B’day link to Broadway

It’s 2 pm, and the streets in Broadway bear an antiquated look. There are rickshaws, a mode of transport uncommon anywhere outside Broadway.

Fort St George, which is located diametrically opposite the Broadway bus stand, next to the Chennai Fort Station (known as White Town before), has the country’s tallest flag staff at a height of 150 feet.The fort acquires its name from St George from England, whose birthdate falls on the initiation date of the British bastion on April 23, 1644. However, it was only a few months after India’s Independence that the fort was opened to the general public. The fort has 10 galleries. Some of them showcase various antiques that were used in the days of the British, starting from rapiers and stilettos to attires worn by the British Army. An Indo-French gallery brings across the view of the kind of objects that were in use during the French rule in some parts of the country.

Madras Day bonds with Broadway

The Madras Day in itself shares a special bond with this citadel. History has it that the East India Company started building the fort on a beach belt which it hired from a local ruler, way back in 1639. August 22, 1639 – this was the day when the agreement was signed between the two parties. The date is therefore celebrated as Madras Day.

August 9, 2014 in Chennai

Express News Service

Ice House: Vivekanandar Illam

 August 9, 2014 in Chennai

Express News Service

CHENNAI: It’s 3 pm, and Vivekanandar Illam is closed — the very mansion where Swami Vivekananda stayed for a week in 1897, during his visit to Madras. It stands stunning, in front of the Marina Beach. Painted pink, it bears an eye-catching look and simultaneously depicts tranquillity. On special permission, we enter the mansion.

History has it that Vivekananda stayed here from February 6 to February 15, 1857. The Illam was then named Castle Kernan. Built in 1842 by Frederic Tudor, it is a tower-like edifice. In the 1880s, the house was sold to lawyer Biligiri Iyengar, who later went on to become a disciple of Swami Vivekananda.

Apart from the fact that it housed the spiritual leader, Vivekanandar Illam is the only one of the three Ice Houses constructed by the British in India (Bombay, Calcutta and Madras), which continues to survive till date.

In 1902, after Biligiri passed away, the Ice House was auctioned. It was purchased by Ankhitam Venkata Jaggaiah Rao, a zamindar from Andhra Pradesh, and in 1917, the castle went back to the hands of the British who purchased it from Rao at `79, 794. The British renamed the Ice House to Marine Mansion and sold the building to Sister Subbulakshmi who ran a hostel there for widows for many years. This marked the initiation of Sarada Vidyalaya, a famed institution that caters to women’s education in the city till date.

It was in 1963 that the then State Government renamed the mansion as Vivekanandar Illam. The house, however,was open to public from 1999. Presently, the basement of the house portrays a brief history of the Ice House. A picturesque exposition along with effigies that silently speak about Indian culture, adorn the first floor, whereas the second floor takes one through an array of photographs that showcases the life and times of Swami Vivekananda. A room in the third storey, where Swami Vivekananda stayed, is now used for meditation.

Vivekanandar Illam is currently given on lease by the Government of Tamil Nadu to the Ramakrishna Math.

Madras Musium :Strolling down lanes of history

 August 9, 2014 in Chennai

B Sudharsan/The indian express

Ahead of Madras Week (August 17 - 24), City Express visits a few old buildings of Madras that narrate stories reminiscent of the times of the British, and those that shaped the city of today

CHENNAI:  It’s 11 am and the scene at the Government Museum, Egmore, is animated, filled with activity. On one side, there are school children, running around and playing on the lanes inside the complex, and on the other, we find a few visitors engaged in an intense discussion.

And then there’s an extraordinary calmness. Extraordinary, because it exists despite the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s a silence that divulges tales of the structure’s past and architectural beauty. The red-coat edifices house baroque carpentry, conventional and contemporary portraits, Buddhist statuary, engineered art works, and the famed museum theatre.

Previously known as Madras Museum, this is the second oldest museum, only after the Indian Museum (Kolkata).

It is also called the Government Museum as the ownership lies with the State Government. It’s also the first ever museum to have been built under a State Government’s patronage. The museum that was initiated 162 years ago, in 1851, on College Road in Nungambakkam, was shifted to Egmore in 1854 as per the first officer in-charge Dr Edward Balfour’s order.Today, around 1,000 people  visit the complex every day, making this museum one of the most frequented spots in the city.

Pantheon Past

The Pantheon estate, where the museum now stands, was gifted to Hall Plumer, a civil servant, in 1778, by the then Governor of Madras. However, in 1793, Plumer sold the estate to a board of 24 members who managed public entertainment activities in Madras during that period.  After 77 years, in 1821, the estate was sold to an Armenian merchant, E S Moorat. It finally came back to the government in 1830, when Moorat sold the 43-acre land for `28, 000.

How the children’s musem came to be

During the early 1850s, a Museum zoo was built in the area. Six years later, a zoological garden was opened with 360 animals and birds. Meanwhile, in the 1860s, an upper storey was added to the public assembly room, known as the Pantheon (the Pantheon Road gets its name from here), where the elite fraction of the city gathered occasionally. A building housing contemporary art works was opened at  The Connemera Public Library, which had a 200-feet high tower (tallest structure at that point in Madras). It came into being in 1896, but the tower was later demolished. The theatre museum was also initiated in 1896. In 1984, a separate building was erected that housed contemporary art, and in 1988, the children’s museum came into existence.

Travelling through the spaces of time, all the way from Chennai to Madras

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The Indian Express 8 Aug 2014

CHENNAI: How would it feel revisiting the grand old legacy of Chennai, erstwhile Madras? If you wish to travel through the spaces of time and have a glimpse of Chennai in the 1800s, then participating in the Madras Week is all you need to do. The Madras Week which would begin on 17 August will perhaps be bigger than ever before, given the fact that this year marks the 375th birthday of our city.

Madras Week was initially started eleven years ago as Madras Day, to celebrate the founding of the city on August 22, 1639. The celebrations this year are likely to be spread throughout August and will be carried over to the first week of September. The participation in the event is purely voluntary.

The hotels in the city are slowly gearing up for the celebrations and would be enthusiastic participants in the week. Some of the city hotels would be venues for talks while others will host art and photographic exhibitions besides organising food festivals.

The city would witness a slew of events on the occasion. The Murugappa Group’s Madras Quiz for schools would be featured as part of the celebrations.  The Chennai Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) will also conduct several competitive programmes for schools and colleges, such as quiz competitions, elocution contests and debates, with the point of focus being Madras. As has been the practice, Chennai Heritage, publishers of Madras Musings, will be hosting eight talks at various locations, on subjects related to the city. It will also lead several heritage walks in the city during the week.

Chennai 375 :8 DAYS TO REMEMBER

Indulge 8 Aug 2014

Kick into celebratory mode with our list of must-do things this Madras Week. And for those who want it bigger next time, we ask locals the way forward. By Mrinalini Sundar & Surya Praphulla Kumar 

It comes every year, with colour and contests, excitement and exhibitions. This year’s a little more special because of the numbers involved: Chennai turns 375; our Corporation turns 325; and oldies like the Rippon Building, Queen Mary’s College and Women’s Christian College hit the century mark. Moreover, the boundaries of the birthday party are expanding—with the Coovum river being mapped, events being organised in places like Perambur and Thiruvottiyur, and even a token affair taking place in Kuala Lumpur. We look at some of the more interesting things you can do in the coming days—from August 17 – 24.

Take a shot
Figure out where to click the best photos in the city by going on the photo walks (August 10) being organised by photography enthusiast R Muthusamy, in different parts of the city like Aminjikarai, Velachery and Tiruvottiyur. “At Tiruvottiyur, we will cover three important temples and a dargha,” he says. And the pictures you click will come in handy, as the Photographic Society of Madras (PSM) is conducting a contest—entries for which have to be submitted before August 15. (Details: photomadrasweek14@gmail.com). PSM’s honorary secretary, Thomas T Abraham, also has some suggestions. “Mylapore is a great option, but focus on the activities around the temple. Parry’s corner on weekends and the Koyambedu vegetable market are good places, too,” he says. Details: themadrasday.in

Under the gopurams
Here’s a nugget you might not know: the Shiva sanctum in the Thiruvottiyur temple is oval in shape, a rare architectural design known as gaja prishta (elephant’s back). That’s just one of the many things historian Chitra Madhavan plans to reveal during her talk, Little Known Facts about Well-Known Temples in Chennai. “I will be looking at four to five key temples like Kapaleeswarar and Parthasarathy in Thiruvallikeni. And I will discuss its history, architectural and sculptural peculiarities and events that took place there that people may not know about,” says Madhavan. By invite only. August 26, at 6.30 pm, Hotel Savera. Details: 28114700

Mad about MADras! 
How better to celebrate what makes us unique than by laughing at ourselves, asks cartoonist Biswajit Balasubramanian. And promising to induce chuckles are over 100 of his works, inspired by the city, to be showcased at the Forum Art Gallery. “I want people to see them and connect with them immediately. Like an old one on water scarcity—where a couple at a restaurant find that while wine is on the house, they have to buy water off a water menu—a topic that is still relevant today,” admits Balasubramanian, adding that he has picked cartoons from 2005 to the present day. “I have also brought some of my cartoons to life through fibreglass sculptures,” he says, adding that he will exhibit a few samples. At the gallery, August 18-20, 10.30 am to 6.30 pm. Details: 42115596

Birds and the bees
Chennai is one of those rare cities where you can go for a walk and spot animals. Like at the Pallikaranai marsh. “Now is a great time to spot over 40 species of birds including flamingos and spot-billed ducks,” says Vijay Kumar, of the Madras Naturalists Society, who is organising a walk on August 24 at 6.15 am. Details: 9840090875
Elsewhere, the Nizhal foundation have four walks planned. We love the Siddha medicine tree walk at Panagal Park (August 23, 5-6 pm), the musical tree walk at Kotturpuram (August 23, 7.30-8.30 am) and the insect tree walk at Nageswara park (August 24, 5-6 pm). “On the walks, we’ll show you trees like the Arjuna, which was used as early as the seventh century to make medicines for heart ailments. You can also listen to Vidwan R K Shriramkumar sing songs associated with trees, like the Madigam that you find in works like Sivagamiyin Sapatham,” says Latha Nathan, a member of Nizhal.
Details: 9003098613

Bicycle diaries
Riding a bike is great exercise and a green way to travel. It can also be an education—especially if you go on the heritage rides in Perambur and ECR. The Perambur ride (August 17) starts from Vepery at 5 am and will cover Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine and the locomotive factory. “We are in the process of getting permission to enter the factory,” says Ramanujar Moulana, founder of the Cycling Yogis group. The ECR ride (August 24) will be interesting for history buffs. “We will start from Madhya Kailash at 5 am and cover Tiruvanmiyur, Covelong and Tiruvidhanthai—with its mix of Shaivite and Vaishnavite temples like Marundeeswarar and Kailasanathar—and the Sufi dargah, before returning to Neelankarai where we will breakfast at Madras Square cafe and listen to a talk by Jahiram Janakiraman, an avid cyclist, on his experiences about cycling in Madras during the ’70s and ’80s,” adds Moulana. Details: 9884023123

Food for thought
How many of you know the Welcome Hotel in Purasawalkam? According to food lover Sridhar Venketraman, the hotel serves some of the best idli sambar in town. “This area consists of several such small places that serve good food,” he says. As for the other food walks, look out for the ones at Purasawalkam and Triplicane that will go to joints that serve bread bajji, Mysore bonda, goli soda and more. Venketraman likes Mint Street, too. “The famous Mehta Brothers that serves sweets and is well known for its vada pav, is a must-visit for foodies. In fact, they’ve opened their new branch in Purasaiwakkam,” he shares. The Purasawalkam walk is on August 21, from 5.30 pm. Details: 9790957208

Road to Mandalay
Dress up in a sarong, with a long-sleeved blouse and flowers in your hair (a la Aung San Suu Kyi) to kick-off Madras Week? Well that’s what food critic and columnist Geeta Doctor encourages you to do on August 17 as she hosts an evening tracing the journey from Madras to Mandaly. “There is such a strong underground connection with Burma which seems to have been lost through the years. I will look back at when Indians from Burma returned to our shores 50 years back, how they settled and spread in what is now known as the Burma bazaar,” she says, adding that historian S Muthiah will discuss the contribution that Chettiars made to the Burmese economy and Visalakshi Ramaswami will talk about utensils of Burmese origin, like the Mandalay karandi, and foods like kavunarisi (a red rice halwa made for the Burmese monarchy). A short seven-minute film on contemporary Myanmar by Shylaja Chetlur will also be screened. “The evening will also feature chef Rajesh’s khao swe, the popular Burmese noodle soup,” she signs off.
At the Lotus, The Park, at 6.30 pm. Details: 42676000
The backstory
Historian Mohan V Raman says the birth date of veteran actor T S Baliah on Wikipedia is wrong. “It says August 22, but it is 23. He had once mentioned in an interview that his nakshatram is Uthirai and, in that year, it falls on 23rd,” Raman tells us, setting the tone for his talk on the actor, his childhood, career in films, his projects and his life. At Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers, on August 23.
Details: 24994101
Wear namma Chennai
Express your love for all things Chennai by picking up a T-shirt and cap commemorating the day. While the tee will feature this year’s winning design—monochrome silhouettes of the city’s landmarks—the cap will be emblazoned with the line, Chennai: My city is 375. “Depending on sales, designs by the runners up will also go up,” says Vincent D’Souza, one of the organisers of Madras Week. Available from August 15, in medium and large, on the website. Price to be fixed. Details: themadrasday.in

Dining out

Chennai and food go hand in hand. So aren’t we glad the hotels are pitching in with some tasty treats.
■ The Gateway Hotel is hosting Madras Curry Week at Buzz, where you can sample finger-licking dishes like Tanjore Marathi kebabs, fiery Madras lamb curry, traditional kolla urundai (meatballs) kuzhambu and more. From August 17-24. Dinner buffet at `950 plus tax. Details: 66802500
■ At the ITC Grand Chola, Madras Pavilion will feature a variety of rasam and sambar prepartions, appetisers like Marina bhajji and dishes like Triplicane biryani as part of their lunch and dinner buffets (`1,600++ and `1,700++); sample signature dosas, idlis and vadas at Cafe Mercara Express as part of its Tiffin Appreciation; and tuck into filter kapi macarons and chocolates as part of room service. Details: 22200000
■ The savouries made by the mami at Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers has plenty of takers in the city. Now, as part of Madras Week, the hotel is boxing her masala vadais, murukkus and thattais so you can take them with you on the walks and rides. Price to be fixed. Details: 24994101

Don’t miss
We hear that Armenians from Paris are teaming up with the Armenian community in Chennai to
hold a week-long celebration as part
of Madras Week. To be held at the Armenian church in George Town, it will include talks, exhibitions and tours
of the area. Dates to be finalised.
Details: 25386223
Walk the talk
We are looking forward to two heritage walks. On the Sowcarpet walk, organiser Karthik Bhatt says we must check out a by-lane in George Town called the Kandappa Chetty Street. “That’s where the procession for the unique kodai (umbrella) festival starts,” he says, adding that the tradition began when “a small group took an umbrella to the deity in Tirupathi.” Participants will also get to meet Gujarati families in Sowcarpet. The Lloyds Road walk will look at the famous names who lived there. Says organiser Mohan V Raman, “While I will concentrate on the people who belonged to the entertainment section, (historian) V Sriram will focus on the people who were into music. And together we will talk about the famous lawyers and other personalities who lived there and how the name Llyods came into being.”
Details: themadrasday.in

Local speak

Vincent D’Souza, the editor of Mylapore Times, feels Mardras Week has been growing organically over the last 13 years. “We can’t compare it with anything abroad—with their parades and concerts—because those events are very organised and, quite often, sponsored. Here, we rely on voluntarism. More people are now showing interest—something we nurture and encourage.”

Next year, turn the spotlight on city messes—a distinctly Chennai institution—feels consultant chef Regi Mathew. “We should organise a tour of all the best messes such as the Mylai Karpagambal mess and the Nair mess in the Mylapore-Triplicane area,” he says.

Madras Week should also be about giving back to the community, feels singer Suchitra Karthik. “Lets launch sustainable projects like bringing in solar power. If such passion is shown, then more youngsters will volunteer. In fact, I will do a free concerts to help generate money,” she says.

Venkataraman Balakrishnan, of Theatre Nisha, thinks the celebrations can be made bigger. “What would be intereting is an auto parade—all the tourist autos and namma autos on Mount Road. Or all the Carnatic singers, from T M Krishna to Bombay Jayshree, performing on the streets. Now that’d be amazing,” he says.

Kids central
While the grownups do their thing, the kids get to play. Among the several activities planned is a workshop on 3D model making with old Madras photographs (August 19 at DakshinaChitra. Details: 9841777779). Also check out the ‘Walk and make a Madras scrapbook’ event planned for August 23 and the photo walk in the village of Kottur on August 24 (at 6.45 am). But our pick is the heritage walk at Fort St George, which will keep kids engaged with map-reading sessions, word games, art contests and scrapbook making. On August 23, from 9 am. Details: yocee.in@gmail.com.

‘Elite’ women bond over friendship

The third meet of the Elite Women’s Confederation held in the city was a gala affair

 August 9, 2014 in Chennai

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The third meeting of Elite Women’s Confederation (EWC), an entrepreneurial women’s group  comprising around 100 members, was held recently to celebrate Friendship Day.

Members dressed in white, the dress code of the day, were welcomed with colourful friendship bands at Hyatt Regency.

The session began with a talk by Karachi-based speaker Sidra Jafri, who called herself ‘Queen of friendships’, on the value of friendship. She shared valuable tips on making the right friends.

This was followed by games for participants. The members then walked the ramp during a fashion parade that followed. Winners were awarded prizes for both games and fashion show. Saris, party props and beads among other items were sold in the stalls at the venue.

The guests also took to the dance floor. Prizes were given to the best dancers and to the thickest friends, friends with the best compatibility and so on. An elaborate spread was laid out for lunch.

The event had a special contest on Raksha Bandhan — the festival that celebrates bonding between brothers and sisters. Two winners went home with Belgian diamond each, sponsored by Chennai Diamonds.

EWC events offer a series of programmes of learning, sharing and socialising. Guest speeches, trade shows, special events, and gala social get-togethers are organised as part of it. Sumathi Srinivas, founder of the forum, says, ‘We have to uplift ourselves and our womenfolk by values and entrepreneurship, and make it pan India.”

The mission of EWC is ‘to reach a higher stage of happiness, career growth and personality, add value to life, share experiences, spread positivity in every action, and spread values of culture to the next generation through social responsibility’.

Shoot Madras - a photography contest

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  Photographic Society of Madras (PSM) is holding a photography contest as part of the Madras Week celebrations.

CHENNAI: Photographic Society of Madras (PSM) is holding a photography contest as part of the Madras Week celebrations. The contest titled ‘Shoot Madras’ will have a separate section for students.

Participants can send their photographs on the themes including My Madras, Monuments of Madras and Unusual  Madras. Under My Madras, the photos can convey a personal tribute to Chennai — depicting what the city means to them. It can include beaches, towns, eat outs and city life.

The second category, Monuments of Madras, is abpout city’s heritage sites and architectural values of the buildings. The third category, Unusual Madras, is for those who have an eye for the uncommon. This can include anything which one feels is contradicting the usual traditions and customs.

There are six first prizes, each worth Rs 1,000, six second prizes, each worth Rs 750 and six third prizes, each worth Rs 500, besides 18 special mentions to be won at the event. First and second prize winners will also be given complimentary PSM membership till March 31, 2015.

Each participant can send two photos per theme to photomadrasweek14@gmail.com, till August 15.

For more details, log on to www.photomadras.org

An exhibition of prize-winning entries will be open on August 19 (World Photography Day) at Hotel Ambassador Pallava.

Express News Service

 05th August 2014

Hidden Histories :Mambalam's missing links

Running diagonally off the railway track on the West Mambalam side is Lake View Road. Photo: V. Ganesan

We know of a West Mambalam. Where is its eastern counterpart? And what is Lake View Road doing there with no waterbody in sight barring the occasional puddle? The answers to both lie in what was once known as the Mambalam Town Planning Scheme Eastern Section or as we know of it today – T(heyagaroya) Nagar.

Marmalon, Marmalong and Mamelon are some of the names by which this ancient village was known to the British. In the 1640s when Madras was in its infancy, this was a village known for its painters and printers — those who did Kalamkari work and block printing on cloth. The village however, did not come under British rule till 1750 or thereabouts. It was to remain outside the municipal limits of Madras till the 1950s.

Mambalam was separated from Mount Road by the vast Long Tank, an enormous water body. Early in the 20 century, around 70 acres of the lake was acquired by the Corporation of Madras. 

This in 1924, was filled in and together with further land acquired in Puliyur Village and the eastern half of Mambalam altogether totalling 540 acres was made over for developing T Nagar. In the 1930s, the South Indian Railway company laid its track separating T Nagar from what was left of the village, which being to the west, became in effect West Mambalam, a name that still continues to be in use.

 This old area was a contrast to neighbouring T Nagar. Thus the latter had underground drains, parks and broad roads, all absent in Mambalam. The profile of the residents also reflected this – T Nagar had the upper and upper middle classes while Mambalam the lower middle classes.

Running diagonally off the railway track on the West Mambalam side is Lake View Road. It once commanded a fine view of the Long Tank and after its demise, of the Mambalam Tank which was the leftover bit remaining unfilled. This smaller water body regularly flooded the neighbourhood during the rains, its surplus water not having the Long Tank to drain into. Consequently, the entire surrounding area was covered in slush at all times. 

By the 1950s, with Mambalam drains connecting to it, the tank had become a cesspool, a perfect breeding ground for the mosquitoes for which Mambalam became famous. This was around the time that veteran author Ashokamitran moved in as a tenant to this locality. He writes in his book Oru Parvaiyil Chennai Nagaram (Chennai City at a glance) that everyone in the area suffered from elephantiasis with either a swollen arm or a leg, thanks to the mosquitoes.

By the 1960s, the tank was being filled in by dumping garbage. It slowly made way for houses and today there is not a trace of it. After all, building over lakes and then lamenting over water scarcity is a continuing Chennai tradition.

 The road name survived as did the mosquitoes that were honoured with a league cricket team – The Mambalam Mosquitoes!

Sriram The Hindu 1 Aug 2014

Chennai City Chronicler S. Muthiah

 

The pieces of your favourite column, Madras Miscellany, are set to be compiled into a book this month. Bishwanath Ghosh meets the man who has been writing them — without a single week's break — for over 11 years now

Colombo's loss turned out to be Chennai's gain. In 1968, S. Muthiah nearly became a citizen of Sri Lanka when the government fell and the new regime abolished the annual practice of granting ‘distinguished citizenship' to select foreigners who had spent a number of years in the island nation. His file, waiting on the foreign secretary's desk for clearance, went in the bin.

Muthiah, who was 38 then, had spent almost all his life in that country and had risen to occupy the number two position in Times of Ceylon, heading its Sunday paper. Since he had to be a Lankan citizen in order to become the overall editor, he saw no future for himself and decided to leave the island. The fact that he was still a bachelor made it easier for him to pack up.

“When you are young, you are ambitious. You want to run a paper. But without citizenship, I would have remained the number two forever,” says Muthiah, who turned 81 last Wednesday and who, in the last 42 years that he has lived in Chennai, has written, edited and ghosted nearly 30 books about the city. His latest book, A Madras Miscellany – People, Places and Potpourri, is due for release later this month. It's a compilation of the ‘Madras Miscellany' column he has been writing for The Hindu MetroPlus since November 15, 1999 — a column that continues to gently grab the reader by his arm every Monday morning and take him down heritage lane.

Thanks to the column, which made him a household name, Muthiah is commonly referred to as a historian — a title he disapproves of. “I am a chronicler, I am not a historian,” he says, rightly so. Muthiah is only a journalist — this year he completes 60 years in the profession — who has been demystifying history and historical practices for the reader. Even while in Ceylon, where he wrote a sports column, ‘By the Corner Flag', for 13 years, he relentlessly campaigned for taking cricket and rugby out of elitist institutions to the masses. “Today you can see the results. Except Kumar Sangakkara, almost all other players in the Sri Lanka cricket team are from the rural areas,” says Muthiah.

Chennai, by chance

For the Chettinad-born and Colombo-bred Muthiah, Chennai became home quite by chance. His parents were already living in the city when he came down from Sri Lanka and applied for a job in some of the best-known newspapers across the country. He was waiting for a reply when TTK, in collaboration with a German firm, happened to be launching TT Maps in Madras and was looking for a person to head the division. Muthiah grabbed the opportunity so that he could stay on with his parents. One of his first assignments in TT Maps was to bring out a booklet on Madras, and that kindled his interest in the city. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Muthiah's book Madras Discovered, first published in 1981 and subsequently renamed Madras Rediscovered, is considered the last word on the city's heritage. The book, whose seventh edition is due in December, gets thicker with every reprint. “The discoveries are not original; they cannot be original. There is always somebody who already knows — it's just that he does not know the value. For example, when I went looking for the Jewish cemetery after reading about it in the records, I found that it is being looked after by a family from Madras. Obviously, the family did not think this was something that should be publicised or known. And right next to the Jewish cemetery I found a Chinese cemetery, whose existence wasn't even known,” says Muthiah.

Chennai is notorious for neglect of its heritage, and if in the recent years there has been awareness about the need to preserve it, a chunk of the credit goes to Muthiah, ‘Madras Miscellany' and to Madras Musings, the subscription-based, heritage-centric tabloid he has been editing for the last two decades. The sustained campaign for preserving the past earned him an MBE in 2002.

Muthiah is also one of the architects of the Madras Day celebrations that take place now every August — an event that reiterates to the Chennaiite that his city dates back to August 1639 and is therefore modern India's oldest city. He is, however, not very happy with present-day Madras: he finds it “overbuilt, congested and dirty” and would any day prefer to live in Colombo, his first love. “But the big question is: would I like to live in the Colombo of today? The friends I grew up with are all gone,” he says.

Meanwhile, he soldiers on for Chennai. At 81, he is busier than most men half his age, maintaining an eight-hour working day. “Work keeps me going, so does good life. I still love my drink, I still love to gossip,” Muthiah smiles mischievously. “And I have a young energetic wife (she is a company secretary) who makes sure I don't have to worry about anything other than my work.”

After spending most of the day at his desk — ‘Madras Miscellany' is perhaps the only column in the country to be composed on a typewriter — Muthiah arrives at the Madras Club at five in the evening for his daily walk. The walk is invariably followed by a session of gossip with fellow elderly members of the club.

Back home, he has a couple of drinks before dinner. “It's a habit I got from my father,” says Muthiah, “He always had two drinks before dinner and lived up to 97. The only difference is that while he drank only Scotch, I drink only Indian whisky. The best thing about Indian whisky is that no matter what brand you drink, it tastes the same.”

Bishwanath Gosh April 14,2011 The Hindu

History :Spencer’s and the railwayman

It was in this column at the beginning of this year, January 13th in fact, while recalling Alan Turing, ‘the Father of the Computer’, that I mentioned that his maternal grandfather was a railwayman, E.W. Stoney, who had retired to his cottage in Coonoor.

 At that time, I was certain that I had come across the name Stoney somewhere but for the life of me could not remember where. 

Then the other day, while researching a project I’m working on, the name leapt out of the page from a book I was going through,The Spencer Legend — and to think I couldn’t remember the man I had mentioned in that book of mine!

Stoney, I had recorded, was a very good friend of Eugene Oakshott who in 1897 kick-started the growth of Spencer’s by making the proprietary firm a public limited company. 

And the first shareholder of Spencer & Co Ltd was E.W. Stoney, a senior manager with the South Indian Railway. 

How much that connection had to do with Spencer’s being the caterers for the SIR must be 1eft to the gossip-mongers, but it was a relationship that lasted well over 50 years.

How close Stoney’s connection with the Chairman, Eugene Oakshott, was can be gauged from the fact that Stoney was made a member of the Spencer’s Board in 1902 and served on it till 1904. 

Presumably, he had by then retired from the SIR where his service had earned him a CIE (Commander of the Indian Empire).

 He must have bought The Gables in Coonoor around then and watched his grandson run about in the premises.

It would be nice to know what Stoney was in the SIR. Spencer’s records mention him as being a General Manager at a time when an Agent headed the operation.

 A history of the SIR does not mention him at all. But to have got a CIE he must have been very senior in the organisation and an achiever. Maybe I’ll hear about it one of those days from someone in ‘Trichinopoly’ where the SIR was headquartered.

S Muthiah  Metro plus 4 Aug 2014

History :The Landing in Madras

Disembarkation

As the 375th anniversary of the founding of Madras that is Chennai draws near, an oft-asked question keeps cropping up again and again. 

With no safe landing place anywhere on the three-mile long stretch of coast that was the eastern boundary of the sandy spit Venkatadri Nayak granted Francis Day in 1639, why did he accept the grant on behalf of the East India Company, realising full well what the ship-to-shore problems would be, given the rough surf and dangerous swell every landing had to contend with?

 I’ve in years of searching for an answer never been able to find a satisfactory one, but I keep finding descriptions time and again of that ship-to-shore passage. 

The latest I’ve found was a narration by a Maria Graham who travelled in India from 1809 to 1811 and had her recollections of that sojourn published in Edinburgh in 1831 under the titleJournal of a Residence in India.

 Recording her words here is a reminder of how far we have come from the early days of the city.

Stating that a friend who had seen her ship enter Madras Roads had sent out a boat — presumably what was called a masula boat — to bring her ashore (about a mile from where the ship had anchored), she continues, “While I was observing its structure and its rowers, they suddenly set up a song, as they called it but I do not know that I ever heard so wild and plaintive a cry. 

We were getting into the surf: the cockswain now stood up, and with his voice and his foot kept time vehemently, while the men worked their oars backwards, till a violent surf came, struck the boat, and carried it along with a frightful violence; then every oar was plied to prevent the wave from taking us back as it receded, and this was repeated five or six times, the song of the boatmen rising and falling with the waves, till we were dashed high and dry on the beach.

“The boats used for crossing the surf are large and light, made of very thin planks sewed together, with straw in the seams, for caulking would make them too stiff; and the great object is, that they should be flexible, and give to the water like leather, otherwise they would be dashed to pieces.

 Across the very edge of the boat are the bars on which the rowers sit; and two or more men are employed in the bottom of the boat to bail out the water… At one end of the boat is a bench with cushions and a curtain, for passengers, so that they are kept dry while the surf is breaking round the boat.

“We were hardly ashore when we were surrounded by above a hundred Dubashis and servants of all kinds, pushing for employment. The Dubashis undertake to interpret, to buy all you want, to change money, to provide you with servants, tradesmen, and palankeens, and, in short, to do everything that a stranger finds it irksome to do for himself…”

Later during her stay in Madras, Graham visits Mahabalipuram and makes two perceptive observations. She points out that the “head-dress on the gods and principal persons represented in the sculpture rocks at this place, have not the smallest likeness to any used in this part of India, but they extremely resemble those of the countries bordering upon Tartary, and those represented in the cave of Elephanta. The figures of the Brahmins and pilgrims are (on the other hand) precisely as seen every day at present…..”

 Her contention would appear to be that the sculptors came from somewhere in northern India. She then goes on to state something that fellow conservationists like your columnist are saying 200 years later: “I am sorry to observe, that the Madras government has let the rocks of Mahvellipoor by way of stone quarries, and they are digging the stone so near some of the best executed caves, as to threaten them with destruction…” Nothing, it would seem has changed; the biggest threat to heritage would appear to be governments!

S Muthiah  Metro plus 4 Aug 2014