The Eater's Digest - 12

The Nair Mess at Triplicane is over 60 years old. I am unable to indulge in nostalgia for what it was like, because for the longest time, I was not able to make it there for lunch. I have heard innumerable tales of how crowded it would be at lunchtime, and how the food there was to die for. And then, the place went and renovated itself, so there was now an opportunity for a level playing field. 

Still, it took a bunch of schoolmates to push me to get there. The instructions we were told were very clear. Be there by 12:55 pm. If you can't make it in time, then turn back, go away. Nervous about showing up late, we used the map to guide us. The map showed us where to park and how to walk in. But having parked on Walajah Road, it was not easy to get to the place. The map gave up, but our hunger must have showed on our face, for even before we could ask for directions, we were pointed in the right direction. Schoolmates, for a change, did not taunt us for being just that bit late; they had got in and held two seats for us, as we walked in at 12:58. The place was relatively empty, with only 3 or 4 of the 20-odd tables having diners at them.

In the 3-4 minutes it took us to complete our hellos, every table was full up and there was a crowd of people waiting to be seated. And yet, we never felt rushed. There is not much of a menu; you better know what they can serve you at lunch time and you ask for it. The waiters will remind you of several sides that you might like to order to enjoy the experience to the fullest, but they're happy even if you go for just the simple mutton-meal or fish-meal. We did gorge, and some of my foodie friends reminded me that even if the building has been renovated, the menu and the preparation continues to remain the same: a wonderfully flavoured set of dishes that fills you up, but never lets you feel bloated. That's a grand meal, for sure!

History house

There is a house next to the Parthasarathy Temple at Triplicane which has, by a rough estimate, about 500,000 people pass through it on an annual basis. Actually, most of them go through the front room of the house during the ther (chariot) festival at the temple, because the idol of the deity is taken through this house in to the chariot. While it was once a thatch roof, the front of the house is now properly covered with a concrete roof, thus protecting the devotees much better than before.

This house has not only been associated with religion, but also with the fervour of the freedom struggle. It pre-dates the formation of the Indian National Congress; the house was built in 1877, 8 years before the Congress was founded. The house was built by Thirumalacharya, a descendant of one of the Pradhans of the Mysore Wodeyars. Thirumalacharya was a vakil and probably in that capacity had become close to the Nawab of the Carnatic. The Nawab gifted a set of six carved pillars that even today frame the main corridor of this house.

Thirumalacharya's son was a fan of the Buddha and at his insistence, the house was named Gautamashrama. This plaque in the covered front room of the house is a much later addition, dating to 1984. It proudly proclaims that this is a 'hallowed house', having hosted luminaries like Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Bipin Chandra Pal, as also many others who lived closer to Madras, such as V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, Subramaniam Siva and Subramania Bharati who lived but a few streets away,  Sadly, this house is emptied of its good folk - the current generation has mostly moved away from Triplicane - and may soon be just a page in the book of history!

Chariot at rest

We have read of the Parthasarathy Temple earlier, with its tower in the distance, or about its chariot festival. And we also got to see the chariot's wheels up close. 

So here is the chariot itself, decked out with the thombais and the thoranams, the final touches being put in place by the priests.

I've always felt that, much more than for any chariot festival of other temples, the one at the Triplicane must be special. After all, the deity is Himself a chairoteer, right?

Mutual benefit

We have seen a couple of institutions similar to The Triplicane Permanent Fund Limited earlier - in Mylapore and in Purasawalkam. Those are much older; in fact, the TPFL is still in its 'nervous nineties', having been set up only in 1926. It is not even the oldest in Triplicane; that place would probably go to the SMSO Permanent Nidhi Ltd, which is in its 136th year. And that is much bigger in terms of its book size as well.

The TPFL is a very modest institution - its business volume would have been less than Rs.100 crores in the last year. Though it has only six branches, they are well distributed across the city; and hopefully, they would cover all the existing members of the fund. Intra-city migration would have seen a large number of Triplicane-ites moving to other parts of Chennai, but will continue to remain members of this mutual-benefit society.

And that is also the reason why this firm, despite being headquartered in Triplicane, does not have anyone from that locality in its management team!

Playful pundits

These kids are all dressed up to be a part of the procession reciting the nalayira divya prabandham at the chariot festival of Sri Narasimha Swamy at Triplicane. Once the procession started, it was difficult to spot these kids - they were lost in the fringes as the older men took over the vanguard of the procession.

While they were waiting, the boys were doing what every Indian boy would do. Discuss cricket. Demonstrating the art of bowling. And maybe reciting the vedas while doing so; that is not unusual, at least not for Triplicane's cricketers!

Back gate

This was once the rear entrance to the students hostel of the Presidency College. The main entrance was on the Buckingham Canal, across the canal from the College itself. Of course, at the time this was constructed, the main entrance would have very scenic; open space, with the canal coursing through it. Across the water, the red-brick buildings of the College, with a hint of the beach, and the sea, beyond. 

These days, the Canal is more like a ditch. The MRTS blocks the clear view to the east of the hostel. I haven't tried the access to the hostel from the college, but chances are it is easier for the students to walk around and get in to their rooms through this gate!

Decorating the street

A visit by any VIP of significance will see the area being cleaned up hurriedly by workers of the Corporation of Chennai. Not only does the garbage get swept up under the bins, but the workers go one step further.

Part of their VIP cleaning equipment is a bucket with its bottom punctured with a pattern. Filling it with kolamavu, the worker walks it along the side of the road, dipping it to touch the road every once a while.

So the VIPs go around and see all these clean streets and repeating kolam patterns. If only they get to see the garbage as it is, maybe they will get to see much more intricate and beautiful kolams as well!

Wheels

Jagannath and Parthasarathy are but two manifestations of Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. One of them has given a word to the English lexicon. A word that was used by Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre, and by Robert Louis Stevenson to describe Mr. Hyde trampling over a child. 

There. Even without the clue, you would have guessed by now that I am talking about 'Juggernaut', which came from a description of the chariot of Puri Jagannath, at the wheels of which, it was claimed, Hindus sacrificed themselves. 

These wheels, though, are from the chariot of the Parthasarathy temple at Triplicane. They may not be as big as that of Jagannath; yet, you had better be careful to not get in their way, upon pain of creating a synonym of juggernaut!

King governor

Part of the interest in this foundation stone is the organization itself. The Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS) has been around for such a long time that their head office building considers itself to be in "New Buildings", even though those buildings were opened in 1952. 

The buildings took a little less than three years to come up. The foundation stone, dated 8th December 1949 is interesting for another reason. It was laid by the last monarch of the Gohil dynasty, which ruled Bhavnagar - and it precursor Sekjakpur - since the 12th century CE. 

Though the foundation stone credits his royal title, it was not in that capacity that he was present on this occasion. Though he was the last of his dynasty, Maharaja Raol Shri Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Sahib Gohil, KCSI, had a first to his credit. He was the first Indian Governor of Madras (his predecessor Lt Gen Sir Archibald Edward Nye was the last British governor) - and it was in that capacity that he was here!

Blue board store

Here we have another of the 'blue boards' that were the last word in store signage several decades ago. It is not an enamel board, and it has other colours than just white letters on a blue background. That's probably some of the concession to modernity that Shri Nataraja Stores made when they opened for business. The board has been around for a while; the city's English name is still being used on this one.

There is still a lot of tradition around the board, as befitting an old shop in Triplicane. The mango leaves adorning the board is not something that you would find in the modern trade. And yet, they are not so traditional to have the store opened at the crack of dawn!

Chozha presence

The eastern coastline of India is called the Coromandel Coast, which is the anglicized version of "Chozhamandalam" - the domain of the Chozhas. From their capital at Thanjavur, the Chozha emperors ruled over a territory that at its peak covered all of south India, and most of the east coast up to Bengal. Rajendra Chozhan extended the influence of the Chozhas across the seas, taking over parts of today's Thailand, Cambodia, Lagos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Rajendra's reign extended so far to the north that he was also titled 'Gangaikonda Chozhan', the one who acquired Ganga. It is by that title that he is referred to in this hall - Sree Gangaikondan Mandapam - in Triplicane. The hall is used for recitals, discourses and similar events, mainly associated with the temples in the vicinity. 

But I am a bit confused. The hall seems to be associated strongly with symbols of Vaishnavism, including the images of Garuda at the corners of the roof. Rajendra was the successor of Raja Raja Chozhan, who had had the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur, where Shiva is the main deity, built. That temple was the inspiration for his son to build a similar one at Gangaikonda Chozhapuram, which was also dedicated to Shiva. So, does this mandapam really go back to the Chozha times? Or is there some other Gangaikondan being referred to here?

Memorial to a poet

The Bharathi Ilakkiya Mandram is one of the innumerable groups that celebrate the life and works of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi. Bharathi was one of modern India's greatest poets, a firebrand nationalist who considered prejudices as great an enemy as the British. His poems were therefore as much exhortations against the imperial rule as they were against social practices which marginalized women. 

Born at Ettayapuram, educated at Tirunelveli, widely travelled across India, Bharathi's involvement with the freedom movement was in the company of the more strident nationalists like Tilak and Chidambaram Pillai. That brought the British police on him and he moved to Pondicherry, then under French occupation. He came back to British India in 1918, was arrested and imprisoned. Though he was released within a couple of weeks, he had to sign an undertaking that he would show his works to the DIG of police before publishing them. Obviously, this cramped his style considerably and the stress led to his health breaking down.

His last years were spent in Triplicane. Living in a house near the Parthasarathy temple, he regularly visited there, and got into the habit of feeding Lavanya, the temple elephant. One day, in a spirit of playfulness, Lavanya knocked him down; already frail, this blow was quite debilitating to the poet. He survived for a few more months, house-bound. After he died in 1921, he was never forgotten, but rarely celebrated, either, for a long time. The owners of the house he lived in at Triplicane, were loath to turn it into any kind of memorial. It was only in 1993 that the Bharathi Ilakkiya Mandram succeeded in having the government take over the building and turn it into the Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi Memorial House, making it one more memorial to the poet in his home state.  Among the many pieces of memorabilia here is a two line letter, blessing the opening of the memorial at his birthplace in 1947, from Mahatma Gandhi - written in Tamizh!

Headgear man

It is sunny in Chennai and these fans would come in handy to beat the heat. And you don't have to always fan yourself; they can protect you from the sun as well!

Early schooling

In 1857, Lady Sybilla Harris, wife of Lord Harris, the Governor of Madras, made a donation of £1,500 to start a school exclusively for Muslims. The recipient of this donation was the Church Missions Society; a seemingly odd decision, but it somehow went through initially. However, it ran into rough weather soon. Lord Harris declared the the "...Christian cause shall no longer be kept in the background, but put forth before the people...". That was proof enough of its proselytic intent and several Muslim and Hindu residents petitioned the Secretary of State for India in London, Lord Stanley, asking for the school to be closed.

That petition did not result in any action. The school, named Harris High School for Muslims, continued to function in Triplicane. But the locals went ahead and ostracised the students and their families. A fatwa was issued to excommunicate the school's supporters. Somehow the school struggled on. The arrival of Edward Sell as the school's principal in 1865 probably cooled tempers for a bit. Sell was only 26, but already had a reputation for his Islamic scholarship and was able to steer the school through until 1881, when he stepped down. 

For several years after that, it seemed to be more an issue of egos; the CMS continued to struggle with running the school. It was only in the 1920s that they began thinking about closing it down. It was then that the Muslim Educational Association of South India (MEASI) stepped in and took over the management of the school. The first thing they did was to rename it. Unlike its contemporary in Royapettah, the Muslim Higher Secondary School in Triplicane makes sure it has nothing to remember its founders by!

Chariot procession

Many translations of such events refer to them as "Car" festivals. Yes, it is a vehicle no doubt, but I prefer to translate தேர் as 'chariot' rather than a pedestrian 'car'. This one is part of the Bhramotsavam of Sri Narasimha Swamy at Triplicane's Parthasarathy Swamy Temple. On the seventh day of the Bhramotsavam, the decorated chariot is taken around the streets encircling the temple, pulled by devotees. 

Ahead of the chariot is the phalanx of mamas, in traditional Iyengar garb, reciting verses from the நாலாயிரத் திவ்வியப் பிரபந்தம் (Nalayira divya prabandham, four thousand divine codices). Ahead of them, maamis rush to put the final flourishes on their kolams before the கோஷ்டி reaches their doorstep. 

It is a formidable sight, with the chariot being pulled at what can be considered break-back speed trying to catch up with the chanting crowd, while devotees prostrate before the கோஷ்டி or before the chariot, falling down and getting up at speed, without getting in the way of others. In times gone by, this procession would probably have taken half-a-day, stopping at several points along their short way. Today, it was over in a relative flash, within 90 minutes or so; that must have been a very rapid recitation of the divya prabandham!

From here to the stars

What connection does this school quadrangle - that is what it is, obviously - have to the NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF)? The answer is quite short: Chandra. This is where the Nobel Laureate Subramanyan Chandrasekhar went to a formal school for the first time. Until his father was transferred to Madras (from Lahore), and for a little while after as well, Chandra was privately tutored. It was in 1922 that he was enrolled at the Hindu High School, Triplicane.

The school buildings are just the way they were in Chandra's time. And well before that, too. The buildings were inaugurated in 1898, even though the school, in different forms, had been functioning from much earlier. Chandra finished his schooling in 1925 and then went to college a short distance away - the Presidency College. In those days, college meant 5 years; in the final two years, Chandra "formed a friendship" with a Lalitha Doraiswamy, a college-mate one year his junior. She became his wife in 1936 and remained so throughout her life, being the "central facts" of Chandra's life - something he spoke about in his biographical on the Nobel Prize website. 

In 1998, three years after his passing away, NASA named its AXAF the "Chandra X-ray Observatory" in his honour. And that is how this quadrangle - where generations since have played, and then gone on to shine in their chosen fields - connects with something out there amidst the stars!

In Gandhi's name

Vaithamanithi Mudumbai Kothainayaki was a writer far ahead of her time, but that story will have to keep for another post. She was also one of the few women who were active in the freedom movement. In the 1920s, whenever there was a meeting of the Congress, VaiMuKo, as she was known, would be the one to sing the invocation song, and many other patriotic verses as well. On one such occasion, Mahatma Gandhi was on stage; after the meeting, he told her something to the effect that both "..Mother India and you are shackled; she is in chains, and you, in gold!" That changed her - she swapped her silks for khadi, broke her shackles and became much more active in the freedom movement.

After Gandhiji was cremated, his ashes were mingled with the "waters of India". After that ceremony in Madras, VaiMuKo decided that she would do her bit to preserve his memory. With her good friend Saraswati Bai, she set up the "Mahatmaji Seva Sangam" in March 1948. The Sangam was primarily involved in helping destitute women and children, with the money coming from well wishers, as well as some of the proceeds from VaiMuKo's writings and stage performances of her stories.

In 1953, the Sangam moved to this building on North Tank Street, Triplicane. The facade has the seal of the Sangam, showing Gandhi on his Dandi march. VaiMuKo passed on in 1960, but the Sangam went on for a bit longer and was still plodding along in the new millenium as well. But now, it seems to have become completely inactive, with the building itself showing no sign having been visited by anyone for a long time. VaiMuKo herself has been forgotten, so it should be no surprise that her reverence for Gandhiji is not remembered, either!

SYMA, not summa

The Srinivas Young Men's Association (SYMA) was formed in 1977. The Association appears to be careful about not mentioning the founders names anywhere. The belief is that the idea is more important than the individuals. The idea, of course was that the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So a few good men went ahead and created a forum for them to serve their country and fellow-men, starting with their own locality. 

We can imagine there were at least seven of them, since starting such an organization as theirs needs a minimum of seven signatories. They would certainly have been from Triplicane, for that is where SYMA has its office, and also where a majority of their activities are centred around. Also, the addresses for all seventeen of their current office bearers have the PIN code of 600005, which of course is the one for Triplicane.

Triplicane has always been a bustling, ready-to-take-on-anything kind of area, with a fairly high degree of social awareness. Combine that with the several symbols of spirituality around, and you will find a group of people - even youngsters - who carry out socially useful tasks with fervour. Needing to find a name for their organization, the founders looked to the names of God which could used for their venture.  And since the idea was born at Tirumala, they took one of Vishnu's names, thereby making sure the Young Men of the Association were blessed!

First in co-operation

Frederick Nicholson, Collector of Madras in the late 19th century, had proposed setting up agricultural credit banks to alleviate the problems faced by the farmers. That experiment was successful, and a few years later, the government was attempting to see how that model could be extended to non-agricultural sectors as well. Both these attempts - the agricultural credit banks as well as the extension of such credit facilities to other sectors - were spearheaded by the Madras Presidency, but their impact was across the subcontinent. 

Based on the recommendations of the committee that considered extension of credit societies, The Co-operative Credit Societies Act 1904 was passed in March 1904. Almost as soon as the Act was passed, a group of people in Triplicane registered the first society under that Act. The Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society (TUCS) thus became India's first registered co-operative body. The founders included V.R. Singaravelar and Ambat Sivarama Menon, with VS Srinivasa Sastri taking charge as the first President. 

TUCS continues to be extremely active today. It is run by a Special Officer deputed by the state government, and has over 100,000 individual members. It also has close to 300 institutional members - not including the state government, which is the largest shareholder - and over 50 other co-operative societies as members. Its turnover during the current financial year is expected to cross Rs.200 crores, making it a very decently run organization. The building in the picture is the headquarters of TUCS, inaugurated in 1952. Being the first in the country, TUCS has had a huge role in shaping the progress of the co-operative movement across India - even if that is hidden from many of the citizens!

Eat it up!

I agree, the city is good enough to eat, at times. This one - will it need a lot of preservatives?

Just asking!