Loving life

Once again, it is "Theme Day" for the City Daily Photo gang, and this month's theme is "Loving life". 

Mountains, or beaches? I'm greedy enough to want both, but it is rather difficult to find the former within Chennai. The beaches, on the other hand, are a favourite spot for Chennai's citizens. The only thing that could be more fun than doing cartwheels on the beach is to end those with a dive into the water.

Just that over the past couple of weeks, with the jallikattu protests and the oil spill, the beach has had a jolt; but it will be back, like it always has!

Seats

The People's Park certainly has a lot of space for people to sit and enjoy the greenery. If you click on the picture (or open it in a separate tab), you will notice a half-kneeling gentleman, bare torso, tiara, twirled moustache and all. That was probably the way they sat in the royal gardens of a long time ago.

And then there is the man in the blue suit, sitting on cushioned chair, appearing to be a person of some importance. (He was that, but more about him in a later post). And then, there is the seat for us, the aam aadmi, the wrought-iron bench that we will have to share with our friends. 

We can also choose to sit on one of the several steps that are found at various spots around the park; best of all, we could sit on the grass of a pleasant afternoon!

Park of labour

Once upon a time, this 14-acre park in Chintadripet was where M/s Burghall & Co., maintained their stables. There are a couple of references about the land being taken over, either by Simpson & Co, for expanding their carriage factory, or by the Corporation of Madras, for creating a park on the land. Of Burghall & Co themselves, little is known. There are a few clues in Robert Baikie's book, The Neilgherries, from which one makes out that Burghall & Co., were in the business of providing transit carriages: horse- or bullock-drawn, as you desire. Burghall's establishment seems to have gone belly-up in the mid-19th century, which was the time this park came into being. 

It is possible that the park's creation was the work of both Simpsons and the Corporation of Madras. Maybe it was one of the first instances of the 'Open Space Reservation' at work. Whatever the genesis, Chintadripet's green lung was opened in 1869 and named after Francis Napier, the 10th Lord Napier, who was then Governor of Madras. Maybe because this park was slightly closer to the Fort than Peoples' Park, which was further northwest, it became a staging ground for meetings that were more political than social. 

If I am correct, it was in 1990 that Napier's Park was renamed as the May Day Park. It is said that the first ever May Day rally in India, led by Singaravelar in 1923, was held near the Marina. Napier's Park is near enough, but there is nothing I have found to suggest it was the venue of Singaravelar's historic rally. The focal point for May Day rallies in these times is the Triumph of Labour statue on the Marina. The May Day park does see its share of gatherings, but it is certainly not primus. Could it be because this space to remember workers' rights is maintained by Simpson & Company?!

Quite amusing

New Delhi is often touted as having had the first amusement park - Appu Ghar - in the country, but Chennai can stake a reasonably valid claim to that fame, too. I shall keep the story of VGP's Golden Beach for another day, but it did give rise to many other such amusement parks in the city. Several of them have gone under, but there are still about three or four which continue to draw in the crowds.

Queen's Land (in whatever way it is spelt, they're themselves not sure of it) is a fairly recent entrant, having opened only in 2004. It has a great first mover advantage in location, being on the NH4 - most of the others are on the East Coast Road. One can see the cable cars from the road a short while before seeing the park's signboard; it is quite tempting to stop the vehicle and get on to a couple of rides - though I don't think too many people do that. Planned visits are more the norm than not.

I've never been to this park, but I have been rather amused by their website, which says "...it is a place really worth spending your valuable time with. Every one will accept the fact being the valuable money that is being spent by our valuable visitors had fetched more value."