City No.26?

The weekend that went by was quite packed. Apart from the Mylapore Festival that I had mentioned a couple of days ago, the weekend also saw the third edition of The Hindu's Lit for Life happening. The festival ended yesterday, but the photo is from Sunday's discussion about what India's Megacities represent to the country's people. Some part of Saturday was given over to the Mylapore Festival, including a wonderful talk on the Devadasis of Madras by Pradeep Chakravarthy (more about that coming up soon elsewhere!). So on Sunday, it had to be the Lit For Life. 

Any thought about the choice having "been made" was a bit premature. The Lit Fest had a few parallel events, and it was difficult having to flip a coin on where to go to. I do think we managed to cover 'all' the good ones... or maybe not.

The other highlight of the weekend was this article in the New York Times, placing Chennai at No.26 on the list of 52 Places to Visit in 2014. There was a lot more that the contributing writer could have written about the city. However, given that the music season is winding down, the Mylapore and literature festivals are done, the Book Fair under way, and hey, Happy Pongal, everyone... there is not much arguing with how she describes Chennai - "A cultural capital"!

East-west connection?

Senegal, on the west coast of Africa, is one of the few African countries that has never had a Coup-d'Etat in its post-colonial history. Over the past 52 years, Senegal has seen peaceful transition of power from one President to the next. In 2012, despite (or maybe because of) the constitution being amended to allow him to contest for a third term, Abdoulaye Wade lost to Macky Sall. 

Senegal has had strong trade connections with India. In fact, India accounts for well over a quarter of Senegal's international trade. Therefore it is not surprising that apart from its embassy in New Delhi, Senegal also has an Honorary Consul in India - and that person is in Chennai. Somehow it is fitting that it is a person running a logistics services firm who has been chosen; Mr. Ashok Thakkar has been Senegal's Honorary Consul for a few years now. 

The next time you are thinking about a trip to west Africa, you know where you need to head to first: McNichol's Road in Chetpet, which is where you will see this sign. Or actually, maybe not. You don't go to the Consul's house on business, you're better off going to his office in Royapuram!

Quiet house

The Tamizh name for the locality of Chetpet does not inspire confidence; "சேத்துபட்டு " sounds more like a marshy area that one would not like to venture into. The more generally accepted origin of that name is that this pleasant - and at one time scenic - stretch along the western bank of the Cooum was a favourite of the Chettiar community. As they prospered in their trading, they began to move out of the busy George Town area into the bucolic environs of the riverside. Chetpet, it is believed, evolved from 'Chettiar Pettai'.

One of the most prominent among those Chetties was T. Namberumal Chetty, the 'master builder' of later 19th-century Madras. It is said that he had at one time 99 bungalows across Madras, most of them in Chetpet; he believed that the 100th would bring him bad luck. More superstitious than him was the mathematician Ramanujan. When Ramanujan got to know that he was moving to Chetpet from Triplicane, his first response was to say that it was to make him go away "சட்டுப் புட்டு" ("chattu-puttu", meaning very briskly).

Ramanujan was convinced that the move to Chetpet would be good for him. Namberumal Chetty put one of his bungalows, named Crynant at his disposal. Again, the cynic in Ramanujan came to the fore: "என்ன அழுமூஞ்சியா இருக்கு! Cry-nant, that is a bad omen" said he. Namberumal moved him to another of his houses, Gometra, a short distance from Crynant, which was where Ramanujan breathed his last. Gometra is also no more. Crynant, in the picture, remains pretty much as it was almost a hundred years ago. The gate post continues to show the name T. Namberumal. Most probably the builder's descendants continue to live in this bungalow!

Six tastes

If a man has been called "அறுசுவை அரசு" (Arusuvai Arasu, meaning the "King of Six Tastes") by the President of India, there has to be something to his cooking. Nataraj Iyer has been at it for over half a century - and recognition from the President had come quite early in that career. It was V.V. Giri who bestowed that title on him sometime in the early '70s. Almost twenty years later, Nataraj Iyer, by then popularly known as 'Arusuvai Natarajan', was named as one of the official caterers to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when R. Venkataraman was the President of India, between 1987 and 1992. 

But you don't have to be the President to taste Arusuvai Natarajan's cooking. All you need to do is to get invited to a wedding that he has contracted to cater for. Being friends with a family that has had Nataraj Iyer cater for all their weddings has ensured I get my share once every few years - and the latest occasion was yesterday. On earlier occasions, I had not got to see the man, but yesterday was special for him as well - he said it was the third generation wedding of the family that he was catering for and he had wanted to be there in person.

The entire ArusuvaiArasu team was present. The food was outstanding. Nataraj Iyer was there, supervising the preparation and the service. He made sure he was leading the service when the groom sat down for breakfast. Not only was he there in the dining area, he was all over the mandapam, making sure that things were going on in clockwork fashion, on occasion even checking on the priest's way of performing a ritual. Of course, nobody - priest or not - was going to argue protocol or process with an eighty-nine year old who has handled over ten thousand such weddings!

Empty station

On the Beach - Tambaram suburban train line, there are some 'important' stations and others which are not so. Chetpet is not one of the important ones - to me it had always seemed to be a station which was placed more to break the monotony of the stretch between Nungambakkam and Egmore than to serve any commercial or even public interest.

Even so, Chetpet station is normally not so empty; it is just that, close to noontime on Sunday, there are just a few people on the platform - and fewer in the train!

Proof of herit-age

In their earlier avatar, Harrison's Hotel did not find any need to advertise their age. When you turned your vehicle into their tree-shaded front yard, you knew that this was an institution with a lot of years behind it. The low round cane tables with their red-and-white-checked tableclothes, circled by cane chairs, out on the verandah of their bar - or was it the restaurant? - proclaimed the elegance of an era that was long-gone even in during the 1980s. Once there, you were transported to some plantation far away from the city. Sadly, even the cuisine was modelled on the spartan aspect of the plantations, so it was truly a 'throwback' place.

No wonder that it was losing out on its clientele in the beginning of the 21st century. So, away went the front yard, and the two-storied structure. In its place came the swank new boutique hotel - Harrisons. Even now there is some debate about what it was called in its pre-renovation days: was it Harrisons, or Meenam (which is one of the restaurants in the new hotel), Queens or O'Papa? All four names seem to have been in use earlier, but today it is unequivocally Harrisons, with the words 'Since 1885' under it.

There does not seem to be any document going all the way back to the 19th century, though. In the lobby of the Harrisons, there is this framed letter dated March 10, 1914, from the then Governor of Madras, Lord Pentland, appointing "Messrs Harrison & Co., to be Caterers and Confectioners in ordinary to His Excellency...". In the new-age lobby, few people bother to even glance at this relic. Those who do might wonder what this has to do with the current avatar - the cursory caption does not really capture the heritage of the institution!

Multicoloured Gods

The last week of Aadi (Jul 15 - Aug 14), and all kinds of rituals are observed at street corner temples, trying to help people get their penances done before the month is over. I can only guess that the combination here is of Parvati and her two sons; no other mix-match seems to work that well!