Thanks MM
As I always do when visiting, I was talking with my 95-year old father about people and places when the topic shifted to Neyveli and our neighbor Venkatachalam, which then led to his younger brother Krishnaswamy (Kitcha) and his wife Gayatri.
Appa commented that Kitcha received the Queen’s honors, but didn’t recall details. I googled for his name and ended up at this page at Madras Musings noting Gayatri’s demise. I will later update appathat both Kitcha and Gayatri were recognised with OBE honors.
I then ended up reading a few more entries at Madras Musings. Thanks for your efforts to bring to light all things Madras.
Sriram
amdrkhe@gmail.com
When Milton Friedman visited Anakaputhur
In continuation to the interesting article on Anakaputhur (MM, January 1st, 2025, Economist Milton Friedman visited Anakaputhur during the late 1970s and featured the handloom weavers in his famous TV series Free to Choose. He mentions that Anakaputhur had more than 3000 handlooms in operation at that time.
He compared the development of Hong Kong and Japan at that time, under market economy to the controlled economy of India. He illustrated this with the Indian handloom sector, taking Anakaputhur as an example.
The economic woes of Anakaputhur seem to continue even today. I wonder what the illustrious economist’s view would be were he to visit again, this equally illustrious centre of weaving.
Ramamurthy Ravichandren
rrcv3@yahoo.co.in