Sailing out

That's the 'Tiger Bridge' getting out of the Chennai Port a few months ago. 

For more posts about Chennai's harbour, click here. And if you would like to know more about the ship itself, this is the place to go. And for its home port, Majuro - there is always Wikipedia!

Temple sign

To all those who think people in Chennai don't speak anything other than Tamizh (or "Madras bashai": take a look at this sign. 

Now, how about a bit of English, as well?

Sparrow family

The IUCN's Red List continues to list them as 'least concern', because of their large range and, within that range, their numbers seem to be large enough to be not worried about. If Chennai had a Red List, however, these birds (Passer domesticus) would be heading that list. A generation ago, you were in danger of these birds building a nest in your hair if you stood still for long enough. Today, their nests are not to be seen at all. 

First noticed this family at Santhome, just across the road from the AIR station, a few months ago. There were about eight of them, and they weren't too worried about people around them. And then I saw them again yesterday. Didn't watch them for long, but I got the feeling that they were all there. Maybe we've taken them for granted too often for too long; I'm sure you don't believe me when I say they are almost non-existent in Chennai. But think about it, when did you last see one?

If you would like to do something about helping these birds, you can start off with getting them a nest box. You can find the link on this site - and do let us know when the sparrows start using them!

Water woes

If you had grown up in the 1970s and 80s in Madras, you will look at this with nostalgia. Pumping iron had a completely different meaning, but you had to get this mechanism going before you could use it as your personal gym. That first mug of water, poured into the barrel as you start moving the lever up and down, to "build up presser". And the thrill of hearing the wheezing change into a solid thump as the water surges through the pipes in time to your pumping. One-handed pumping, making sure the "presser" did not drop until all the buckets in the house were full, keeping the flow of water even - all these were forms of entertainment. 

Not to mention the "body-building" aspect of this. Good exercise for your arms to fill up ten buckets of water every day. And then to carry them to various points in the house, all full, hoping that mom doesn't notice the spilled drops before you had a chance to wipe them dry... well, that kind of thing doesn't happen these days. 

For starters, the water availability is itself suspect. After a less than average monsoon, Chennai city is going to have a difficult time in the summer ahead. Start conserving. Now!

Umbrella

That's the theme for the month for the CDP bloggers. 

These umbrellas cannot be rolled up, however. At the Bhaktavatsala Perumal temple at Thiruninravur, the deity was being paraded through the streets around the temple as part of the bhramotsavam. The March sun is hot and it wouldn't do to have it strike the idol directly. So, along with the palanquin bearers are the umbrella carriers...

...to see more umbrellas from around the world, take a look here.

Right wrong

Do you find anything odd about the cars on this road? No? Look again and you will notice that both the vehicles are on the wrong side of the road, which, in India is the right.

This is probably the only stretch of public road in Chennai where you are allowed - actually expected - to drive on the wrong side of a two-way street. Traffic on Luz Church Road - where the white car is turning in from - is only westbound, while Musiri Subramaniam Road, nearer to us, permits vehicles to only go east. This bit of road is where they changeover, if they need to. The flow is much smoother if you to stick to your right when making the U-turn. 

Everyone has naturally adjusted to it, to the extent that quite a few of my friends - including some who use this route regularly - refused to believe me when I mentioned they were violating traffic rules!

An arc, a covenant

India observes Martyr's Day today, in memory of "such a one that ever walked the earth in flesh and blood", so it is rather appropriate to celebrate another martyr, though of a cause which may be much lesser and yet, much more.

William Lambton was in his mid-40s, having made a name for himself as a geographer and a geodesist during the determination of the border between USA and Canada after the American War of Independence. By 1799, he was back in India, as Lieutenant Lambton, having taken part in the success of the British in the Anglo-Mysore War. Though his initial proposal was to survey the newly acquired territories of Mysore, he quickly expanded its scope to cover a much larger area. But even at that time, it is doubtful that Lambton could have imagined the enormity of the project. Originally planned to be done in five years, it took 60 years for it to be closed. And it changed the face of the earth, quite literally, justifying its name as the "Great Indian Trigonometrical Survey". It was a project that mapped the entire subcontinent, using theodolites, triangulation and trigonometric tables. In the course of its progress, it 'discovered' the Chomolungma mountain, the highest point on land. That point, designated as Peak XV during the survey, was named after Lambton's successor as Survey Superintendent: the world knows it today as Mount Everest.

And that's how Mount Everest connects with Chennai's own St Thomas' Mount. That Great Indian Trigonometrical Survey began on April 10, 1802, with the first measurement from the top of St Thomas' Mount. The man who conceptualised it, Col William Lambton, spent the second half of his life in the field, making the survey happen. If we take the inscription on the pedestal of his bust at St Thomas' Mount as being accurate, Lambton was 80 when he died on January 30, 1833. Many other biographies date his death to 1823. Whatever be the case, Col Lambton had initiated such a compelling endeavour that the East India Company and later the British crown funded it until it was completed. 

Col Lambton's bust at the top of St Thomas' Mount is a tribute to the survey itself, as much as it is to him. The next time you go up on to the mountain, make sure you spare a moment for this man!

New, Happy Year!

If you are numerically inclined, here are a couple of things you might like to know about 2013:

a. It is the first time after 1987 that we are using four different digits to write the year

b. Sequential digits being used. But not in the same sequence. Big deal? The last time it happend was about 600 years ago. The next will be 2031.

Even if you are not numerically inclined, you can still have a fun time in the New Year. Enjoy a wonderful 2013, making life interesting for yourself and for everyone around you!

Grand hotel

The most recent entrant into Chennai's list of luxury hotels, the ITC Grand Chola is indeed quite grand. Spread out over 7 acres in the middle of Chennai, it is truly a spectacle. Inside the building, too, are grand spaces, where everyone wants to be photographed.

As if the lights from the buildings weren't enough, the car had to appear just as the photo was taken - at least it didn't run me over!

Chasing birds

It was the sixth edition of the annual Chennai Bird Race today; there is no way I would be able to take a halfway decent bird picture with my dinky camera, so you'll have to be satisfied with this one - you can see the entrance near the top. It is the abandoned nest of a subird.

This was taken at the Nanmangalam forest. We did see about 35 bird species there, but not the poster boy of the place, the Great Indian Horned Owl. Disappointed!

Fisherman

Here's another from the Pulicat Lake. He's standing close to the shore, and the net is attached to a cord that has been fastened at his wrist. The pouch tied to his belt serves to store the fish he catches. As you can figure out, he's not hoping to bag any big ones!

Boatman

Pulicat Lake straddles the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Just over 100km away from Chennai, it is easily accessed from the city. People flock there to watch the flamingoes, which come in every year to these backwaters - which is what Pulicat Lake actually is.

Several boatmen are willing take you out to watch the flamingoes, adding to their regular fishing income. Almost the entire stretch is quite shallow, so the boats are actually punted across the lake. And in some places, such as this, the boatman gets down and pushes the boat across!

New shrine

Going by the antiquity of Chennai's temples, this one is quite new. Supposedly around 150 years old, the Kodanda Ramar temple was established by a group of ascetics from Bhadrachalam in current day Andhra Pradesh. They set up the temple the way they knew how: similar to the temple of Sri Rama in their hometown. In that representation, it is Lord Rama's coronation - and that grand event was depicted in the main shrine of this temple.

However, the temple fell into disrepair rather quickly. The power of the deity was yet considered formidable; so much so that a resident of the neighbourhood was advised to pray to Him as the last resort. Venkayalu Kuppiah Chettiar was tormented by a disease that doctors of early 20th-century Madras could not find a cure for. All seemed lost, until Kuppiah, an avowed atheist, heeded his friends' advise and reached out to Lord Rama of West Mambalam, his neighbourhood. In return for the miraculous cure that was effected, Kuppiah Chettiar renovated the temple, and installed an idol of Sri Rama with his bow, the Kodandam. With that installation in the late 1920s, the temple came to be known by its current name.

The street is named after the temple; also nearby is the street named after Venkayalu Kuppiah Chettiar - although with changing social mores, it is now listed merely as Kuppiah (Ch) Street!

Flag waver

He seems to be an anachronism in these high-tech days. It is only when one gets away from the cities that the standing of a railway station master can be truly gauged. In the small stations along the country's rail network, the master is truly one. In the larger ones - towns, cities - the 'Station Master' designation is being replaced by something called 'Station Manager'. Maybe replaced is not the right word, for there are some stations where both officials are working. 

According to the All India Station Masters' Association, the country has 35,770 railwaymen who we notice as our train passes the station; they stand there, waving a red or a green flag. Nice job, being friendly to the trains that pass along. Of course there is more to it, but especially in a rustic station, where time runs slow, such flag waving is possibly the high point of the station master's day.

But an MRTS station like Velachery - shown in the picture - is somewhere in between. The frequency of trains is not so high that the station master keeps popping in and out, and not so low that he can sack out between trains. For a moment, I thought this particular station master was confused about which flag to wave!

Tech park

The second big IT park promoted by the Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation was the ITPC - the International Tech Park, Chennai. But very few refer to this facility by that name, preferring to address it by the name of TIDCO's partner for this venture: Ascendas. 

Covering approximately 2 million squarefeet of built up space, ITPC is located close to TIDEL Park, TIDCO's earlier venture. Unlike TIDEL, which is one building with four towers, Ascendas has three separate units: Pinnacle, Crest and Zenith. Again unlike TIDEL, the buildings of Ascendas are close to the road - which makes it feel like just another office building. It lacks the sense of awe that TIDEL invokes in a first-time visitor.

For all that, Ascendas is still a swanky address for a new-age company. At least to that extent, it has gone ahead of its bigger brother, the TIDEL Park!

Club by the road

Established in 1873, the Cosmopolitan Club was set up primarily because the gentlemen of Madras were stifled in their "social intercourse with European gentlemen" because of the 'Europeans Only' policy of the Madras Club. The Cosmopolitan had as its objective the furthering of this exchange between European and Indian gentlemen of Madras. 

From its earliest days, the Cosmopolitan has been functioning from this location on Mount Road. Though it had its first establishment in Moore's Garden, it moved to Mount Road very early and has continued to remain there. 

Subsequently, it acquired the Travancore Pavilion at Nandanam, further down the Mount Road. That is now the Golf Annexe of the Cosmopolitan Club, boasting of one of Chennai's three 18-hole golf courses. The fairway on one of the holes runs parallel to the road - though it would take quite a bit of effort to send a ball into the traffic, it is not unheard of!

What crowd?

If I told you this photo was taken almost directly opposite Chennai Central station, you would probably call me crazy. It is one of the quietest spots you can find on that stretch of Poonamallee High Road; chances are, however, that you've rushed past this building without thinking of what lies inside.

The Ramasamy Mudeliar Choultry has a pretty big yard, once you get inside the gate. It was also the place where the Hop-On-Hop-Off buses used to start from (wonder where they are, now?). And inside is the (probably) only statue of the man who gave a lot to the city where he made his fortune.

Go inside, see it for yourself. And be happy that even in the middle of all the rush, Chennai still has oases of Silence and slow Time!

Shook up

These arches, at the southern entrance to Chennai's first planned locality, came up almost twenty years after the locality itself did. Having re-named Nadukkarai as "Anna Nagar", in a bid to attract folks to the place, it was kind of odd that the locality did not have anything specific to remember CN Annadurai by. 

That was fixed in 1984-85. Annadurai was born in 1909, so 1984 was the celebration of his platinum jubilee year. The man himself had passed away in 1969; yet, there was a lot of fanfare around him. These arches were built as a part of the platinum jubilee celebrations. 

A couple of months ago, these were to be brought down - at least temporarily, so as to clear the space for construction of a flyover on Poonamallee High Road. Demolition began towards the end of August. However, a week went buy without much progress in bringing down the structure. And then, on September 5,  the demolition of of these arches was brought to a halt by the Chief Minister! 

Leaving town

Was away from Chennai for a couple of days. Travelled out on the Chennai-Tada Highway, which is the first leg of the NH 5. The NH 5, connecting Chennai to Kolkata, is one of the highways that form the 'Golden Quadrilateral' - the project connecting Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

Though referred to as the Chennai - Kolkata highway, the NH5 technically ends at Balasore, Odisha. The road to Kolkata, beyond Balasore, has 2 stretches; one, as NH 60 to Kharagpur and then from Kharagpur to Kolkata as NH6.

This part of the NH5, from Chennai to Tada has been built by L&T Infrastructure, who also continue to operate and maintain it - and of course, they have to levy a toll for that! 

Looking to lodge?

Ah, well, you could do better than Sri Ramakrishna Nivas on Woods Road. But then, you could do a lot worse, too!