Boats

Most often, if you are headed south along the Marina, you would go down Santhome High Road to get to your destination. But if you are a bit late in the morning - I guess after 9 am - you will be turned away at the light house and told to go along the road that starts off at Nochhikuppam, goes through Doomingkuppam and gets back to the Santhome High Road at Pattinapakkam. It is not a very scenic drive, despite being on the beach and having the Bay of Bengal right next to the road. 

But it takes you to a different Chennai. One where the fishermen still get out before the dawn cracks and get back in time for you to buy fresh catch for your lunch, or if you wish, a late breakfast. If you are running late, driving on this road - very grandly labelled "Foreshore Estate Promenade" on the map - think about those who have finished their first shift of work and have brought their boats back to park on the beach!

Prayer hall

As far as its history as a part of Madras goes, West Mambalam does not have much; there were probably a few villages on the western side of the Long Tank, but little remains of them today. It was only after the Long Tank was filled during the 1910s that this area came into its own.  

Given that vintage of its surroundings, this 58-year old hall is a venerable institution. It had its beginnings during the Rama Navami celebrations in the year 1954. K. Subramania Iyer felt that the good folks of West Mambalam deserved their own celebrations rather than having to run across to those in neighbouring areas. Spurred on by his friend Srinivasa Rao, they approached Vepathur Venkatarama Iyer who shelled out Rs.25 as his donation; buoyed by this, 'KS' and Rao sought contributions from other residents of the area. With a princely sum of Rs.242, the first Rama Navami celebrations at West Mambalam were conducted for nine days in a thatched shed on Bhaktavatsalam Street. 

Vepathur Venkatarama Iyer continued to support this fledgling effort, when KS and Rao, now with a few others helping them, wanted to create a permanent hall for the celebrations. It was Iyer's support that helped them secure the 10,000 sft space on which this hall stands today. Dedicated to the Lord Rama, it was named the Ayodha Ashwamedha Maha Mandapam. Drop those two words in the middle and anyone will show you the way to the focal landmark of today's West Mambalam!

Brand launch

Was at a book launch this evening, at the Landmark store in Chennai Citi Centre. It wasn't one of your regular books - this was about how 'SuperStar' has evolved to be a brand and about what product brands can learn from the 'SuperStar'. Titled 'Grand Brand Rajini', it connects different aspects of the man to the field of Brand Management.

On stage (right) are the two authors, PC Bala Subramanian and Ram N. Ramakrishnan. With the mike is the chief guest, a star in his own right, is Balki, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Lowe Lintas (India). Balki was pointing out how 'SuperStar' has becoming a brand by staying true to himself and thereby true to what his 'consumers' expected from him. 

That view was echoed by the fourth person on stage - Lata Rajinikanth, who talked about how the 'SuperStar' was as a person. Anecdotes that only burnished the shine of the 'SuperStar'. With such a launch, I'm sure the book will be a grand success!

Wireless?

How many mobile phone towers does Chennai city have? Surely somebody must be keeping an exact count, but the closest estimate seems to be "around 5,000". Apparently, their number is unregulated, probably because it doesn't involve digging up roads or "pulling cables". 

The statuette at the corner of Ayodha Mandapam's frontage shows a different form of wireless communication than provided by the tower in the background. The cables in front of it are of course universal to Chennai's streets.

From September, there has been a spurt in the number of mobile phone towers - thanks to the DoT's order to reduce the radiation from each tower to a tenth of what it used to be. Has that helped in getting calls through? Or do we rely on having to trumpet our message across?

Misty morning

It was not the earliest of mornings; much of the city was up and about already. But it is a Sunday, so there is that extra round of gossip when collecting the milk, catching up with the neighbour's newspaper, and suchlike things happening even as the clock was getting to 7am.

It is a great time to be in Chennai. Crisp mornings, not so hot days and early evenings. The rain staying away is not good, but it comes with the blessing of dry streets. 

View from Brindavan Street, towards the subway that takes you to the heart of Chennai's shopping.

Chintadripet church

That was the functional name accorded to the church that was set up in 1843 in Chintadripet. Situated on Arunachala Mudali Street, this church was ministered to by a succession of family members for over a hundred years. All of them are descendants of Cuddalore Arumugam, who in 1733 became the first Indian to be ordained a Protestant pastor, taking on the name S. Aaron. Aaron's great grandson, Rev. William Thomas Sathianadhan was assigned to the Chintadripet Church in 1863. By that time, the church had constructed its building - something that happened in 1847 itself. It was expanded in 1880 and then again in 1912. 

It was Rev. Sathianadhan who renamed it the Zion Church; after his time, his son in law, Rev. W.D. Clarke took over as pastor and the family connection continued through his son and grandson. The last Clarke, of the fourth generation, served as the pastor until 1972. 

Apart from the pastors, the other long-running association this church has is a pipe-organ, which was brought from England in 1895. Renovated in 2006, it continues to add music to the church choir to this day!

Mixed message

On noticing this sign, one is reminded of a post that has been circulating for a while, claiming that if the first and last letters are correct, the jumbling up of other letters does not  make it difficult for us to understand what is being said. 

The urban dictionary has a word to describe it: typoglycemia (and a wikipedia entry as well). But even that contrived word does not describe what has happened with the sign here. Even if you cannot read Tamizh, you would have been able to figure out that the last two characters replace the 'tre' (or the 'ter', if you prefer); they are the Tamizh letters which are phonetically congruent. 

Maybe the painter realized that he had run out of space and had to make do with one character less - how would you label this kind of a 'spelling'!

Clearwater?

Inside the Chennai Port. Those who have been to the world's large ports - Rotterdam, Singapore, Shanghai talk about how dirty the Port of Chennai is. But going back there after over 20 years, I found it cleaner than it was in my memory. 

If a picture like this had been taken in the 1990s, the water would have had a thick coating of oil on it - that would have made the picture more colourful, but I'm sure we'd prefer it this way!

70 mm

Of course the old time Madrasis will not be able to recognize this space. About 50 years ago, there was a different building that came up at this spot - the Anand theatre. It has given way to a shopping complex, just like many other exhibitors from that era. 

G. Umapathy, wanted to make a splash with his new theatre in 1964. And so he brought in the latest in technology; the 70mm movie. It was the first 70mm screen in Madras, beating Safire to the reel on that count. And the two of them vied with each other in bringing the best of the Hollywood to Madras. 

Sadly, neither Safire nor Anand survives today. One hopes that Mr. Umapathy's family retains some part of the history is incorporated in the shopping complex that is coming up....

Standing tall

It was at one time the tallest building in India. Conceived as the headquarters of his business ventures, M. Ct. M Chidambaram Chettiar spared no effort in getting the best architects to design it. Even though the original architects - Brown & Moulin of London - went off the project after construction had started, LM Chitale, who was later to be known as one of Chennai's best architects, took over supervision of the building's completion. 

Based on the design of the UN Secretariat building in New York city, this building also marked a transition in Madras' construction technology. Into the 1950s, bricks and lime were the material of choice even for large commercial or office buildings. This one was the first to use concrete columns, paving the way for larger buildings to come up in other parts of the country. Chidambaram Chettiar did not live to see the building in use; he passed away in 1954. And when the insurance business was nationalized in 1956, the planned original occupants - United India Insurance, New Guardian Life Assurance, Travancore Rayons and Indian Overseas Bank - gave way to the new behemoth, the Life Insurance Corporation of India. 

No longer the tallest building even in Chennai, the LIC building is still a grand structure. A few months ago, there was a scare that the tunnelling for the Chennai Metro is causing cracks in the edifice. But that is nothing for a building that was shut for well over a year in 1975-76, after a devastating fire rendered access to any part of this building dangerous!                                  

Nosing ahead

The Chennai airport has been at the receiving end of poor reviews, almost all of which are well justified. The airport is pretty much at the limit of its capacities in all forms. And rather than go in for a completely new airport - as was done at Bengaluru or at Hyderabad, Chennai opted for the revamp route. 

Ever since the first terminal was opened sixty years ago, Chennai has been reluctant to let the airport move out from this location. The original terminal - seen in the background - was referred to as the Meenambakkam airport, because that was the nearest suburban railway station. When the new terminal was built in 1985, it was no longer Meenambakkam; the railways in fact built a new station at Thirusoolam, between Meenambakkam and Pallavaram to cater to the airport goers. But try telling a Chennaiite that it should be called the Thirusoolam airport and you will be left feeling that the coals of Hades would be a refreshing, cool change.

The expansion is to be completed in 2013-14. And if current projections hold, that would be bursting at the seams by 2016-17. The TN Vision Plan for 2023 envisages a completely new airport, near Sriperumbudur, about 50km away. Even when that happens, we will still call it the Meenambakkam airport, I'm sure!

Old house

Chintadripet was one of the earliest 'planned settlements' of Madras. It was in 1734 that the Company took over a garden (and quite a garden it must have been) belonging to Sunku Rama Chetty, who was until 1731 the Chief Merchant of Fort St George. That land was given to him in 1719 by Governor Joseph Collet, but in the years that followed, Sunku Rama Chetty's arrogance to the Company's European merchants led to his downfall. Not only was he dismissed from his post in 1731, Governor Morton Pitt took over his garden with the intent of creating a settlement for weavers. 

By 1735, the 'Village of Small Looms' ("Chinna-thari-pettai" சின்ன தறி பேட்டை) was up and weaving. Apart from the Audikesava Perumal temple, there is probably no other structure that dates back to the early days of the village. But walking down the roads of Chintadripet today, you still get to see many old houses - like this one, which is surely from the turn of the 20th century. 

This picture was taken during a photowalk a couple of months ago. A fellow photo-walker's post says the lady sitting on the thinnai was waiting for her daughter-in-law to bring her her 2nd cup of coffee!

East-west connection?

Senegal, on the west coast of Africa, is one of the few African countries that has never had a Coup-d'Etat in its post-colonial history. Over the past 52 years, Senegal has seen peaceful transition of power from one President to the next. In 2012, despite (or maybe because of) the constitution being amended to allow him to contest for a third term, Abdoulaye Wade lost to Macky Sall. 

Senegal has had strong trade connections with India. In fact, India accounts for well over a quarter of Senegal's international trade. Therefore it is not surprising that apart from its embassy in New Delhi, Senegal also has an Honorary Consul in India - and that person is in Chennai. Somehow it is fitting that it is a person running a logistics services firm who has been chosen; Mr. Ashok Thakkar has been Senegal's Honorary Consul for a few years now. 

The next time you are thinking about a trip to west Africa, you know where you need to head to first: McNichol's Road in Chetpet, which is where you will see this sign. Or actually, maybe not. You don't go to the Consul's house on business, you're better off going to his office in Royapuram!

And a trophy

The 2nd Viscount Goschen's tenure as Governor of Madras was quite a mixed bag, but there is not much that I have been able to find about his administrative abilities. He probably did quite well, because his name pops up at all kinds of places. If it was the public library yesterday, it is this trophy today.

Called the Goschen Cup, it was presented to the Madras Sailing Club in 1928. You can see it today if you are nice to folks at the Royal Madras Yacht Club (which is what the Madras Sailing Club has morphed into). It is not normally on display - it was out because of the Madras Day celebrations in August. 

Will request someone from the RMYC to give us more information on what this Cup is for.

Reading hall

Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Public Libraries manages over 4,000 libraries in the state. Of those, very few can claim to have a longer history than that of the Goschen Library in Chintadripet. INTACH's guide to Madras' buildings dates it to the end of the 19th century, but it is more possible that it was actually founded in 1927 - the 2nd Viscount Goschen took up his position as Governor of Madras only in 1924. Of course, both may be correct; the building could have served as a public meeting place before being re-purposed as a library, in which case, we should also know something of its original name.

That's not difficult, for there is something on the facade; as far as it an be made out from the picture, it is something like "P. V... Chetty's Hall". It would be far easier to read it on the building itself. So, it is possible that the public hall was taken over to establish The Goschen Library. In its heyday, it had over 15,000 books. Today, like many other public libraries, it serves as a quite place for those wishing to read the daily newspapers; anything more substantial may be expecting too much from the vast majority of the 4,000 libraries in the state. 

It was too early for visitors - the library opens at 8 am, shuts for lunch at 12.30 pm and then, after a siesta, functions again between 4 pm and 8 pm. One of these days, one must get into this library during the working hours and try to figure out how many of those 15,000 books remain!

Side gate

By the 1970s, the only college on College Road was the Women's Christian College. So it was natural for me to assume that the road was named after that institution. However, the road was named so much before 1915, which was when the WCC was founded. Even a century before that, this area housed the College of Fort St George. That was started in 1812, with the singular purpose of teaching the Fort's clerks the languages of south India. 

That college was important enough for the Governor of Madras to visit it regularly. Although it sounds rather improbable today, His Excellency could choose to reach the college either by road, or, in a more leisurely fashion, by boat. Yes, the Cooum (to the right of this picture) runs by the college. A clear, silver stream, with the shade of the trees on its banks - who would not like to cruise on such a river! 

To receive the Governor, any old gate would not do. And so this arched entry for the Governor's carriage. It certainly adds a touch of class to this part of the road even today, despite some uninspired restoration effort. Only that there is no more a college that is inside these premises - this gateway takes you to the Directorate of Public Instruction and the offices of the Tamil Nadu Textbook Society. Not really the stuff for a governor to pay attention to. And with the median blocking a direct entrance through the arch, one would have to be satisfied with ducking in by a quick turn into the gate!

Fireworks!

Happy Deepavali, folks!

So what was new this year? For starters, the traffic management at Chennai's shopping hub - Panagal Park and T. Nagar - was outstanding according to many of the residents. Empty autorickshaws were not allowed into the core shopping area, which also had its parking lots very closely monitored. 

There were those so called 'new' fireworks this year also - but I can't remember any of them. The Hindu ran a feature on Deepavali and diabetes. There were more folks putting up status messages and tweets on the lines of "don't burst crackers". But it was noisy enough earlier in the evening - things have gone quiet now, guess everyone is shuffling cards for the traditional - now when did that start? - Diwali gambling session. Here's wishing everyone ends up winning!

No more a shack

A generation ago, there were no vinyl signs. The name was painted on the wall of the building. And it was the only building there, near the northern end of Besant Nagar's 6th Avenue. The beach sand spilled across the road and found lots of resting space around the building. There were chairs, but all out in the open air. Cozee was quite that, never mind the spelling. And there would be the Sardar owner, with his patka in place, ready to let go in the best Madras bashai should anyone get over-excited. I never did try it, but I am sure there are enough people who would remember spiking their ThumsUp with something stronger. Sardar would know of course, but would not interfere unless it became too brazen.

That was the way Cozee channeled those shacks of the West Indian beaches, or even those of Goa. At least that's the way we imagined it, the space between the land and the sea changing ever so gently that you never knew where the surf changed into sand and where that changed into black-topped road.

Today, it is just another of those restaurants along that stretch of the road.

Admirable fish

That's a regular Sunday morning scene near the Chintadripet fish market. The market itself gets extremely crowded; if you are not keen on jostling the crowds, but still like your bit of fish, there are enough retailers outside. Of course, there is a price to pay for the 'convenience' of avoiding the crowd and there are many who are willing to pay that price.

This fish is the vanjram, the king mackeral (Scomberomorus guttatus). Also known as neimeen or seer fish, this is one of the (if not actually the) most popular table fish across the south Indian states and Sri Lanka. 

Is there a fish on your lunch table today?

5 Roads and a bridge

One of the bridges across the Cooum. This one connects Pantheon Road to Moores Road; taken from the College Road bank of the Cooum, the picture shows the new building of the Radisson Blu hotel on Ethiraj Salai. Of course, the hotel wasn't there in the late '70s, which was when I first went on this bridge. There used to be a boat-house, with boats in it, on the Greames Road bank of the river. 

The boat house is still there, very much worse for the wear. The boats, of course, have long gone.