Buzzin' around

The Beehive Foundry was named very appropriately, by all accounts. It supposedly employed between 500 and 600 workmen even during the lean season and the "activity which prevails in a hive of bees is not excelled by the industry which is manifested by the large staff of employees of this company". Contractors to shipping companies, the railways and large builders among others, the Beehive Foundry was set up in this building, which housed Oakes & Co., arguably Madras' first department store. The Beehive Foundry was Oakes' foray into engineering and it grew to be quite successful, with the works going completely electric (from the original steam power) in 1914, subsequent upon their being awarded the contract to outfit the hospital ship Madras that year. 

Suryanarayana Rao, the scion of a Vijayawada-based business family set up business for himself in 1907. His friend C.A.Chettiar joined him a few years later, and the two of them ventured into the steel foundry and fabrication business. It is quite likely that they took over the Beehive Foundry soon after and the group came to be known as the Beehive Kowtha Group.

The foundry has moved to Vijayawada. But the Group continues to have fabrication shops in Chennai, as well as Hyderabad and Vijayawada; and its corporate office stays on at this address: Beehive Buildings, 57, Broadway, Chennai 600108!

Bare tower

Less than a generation ago, Velachery was an ignored outpost of Madras, a temple suburb that was poorly connected with the rest of the city. Velachery - the name is supposedly a corruption of the original Vedashreni (the abode of the Vedas) - has two temples that go back several hundred years. And they used to be the major reason for people to go to that part of the city. 

Now, Velachery is the hub of the new-economy; the temples have been largely forgotten. Not because of anything else, but it is just that the population of Velachery has grown exponentially in the last few years and the newcomers have not had the time or the inclination to think about the heritage of their new hometown. But not all is lost. The temples have been sprucing themselves up, in anticipation of new visitors.

One such spruce-up project was probably this gopuram. I am not sure if the Sree Dhandeeswarar Koil had a gopuram here earlier, but this one is surely of very recent origin. Unlike the normal colourful gopurams, this one seems to remain bare - or has it been painted over since I last saw it?!

Ship ahoy!

That's what the lookout should be shouting from his perch high above the waterline. But what would the poor chap do when the mast is barely above sea level, with the rest of his ship settled on the ocean's floor? The 'Madras Roads' had always been notoriously tricky to navigate, but surely not so treacherous as to sink ships?

I had thought there were only two ships that had floundered on the ChennaiMadras coast in recent times. The one at the mouth of the Cooum is a hazy memory of stories heard. It ran aground sometime in the late 1960s, but I have not been able to find much evidence of that disaster. The other one I know of is more recent, when a ship ran into the Tiruvottiyur shore in 1994. It remained there, stuck to the shore and I would see it everyday on my way to work. I remember that the locals treated it as a picnic spot; the evenings would see sharbath and cotton-candy sellers do brisk business with the crowds that would turn up to see the big ship up close. (I had had a picture taken there as well. Wonder where that is, now!)

But this was a new one. It was only last week that I learnt that there was a sunken ship just outside the Madras Harbour. All that I have got to know about it is that it was called 'Seven Seas' - or it belonged to a company so named - and that it sank sometime in the mid-1980s. Its mast still shows above the waters, forming a nice perch for the brown-headed gulls (or were they the bridled terns?) to rest between their sorties!

Stopped press

It looks like what it is. The signboard of a business that has seen vastly better times, but is now faded, rusting in its own history. "Appar Achchagam" it says, with the preceding words having faded completely away. It may not be much to look at, but it had its day about half-a-century ago.

Appar Achchagam, on Broadway, was the printing arm of the Saiva Siddhantha Works Publishing Society, which was run by Va. Thiruvarangam Pillai, who was a big fan of Maraimalai Adigalar. (Maybe the biggest fan - he married Neelambigai, the Adigalar's daughter). He had been instrumental in bringing Adigalar to Ceylon, and the SSWP Society had published every one of the Adigalar's books. Upon his death, Adigalar bequeathed is collection of over 4000 Tamizh books to the SSWP Society, which, in 1958, opened the Maraimalai Adigal Library on Linghi Chetty Street. Building on that initial corpus, the Library grew to over 35,000 rare books, journals and manuscripts over the next 50 years. Unable to house them, or to maintain the Library itself, the Society turned the entire collection over to the Connemara Library. 

Today, the Society seems to have gone under completely. A handwritten sheet, under this sign, calls on them to deliver vacant possession of the premises by order of the High Court. The heritage of the Adigalar, revered as the father of 'pure Tamizh', seems to have been completely institutionalized, now!

Bull elephant

At the corner just after the lighthouse on Kamaraj Salai, you will find this sculpture. It is quite an interesting work, if you pay attention to it. It has been crafted in the style of the ancient Chola sculptors - as seen at Darasuram, near Kumbakonam. Or is it after the Chalukyas, as seen at the Badami caves? 

If you go to the Airavateswara temple at Darasuram, you can see a similar interpretation, but as a bas-relief work. It is in bas-relief at Badami, as well. Both of them show a similar elephant-bull combination. If you look at this sculpture from the left, you will see the bull raising its head; move to the right and you can see the elephant unfurling its trunk.

This work follows the Darasuram/Badami tradition in another way - there is no indication of what this is all about. The pedestal seems to have kept a place for a description or a dedication or whatever. Only that it still remains empty. Go ahead, fill it with your imagination!

Peoplewatching

In March every year, the Sri Bhaktavatsala Perumal temple at Thriruninravur conducts its Brahmotsavam. It was coincidental that a bunch of us from the Chennai Photowalk landed up there that day. As we got into one of the roads near the temple, we realised we were just ahead of the palanquin carrying the deity in a ceremonial procession. 

The palanquin would pause on its journey, allowing folks from the nearby houses to come out and make their offerings to the deity. The priests also pause, a little distance away, waiting for the next move. 

For today's 'Theme Day' post; just a few days ago, I had gone ahead with another picture showing 'People Watching' just a few days ago.... so here is one of the 'Priests Watching'!

The theme today for the City Daily Photo group bunch is 'People Watching'. For more pictures of people watching around the world, head over to their Facebook page!

Proud employer

Imagine you are the foremost mathematician of your time, living in Cambridge, England. Imagine you get a letter from Madras, postmarked January 16, 1913, which starts off,

"Dear Sir, 

I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department of the Port Trust Office at Madras on a salary of only £20 per annum. I am now about 23 years of age. I have had no University education but I have undergone the ordinary school course...."

What would you do?

G.H. Hardy was intrigued by the letter and the 9 pages of theorems appended with it. Some were familiar, many were not. At the end of it, Hardy concludes, "They must be true because, if they were not true, no one would have the imagination to invent them". Thus began a great collaboration in the world of mathematics, one that has been described several times over (most brilliantly by Robert Kanigel in 'The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan'). 

Ramanujan was encouraged to write that letter by Sir Francis Spring, the Chairman of the Madras Port Trust and S. Narayana Iyer, the Chief Accountant. That they had taken such an interest in the non-official activities of a Class III Grade IV clerk was because that post was a sinecure, procured by the efforts of R. Ramachandra Rao, the district collector of Nellore and secretary of the Indian Mathematical Society. Ramanujan had been introduced to Ramachandra Rao in 1910 and had requested Rao for "leisure" to work on his mathematics. Rao arranged to bear his expenses, at the same time looking out for a more stable arrangement.

That arrangement was worked out in early 1912. Ramanujan joined the Madras Port Trust on March 1 that year. His tenure at the Port Trust was short; but it was the only formal employment he ever had. So it is that this bust is placed in the foyer of the Port Trust's Conference Hall - a proud employer honouring its most famous employee!

Eye-catching

It is certainly not a very 'descript' building. Like hundreds of others in Chennai, this one too is a just a regularly shaped block of concrete. Being right across the road from the LIC Building on Mount Road, it would have been completely ignored, had it not been for the arresting geometrical pattern on its facade. 

For a few years, that pattern made sure the DBS Bank faced up to its taller neighbour across the road. It could have become an instantly recognisable landmark itself, but apart from the facade, there was little else of interest in the building. One was startled, but one moved on. 

This picture was taken a couple of years ago. Today, you will not be able to get this view. And once the Chennai Metro comes up, those across the street will probably no longer have their eyes jerked towards this colourful structure!

South-west sentinel

That is how this statue, at the south-west corner of the Madras High Court campus, was described by a Judge of the Madras High Court. Like its counterpart at the north-east corner (that of Rajaji), this statue too honours a barrister who gave up his practice to participate in the freedom struggle. The road this statute looks on to, known earlier as Broadway, was renamed in his honour as "Prakasam Salai".

It was not because Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu lived on Broadway. It was on that road, in 1928 that a black flag demonstration was being held against the visiting Simon Commission. A nervous police force watched the demonstration gathering strength as they marched south on Broadway; finally, when it reached the China Bazaar junction of the Esplanade (what is now NSC Bose Road), the police opened fire. The shots sent the crowd back - except Parthasarathy, one of the demonstrators, who had been killed by the bullets. His body lay at the junction. The police swore to shoot anyone who approached the body. Enraged by that attitude, it was Prakasam, who ripped open his shirt and, daring the policemen to target his chest, walked up to lift Parthasarathy's body and continue on the march. It was this courage which brought him the sobriquet "Andhra Kesari" (the Lion of Andhra). The courage was demonstrated again when, heedless of his personal safety, he visited the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1948 to convince him to join the Indian Union, at a time when the Razakars were out to get him.

The plaque on the statue also calls him 'Andhra Kesari'. That he was the Premier of the Madras Presidency (1946-47) is mentioned in much smaller letters. This sentinel can be better cared for, surely!

Sugarcane saint

As temples go, this doesn't look like much. After having been neglected for a couple of decades, the Pattinathar Thirukkoil at Tiruvottiyur has had some clean up done around it in the last year or so. After all, what is a few years here and there when we are talking about a legend that has been in the making for over five hundred years?

A native of Kaviripoompattinam, Thiruvenkadar was a leading merchant of his time. Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and advised him to adopt Marudavanar; it was much later that Thiruvenkadar learnt that Marudavanar was the Lord Himself. After one of his apprenticeship trading trips, Marudavanar disappeared, leaving behind a box of his 'earnings' from the trip. Thiruvenkadar opened the box to find cowdung, husk and an 'olai' (ஓலை) with the phrase "not even an eyeless needle will accompany the soul on its last journey". Realising it was a message from Shiva, Thiruvenkadar renounced his material comforts and turned an ascetic, travelling to various parts of the land, going as far north as Kailas before heading back to south India. No longer Thiruvenkadar, he was now known as Pattinathar - the man from Pattinam. During these journeys, Pattinathar had a vision of Lord Shiva telling him that he would gain salvation at a spot where sugarcane tastes sweet. It was finally at Tiruvottiyur that he came across "pei karumbu" (பேய் கரும்பு) - wild sugarcane that nobody would touch, for it was viciously bitter. Pattinathar however found it sweet; and it was here that he attained samadhi. 

The ascetic's temple is also spartan. Though there are the routine pujas and festivals, it is believed that Pattinathar rejects pomp, and anything more than simple offerings or prayers would result in a negative reaction!

Mill Hill Church

I don't think that's really true, calling this a "Mill Hill Church". Although it was the Mill Hill Missionaries who took charge of the parishes of Nungambakkam and Vepery sometime in the early 20th century, their hold on it remained only for about 20 years or so. In 1930, the control of these parishes was passed on to the Padroado Portugues do Oriente  (the protection of the King of Portugal). 

St Teresa's Church, which is the one being discussed, stands on Nungambakkam High Road. It is said this was originally a small chapel within the Bishop of Madras' house and that it began to grow only after the Mill Hill-ers took charge. The chapel was elevated to the level of a parish church in 1912 (and a centenary celebration is called for?) and has continued its growth since.

The Mill Hill-ers handed over the church to the Padroado in 1930. By that time, however, the Padroado was itself in the wane, what with the Padroado Real having given way to the Padroado Portugues do Oriente. The last vestiges of the Padroado disappeared in 1999 when Macau was handed over to China; but in Nungambakkam, this church (and the parish) was moved to the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore sometime in the 1950s itself!

Urban renewal

There was a time when Chennai had a green lung along one side of Mount Road. Most of the eastern boundary between the Cenotaph Road and Chamiers Road junctions was taken up by the Poultry Research Station (PRS) of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS). The PRS campus had a few scattered buildings amidst the greenery on its nine-acre campus. The rest of the space was taken up by raintrees, gulmohurs, neem trees and a thick spread of underbrush all around. 

It was a space where herds of chital roamed. Where rat snakes played a daily game of slithering away from a family of mongoose. Where koels, flycatchers, kingfishers, mynahs, woodpeckers and at least 25 other species of birds built nests for generations. Almost all of them have disappeared over the past couple of years, after the land was turned over to the Chennai Metro Rail for its headquarters. 

Once, poultry breeds like the Nandanam Chicken and the Nandanam Broiler were developed here, for use by breeders all over the state (if not all over the country). Now steel rods are being shaped into frames for spans that will carry the metro rail over many parts of the city. Truly a case of urban renewal! 

Doll building?

It is not often that government offices or buildings bring up nostalgic memories of childhood. But Kuralagam is one such. Children of the 1970s might remember this as the go-to place for golu dolls and by all accounts, it continues to host the annual doll sale that might attract kids to visit it even in this day and age. 

In an area of Chennai that is filled several buildings that are over a hundred years old, this one is a kid itself. A little over 40 years old, Kuralagam (a rough translation would be "the essence of the kural) was built to house several government departments that were being crammed into the Chepauk offices. These included the Commercial Taxes Department, the Commissionerate of Handlooms and Textiles, and the Khadi and Village Industries Board. The last named continues its practice of putting up golu dolls for display during the Navaratri season.

Those dolls were the big reason for children to go to Kuralagam - and maybe to imagine government offices as being colourful places. What with flavoured milk from the Aavin counter in the building, you can't fault a kid for thinking this must be one of the "Best Places to Work"!

Anachronism

Everything about this board is from another era, starting with the white-on-blue lettering. It has been at least sixteen years since the city's name was officially changed from 'Madras' to 'Chennai', but this board still has not been updated. 

It has been even longer - I forget when, but I'm willing to bet that it was at least twenty years ago - that the telephone numbers in the city were moved to seven digits. Maybe nobody has tried calling them for a while. 

But somebody did tell them that their address had to be changed. Mount Road - on which this shop stands - was renamed Anna Salai sometime in the early 1970s; with that clue, we can conclude this has't yet gone into the 'antique' category, but remains merely at the 'classic' stage!

Lawyer's Chamber

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? One possible answer to that could be "All of them". Have been trying to find out how many lawyers practice in Chennai, but that seems to be something even the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu is having a hard time estimating. 

The streets around the Madras High Court are festooned with boards naming advocates and their services. Given the scarcity of real estate in the streets of George Town, it is understandable that their offices are usually one-room affairs, where even a loophole will find it difficult to twist  itself. 

In the midst of such cramped settings, the law office of Advocate A. Nagarajan seems to be luxurious. With a cafeteria attached, his clients would also find waiting more pleasant!

Madras Day!

Much of the last 373 years, since Francis Day and Andrew Cogan received their firman, has been forgotten. But there is much that is remembered. Passing on those memories from the earliest days of Madras to the citizens of today's Chennai is something that V. Sriram does with panache. And when it comes to the Madras Day heritage walks, he is in his element, weaving one story into another, conjuring up images of the early days of the city all the while. 

The Madras Day celebrations are now eight years old. A tribute to this city's founding day, begun by Mr. S.Muthiah, Vincent D'Souza and Sashi Nair now covers many events, spread out across two weeks. While the celebrations get bigger and better with each passing year, there are still several folks who remain incurious - and incredulous about this city. 

The best cure - one of these walks! If you've missed them this year, they'll be back in 2013!!

Forgotten pedestal

Few people know why Cenotaph Road is called so; fewer still would have had the patience to figure out where the components of the cenotaph are located today. 

The original cupola, housing the statue of the 1st Marquess Cornwallis, remains untraceable. It's last shelter is now outside, on the grounds of the Fort St George, while the statue itself frowns imperiously on the visitors entering the Fort Museum. The base of the statue has this description of why it was erected. Maybe it is still not in tune with the wishes of Chennai's citizens, but Cenotaph Road has been spared the spate of renaming that the city's roads have been subjected to... and has remained the same for over 211 years, now!

Happy New Year!

Ah, well. Today's 'Theme Day' is the best photo from 2011; I've posted so few during the last year that it was rather difficult to find the 'best' one.... so here's one, unpublished.

Taken during the lead-up to Thiruvonam, in October, the pookalam (a kind of courtyard decoration, created with thickly packed flower petals) serves to welcome the King Mahabali, on the day when he makes his annual visit to the kingdom he ruled over. 

And this picture welcomes the new year - may it be like the reign of the good King Mahabali.... 

Maaveli naadu vaneedum kaalam

Manushyarellarum onnupole

Amodhathodu vasikkum kaalam

Apathangarkkum ottilla thaanum

When Maaveli was ruling the land, 

All the people were treated equal

And people lived joyful and merry

Free from even the lightest of threats

Here's to a wonderful 2012, folks!

Doll display

It coming close to the end of Navaratri; almost all over India, the 9-day worship of the mother Goddess in her various manifestations follows a similar pattern. But it is only in the southern states that the 9-step (or 7-step) display of dolls becomes a prominent feature of this festival. 


Here's a golu from the Kapaleeshwarar temple at Mylapore. Don't fret if you did not see it there yesterday; this picture is from last year's celebrations!

141, now

Today is one of the few 'National Holidays' in the country. This year, Gandhiji's birth anniversary falling on a Sunday ruled out one of the 'definite' holidays from the calendar. And I didn't get to see Richard Attenborough's Gandhi this year.... maybe Munnabhai's Gandhi made an appearance? 

But then, thanks to Anna Hazare and many others, the Mahatma has been more in the news this year than in most recent years. Maybe it is time to, as an old advertisement said, "...discover the Gandhi in yourself"! 

Mystery object

Ah, the greater mystery is about why I got out of the blogging habit for quite a while now. Doesn't matter. Another 1st-of-the-month, another 'Theme Day', another resolution.


This month, the theme for the City Daily Photo community is "Mystery Object". I had a couple of excellent candidates for that, but unfortunately, I had used them before, here and here; so now I've had to rummage through a jumble of images to come up with this one.


All I can tell you is that it is on top of the Thirusoolam hill. What was it used for? I'm not sure, but I guess it was   just a shaded rest / lookout point.... like the chattris on some forts in north-western India. I do hope some of the readers will be able to throw more light on this!


To see other mystery objects, from many other cities around the world, get over to the City Daily Photo portal. You may click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Under (re)construction

This is not a new building, for sure. The Bharat Insurance Building has been around for as long as I can remember. In fact, it has been around for so long that it is not being used anymore. But do you see those towers in the background, with scaffolding around them? 

That's because they belong to a much, much older era. They were part of the Kardyl Building, which was inaugurated in 1897. In the course of their long life, they have weathered much, but the sheer neglect of the past fifteen years or so pushed them to the brink of ruin. In August 2006, the Madras High Court restrained the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the current owners of the building from "demolition or change in character" of the building, thanks to the efforts of Chennai's minuscule but valiant heritage lobby. Since then, an agreement appears to have been arrived at. There is some restoration activity going on at this building. One hopes that it will go back to the bubbling spirit it had in the days when it housed a soda-water bottling plant and a beer parlour on the premises!

It is 'Theme Day', over at www.citydailyphoto.com! Go over there to find photos from around the world on the theme 'construction'!!

Faith!

Across the street from the gate of St. Peter's Church at Royapuram, is the Jamia Masjid mosque. The juxtaposition of the two symbols - the mosque's minaret and St. Peter's cross - make for an interesting picture!

Dramatic building

Back to those white-on-blue enamel boards. This building has two of them, both indicating institutions that have had a glorious run on the Madras stage. One of those, I shall save for another post, but this one, sadly, seems to have been relegated to a 'bit-part' these days.

The Sukrutha Lakshmi Vilasa Sabha (SLVS) is one-hundred-and-eleven years old this year. It has been operating from this building for sixty-seven of those years. In the early days of its existence, the raison d'etre of this Sabha was to compete with the Suguna Vilasa Sabha (SVS) in staging dramatic performances. Over the years, both organizations have had to struggle for existence. The SVS has fared a little better on that count, having morphed into a social club, while the SLVS seems to have last opened its doors a few years ago.

Maybe it wants to continue its association with the performing arts - that could be the reason why it hasn't moved out of this building, which once housed Madras' first ever cinema!

Temple in the crowd

As NSC Bose Road winds down through Sowcarpet, it gets ever more narrow until you wonder how two vehicles can ever pass each other by. Suddenly, you sense space. The road opens out just a bit and there you see this wall, the red-and-white stripes identifying it as part of a temple. From the peacock placed on the wall, you would guess the temple has to do with Subramanya - and you would be correct.

It is not a large temple, but considering the bustle of the area around it, the space is more than ample. The main deity is seen with his consorts, Valli and Devasena, the former's idol showing four arms - a rather unique representation of this Goddess. 

This temple is probably between 200 and 300 years old, going by the local stories. However, there are also stories that tell of Agastyar - whose image is also somewhere on the temple walls - having prayed to Subramanya in this temple. Well, you can choose what to believe!

General well-being

The Government General Hospital at Chennai is one of the oldest institutions in the city - and quite likely the oldest functioning hospital in the country. It started off as a small hospital to treat the soldiers of the British East India Company who were routinely falling prey to various tropical maladies. It was Sir Edward Winter, during his first stint as the Agent of Fort St. George, who inaugurated this hospital on November 16, 1664.

It wasn't much of a hospital, initially. being based out of one of the houses in the Fort. And for a few years, it moved around inside the Fort itself, before the general congestion of the Fort and the 'Town' area forced it to look outside. It was only in 1762 that a new site was identified, a little away from the Fort, on the road to Poonamallee. 

None of the buildings from that time was preserved when these new buildings came up in the early 2000s. All the old buildings were taken down and these two blocks replaced them. Supposedly, a couple of plaques from those buildings are preserved somewhere inside this campus - but discovering them may be more difficult than the task Charles Donovan faced in discovering the kala-azar agent in 1903. Even the plaque commemorating that discovery, one of the high points of the hospital's history is also missing!

Sinking in

This is one of the smaller roads in the Vepery area. And the mystery behind the name has been guarded very carefully. Maybe one of those reading this post will be able to throw some light on who Letang was. That it will be a person is not to be doubted, for there is a record of a couple of people who were born with that name in Madras between 1850 - 1880. Alfred Otranto Letang was the older one, coming into the world in 1853, while Constance LeTang followed him 26 years later. This road could have been named for either of them - or for their fathers: Peter (Alfred's) or Charles (Constance's). 

Or, it could be Ambrose Pierre Antoine, Chevalier de L'Etang. de L'Etang was stable-master for Marie Antoinette and had to leave France in a hurry after the French Revolution. In 1788, he was in Pondicherry, where he married Therese Blin de Grincourt. He also seems to have been an author, turning his experiences - and those of others - into a volume on farriery in 1795. But this connect seems to be a little far-fetched, for Antoine seems to have gone on to Calcutta....

So, the mystery remains. Can someone solve it, before the story sinks - like the road sign is threatening to?

Tower, Anna Nagar

Probably not the one you were thinking of, right? The Masjid Javeed on 3rd Avenue, Anna Nagar, has a minar that is quite eye-catching, especially at twilight!

Outward looking

Before this building came up on Mount Road, the space was the front lawns of Spencer's Hotel. Though they had sold the entire property to M.Ct.M Chidambaram Chettiar's family sometime around 1944, Spencer's continued to run the hotel into the early '50s. Even for many years after, that hotel building continued to be in use, as the training centre of the Indian Overseas Bank, who had by then raised their headquarters building on the hotel gardens. 

The Indian Overseas Bank was the second of the 'local' banks to be established in Madras, in 1937. As was the case with almost every business venture of the time, it began life in George Town. Chidambaram Chettiar realized that with several restrictions on foreign exchange business being placed upon banks after the Great Depression, Indian businessmen trading overseas would welcome an 'Indian' bank for their exchange transactions. And so was born the Indian Overseas Bank - that middle word establishing its market intent and to distinguish it from 'Indian Bank', which predated it. To prove that intent, the bank opened its overseas branches, in Rangoon (now Yangon) and Penang within a few months of opening their first offices in Karaikudi and Madras. 

It was M.Ct.M Chidambaram Chettiar's desire to have a skyscraper on Mount Road that saw him first go to work on the LIC Building, in 1953. But he died in 1954, before the building was completed - and before the insurance business was nationalized in 1956. His sons Pethachi and Muthiah fulfilled their father's wish - the design of this building also drawing inspiration from the UN Headquarters. This building also went into the Government's hands soon after - banking nationalization coming through in the late 1960s. Yet, a statue of M.Ct.M Chidambaram Chettiar's statue stands outside this building, which has been the headquarters of the IOB since 1964. Hopefully it will also participate in the platinum jubilee celebrations on February 10, 2012!

Precious coral

For almost a hundred years, from 1688 to 1786, Anglo-Dutch Jews moved to Madras and played a major role in the trade of precious stones. Strange as it may seem, the 'natives' were fascinated by coral and were willing to trade even diamonds for it. The Jewish traders typically had an arrangement where one brother was a free merchant near Fort St George, another was based in London and a third in Amsterdam. That helped: coral from the Mediterranean, which was much sought after by the people of India, was shipped to Fort St George through London. (In return, the merchants of Leghorn, Naples and other cities on the Mediterranean seem to have been paid in pepper). Diamonds obtained as payment for this coral were sent to Amsterdam for cutting and polishing.

It appears that the Jews played a significant role in moving the centre of the coral trade from Goa (then with the Portugese) to Madras, which would explain their pre-eminence in this trade in the early days of the city. However, with the discovery of diamonds in other parts of the world, their value fell and the trade became less lucrative. Also, there appears to have been a shake-up in 1765 with the bust of a diamond smuggling ring, in which 3 Jewish agents from Madras (and the governor of Madras) were alleged to have been involved. 

The trade was then taken over by the Nagarathars. Whether they continued to trade coral or not, they took up offices in the street vacated by the Jewish traders. By this time, the street was itself so closely associated with the coral trade that it was called Pavazhakkarar Theru - Coral Merchants' Street. It is likely that anyone commencing trading activities there would be dubbed a Pavazhakkarar, whether coral was part of his bill of materials or not. And in keeping with the fascination for red coral, this gift from 'Coral Naiker Madras' to the city's Corporation, has been topped off with bright red paint!

The book "Diamonds and Coral: Anglo-Dutch Jews and Eighteenth-Century Trade", by Gedalia Yogev seems to have some fascinating accounts of the Jews of Madras, going by excerpts found here!

The Rajah at the choultry

Were he alive today, he'd be getting on to his 170th birthday, which is what the Wikipedia entry on him seems to indicate. Rajah Sir Savalai Ramaswamy Mudaliar, KT CIE has been away from us for over a century, but during his time he was a big enough philanthropist for his name to be seen in several places over Chennai. People miss it because it is in a narrow band on the choultry. They miss it because the initials "R.S.R.M." in Government RSRM Lying-In Hospital in Royapuram means nothing to them. His place of burial in Kilpauk, where he once owned a vast stretch of land, is probably inaccessible now.

This statue, erected by his friends, is probably the only one in the city. The man who was given the title Rajah as a personal distinction - rather than as a hereditary keepsake - keeps a watch over one of his favourite gifts to the city from right inside it!

On the bridge

Not as often used as the Central Station or the LIC Building, but this view of the Raja Annamalai Memorial Hall and Rani Seethai Hall is also an instant identification of the city.


From the top of the Gemini flyover...

The other side

Well, you saw the view from the landward side several days ago; here is the Simpson clock from the beach - and Radhakrishnan Salai / Cathedral Road leading away from it.

Parsi property

Down West Mada Church Road in Royapuram are several indicators of the city's Parsi heritage. The oldest of these indicators is probably this building, which stands on land that, by all accounts, was acquired by Heerjibhai Maneckji Kharas with five other Parsis sometime in the last decade of the 18th century. Just before that century ended, additional land had been leased for 99 years from the British East India Company. In 1858, with the Crown assuming sovereignty, the lands were transferred to the Parsi Panchayat.

In 1900, the Parsi Panchayat was renamed the Madras Parsi Zarthosti Anjuman. The property that had been leased from the British East India Company came to be referred to as Anjuman Bagh. Today, Anjuman Bagh houses within it a dharmsala for travellers, besides about fifteen flats though which the Anjuman provides subsidized housing for deserving senior citizens from the community. 

Though the original property on this road has been fragmented, the Anjuman Bagh continues to be a reminder of how the Parsis had contributed to Madras in large measure!

Just a building

Actually that's all it is. But the Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers is so very inviting. 


This property has seen quite a few name changes over the past 30 years or so that it has been around. It was first the Adayar Gate Hotel, then the Adayar Park; after its management was taken over by the Welcomgroup, it became Park Sheraton. Now, with ITC's brand building effort, it is the ITC Hotel Park Sheraton and Towers. 


If we conveniently ignore all the dance floors in various old world hotels and clubs of the city, Park Sheraton can claim to have brought the discotheque into the Madras of the late 1970s. The Gatsby was a major USP of the hotel when it opened and the name had enough recall value for it to be reintroduced as Gatsby 2000 in the late 1990s. 


The Gatsby is not this hotel's only connection to New York. What is today known as the Park Central Hotel was, between the 1950s and the 1980s, known as the Park Sheraton New York!

Hosting the Academy

It is not the oldest of the music sabhas in the city, but it ranks among the top 3 in that category. For quite a long time, the Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha was the lone ranger; from the time it was founded in 1900, until the Music Academy came into being in 1928, there was no other sabha in Madras. 

The Music Academy's founding - in the wake of a resolution by the All India Congress Committee - led to a mini-rash of similar institutions coming up. Of the ones that followed, only two continue to be active: the Indian Fine Arts Society and the Rasika Ranjani Sabha. The latter, established in 1929 in Mylapore, seems to have enjoyed better facilities in the early days. It had its own concert hall on Sundareswarar Swamy Street. The concert hall was most likely named after the street, and Sundareswarar Hall hosted many of the prominent musicians of the day. In 1958, the Sundareswarar Hall was renovated and the new venue served the RR Sabha for over half-a-century. The current renovation - which should be completed soon (if it hasn't been already), will hopefully see the hall continue to use its current name.

Because that's a name that has hosted the Music Academy itself - before the Academy got its current premises, it conducted its annual conferences at different venues: and among them the Sundareswarar Hall was an early choice!