Orange boom

Yes, there is an orange tinge around most of the country. Election results didn't seem to have caused any celebrations in Chennai. The city has largely been a DMK stronghold, but this time around, that party is in a complete daze; they have been wiped out, without a single seat anywhere in the state.

And yes, the one constituency where state parties did not come in 1st or 2nd saw the BJP winning. So yes, there is a touch of saffron here as well!

Movement memorial

In 1852, the government took over the Madras School of Arts, that had been established by a surgeon, Dr. Alexander Hunter, a couple of years earlier. More than a century later, the second Indian principal of that establishment - which was by now known as College of Arts and Crafts - was instrumental in creating a movement of painters and sculptors that sought to combine modernism with local influences of myth, legend and art heritage. That principal was Kovalezhi Cheerampathoor Sankaran Paniker. His fellow teachers, and several students pursued this artistic ideal and that group became the vanguard of the Madras Movement. 

Many artists of that movement were extremely individualistic and it seems to me something of a miracle that they held together for long enough for their work to come under a 'category'. But they did and their work, recognized as and identified with the Madras Movement is feted around the world. They came together to form the Cholamandalam Artists' Village in the late 1960s, but it was only in the last decade that the artists have ventured to create a Centre for Contemporary Art. 

Housed within that Centre is the KCS Paniker Museum of the Madras Movement. It has works from almost every significant member of the Movement. Most of Paniker's own works, however, are not here; they are not with the Cholamandalam Artists' Village, either. They are not even anywhere in Chennai, for the Government of Madras (as it was in those days) did not take up Paniker's offer to donate his works to the state; and so they moved away to the Art Gallery at Thiruvananthapuram!

The lion's tail

Well, there are still some of the old gate ornaments around. 

So what if the tail looks new!

Another blue board

White-on-blue boards held their own for a long time, through generations. Almost every business had similar boards, with the differences being only in the font of the letters. And then they suddenly disappeared from the scene; so now, every blue board with white lettering seems to be something of an antique.

This one is not all that old, however. The Madras Kidney Trust was founded in 1990 by Prof. M.S. Amaresan, with the aim of providing affordable medical care for renal conditions. With such an aim, the Trust will certainly need to economize in all areas. However, I don't think it extends to this board. There is a larger and more modern sign above this, with more up-to-date information, including the city's name as well as a phone number that is at least 8-digits.

I can only imagine there is some nostalgic - or superstitious - attachment to this board for it to be retained for so long. From being a ubiquitous signage, it is nice to see this being unique enough to catch the eye these days!

Cenotaph by the side

Coming into the city from the airport, the traveller would pass this cenotaph, standing in a fenced-off piece of land just where the Kathipara flyover starts climbing. It is easy enough to miss; the whitewash neither new nor too old. The cupola not ornate at all, its urn finial hardly discernible by the traveller, who is more concerned about the traffic all around. Even those citizens of Chennai who notice it might pause for a moment to think about how this structure survived when the statue of Jawaharlal had to be shifted to make way for the flyover's construction.

The patch of land belongs to the army and the cenotaph - that's what it is - is of an army man. From a long time ago. Lt Col Sam shed his mortal coils this day 194 years ago. He was a member of the Madras Artillery; my guess is that he was with them since the day that force was raised. Major Peter James Begbie, in his 1852 history of the Madras Artillery, indicates that (then) Lieutenant Sam was one of the nine officers wounded in the Battle of Argaum (eh, what's that?). Elsewhere, he is credited with having suggested the best manner of transporting ordnance across the Indian rivers. Going by the plaque on the cenotaph, he was not just an officer, but a gentleman - his martial exploits may therefore have been limited.

In recent years, this cenotaph's popularity experienced a bump up thanks to Lt Col Sam's descendent. Though I am not certain how they are related, the writer William Dalrymple acknowledges Lt Col Sam Dalrymple, CB, as an ancestor - actually one of the several Dalrymples who seem to have made their fortunes in the empire!

Wedding day

Weddings happen at the Kapaleeswarar temple also. I did not know that, until today. The space at the southern end, across from Karpagambal's sanctum, is where the action was happening this morning. 

The bride does not seem to be entirely convinced, though!

Woodland shrine

We all know that Chennai has the distinction of being the only city in the world that houses a national park entirely within itself. Quite apart from that, Chennai has a decent amount of green spaces that are unknown to - or rather, taken for granted by, - most of the citizens.

Here is one such. Okay, these folks have rather restrictive timings, they shut down at 4 pm every day, so there is not much to look forward to, getting here after office hours. But during the hours they are open, it is a lovely place to wander around. Much of the space appears to have been allowed to remain wild. There are several plants and trees and the bird life is quite diverse - we even got to see an Asian Paradise Flycatcher flitting around here.

Where is 'here', you ask? It is less than half-a-kilometre from the Gemini Circle. Got it? Yes, you are right, this is on the grounds of the Agri-Horticultural Society. Now you can get your saplings and have a puja done to them before you take them home!

View of the road

Looking northwards from a window of the Apollo Hospital, you get a feeling that things are all oh-so-peaceful. The traffic at 5 o'clock, just before the evening rush hour, seems to be quite reasonable. 

But that is only because the traffic light is holding up the vehicles coming towards us. In a few minutes, this will become jam-packed, with the Cenotaph Road junction siphoning off a set of people and at the same time pouring in an equal volume into Mount Road!

Central, but access?

This is the Central Library of a rather exclusive institution. It started its life along with the institution, in 1959. At that time, it was housed in the Civil Engineering Block. This arrangement is more an indication of how important civil engineering was, than any downplaying of the library's status.

That phase lasted about six years, and since 1965, the Central Library has had its own place in the academic campus. In the new millenium, the facilities received a major upgrade. Apart from all the books, periodicals and journals, users of this library can also access sections of the Library of Congress' online collection. 

Maybe I was too pessimistic about outsiders being allowed to use this library; it is a challenge to get inside the campus of the IIT Madras and I assumed entry into the library would be even more difficult. However, the Librarian here, Dr. Harish Chandra, seems to be inviting everyone to visit and benefit from the printed resources there. Must go look it up sometime soon!

Road and rail

If the grade separator at Kathipara thought that it was on top of everything else, it has had to think again. The Chennai Metro track goes just that little bit over it, heading away from the Alandur station towards the next one on the line, Ekkattuthangal. 

Can't wait to get on to the Metro. The track testing has been done, trial runs have happened and I guess we are just waiting for the station systems to be set up properly now. Would love to get on to one of the test runs - tickets anyone?

The only one

When did the first Sikhs come to Madras? There is obviously no definitive answer to this question, but the community itself believes there has been steady movement in both directions for the most part. The partition of India, however, was an event that sent many Sikh families as far away as they could travel to, to escape the horrors of the event. Madras was one of the farthest points, and quite a number of displaced Sikh families landed up here. On hand to welcome them was Lt Col Gurdial Singh Gill, who was the IG of Prisons in Madras. As a prominent member of the Punjab Association, Lt Col Gill helped in getting the families rehabilitated quickly. 

Madras however had no place of worship for the Sikhs. The Guru Nanak Sat Sangh Sabha was established in 1949, as a place for the Sikhs to gather as a community. In 1951, Maharani Vidyawati Devi, the Rani of Vizianagaram, arranged for some of her land to be given to the Sabha to build a gurudwara on. Enter the Colonel, again. G.S. Gill stepped in to personally supervise the work of constructing an consecrating the gurudwara, even designing the Gurudwara Sahib himself. On April 13, 1953, the first Guru Granth Sahib was installed at this building, making it a revered shrine.

Almost 60 years later, it continues to be only gurudwara in Chennai. The community gathers here on all the holy days. They come from all over the city, for there is really no one enclave that can be thought of as an exclusive Sikh enclave in Chennai. The Sat Sangh Sabha continues to manage this temple - and another one in distant Rameshwaram, as well!

Rotten apple?

Being close to the beach is quite often a double-edged sword. Of course, you get to have some amazing views of the sea. The sunrise over the Bay of Bengal along the Marina is a wonderful sight to start your day with. But proximity to the bay brings with it the salt air - one of the most corrosive agents that you could be up against. It would therefore take quite a dedicated and sensitive team to ensure that the building, and the rooms inside are maintained at a high level.

Hotel Manhattan is quite grandly named and its biggest advantage is that a 3-minute walk will see you right on the Marina. However, the glass and aluminium cladding of the facade is deceptive. The side of the building shows some of the plaster peeling off; the reviews on several travel websites are scathing enough to peel off the rest of the building's skin. 

The familiar name lulls many into thinking they are headed for the big apple, or at least something that channelises the core of the apple. Well, it just looks like it is channeling a different borough than what it was named after!

Temple of learning

For many Chennai-ites, it is a reflex action to touch their chest and forehead as they pass a temple. Some slow down their vehicles to do that, and several have specific shrines on their daily route, where they would stop to say their prayers. And then there are occasions or purposes when the daily darshan is not enough, when one has to go to a specific place to pray to that deity who is in charge of the occasion or purpose (think CA Anjaneyar).

It is therefore something of a surprise that the one temple dedicated to Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom and Learning, is quite un-frequented most of the time. True, it is not a temple in the 'traditional' style, but is rather a large hall with a stage where Saraswati is placed. Maybe it needs a few more decades before it gets the acceptance that can bring the crowds in. Or maybe it is just the way it is named.

Situated on Venkatnarayana Road in T. Nagar, this is the Sringeri Sarada Peetam, run by the Sringeri Mutt. Founded by Adi Shankara in the 9th century, the main deity at the Sringeri Mutt is Saraswati in the form of Devi Sharada. It is in this form that she is worshipped at this temple as well. Maybe if they changed their name to include Saraswati, this would be a place where school children - or, more likely, their parents - would flock to during exam times! 

A different reptile

It is the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT), but we have already seen that the Croc Bank allows space to other orders, besides crocodilia, of the class reptilia. One more such order is testudines, which covers tortoises, turtles and terrapins. In fact when you get to the grounds of the Crocodile Bank, about 30km out of Chennai, the first exhibits you get to see are turtles and tortoises, before you see the stars of the show. 

In between, the crocodilian hegemony is broken by these old boys. The Aldabra tortoises are among the longest living animals on the planet. Behind the Galapagos tortoises, these are the largest species of testudines. However, what species they are seems to be a source of intense debate. Aldabrachelys gigantea, says the Wikipedia page; Geochelone gigantea, says the Natural History Museum of the UK. Its history of Linnaean taxonomy begins with it being the Testudo gigantea. At least they have all agreed on the 'gigantea' bit!

Red letter day

May Day celebrations yesterday at the neighbourhood auto-rickshaw stand. Everything is spruced up and ready to take on the bourgeoisie. 

As long as the bourgeoisie is not taken for a ride! 

Square of the Polygon

This is one of the newer office buildings in the city. It came up in the last couple of years and is yet to be fully occupied. The developers however did not worry too much about maintaining any connect with what the real estate was being used for earlier and just went ahead in naming it the 'Polygon'. 

The Polygon, at Teynampet/Nandanam, stands on the site of what was once the 'nursery of Madras'. For about half-a-century, since moving to this site in 1952, P.S. Swaminatha Iyer's Soundarya Nursery was the go-to place for saplings of any kind. If you needed flowering plants for your 'front garden' or fruit trees for your 'back garden', Soundarya would supply them; Swaminatha Iyer was known for walking around with a pen-knife all the time. That way, he was able to mix and match cuttings to produce hybrid varieties of hibiscus and bougainvilla. Soundarya Nursery continued that good work even after Swaminatha Iyer died in 1972. It was only more than a generation later that the property changed hands. The Nursery itself has now grown branches, with one at Vettuvankeni and another in Pudupakkam, run by Swaminatha Iyer's youngest son and a grandson.

In the evenings, the Polygon's colour-changing lighting detail provides a relief to the unblinking bright blue of the nearby Apollo Hospital's signage. That is probably the only connect the developers have retained, channelling the colours of all those flowers in the Nursery into the LED lights on the building's facade!

The first of the month, and it is Theme Day for the City Daily Photo group. Take a look at squares from over the world here!

Bells

The bells of the Church of the Holy Rosary are far younger than the church itself. The latter goes back to circa 1630s. One of the bells has the inscription "Jaffnapatnam 1769".

They would have rung through a lot of history, for sure!

Wakeup time

Early morning on NSC Bose Road. One of those rare occasions when this road appears peaceful. Usually it is a cataract of humans, vehicles and a few animals as well. What with the Madras High Court on one side and Chennai's serious trading locality of George Town on the other, this road can't be anything but busy. Okay, it was a Sunday, and the traders of George Town were probably having a lie-in!

Striding out

This statue of Gandhi was unveiled on the eve of Independence Day, 48 years ago. I am not sure if this was placed at some other, prominent location earlier. Maybe the gardens of the Agri-Horticultural Society were themselves a prominent location in the 1960s. 

Anyway, there it is today, showing the sun-dappled Mahatma striding out from a bush. There is a vase on the base of the statue, but nobody seems to have cared enough to place flowers in it!

Garland street

Even though the last major news agency moved out almost a decade ago, Fleet Street continues to evoke images of the print media, just as Harley Street reminds us about physicians. Are there any similar streets in Chennai? I am not really sure, but Iyya Mudali Street in Chintadripet comes very close. 

Around the temples of Mylapore or Triplicane, it is possible to find several shops that sell a variety of garlands. However, those are just sales outlets. At Iyya Mudali Street, the packed garlands are intended to be despatched elsewhere. You may be able to place an order here, but I doubt if spot sales to walk-in customers are encouraged. The garlands - most of them with some proportion of sandalwood - have been crafted for specific occasions. Almost any commemorative occasion needs the chief guest and a few other dignitaries to be garlanded - and off to Iyya Mudali Street go the organizers. 

There are quite a few other traditional items that are crafted in the shops that line the entrance to this street. Remember the thombais? And the temple umbrellas? Well, you can take a safe bet they were made right here in Chintadripet!

26, 94

You may not be able to make out what the numbers mean, but that's nothing to be worried about. Even as great a mathematician as G.H. Hardy, who specialized in number theory, was not a numbers man. In that way, he was unlike Srinivasa Ramanujan, for whom numbers were his "personal friends". There is a story about Hardy visiting a very ill Ramanujan at Putney; getting into the room, Hardy mentioned that he had travelled in taxicab number 1729, which seemed to him a "rather dull number". Ramanujan, however, was instantly animated. "No, no, not at all", he said. "It is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways". 

Since then, such numbers have been known as 'Taxicab Numbers'; you can head out here to see some of them, as well as a picture of.... well, something like taxicab number 1729. The story however is just one more example of how the man was completely un-fathomable, even for those who knew what he was talking about. What could he have achieved if he had lived longer than he actually did? 

Ramanujan passed into immortality this day in 1920. And yet, there are many who still don't know about him, or what he did. We go past all these mentions about the greatest mathematician of modern India with reverence, because it is too taxing to try and figure out what was it that he did. This day is marked with special events by the Ramanujan museum in Chennai. I haven't been there yet, but for today, this bust of Ramanujan at the IIT Madras should remind us of his memory!

  

A new option

Until the previous elections in Tamil Nadu, a voter could express her displeasure at the available candidates by stamping on multiple names in the ballot paper. There was also another option, under Section 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, for a voter to shun the ballot altogether, and record his decision in a separate form. Very few people actually knew about Section 49-O, and almost none of those would call for a form to record their dissent. Why should they, when they could have fun stamping across multiple names?

With electronic voting machines (EVM) replacing ballot papers, that fun was curtailed. The EVM would accept only one press of the button - and that, with a beep. Dissent wasn't possible through the EVM, and asking for the form clearly violated the principle of a secret ballot. The Supreme Court of India agreed with that contention and accepted the Election Commission's request to include "None of the Above" as a standard option on all the EVMs. 

And so there it was: the one candidate who is contesting across all constituencies in the country this year. NOTA. Would this candidate win anywhere? Well, even if there is a majority opting for NOTA, it is the top-grossing human who would still go on to win!

Selfinkie!

The election juggernaut came over to Chennai today. And here is the mandatory photo to show off that I have voted. With my voter ID card, too boot. 

Not a selfie, but a selfinkie!

Serving two masters

Vythinatha Iyer, possibly in a spurt of teenage rebellion, converted to Christianity when he was 17. He took on the name John, but used it only as a prefix. John Vythinatha Iyer certainly would have made people pause and wonder. 

But no, I am not talking about the clash of religious identities, here. The memorial stone at the Zion Church in Chintadripet talks about his serving the Government as well as working for the Church.  That's not a feat many could have managed!

The Eater's Digest - 9

It may be sacrilegious to talk about French cuisine and fast food in the same breath, but that's what bistros were, apparently. Urban legend has it that Russian soldiers in Paris during the early 19th century called out "bystro", indicating their desire to be served quickly. And so, those kitchens which put out simple fare, priced to suit the purses of the frontline soldiers, came to be called bistros. 

One thing is for sure. L'Amandier, which opened a few months ago on Chamiers Road, has got the 'simple' and 'economical' parts of the (alleged) bistro definition right. In keeping with the Parisian theme, they have a few tables outside, but given the Chennai weather, those may remain empty most of the time. Inside, however, it is pleasant, the food is simple, eminently gorge-able, and the people are nice.

Do they serve wine, like bistros are expected to? Ah, now you're being too greedy. Enjoy the food - and be happy with the fruit juices you get!

Down. And out.

There were about 50 people in the store. More than half of them were in their tweens or teens. Of the remaining, almost nine-tenths were in their mid thirties, or younger. From the conversations, it seemed that almost everyone had moved into Chennai sometime in the past five years or so. The layout was different, too. That half of the store where books used to be displayed - the 'original' Landmark - was off bounds. There were no books there, anymore. Those left over fitted into six display racks. The toys, VCDs and game cartridges filled up the rest of the space. And the shoppers were busy raiding. 50% off, and that's got the bargain hunters in. 

The old timers were staying away. There was one other shopper who engaged the store manager in conversation. "I was here on the first day you opened, you know", he said. The manager nodded, with a semi-polite half-smile. Of course he wasn't there when it opened. That was a long time ago. The store manager must have been eligible for a half-ticket at Safire when Hemu Ramaiah set up this store. She made sure that once you get down the steps and past the door on the right, you could transport yourself to a different world - or worlds. It didn't feel like half-a-basement at all. One could sit there all day and browse - yes, browse. In the days before Netscape Navigator, Hemu's Landmark would take you all over the wide world. 

Landmark was then a break from the past, but now, a throwback to another era. No bookstore before it tolerated anyone - school and college kids the least of all - flipping through their books. And here was the staff practically shoving a book into your hands and telling you to take your time reading it. It is difficult to believe that for 19 of the 26 years it has been around, the store has been competing against the Internet. The memories of those first seven years were strong enough for many to turn up again and again at the first Landmark store, now spread across the entire basement of Apex Plaza. Indra Nooyi, it is said, used to make it a point to spend a couple of hours here every time she visited Madras/Chennai. She was only one of the many non-residents - Madrasis or otherwise - for whom the Nungambakkam Landmark was the place to visit. And browse. And browse.

The first time I bought a set of greeting cards from Landmark, I did not realize that I was taking the first step to losing the bookstore of my college days. Greeting cards were followed by other stationery items. Then came CDs. Toys. Games. Suddenly, books seemed to be an "also there" item. And then the Tatas bought the chain, in 2005. India's best bookstore, born of passion, boosted by the quiz, sustained by the loyalty of its Madras customers (who spread the word about it to their friends in Pune, Bengaluru and other places) had now completely transformed into a 'business'. The staff didn't know their books. (Or even music, or toys, for that matter). But they still let customers visitors browse through the books, and the Nungambakkam store was the best place to do that. 

Now it is gone. When the bargain hunters have cleared it out ("50% off!!" "Everything must go!!!"), I shall also be gone. I did not intend to walk into the store yesterday, but I did. And I picked up a few books, at random. I only had a vague idea of what I was doing, because memories of 26 years obscured the actions of the day. My eyes were moist; I could not look at the girl at the billing counter, who asked me if I had a loyalty card. "I am turning it in today", I thought. I suddenly felt very old. Good bye, Landmark. You've taken my youth with you.

Art centre

In the 1960s, when K.C.S. Panicker started what came to be known as the 'Madras Movement', he also recognized that the artists of the Movement needed to be able to sustain themselves without having to sacrifice the leisure to pursue their art. And so was born, in 1966, the Cholamandalam Artists' Village. It was indeed a village, where the inhabitants turned out art products, which were then marketed to provide them a livelihood. Over the years, the Village has thrived; it is one of the very few artists' communes across the world that has remained successful across generations.  

In 2009, the Village inaugurated its showpiece to the world. The Cholamandalam Centre for Contemporary Art displays several works by the vanguard of the Madras Movement. The redbrick building houses paintings and sculptures; and there are many more sculptures and installations in the grounds as well. In fact, some of them have blended right in with the environment that you are surprised at what turns up. (Remember the sleeping cat? And one installation, being under a Ficus, has the ariel roots finding pathways through its grooves, now)

More about the Madras Movement later. The ban on taking pictures of the displays inside means that one has to find other ways to show what is there. But hey, if you are up early today, go for a drive on the East Coast Road. And on the way back, stop at the Centre - they open at 10am, so you can also stop here on your way to brunch along the ECR. So now, you have no excuses left for staying away from here!

Two of a kind

When a person starts birding, many long believed 'truths' turn out to be not so true. One of them is about owls. Most of us think of them as night birds; they may be mostly nocturnal, but there are many of them who are quite active during the day. Though first-timers might find it unbelievable, it is quite common to see owls during the daytime, even in the middle of the city. 

One of the common species of owl is the Spotted Owlet (Athene brama). It is a small bird, and is unfazed by the presence of humans nearby. You can spot them on the IIT Madras campus, on the golf course at the Cosmopolitan Club and several other places that are overrun with people. The two of them in this picture - can you spot them? - are at the TANUVAS' Research Station at Kattupakkam, on the outskirts of Chennai.

Athene brama usually nests in holes - that should be enough of a clue for you to click through the picture and spot the Owlets!

A memorial hall

It was in 1847 that a 17 year old "high-caste" boy at Palayamkottai converted to Christianity and was baptized as William Thomas Satthianadhan. The 'William' most probably was to honour William Cruickshank, the headmaster of the Anglican school who was instrumental in the conversion. W.T. Satthianadhan, with the zeal of the converted, went on to complete his studies in Divinity and Theology. Starting off with the Christian Missionary Society's school in 'Tinnevelly', he moved through a couple of other postings before being appointed as the pastor of the church at Chintadripet. 

He served there for thirty years, during which time the church was renamed as the Zion Church and he oversaw its expansion in 1880. After his passing in 1892, his son-in-law Rev W.D. Clarke took over. Within a couple of years, he had constructed a multi purpose hall next to the Zion Church and named it for his father-in-law. 

After nearly 130 years, that hall is in good shape. At least, it looks to be so from the outside - I am not sure if it continues to be used for any of the purposes it was intended to serve!

Green cover

From the sixth floor of Acropolis, looking out to the south-east, there is little by way of construction to break the green cover. Chennai's skyscrapers - such as they are - can be found in other parts of the city. The Mylapore area is not where high-rises are. 

In the foreground is another view of that church built without any wood - that seems to be the biggest break in the city's green!

Ersatz Rama?

Down the Madurantakam way, there is a story about a British Collector from the late 18th century - or maybe the last years of the 19th century - time does not matter much in such moffusils. You can catch up on the details of the story later; suffice to say that after the Collector had a vision of Rama and Lakshmana guarding the lake from overflowing, the temple there came to be known as Eri katha Ramar (the Rama who protected the lake).

It is possible that the experience led to several such temples for Rama, espcially near large lakes that are prone to overflowing. One such is the lake at Thiruninravur. Quite a large lake, it caters to the needs of the farmers in the region. Maybe after hearing about the legend of Madurantakam, the folks at Thiruninravur thought they would also invoke the blessings of Lord Rama by building a temple to him near the lake.

Since then, this shrine has also taken on the title of Eri katha Ramar - only that it seems so forlon that it might actually neglect to even guard itself against the rise in river water!!

If you are still interested in the Madurantakam story, here are two sites that you can get it from: Link 1 and Link 2

Cupcraft

Chennai hosts quite a few melas, or festivals, of products made by indigenous craftsmen. You could expect to see some metalwork, fabrics, paintings and things like that. But no matter how colourful they look, I am struggling to figure out how these cups would qualify as indigenous art!

Sleepy cat

So where does cat get his forty winks? In the shadow of a sculpture named "Dream of the Black Sun". The sculpture itself is worth a look at - and you should go over to the Cholamandalam Artists' Village to do it - but I thought this cat in the shade of the sun was kind of poetic!

Medicinal might

Legend has it that the 63 Nayanmars, the minstrels whose songs of Siva are so uplifting that the Nayanmars themselves are considered near-divine, have sung specifically about 275 of Siva's temples. These 275 are considered to be paadal petra sthalams and are considered a notch above the vaippu sthalams, which are those shrines that were 'mentioned' in the Nayanmars' compositions. Of of the 275, three are in Chennai - Tiruvottiyur, Mylapore and then this one at Thiruvanmiyur.

The locality the temple is in takes its name from Valmiki, but it is said that one of the reasons for him to be here was to recover from some illness; it was a blessing from Siva, in the form of Marundeeswarar who cured Valmiki. The form itself was assumed to cure Surya (the Sun God) and Chandra (the Moon God), as well as the sage Agastyar - and it was the last who named this form Marundeeswarar - the Lord of Medicines!

Wait in line

They say that in Kerala, the only orderly lines you can see are the queues in front of the 'beverages' outlets. Looking for a Chennai equivalent, the closest I can think of is the queue of visa applicants outside the US consulate. In the past couple of years, the consulate has split the processing; things like fingerprinting and some basic document verification happens at a satellite centre on Cenotaph Road. 

And yes, the queue there is as orderly as those at beverage outlets!

Getting away

Mahabalipuram is not far off and it is a good drive; along the East Coast Road, the signs talk about a 'Scenic Drive' - and the toll booth also welcomes you to the "ECR Scenic Beachway". If you are a passenger, good for you, you can enjoy the view. 

But if you are the driver, you had better keep your eyes on the road. Not only is there a lot of traffic on the road, there will likely be a lot of it moving across the road as well!

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!

What, who worry?

Well, there is nothing specifically Chennai about this, but I did see it in a Chennai store. It is an 'official' board game, with illustrations by the magazine's "usual gang of idiots". As children, those "idiots" were looked up to;  Sergio Aragonés, Dick DeBartolo, Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker, Dave Berg, Antonio Prohias... they were all adults writing to corrupt us children. 

This game itself is Monopoly with a twist. The first player to go bankrupt is the winner. It has several ways to lose money, including cards that allow you to lose $500 by jumping up, with a chance to lose $5,000 by remaining airborne for 37 seconds. All those losses will count for nothing if you end up getting up that $1,329,063 note. There is, however, only one way to win that note - can you guess what that is? (see below photo for the answer)

Wait - did I say this has no connect to Chennai? Maybe not, but where do you think those Mad ras-cals got all their ideas from?!

!uɐɯnǝu ˙ǝ pǝɹɟןɐ sı ǝɯɐu ɹnoʎ ɟı ʇı uıʍ noʎ

Doctor of letters - almost

It might sound a bit surprising now, but in the late 19th century, it was pretty much the order of things that a young girl in the Bombay Presidency desiring to study a formal course in medicine should come up to Madras to do so. The Madras Medical College had just started admitting female students and Krupabai Khisty's frail health did not allow her to go abroad to study medicine, as she had been advised to by a family friend. And so to Madras she went, in 1878, a frail girl of sixteen. Though her father, Rev Hari Punt Khisty had died when she was very young, he was remembered enough for a fellow missionary, Rev W.T. Satthianadhan, to take her into his house as a boarder. At the end of the first year, Krupabai was rated as a brilliant student, but her health was shot - she had to give up the study of medicine.

It was an extremely trying period for her. Her elder brother Bhasker was also no more and she was in Madras, far away from her family. Luckily, she found a companion for her intellect in the Rev. Satthianadhan's son Samuel, who had recently returned from Cambridge. They got along very well and were married in 1883. She had been writing short pieces to get past her loneliness and Samuel encouraged her to go further. That was how the magazine South India Observer carried her first published article, "A visit to the Todas", under her pen name 'An Indian Lady'. 

It was An Indian Lady who went on to write what is arguably the first English novel written by an Indian woman: Saguna: A Story of Native Christian Life, published in 1890. The Story of a Conversion followed in 1891 and her last work Kamala: A Story of Hindu Life came out in 1894. In some ways, she followed a path taken by Toru Dutt, a "pioneer of Indo-Anglican writing"; there is however no reason to believe that Krupabai knew of her, for Toru died in 1877, all of 21 years old; Krupabai was then 5. Krupabai died young, too, in 1894. Had Toru Dutt completed writing Bianca, she would have been the claimant to the title that now seems quite firmly Krupabai's.  It is as such that she is remembered in the memorial tablet erected by her husband, in the church cared for by her father-in-law!