Orange line starts

There's frentic activity going on at the point where Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai meets Kamaraj Salai. Seeing the boards of the Chennai Metro there, the first thought was that the metro line would be running along the beachline. 

But no. There is some part of the (proposed) yellow line that would run close to the beach for a very short stretch. That is near the existing suburban station of Chennai Beach, and it turns west quite soon. And that has no direct connection with  the work going on here. What is happening here is going to be a terminus of the orange line. From this, the Lighthouse terminus, the orange line would run all the way to Poonamallee Bypass. That is quite a distance, cutting through the city in a east-west line.

It will take a few years, but don't forget you saw this place before the metro station came up here!

Quiet place

I doubt if that is the phrase you would use to describe the vicinity of the Chennai Central railway station. With more than a plentitude of letters in its official name: Puratchi Thalaivar Dr Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, it only follows that even the vicinity would be crowded with people and vehicles jostling to get into or away from a major gateway to the city. 

This must have been a synchroised lull in the arrival and departure of all forms of transport. No editing has been done on this picture, it is the way the scene was. For a few seconds, at least, the spot around Chennai Central was as peaceful as a desert island!

Travel pangs

It is not just armies, but travellers too, who march on their stomachs. There was a time when the choices of food when taking a train out of Chennai Central would be: a) goop from vendor A or b) goop from vendor B. 

I believe goop has disappeared now. And the options have increased. Adyar Ananda Bhavan will itself give you a decent choice of food, and with the biriyani joint above it, one would not want for choice of non-vegetarian fare, either. 

What's your favourite food on a train journey? 

Junked jalopy

Chennai ranks 15th in the list of metropolitan areas by population density. At ~25,500 people per square kilometre, one would think it is impossible to have privacy anywhere in the city.

It is also kind of obvious that any large city will have spaces where, without any official demarcation, junk piles up. Garbage, yes, but also where stuff is just left and forgotten about. 

Chennai does have places where one can sit and contemplate quietly, without any fellow citizen intruding into those thoughts. There are similarly some nooks in the city where you can leave a vehicle to nature's mercies and it will not be noticed by passers-by. This one, right on Mount Road should be impossible to miss; and yet, it is, unless you are walking slowly and peering behind the patchy foliage by the roadside!

Shelter, dark

At six o'clock in the morning, not too many people wanting to take a bus. The shelter at the Saidapet bus stand is a big one and has quite a few bays. But it looks like there is still a lot of time for the crowd to build up! 

Plurality

Well, we know that the Chennai Metro currently operates 2 lines: Green and Blue. We also know that they've been at different places around the city for Phase 2 of the Chennai Metro. That should add another three lines, and 128 stations (to the existing 32) by the end of 2026. 

Even then, it seems to be a bit of a mystery why their headquarters building in Nandanam is named "MetroS". With the last letter being of a larger font size, there must be something more to it than merely thumping their chest about there being many lines. 

Any ideas? Will be glad to have this mystery cleared up!

Going down

On the blue line, going towards the airport, the rakes of the Chennai Metro take it a bit easy as they come out from below ground after the Saidapet station. It does not appear to be a steep gradient to climb, but it is a kind of s-curve, so best be safe in leaping out into the light after coming all the way from Washermanpet through the underground tracks. 

The return journey also seems to be counter-intuitive; one would imagine that the rake would be reluctant to go underground, away from the sun. But these rakes do not lose any discernible speed. They seem quite happy to go underground.

Taken from across the road, early in the morning last week. The divider on Mount Road takes up a lot more space than it should!

 

Time to take-off?

Granted, the only Chennai thing about this is the location. This particular airline was one of the earliest off the blocks when the aviation sector was opened up in 1993; it was one that stayed on for quite a long while, even becoming the largest domestic carrier by passenger volume in 2010. And through the 2010s, it continued to hold on to its full-service philosophy, when the markets boomed with LCCs - the low-cost-carriers trying to squeeze revenue out of everything possible.

Jet Airways' fall to bankruptcy was quite rapid, bringing up once again the old saw about how the easiest way to become a millionaire is to start with a billion and buy an airline. Maybe it was good for them that they were non-operational during the pandemic; but in a cut-throat sector, it might be a big challenge for the airline to come back after a 4-year break. (Has it been only 4-years? It feels like a generation ago!)

Their plans for restarting are not going at the pace they expected; but it would be good to have one more option for the Indian skies - so here is hoping they are able to fly again soon!

Going down, going up

Subway: It was originally a way for pedestrians to get across to the other side of the road, but is now the term for any passage that goes below another. 

The Americans prefer to use underpass - their 'subway' being either the underground train systems, or the sandwich chain!

Protest

All roads leading to and from the Marina Beach were packed with all kinds of traffic. Including a whole lot of pedestrian traffic, all of who were either going to protest, or protesting on their way back.

For the past two days, the protests have continued. The protesters have been at it, without any visible central leadership, or organizing body. Their demand is simple. Un-ban jallikattu, that macho sport of bull-taming, which the Supreme Court of India had banned in 2014. The regional and national political parties have been unsuccessful in convincing the Court to overturn the ban, and have not followed up on seasonal promises to protect the sport through legislation. Hence, the protesters do not want any politician to be seen with them, or to even occupy common ground at the protests.

And those protests have been happening at various places around the city - especially where youth gather: the IT corridor, colleges (and to a much lesser extent, schools), and of course the Marina. Did I say "around the city"? It is around the whole state, and their simple demand is right here, on the back of this autorickshaw!

Shipping line

It is highly unlikely that anyone reading this would get to travel in a train on this line. No, that's not meant as a challenge, for this is not a line meant to carry passenger traffic. It runs inside the Port of Chennai and is meant to carry freight. And that's rather unique, because there are very few railway lines that are operated outside the control of the Indian Railways, and this is one of them. 

Besides railway lines, but the Port of Chennai also has a Terminal Shunting Yard within it. The lines run for 41km within the harbour; there are designated sidings for specific kinds of cargo - apart from those for general dry bulk cargo and a dedicated sidings for container traffic. The tracks run for a few kilometres outside the harbour area as well - without that connect, how could goods ever get out of the port!

A different world

Even a rudimentary knowledge of Indian iconography will be enough to know this is representation of Mahavishnu in his form as Padmanabhaswamy - the one with a lotus growing out of his navel - resting on Anantasesha, the divine serpent. Also in the picture are Hanuman, Lakshmi, Siva, Brahma and Narada. This entire tableau is placed above an entrance on Wall Tax Road. 

With so many deities, you might believe that the entrance is to a place of religious significance. In some senses, that might be true, given our penchant for elevating our heroes to god-like levels; but the reality is that once you go past this, you would be entering the fantasy world of the movies. At least, that is how it was until a few years ago. Last year, the posters announced the advent of a multi-storey residential complex, confirming that the Padmanabha has indeed played out its last show, about 5 years ago.

Padmanabha Theatre began life as the Regal; does this tableau go back to those days, when it was placed to bring good luck, or did it come up after (possibly) a change of ownership and name, with the new owner trying to ensure that the re-branding sticks, with this visual representation? If the latter, it couldn't have been too successful - even today, the MTC bus routes indicate this stage as 'Regal'!

Metro to mofussil

That's a picture of the entrance to the CMBT, taken when passing by on an overhead train track. The "M" in the abbreviation is "Mofussil". A word that I haven't heard used in English very often, but one that gained currency under the British East India Company. A word that I have encountered so often in Madras and Chennai that it could have been Tamizh - and yet, one that unsurprisingly has its origins in Urdu. 

Mofussil originally stood for those areas beyond the administrative ken of the Company, outside the realms of their headquarters in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Somewhere along the way, it gathered connotations of a hayseed provinciality, not compatible with the sophistication of the city. And yet, here is this facility, in the middle of the city, calling itself the "Mofussil" Bus Terminus. 

No, it is not as if the city expanded to swallow up a bus terminus that was once outside its boundaries. The simpler explanation is that this is the destination for anyone coming into the city by bus from its mofussil areas. It doesn't mater that the origin of bus could be another metro city - Benagaluru, for example - but that doesn't matter; anything outside the city is mofussil. And so here we are, looking down to the transport to the wide world outside, from a very in-city mode of transport - the metro!

Pointed connection

That is the end of the Port of Chennai. We have seen this earlier, and I had wondered what connected Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava to the city of Madras. Yes, Lord Dufferin was the Viceroy of India between 1884 and 1888, but during his tenure, there does not seem to be any evident connection that he has to the city of Madras. One can stretch it a bit and say that the founding of the Indian National Congress was partly due to this man - even though it was his predecessor, Lord Ripon, who had okayed the proposal by A.O.Hume and others to set up the INC, Lord Dufferin was under some pressure to be the anti-thesis of Lord Ripon, which he seems to have resisted successfully.

Lord Dufferin had come to the public eye much before his career as a diplomat. He had voyaged to Iceland and written about his travels in a series of letters nominally addressed to his mother; these were published as "Letters from High Latitudes", an early example of the comic travelogue. That book seems to have been quite successful (the most recent edition was in 2006!), being translated into French and German as well. That success did not, however, tempt Lord Dufferin to become an author, though his writing as a diplomat continued to be well regarded.

Now, Dufferin Light in the Port of Chennai has nothing to do with either the book, or with the Viceroy - directly. India's first naval training ship, was called the RMIS Dufferin; over 2200 officers were trained on the ship, including the Indian Navy's first Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ramdas Katari (Roll No.1, and a man with other Chennai connects, which shall be explored later). Apart from the naval officers, the Dufferin also trained cadets of the merchant navy and many of them were worked in the country's ports. It was as a tribute to their alma mater (and maybe around the time of the decommissioning of the TS Dufferin, in 1972) that they named this the Dufferin Light!

Train service

The Chennai Metro was inaugurated in June 2015; in the first few months, it was treated more as a fun ride rather than a regular mode of commute. Just when things were settling down came the heavy rains of December; the Chennai Metro came into its own, as the quickest way for people to get to the inter-city bus terminus at Koyambedu. Running high above the flood waters, the Metro's trains were indeed a lifeline for the many who went back to their hometowns, and other cities, to get away from the rain waters.

There were problems - the trains are meant to carry a little over 1200 passengers at one go - and there were about four times that many at the stations during the peak rains. The Chennai Metro did its best to dynamically alter the schedules to accommodate as many as they could. Apart from that, the spike in traffic helped the Chennai Metro figure out how their systems could take the stress.

This picture is from way before the waters, at a time when the Metro was new enough for everyone to be posing in front of its train-sets. At least the selfie-taking couple is wise enough to stay on the right side of the yellow line, unlike the hero who is trying to channel some kind of superhero!

Moored

In the days of the British, a trip to Andamans was usually a one-way ticket to the dreaded Kala-pani, the cellular jail at Port Blair. These days, the dread is reserved for the mode of transport, not the point of arrival. The Andaman & Nicobar Administration (with a well named website - and.nic.in) determines the schedules for the three ships that connect Port Blair with 3 points of mainland India: Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. Those ships are MV Swaraj Deep, MV Campbell Bay and MV Nancowry. 

Of these, the Nancowry works the hardest. Swaraj Deep and Campbell Bay run two round-trips a month, the former alternating between Kolkata and Chennai and the latter running exclusively to Chennai. The task of connecting all three of these mainland ports to Port Blair is left to the Nancowry. The ship takes three days to run from Port Blair to Chennai and then has to spend four days catching its breath. It was in the dock yesterday, having arrived on Thursday. 

If there is anything that really put you off the idea of a sea-voyage, it is the sight of this rust-bucket. The Nancowry was built in 1992, which makes it close to the average age at which a passenger ship is decommissioned. Surely, no one will shed any tears at this rust-bucket's retirement!

Cycling along

Chennai is home to one of the largest producers of bicycles in the country. TI Cycles, part of the Murugappa Group, owns and manufactures some of the biggest cycle brands in India, including Hercules, BSA and Montra. Between them, these brands cover most kinds of bicycles available on the roads today: the stodgy old-world cycle (being pedalled by the man in the picture), the lightweight sporty cycles that the BSA has been known for and the 'specials' - the mountain, road or hybrid bikes, of which the Montra brand is a part.

In the past few years, cycling in Chennai has changed considerably. On a weekend morning, it is quite common to spot a couple of hundred cyclists breezing away along the ECR or along the Marina. They are still a novelty, for the vast majority of the city's cyclists are those who do it for their regular commute, rather than fitness enthusiasts or hobbyists. But the latter groups have been growing exponentially, to the stage where an entrepreneur spotted a niche business.

It is entirely appropriate that Ciclo Cafe should come up on Gandhi Mandapam Road, for the western side of the road hosts a lot of properties belonging to the Murugappa Group. That road is a quiet, leafy stretch and is one of the roads taking you towards the ECR. On their way back, it would certainly tempt those cyclists to stop and un-famish themselves after their long ride. Oh, you thought the bicycle theme was restricted to the man on the cycle? Look closer. The building behind, touted as India's first cycling themed cafe, opened a few months ago and has caught the city's imagination big-time!

Today is 'Theme Day' for the City Daily Photo bloggers. Head over to http://cdpbthemeday.blogspot.in/ to see bicycles from all over the world!

Stopped in its tracks

In the 19th century, many of the companies operating in India were incorporated in London. It was therefore quite easy for Messers Hutchinson & Co to set up a firm in London to offer services to the people of Madras. Hutchinson's idea was to run electric trams, since there seemed to be a high level of acceptance for horse-drawn trams in the city. And so, in 1892, the Madras Tramways Company was floated on the London Stock Exchange with a capital of £100,000. It took them three years to build the first section of the tramway and it was on May 7, 1895 that the first electric tram started running in the city. But that was the formal launch, for the trams had been making sorties in the pervious weeks, and the public was encouraged to hop on for free rides. In the week before the formal inauguration, pamphlets were distributed, reminding them that they would have to pay for rides at the rate of 6 pies a mile. 

That was not very profitable for the company, and in 1900, M/s Hutchinson sold Madras Tramways Company to The Electric Construction Company (also based in England). Maybe they were also unable to run it well, for we find that in 1904, a new company has been formed to take over the tramways of Madras. That was The Madras Electric Tramways Limited - and they seemed to have either found the secret to profitability or very deep pockets, for they went on an spree of extending the tramlines; 1905, 1911 and 1919 saw new lines being added, and the company was running trams over 16-plus miles, 11 of them double-tracked. But eventually, after the II World War, the company had intractable labour disputes, which went on and on, eventually forcing them to wind up operations on April 11, 1953. They hoped to re-commence, but in the late 1950s, most of the tram-tracks in the city were removed and the trams have never since run in the city. 

With the company owning 110 tramcars at its peak, they needed sheds to be parked in. The main such tramshed was on Poonamallee High Road, at what today is Periyar Thidal, near the office of the Dina Thanthi. The other major shed was on Radhakrishnan Salai, and you can see the shed in this picture. It is today part of the TANGEDCO's facilities. The only city in India where trams continue to run (at least, I think they still do) is Kolkata. But the trams of Calcutta started only in 1902 - seven years after the service in Madras. And that is one of the lesser known 'firsts' that the city of Chennai holds - the first tram services anywhere in India!

Driving school

The back roads of residential Indira Nagar in Adyar are usually traffic-free. They are therefore ideal for those getting on to a two-wheeler for first-time. A nearby driving school takes advantage of its location by having its students ride - or even start off by pushing the two-wheelers along these paths.

All that is nice, but one wishes that the instructor does better than to park his bike right in the middle of the crossroads!

Back!

The 'Muscleman' is certainly one of the icons of Madras. And after a week away, it is nice to be welcomed back by the city's icons!