Going anywhere!

I think it is fair enough to say that the Asiatic Lion would be about 1,350 km away from this sign. But why would the Wild Water Buffalo (I assume that's the last one on the sign be so much farther away? Even a twisting and turning road+rail route to Manas National Park from Chennai shows up to be only 2,500 km; a crow could cut off much more than 20% of that, as it flies there from Chennai!

The mystery continues with the pictures of the Monitor Lizard and the Mugger, at 900 km away from here. That would put them somewhere in the middle of the border between the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean!

Clear road

Well, this was taken on a Saturday morning, so it is good that there is almost no traffic here.

Greenways Road is usually busy, but even then, traffic is kept moving on this stretch, especially because of the residents here - the judges of the Madras High Court, the General Manager of the State Bank of India, a few ministers... 

None of them seems to be up and about so early!

Shore temple

There are some temples built along the sea coast, but I daresay those on banks of rivers would be more in number. Chennai has a few such, including one that is almost at the mouth of the Cooum. This one is hidden away inside Tholkappiyar Poonga; it appears that there is some arrangement by which worshippers can access it at specific times of the day. 

Angala Parameswari, who is the presiding - and sole - deity here is a kaaval deivam (guardian deity). In this form, the Goddess Parvati had chased down and killed an asura who had taken refuge inside a corpse in a burial ground. Angala Parameswari is therefore depicted with a waist-sash of human bones. 

These days, the Goddess is appeased with a few lemons stabbed on the tines of her trident; and there are at least 5 tridents in front of her sanctum - may those help Her in protecting us all!

One more

As we looked back at the way we had come, we found this fellow in the middle of the path, looking at us. His companion had gone a bit ahead and was already in the shadows. How do I describe seeing two of them? 

Reminded me of an old story about a tailor who wanted to order two units of a special kind of pressing iron called the 'goose'. He wrote out an order for 'two geese'. Reading it, he thought that sounded odd, so he changed it to 'two gooses'. This was odd too. So he wrote a new note: 

"Please send one goose. Thank you! 

P.S. please send another one too."

So yes, I saw two mongooses. Two mongeese a mongoose. And I saw another one, too!

Ripe for picking

I did not think that one would find a cotton plant in Chennai, but the Adyar Poonga surprised me.There was just the one shrub, in flower and showing off a few bolls. Was hugely tempted to pick one, but I'm proud that I managed to resist. 

The genus Gossypium, to which cotton belongs, has over 50 species. That was news to me, because I always thought that cotton was sui generis!

Sit easy

I know of a few people who would be very uncomfortable going anywhere near this bench, let alone sitting on it.

Which group do you fall into? Open the image in a separate window to zoom in to, before you answer!

Quiet paddle

The scientific name of this bird, the Grey Pelican or the Spot-billed Pelican, is Pelecanus philippensis. This is because an early description of the Spot-billed Pelican was based on a specimen captured at Luzon in the Philippines in the 1760s. The name stuck on, despite evidence which showed that even though the species ranged from Iran through the Indian sub-continent on to Indonesia, these pelicans only bred in peninsular India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

The Grey Pelicans don't seem to be bothered by humans. They have large nesting sites close to human habitations and are quite content even inside cities. Chennai has a fairly large population; it is estimated that their population in southern India is increasing, to the extent that the IUCN has changed its Red-Book classification from "Vulnerable" to "Near Threatened".

Of course, with such a lovely environment as you can get at the Adyar Poonga, these birds are bound to be optimistic about their future. Unlike in the Philippines, where this bird, named for the islands, has been locally extinct since the 1960s!

Yogi duck

The Indian Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) is distinguished from its eastern cousin in a rather strange way. Despite being from a communist regime, the Chinese Spot-billed Duck (Anas zonorhyncha) does not have any red colouration on its bill. The Indian fellow, however, has a red path at the base of its bill which clearly distinguishes it from the other one. 

Until 2008 though, both these birds were considered as one species, the Spot-billed Duck. The 'spot' in those days referred to the yellow band which is visible in both species. In some ways it is rather surprising that it took so long for these two birds to be separated out: the powers-that-be of taxonomy are usually prone to changing nomenclature for a different shade of grey. Maybe they missed out the bright red daubed on some bills and not on others.

Or possibly they never saw A. poecilorhyncha do this earlier. Had the ICZN folks seen this duck standing like this, on one leg, they wouldn't have hesitated to add the 'Indian' to its name!

A drain runs through it

The Nandanam Canal is one of the minor storm-water drainways of Chennai city. The total length of these storm-water drains is about 50 km; the Nandanam Canal probably contributes about 2 km to that. In recent years, its length has been slightly truncated because the Chennai Metro diverted a part of it to make way for the underground passage between Saidapet and Nandanam stations. 

We must remember that about a century ago, the entire west side of Mount Road from Anna Flyover to Maraimalai Adigalar Bridge was a large waterbody; so large that the only name they could give it was the "Long Tank". When that was filled up to accommodate Madras' growing need for space, someone forgot to inform the rain Gods of this change of plan. It should therefore be no wonder that the T.Nagar area floods at the slightest of rains. 

This drain is part of a larger system intended to take away some of the floodwaters to the Adyar river. Because they remain dry for the better part of the year, storm-water drains such as these have become filled with effluents and even sewage from residential colonies along their banks.  It certainly cannot be part of anyone's ideal of childhood memories, they way the Nandanam Canal currently is, but it has potential; if only it could be cleaned up, with some spots for children to play along its way, then maybe it will be idyllic, too!

Means, marks

At almost every T-junction in the city, there will be some form of Vinayagar looking out towards the road / path which forms the stem of the T. Someone once told me that it is because having this kind of junction invites trouble / evil eye / whatever coming straight down to the junction of the T and having a powerful deity there will frustrate the evilness barrelling down in a straight line. And who better than Vinayagar, the destroyer of obstacles?

This one is near the Bala Vidya Mandir in Adayar. Most of the 'muchandi Vinayagar's, as the icons at such junctions are called are just an alcove on the wall. This is obviously much more well developed. As I was passing by this morning, I noticed a young lad in his school uniform praying very deeply; apart from being Vinayagar, this is also Ganapathi, the divine amanuensis, so it is good for schoolkids to have Him on their side when they're facing exams. 

But because it was a schoolboy, I mis-read the name of this deity. The red board says it is "Marga Sahaya Vinayagar" or the one who helps you on your path, the means to your end. I was quick to read it as being the students' friend: "Mark-a Sahaya Vinayagar" - the one who helps you get marks! 

Multi-medicine

There is a ministry in the Central Government of India named the Ministry of Ayush. Of the 5 letters in that name, two were not very well known systems of 'alternatlive medicine' in the India of the 1940s. Yoga was esoteric, and homeopathy was a highly niche practice. So, when Vaidya Ratna Captain G.Srinivasamurthy, Professor Dr.C.Dwarakanath, Dr.Y.Suryanarayana Rao, Ayurvedacharya and D.M.Visweswara Sastry got together to set up a common pharmacy store for the country's traditional systems of medicine, they restricted it to Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. 

The idea was to have a centralised facility to manufacture the lehyams, churnams, bhasmams and kashayams required by these systems. Between 1944 (when it was started functioning, on September 12) and today, the IMPCOPS (Indian Medical Practitioners’ Co-operative Pharmacy and Stores Ltd.) has grown almost 50-fold in membership to the 17,000 Registered Medical Practitioners on its books today. Back then, when IMPCOPS set up its manufacturing facility in Adayar, it was away from the main city, in sylvan surroundings. And it continues to stay that way; a long stretch on the LB Road where there was nothing but the IMPCOPS gate set in the wall. 

That was a rather inconspicuous gate until a few years ago. Under its current President Dr. Kannan, the IMPCOPS decided to get a facelift done, starting with its gate. These days, as you drive down LB Road, you cannot miss this structure. And besides this place, there is a factory in Tadepalle in Andhra, and hospitals in multiple locations across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. So the next time you want some 'Indian' medicine, maybe this is the place you should look to!

Eight elephants

This wall, with bas-reliefs of truncated-tusked elephants, is an enduring image of the Theosophical Society's headquarters at Adyar. The elephant seems to be a recurring theme with the TS, at least of late. In their newsletter of December 2015, the TS takes inspiration from the elephant to be "strong and patient at the same time", for the elephant is thoughtful and relies on its patience to accomplish what it needs. That the elephant is long-lived, and a herd animal is a bonus, probably meant to invoke the legacy of the Theosophists. 

It is interesting that when the TS decided to launch its fund-raising drive, for the renovation of the buildings within the headquarters, they named the main renovation site "The Elephants". If you would like to contribute to the cause, you need to head over here!

Royal board

This must have been one of the original signs erected when a part of Madras was renamed Raja Annamalaipuram, after the passing away of the first Raja of Chettinad. That title was given to him by the British, in 1929, in addition to the knighthood that was awarded to him six years earlier.

In gazette notification announcing his knighthood, he is addressed as "Diwan Bahadur Sathappa Chettiar Ramanathan Chettiar Muthiah Chettiar Annamalai Chettiar Avargal, Banker, Madras". Even de-duping the Chettiars in that leaves a lot of letters to be written; replacing the "Diwan Bahadur" with "Raja" helped, but even then, it would have been quite a task to find a board indicating the name of this locality had anyone insisted on the full title! 

Unexpected boating

If you happen to talk about old Madras to someone who was around during the 1960s and 1970s, they would most probably have a story to tell about how they went boating in the Cooum in those days. Heck, I would spin a tale too, about how I used to see the boathouses along the river, with boats tied up, waiting for a good bunch of people to gather before being taken out for a spin. But somehow, I haven't had, or heard, of any boats on the Adyar river.

It has been a very long time since a boat has been seen on any of Chennai's waterways. Looking out from one of the office buildings in MRC Nagar, overlooking the northward curve of the Adyar river, I noticed what seemed to be a right regular ferry service. On the eastern bank, a spit of land almost fords the river. But it still leaves the river too broad (and likely too deep) to walk across, while also being too narrow to contemplate a kind of permanent connecting structure.

The ferry service - more like a skiff, with a couple of planks thrown together and supported by a crossbeam - can handle only 2 or 3 passengers at a time. But hey, the crossing can be done in less than a minute, and so there not going to be many complaints from those waiting!

A path ends

The grounds of the Theosophical Society - Adyar, spread over 250 acres, have very few named roads. Actually there are very few proper roads inside the grounds, for that matter; they are named after the founders or early presidents of the TS-A. So that takes care of the nomenclature for six of the paths, the ones that show up on Google Maps. Getting around the TS-A involves many other paths, the ones that are not paved, the ones that do not show up on the maps.

Here is one such path, running west-east, parallel to the Adyar river, along its southern bank. I am guessing it was called the "River Path" much earlier, and that the addition of "Radha Burnier" was as a tribute to her memory, after she passed away in 2013. She was the seventh President of the Theosophical Society, holding that office for 33 years. Doing so, she edged out the Society's first president, Henry Steel Olcott, who was in office for 32 years between 1875 and 1907. 

In the 141 years it has been around, the TS has had only 8 presidents - the current one, Tim Boyd, began his term in 2014. He is just 53 now, and has a good chance of beating Radha Burnier's record. At this rate, it will be few centuries before all the paths and byways of the TS get their names!

Ghostly view

A few days ago, I had a chance to go to one of the buildings at MRC Nagar, right on the beach. The view of the Bay of Bengal was so amazing that not much conversation happened. Couldn't get away without taking a few pictures.

This one shows the mouth of the Adyar as it meets the Bay of Bengal. If you look closely, you can see the 'broken bridge', jutting out from the Besant Nagar shore of the estuary, hopping a bit into the water and then giving up the attempt to get to the MRC Nagar / Foreshore estate side. 

You may remember having seen this broken bridge on this blog earlier. In the time since that post, I have not been able to get any more information on what this bridge was all about. But since then, the legend about the broken bridge being one of the most haunted spots of Chennai has gained ground; if only it were true, this window will have a ring-side view of the hauntings!

Photo of the year

For a couple of generations to come, 2015 in Chennai will be remembered as the year of the floods. In November 2015, rainfall in Chennai was a shade under 105 cm (42 inches); it narrowly failed to beat the record of 109 cm set in November 1918. But it was enough to set up a wet December; the first two days of the month brought 34.5 cm of rain. To find a similar deluge, you'd have to go back to 1901. On those two days, the city was brought to its knees, officially being declared a disaster zone on the evening of December 2. 

This picture is from 3rd December, after the flood waters had been receding from this street through the day. A broken crate stuck in the middle of the road warns people of an open manhole at that spot. This was one of the less-affected areas of the city. In many of Chennai's suburbs, the waters remain, not finding a way to go out.

So, the city looks forward to 2016 being a 'normal' year. Sunshine for 350 days, and sixteen days of rain being spread out from October to December, helping us forget the wet end to 2015. So, a very happy New Year to everyone - may 2016 give of its best to all of us, getting us closer to our dreams!

Droning away

When we were planning on making a corporate film, the director told us that he would have a surprise for us. Turned out that the surprise was a drone-cam. The radio controlled drone was designed and fabricated by the director himself, with his brother helping out on the electronics bits. It needed two sets of controls; one to fly the drone itself and the other to manipulate the Go-Pro camera that was its payload. 

As in many other parts of the world, Chennai is grappling with issues around regulating drones. There are some basic controls in place; anyone planning to fly a drone must get the equipment cleared by the DGCA. In addition to that, each time one plans to send the drone into the air, the plans have to be cleared by the city police. The uncertainty around getting the permission from the police was the reason for our director saying that he might surprise us - there was no way he could commit to having a drone-cam for the shoot.

It was quite a curiosity and the crew took turns at trying to pilot the drone. After going up a bit - around 15m or so - they found that the signals from a nearby cellphone tower were interfering with the drone's radio controls. There was a danger that it would crash; but as it came down, the controls were re-established and the drone-cam landed safely. And then, the roles were reversed. Rather than the drone-cam focussing on us, we all pulled out our cellphones and cameras and tried to get a good shot of the drone!

Driving school

The back roads of residential Indira Nagar in Adyar are usually traffic-free. They are therefore ideal for those getting on to a two-wheeler for first-time. A nearby driving school takes advantage of its location by having its students ride - or even start off by pushing the two-wheelers along these paths.

All that is nice, but one wishes that the instructor does better than to park his bike right in the middle of the crossroads!

Stop and pray

If you are driving northbound on Gandhi Mandapam Road through Kotturpuram, there is one place you would need to be extra careful. The road is quite neat and well maintained, and the traffic flows along smoothly, so it is usually a pleasant drive. However, just before you reach the bridge across the Adayar, make sure you are alert for a sudden pause. Many of the vehicles, just before they reach the bridge, hit the brakes for the occupants to look left and offer a quick prayer at this temple from inside the vehicle. 

That is the Varasiddhi Vinayagar Temple. It is not of any great antiquity, probably dating back to the 1970s or 1980s - I will not swear to it, though. Over the years, it has been quite popular with the passing motorists. Most of the times, the pause in front of this temple is not obviously noticeable; because of the road from the TNHB flats which comes out to join the main road, traffic does slow you down. It is when the road is clear that the pause and obeisance become most identifiable - and unexpected.

The temple was in the news recently, when the former Chief Minister Jayalalitha returned to Chennai from Bengaluru after being granted bail. Each time that she passes this temple on her way to the airport, she has the habit of stopping across the road and praying to Vinayagar, the remover of obstacles. Late September, on her way to Bengaluru for the court hearing that saw her - unexpectedly - being jailed, she had supposedly broken that habit, even though the police had made arrangements for her to halt and pray there. It is reported that she made amends on her way back!