On my mind

If you are a fan of Chennai, this book would be part of your library already. 

If you are a newcomer to the city, this would be a wonderful way to get under the skin of the city that you're now in. A collection of some of the articles about Chennai's past, published as a regular column in The Hindu between 2008 and 2011, this volume will give you perspectives from not just the writers themselves, but also memories of some prominent residents of Madras. 

Read it. And fall in love with the city once again!

Republic day

Sixty-seven years ago, it was on this day that India formally declared itself to be a republic, with the constitution that had been adopted exactly two months before coming into force. The choice of this date is significant; between 1930, when the Indian National Congress 'officially' promulgated India's independence and 1947, when the country was actually granted independence (and Dominion status), January 26 was celebrated as Purna Swaraj Divas. With the Constitution of India coming into effect in 1950, the monarch of Britain ceased to be the Head of State and that power transferred to the President of India. That structure is replicated in each state of the Union of India. Part VI of the Constitution deals with the States, with Article 153 creating the position of Governor and Article 154 invests in him the executive power of the State, with a Council of Ministers to "aid and advise" the Governor. The position is something of an anomaly in that the people of the state have little say in who their Governor should be; a person is appointed to hold that post at the pleasure of the President of India. 

Tamil Nadu has been without a full-time Governor since August 31, 2016; the Governor of Maharashtra holds this position as an additional charge. It is not the first time this has happened, but on both the earlier occasions, it was the Governor of Andhra Pradesh who also played the role of Tamil Nadu's Governor. The first such was when Krishan Kant took charge for 55 days and the next was C. Rangarajan, who had a longer stint of six-and-a-half months. On neither occasion, however, did Tamil Nadu have to deviate from the practice of the Governor taking the salute at the State's Republic Day parade - it came very close to that in 1997, but Krishan Kant handed over charge to Fatima Beevi on January 25, ensuring that protocol was intact. This year has been the first time in Tamil Nadu that the Chief Minister takes the salute. 

What does all this have to do with the picture for the day? Not much, really. Except that I had seen two former Governors of West Bengal at The Hindu's LitForLife a few days ago; that got me thinking about why there has been such tardiness at finding a Governor for Tamil Nadu. Not that I have any answers for it, of course!

Book wall

The Hindu's "LitForLife 2017" kicked off today at the Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Concert Hall. It was quite a full house today, with Dr. Shashi Tharoor on stage; after his session, a large chunk of the crowd followed him outside, to the author pavilion where he was signing copies of his latest book. 

On the way back after getting the autograph, spotted this book wall. Couldn't help thinking it would have been better with people - kids, especially - standing up close and reading these. And then, we saw that there were spaces at the Hall where you could sit down and read, and in fact, swap books for the day. 

That's nice - look forward to being back there tomorrow!

Lobby at leisure

This appears to be the verandah of a summer house, waiting quietly for its inhabitants to saunter through it for lunch in one of the more shaded areas. Not for it the hustle and bustle of people running around in search of - well, whatever it is that they would run in search of. It invites you to sit down, relax and exchange stories about what is going on around the world, and your opinion on those goings-on.

That is what actually goes on behind those heavy wooden doors. There are a few clues out there for you to guess where this is. The picture above the doors: on the left, the original holy cow, Kamadhenu, representing auspiciousness. On the right, the elephant, indicating strength and power. In between the two, grass (for new growth), the lotus (purity and independence), the Indian subcontinent (harking back to the pre-Independence days) and the sun, a source of vital energy. In the centre, the conch reminding everyone that this organisation carries the voice of the people, and is the announcer of vital news.

Yes, this is one of the lobbies in Kasturi Buildings, the home of "The Hindu". In case all those clues were not enough for you to have guessed it, there are portraits of two of the former Managing Directors of Kasturi & Sons: Narasimhan and Kasturi. Maybe it is difficult to be footloose and fancy-free under their stern gaze. In any case, "The Hindu" is not known for its frivolity or frothy reporting - and we are so much the better for it!

Miss me?

Over at the CDP Blogs site, we are celebrating Theme Day today with pictures of what the blogger would miss most about his/her city. The thought of leaving Chennai is too far-fetched for me, and I find it impossible to go further on that road and think about what I would miss about Chennai.

If there has to be something, it would have to be a combination led by this. Early morning on the balcony, with The Hindu and a cup of tea. No, not the filter coffee that everyone thinks all Chennaiites thrive on, and not any other newspaper, for sure. You could argue that The Hindu can be subscribed to anywhere and chai is also available across the world. But nothing can beat the early morning crispness of Chennai; add the chai and The Hindu, and that's an experience utterly unreplicable.

What would the other bloggers miss about their cities? Head over here to find out!

A thought was born

That block of flats along the western border of the Kapaleeshwarar temple tank occupies the space where, in the late 19th century, Diwan Bahadur Raghunatha Rao's house, Krishna Vilasam, had stood. Sometime in Aug-Sep of 1884, seventeen prominent men of south India had met at this house and resolved that a "national movement for political ends" be formed. One of the members present was Alan Octavian Hume, a member of the Theosophical Society. Hume followed up on this resolution at the annual convention of the Theosophical Society in December 1884 and his suggestion of all-India organization to present the cause of Indians found acceptance with Annie Besant, Womesh Chandra Bannerjee and Surendranath Bannerjee. 

December 28-30 of the following year saw the first session of the Indian National Congress, in Bombay. With just 72 delegates, it didn't seem to be big deal. But Hume had covered extensive ground. He had travelled to England and had the proposal of forming the INC cleared by Lord Ripon, then Viceroy of India, and other influential persons. Without those efforts, the organization might have remained one more of the many which had petered out after the initial enthusiasm. 

The first resolution of the INC was moved by G Subrahmania Aiyar, who was then the editor of The Hindu, a delegate from Madras. In the years to follow, other delegates from Madras continued to play important roles in the Congress. In the 1960s, however, the Congress lost ground in Tamil Nadu and has been struggling to regain it here since. This year, the party has slipped across the country; its annual session this year a couple of days ago was a low-key affair.  An idea that was sparked at a Mylapore meeting charted the course of this country for over a century - and will hopefully regain its lustre in the years ahead!

Mount Road Mahavishnu

One of the oldest inhabitants of Mount Road, "The Hindu" really deserves a much longer post than this one. But for now, we'll have to be satisfied with this view of its headquarters: Kasturi Buildings, at 860, Anna Salai. 

This was taken a couple of years ago - the view is now blocked by the construction of the Chennai Metro - so, if you are new to the city, here is a glimpse of what it looked like earlier - it was not always the mess you are seeing now, here!

Words and music

There they are on stage, two of Chennai's favourite sons. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the elder one, is in conversation with T.M. Krishna, a star on the Carnatic music circuit. I can claim to be in the same class as Mr. Gandhi, for he said he knows little about music. (While saying that, he also reminded the audience about MS Subbulakshmi's response when Mahatma Gandhi praised her singing: What does he know about Carnatic music?) As the Mahatma's grandson, Gopalakrishna Gandhi was only being true to his heritage. 

Krishna's heritage, on the other hand, is steeped in the Carnatic music tradition. As one of the younger generation, he has - in my limited understanding - enhanced the tradition by trying to break out of the structures that had become ossified around the art. Of course that has brought him detractors, but it has also endeared him to the younger crowd, even those who might not be able to tell a ragam from a talam. 

What is the singer doing at a lit-fest? Well, primarily because the conversation was around Krishna's latest book, "A Southern Music - The Karnatik Story". Of course it was informative and entertaining - Krishna did a little bit of a lec-dem routine - and the Q&A session was fun. Even though Krishna did address it in a tangential way in the beginning, the question "Why have you narrowed South Indian music to Carnatic music?" did not get a full answer at the end!

A man of many words

Mr. D.Murali is the Deputy Editor of The Hindu Business Line. Given his chosen profession, it is natural that he gets to read a lot and I was prepared for an office with a fair amount of books in it. But what I walked in to was an office where there were a few chairs, a desk and piles of books. They were everywhere - except for the precise area covered by the sweep of the door as it opened. There were a few books under the chairs, too and I'm guessing that there are stacks of them in the covered shelves behind him.

And the books are of all kinds, ranging across accountancy, marketing, technology and some other subjects that seem to have been invented just for the book having to be written. Murali gets - and devours - them all, yet finds time to keep his morning open to meet people over a long conversation. I came across his open diary about a year ago - it seems a good way for anyone to walk into a newspaper's office and talk at length about something that they are passionate about. For Murali, I guess it gives him enough 'deep background' and would certainly keep him updated about diverse topics from a diverse group of people. The lure of a lunch at The Hindu's canteen is too strong to resist!

Back to the books: Murali reads tons of them (literally) every month, writing reviews for those that he has to (as part of his work) or feels like (on his blog). I can't imagine how many he'd be reading, but he says he reviews about 50 books each month, on an average. I'd be happy if I can get through that number over a year's time!

Bringing down the curtains

'The Hindu', Chennai's venerable newspaper, has been bringing an annual week-long theatre festival to the city for four years now. Normally the plays are all in English, but this year's opening was a Korean adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (with English surtitles), probably in acknowledgement of Chennai's large population of Korean expats. The other new feature this year was a play produced by the Fest, in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, which premiered on August 3.

Apart from the plays - which included productions from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and New York - the festival had a symposium on English Theatre in India, as well as a workshop on running a theatre company. Today is the last day of the festival; owing to a variety of reasons, I have not been able to watch even a single performance this year.

I therefore had to be content with going to the Sir Venkatsubba Rao Concert Hall to take pictures of these off-stage props!

It's a letter; it's a train...

...it's a newspaper!

One of the earliest dailies of Madras, The Madras Mail (later The Mail) had a unique position as the evening paper of Chennai. In the days when newspaper distribution was in its infancy, the big-city eveninger could get on to trains out of the city and parade as a morning paper in smaller towns that were an overnight journey away. The Mail did exactly that, riding its reputation as the voice of south India, refusing to take on The Hindu of the morning.

By the late '60s, The Mail was running out of steam, unsure of what it wanted to be. And the Amalgamations Group, which had come to own the paper when they bought Associated Publishers in 1945, seemed to largely ignore it, despite celebrating its centenary in 1968. I like to imagine that the only reason for the building to remain standing is its potential as a jump-off point for the group's entry into media!

The original masthead - replicated on the building - is interesting. Does it show undivided India (including what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh), or is it some other emblem entirely? Has there been an attempt to modify it? Whatever be the case, the paper itself was 'put to bed' in 1981 and hasn't woken up since - probably never will.

PS: Is the scaffolding here from the same lumber yard?

A lot of paper

I like to believe that both the Times of India and I got our launch timing wrong. Their Chennai edition was launched on April 14 - I'm sure they went with the assumption that Tamil New Year is 'always' on the 14th. And unlike this blog, they weren't nimble enough to change the launch date:)

The TOI has been threatening a Chennai edition for a long time; I'm not sure of this, but I believe one was even brought out for a short while before folding up. This time around, Bennett, Coleman & Co. seem to have got it right. This edition will stay.

Was tempted to subscribe to it; the 'Charter Subscriber' offer included a 'certificate showing that you are one of the first to subscribe in Chennai', a thermos flask and a price of Rs.299/- for the first year. A month's supply of the newspaper would weigh about 5 kilos and at a rate of Rs.5 for old newsprint, the subscription pays for itself. Sound reasoning alright, but just didn't get the cheque across to them (wasted a cheque leaf in the process). The quality of content is better than what I remember of the Delhi or Kolkata editions, but not something that makes me want to throw away 'The Hindu'.

Like I said, the TOI seems to have got it right. With a hint of smugness, today's paper tells us that they will set right their distribution; that makes me feel very guilty about depriving early subscribers of their due. I should have told my paperkaaran yesterday (once again) that I do not want the TOI. Will do that today.