Images on the roadside

After having all the hoardings on Chennai's streets removed, the next step for the Corporation of Chennai was to clear posters and graffiti from all the public walls in Chennai. Though the hoardings came down more than 18 months ago, there was a long gap before the next step was implemented (guess the elections had something to do with it). Effective August 1 of this year, all random art and pastings on flyover and subway walls have been banned. The ban also extends to any public walls on Mount Road.

Bringing the hoardings down signalled the end of the huge, originally hand-painted but recently digitally-crafted cinema advertisements which were very much part of Chennai. And now, the bare walls would take away another slice of kitschy art: political graffiti. The limited set of colours used by earlier political artists (colours of the parties flags) had given way to bright, multicoloured works a while ago. It was felt that bare walls would make the stretch of road seem dull, so the Corporation kind of let loose a set of artists on those walls. The first stretch to be done was a stretch near the YMCA, Nandanam.

With a variety of themes - buildings and structures of Tamil Nadu, sculptures and cultural heritage being a few - and a good dose of imaginary imagery thrown in, the paintings seem rather unconnected, if one spends the time to look at them. But for the most part, one is whizzing by in a hurry to get someplace and the overall effect is that a riot of colour is passing one by!

Oscar winner

I guess I'd have to wait for a while if I wanted to put up a picture of the man himself. He may not be the first Indian to win an Oscar, but he's certainly the first from Chennai. And the city had gone to town almost through the whole month of March, feting him at one stage or another.

The cheer has died down a bit, but will surely pick up again once the big budget 'Raavana' he is currently working on is released later this year. That would be his 105th movie; but right from Yodha, his first, A.R.Rahman has captivated millions of his fans. Some look to him for inspiration, like the folks who had put up this hoarding!

Election fever

Okay, the parliamentary elections are still a month away, so the noise and the mess of the campaigns are yet to hit the city. These - what does one call them - decorations (?) came up outside the party headquarters of the DMK when their candidate won a by-election at Madurai a few months ago.

Sure, we can expect more colours lining the roads over the next few weeks - but not too many more. Almost every local party makes do with just five colours - white, black, red, yellow and blue. One would have thought that a new party would choose a contrasting colour, just to differentiate... but no, they just don't seem to want to!

Now where have I seen that before...

Oh yes, I know this is not an original idea. The concept has been around for a while now. I can't remember when this one first came up, but I am sure that the idea for this hoarding came from an ad for some adhesive brand where a car was stuck to a billboard. I used to remember both - the car as well as the adhesive - brands and now I can't recall either! Google has also failed me this time. Does anyone know what I am talking about?

It's okay if you don't because you can then substitute this one. Hindustan Motors manufactures some models of Mitsubishi cars for the Indian market; they also manufacture some earthmoving equipment for Caterpillar. In front of their sales office, they have stuck one of each - a Mitsubishi Cedia and a Caterpillar backhoe loader - on low hoardings. As you drive in to the city from the airport, the car is easily noticed; the Cat is slightly hidden from view and you have to know where to look if you want to see it.

But that still doesn't take away the question... where did I see this before?

PS: Ottayan, Dan, Ravindran, Magiceye, Ram - I've figured out what that 'football' was all about - and I've updated that post!

Beyond the veil

The Church Park has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I have always known that some girls' school was located inside it. Had never tried to find out what it is called - Presentation Convent? St. Ursula's? Sacred Hearts? - until I had to make this post.

Adding to the enigma was the fact that one couldn't get to see the school buildings at all. On the Peters Road side, it was heavily wooded; and all along the Mount Road periphery were these huge movie hoardings that were such an integral part of Chennai. So there it was, a mystery wrapped in an enigma. And it remained that way until early last month, when the hoardings started coming down. The first time I saw the perimeter wall without the hoardings, I was so astounded that I forgot to take pictures!

But now I have the picture. And I'm even more confused, because I see all the names - Presentation Convent, St. Ursula's, Sacred Hearts - and also Church Park, being used. I probably should be overcoming my ignorance of a fact known to every Chennai schoolboy; but now that the enigma layer has been shorn, I must ensure that the mystery is retained. So, even if you know the school name(s), don't tell me!

Overlooking a bridge

At some time, the Kodambakkam bridge was part of schoolboy chants and taunts; the second railway overbridge on the Beach - Tambaram suburban line, it once commanded an uninterrupted view of the Chennai skyline. Some of my friends have told me that, when the LIC building caught fire on July 11, 1975, they could see it burn from the top of the Kodambakkam bridge. And I can imagine that, 30 years ago, the only other tall structure between the bridge and the LIC building would have been the steeple of the Church inside the Loyola College.

Today, one can look down at the Kodambakkam bridge, in a way. While there is no place to stand or walk on the new flyover connecting North Usman Road with Mahalingapuram Main Road, I somehow expected the top of this flyover to be on level - or just slightly taller than the bridge. The photo shows otherwise - or is it just a trick of the eye?

And see those skeletons of the hoardings? Being on private buildings, they are spared the Corporation cutdown - but are they going to remain like this?

New sightings

So what's missing here? Over the past few days, the Corporation of Chennai has been at it, chopping down hoardings and revealing parts of the city that have been hidden for decades. Was too surprised to photograph the missing cinema hoardings in front of the Presentation Convent at Thousand Lights - they have been one of the defining features of the city, and now they're gone! Got this new view, though, at the Spencer's Junction: it used to be hidden by the Amul hoarding, but now Quaid-e-Millat college shows off its green! There are so many other parts where such hidden beauties are coming to light; and there are also many places where the skeletons of the hoardings are now covered with rags and make for a more unsightly skyline than earlier - maybe it does have to get worse before it gets better!