covid

by Our Special Correspondent

The third article in a series exploring the pandemic’s effect on Chennai’s industries, this piece takes a look at how the city’s restaurants have been braving the crisis. According to industry estimates, Chennai and its suburbs are reported to have around 8,000 eateries of varying sizes. With a curb on social gatherings, the pandemic has […]

• Vol. XXX No. 13, November 1-15, 2020

Does Dipavali HAVE to be celebrated?

by The Editor

The numbers have finally begun to come down. Just as residents of Chennai had assumed that the daily COVID-19 figures would forever hover around the high 900s or low 1000s, the virus has shown signs of relenting. The statistics have taken a turn for the better, with the city registering around 750 numbers each day. […]

• Vol. XXX No. 13, November 1-15, 2020

Heritage Watch (with some Old and New)

The Beach House In the last issue of Madras Musings and the present one, we have serialised Karthik Bhatt’s two-part article on Sir S. Subramania Iyer, an early legal luminary, who gave up his knighthood in protest against colonial policies though this is not remembered or celebrated the way Rabindranath Tagore’s return of his title […]

• Vol. XXX No. 13, November 1-15, 2020

Our Readers Write

Hilarious tales of a cycle-rickshaw protagonist In many families there will always be a person known for his funny accounts. From the paternal side of our family, there was one Krishna Iyer or ‘Mappillai Krishnan’ as he was fondly known, being one of the two sons-in-law. He cut a rather imposing figure, with his fat […]