Weather report?

Cyclone Vardah is expected to make landfall this evening. It has been looming as a menacing presence in the Bay of Bengal since Thursday last, building up its fury and even practicing its menace over Thailand and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is expected to be the most severe storm in over a generation to hit northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the region where it is expected to move over from sea to land. There have been so many instances in the past where such cyclones have veered northwards, sometimes over 90º, to threaten Odisha or even Bangladesh. 

But Cyclone Vardah seems to be charting a straight path. And it is threatening wind speeds of 95kmph+; Chennai is the biggest city in its way, and we are all bracing for impact this afternoon. 

Last evening was the proverbial calm before the storm. The sea at the Marina Beach was a little rougher than usual. The mounted police cantered up and down the beach, ensuring that folks were staying up, away from the water. In the midst of it all was this gentleman, probably trying to re-assure members of his family that Cyclone Vardah is not all that fearsome at is being made out - but then, we shall know the truth of that in a few hours from now!

Another gate, another beyond

In case you missed it, the British were not the first European power to establish its presence in India. They were rather slow off the mark, with the Portuguese and the Dutch definitely getting in ahead of them and the French and Danes running them close in the early stages. The Dutch, for a while, were the masters of the west coast, and had a significant presence in Sri Lanka as well, before shifting their focus to the Dutch East Indies, later to become Indonesia.

Not that the Dutch did not know the Coromandel Coast. Their earliest settlement was at Masulipatnam, in 1605. Within a few years, they had expanded further along the coast to the south. By then, the Portuguese were already well established at Mylapore (San Thome) and also at another ancient seaport further north. That was Pulicat, or Pazhaverkadu, which had been trading with the Arab and the Mediterranean kingdoms for several centuries. In 1610, the Dutch dispossessed the Portuguese and established Fort Geldria in 1613. It was the only fortification of the Dutch in India, protecting not just the trade in cloth, but also the transportation of indentured labour to other colonies of the Dutch.

The Dutch established their cemetery, according to the inscription above its gate, in 1656. The gravestones show dates for at least about a century after that. It was in 1825 that the town was ceded to the British. Not only did the British not invest much in the town, they let the earlier buildings decline. The cemetery was also forgotten, overgrown with vegetation and hidden from passers-by. It was sometime in the 2000s that it was re-discovered, and has since then been rather well cared for!

A different world

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

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

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

Pits!

Any theatre would have a designated location for the control booth - the space for technicians controlling the stage lights and sounds to sit and do their work while the performance is in progress. The ideal location for this is, in some ways, the place where the best seats in the house should be; far enough away from the stage to have a full view of what is happening on it, but close enough to not miss out any of the details.

Chennai's theatres have different approaches to placing the control booth. Many of them - at least among the ones I have seen - have them right up front, just at the edge of the stage. The Museum Theatre has it jammed in the centre aisle, crushing into the seats nearby. Obviously, given the age of that building, it is a much later addition and it gives a definite appearance of having been jerry-rigged, as if it has been placed there just for this performance and no more.

The control booth at the Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Hall is much better organized. I don't recall seeing this space when I have been on the ground floor - and so I guess it blends well with the seating. But when looking down on the balcony, it looks like a fairly comfortable area to sit and work - and the best spot to watch the performance from!

Half mast

It has been over 48 hours since the ailing Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu breathed her last at a Chennai hospital, but many parts of the city seem to be in mourning still. Even the airport seemed to be deserted last evening; the usual jockeying of vehicles, to be ahead of the rest in the queue, seemed to be desultory at best.

All that was because of J. Jayalalithaa, whose impact on the country's psyche seemed disproportionate to her political presence at the national level. It is difficult for an outsider to comprehend the hold she had on the person-on-the-Tamil Nadu-street; the editorial in yesterday's The Hindu gives you glimpses of why. But it is well nigh impossible to describe an image crafted over 4 decades and more to be encapsulated into a few sheets of newsprint.

The national flag at Chennai airport is flying at half mast. That is because the state has announced a 7-day official mourning for its former Chief Minister. "Former", only because she is not around any longer. But for millions of Tamil Nadu, she will always be their "Nirandhara Mudalvar" (perennial Chief Minister)!

Old type

Has this building been around for as long as the year on that small brown board over the door? It is quite likely, given that this was a locality where a lot of publications got their start. What's that? You are not able to make out the board? Well, you can click on the picture to get it to open - you will then still have to enlarge it. For all those pains, you will get to know that the board proclaims "Sastra Sanjeevini Press" and then, in even more faded letters, "ESTD 1900". 

So what did the Sastra Sanjeevini Press do? As best as I have been able to find out, it published largely in two genres: Religion and Linguistics. It will take much more effort before I can hope to have more information about the history of this institution. But thanks to the Digital Library of India at the IISc, it is possible to access at least a dozen titles published by this House. The oldest of them goes back to 1901 - and that, somehow validates the founding date. The most recent is dated 1934, so that begs the question - did Sastra Sanjeevini Press continue to turn out those tomes? 

Chances are that it diversified and went into some other genres - maybe ones that the Digital Library project chose to not archive. But the interesting part is that the oldest title in that list - "Bhagavan Siddhantha Saravali", by Subrahmanya Sastri can be printed on demand, and made available in the hard-bound form (US $8.93) or as a paperback (US$6.89). Wonder if any of those greenbacks get back to this building in Chennai!

All the Gods

Tucked away off a side street on Radhakrishnan Salai is a rather unique institution. The Sufi Dar is run by a Trust that was founded in 1971 as a dedication to a Sindhi saint, Puj Shahenshah Baba Nebhraj Sahib. Originally, it functioned from Walltax Road, but moved to Radhakrishnan Salai to cater to the growing band of the Puj Baba's devotees. There is no reason to believe that the Puj Baba had ever come to this part of the world. The founder of the Sufi Dar Trust, Ratanchand Sahib, was himself an accidental visitor to Madras. When he was in Madras, he met Dr. Hariram, another visitor to the city, but one who believed that his presence here was pre-destined so that he could initiate Ratanchand. 

Ratanchand Sahib attained samadhi in 2013. The Sufi Dar Trust continues to carry forward his ideals. They believe that the Puj Baba can be accessed by anyone, not just a follower. But to make any supplicant of the Baba more comfortable, the Sufi Dar accommodates many deities: pictures of Sufi saints, Hindu Gods, the Sikh gurus, Sai Baba, Jesus and Mary, and leaders of various sects, as well as several statues depicting all of these Gods, are all present in the Sufi Dar. 

Haven't been inside yet. When there is so much divinity around, one must be there in a proper frame of mind, so as to not be overwhelmed by their presence! 

Temple benefactors

Going along Mint Street, one will come across several temples; it would be very difficult to see any that is grander than the Chennai Arulmigu Ekambareswarar Temple. As with several of the old temples of the city, this one is also claimed to be more than 500 years old; an intermediate period, which is difficult to confirm or deny. What is possible to confirm is that this temple was in existence in the early 18th century, being important enough to feature in the earliest map of the city, dating circa 1710. 

The more believable version of this temple's origin dates it to the 1680s, when Alangatha Pillai (more about him here), one of the dubashes employed by the East India Company makes a generous contribution to build a temple to his favourite deity, Ekambareswarar. The temple was built close to Fort St George, Alangatha Pillai's workplace. In those days, that part of the world was inhabited by washers and so, it was on Washers Street that Alangatha Pillai's temple came up.

In an earlier post about Alangatha Pillai, I had assumed it was his likeness that was sculpted on the pillar just inside the entrance. Turns out that is of a different gentleman, though, like Alangatha Pillai, he too was a benefactor of the temple. And where is it rather difficult to find any reference to Alangatha Pillai in the temple itself, this person's name is written in large letters on the stone canopy in front of the gopuram - Va Mu Appukutty Chettiar!

If the sea don't get you, we will

The beaches of Chennai are inviting. Very. Long stretches of sand, and the waves seem to be coming in quite calmly, almost boringly. It is very tempting to go out and ride the waves back in, which is what many people seem to do. (Going against the advice of the Outdoor Swimming Society, and other experts, who say that one should never swim with one's back to the sea). 

But the city's beaches are quite dangerous. There have been quite a number of fatalities, and an equal, if not greater, number of rescues. The most famous (or best memorialised) tragi-heroic act was off Elliot's Beach at Besant Nagar, but there are probably many more which happen off the Marina, considering the greater volume of people who throng there. 

The city police frown on any attempt to "take bath" in the sea. Well you can try and argue that you weren't bathing, but you were trying to swim. But they will still prosecute you anyway!

Metro to mofussil

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

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

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

Waiting to open

In a couple of weeks from today, the gates of the MA Chidambaram Stadium will open for the fifth test of the India-England series. In that time, India could have either won the series already, or it could be that England is looking to square the series, having won the fourth test at Mumbai. 

Either way, there will be a lot of excitement around the test. Chennai has not hosted an international test match in a long time. The last one such played here was almost four years ago, when India played Australia in February 2013; it is about time the next one takes place. 

So, are you going to be watching this match live?

All together, now!

In 1958, the Tamil Nadu government got into the business of supplying milk to the citizens of the state, and in 1965 it took control of all the milk producers' co-operatives across the state.  It was much later that it took on a more 'corporate' form, with the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited being formally registered in August 1981. Since then, the TNCMPFL has been marketing its products under the Aavin brand. While it started off with processed milk, today, the brand covers a range of milk products, many of which have been sold through small outlets across the city (and state). 

Aavin has been on a spree of modernisation over the past few months. Old parlours are being refurbished and jazzed up. Play-areas, air-conditioning and brightly lit parlours seem to be the new normal, as Aavin tries to catch up market share in categories like ice-cream, flavoured milk and sweets. In the process, it is also changing a few of the bunks which were the main points of sale for these products. Happened to catch one such bunk in transition - which, by the way, is the 'Theme of the Day' for the city photobloggers today*.

No idea why this Aavin booth had to be moved from wherever it was, but looks like it just needs a few people to transfer it to wherever it has to go to!

*If you would like to see how this theme is interpreted around the world, go here

Early design

Of course, there are still many parts of Chennai where you can get to see people like her. But make sure you get there early in the morning!

Deceptive

The advertisement bill catches the eye first. A patch of fluorescent colour on a drab wall in Errabalu Chetty Street, just where it meets Armenian Street. The bill advertises many things, each of which seem to mock the edifice it is pasted on. 

The locked door was certainly new, once. It may well have led into a 3-bedroom house. It is not difficult to imagine a 3-bedroom house with a balcony. There are several early 20th century houses nearby, with balconies overlooking the street. This could have been just one other such.

But really, the brick wall behind the door and the window pane makes a mockery of the door itself. And a ghastly breach of security, one panel of the door has been broken up, providing easy access to the brick wall behind!

Track, field

Because today is the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic games, here is a picture of a Chennai landmark that was instrumental in the birth of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Although India did not feature in the 1896 games at Athens, there was an 'Indian' who participated in the 1900 games in Paris. And then, for a generation, the Olympic games were of no consequence to the natives of India. It was in 1920 that Sir Dorabji Tata rushed in a team to the Olympic games at Antwerp - four athletes and two wrestlers. Thanks to that effort, Sir Dorabji was inducted into the International Olympic Committee. As a member of the IOC, Sir Dorabji made sure the selections for the 1924 Paris Olympic games were properly conducted, through the first Inter-State Athletic Meet at Delhi. 

The technical inputs for conducting the events was provided by Dr.A.G.Noehren who was then the Director of the YMCA. Thanks to the YMCA's School of Physical Education in Madras, Dr. Noehren knew what went into selecting athletes. The 1924 team had 8 athletes - and three of them were from Madras. It is likely that all of them trained at the Y's School of Physical Education, which has since become the College of Physical Education, with its campus at Nandanam.

The Chennai connection with the Olympics continues. One of the medal winners at the 2012 London games  - Gagan Narang - was born in Chennai, though he was a Hyderabad resident when he won the medal. Interestingly, the current President of the IOA, N. Ramachandran, is a Chennai resident. Maybe this year's Olympic games in Rio will see some medals coming to this city!

Posh place

The city of Madras, as we know, was initially just the space enclosed within the walls of Fort St George. As in any city, there were some parts which were more favoured as residential areas than others. The most favoured portion in the Fort was its south-eastern quarter. It was the furthest point from the Customs House, and so presumably far enough away for the smells of goods to not bother the residents; plus where the sea-breeze would blow through unhindered. 

The two streets in that quarter, running north-south, parallel to each other, are St Thomas Street and Church Street. Church Street is the more eastern of the two and therefore having less of a cachet. St Thomas Street was the favoured residential area, and the nine residences there - four on the eastern side and five along the western flank. These were built sometime in the early years of the 18th century. If you were a resident here, your neighbours would have been Majors, Colonels and members of the Council - and the chaplain of St Mary's Church.

Most of those houses are gone, fallen to ruin. Others are well on their way there. The ASI is gamely trying to do something about preserving these structures. This one - a large building that has its front door on St Thomas Street and its rear verandah on Church Street - would have been used both as a residence as well as a temporary storehouse for bales of cloth or barrels of wine as they were being traded into and out of the country. But today, it is barely able to stand up, a ghostly reminder of the glory that was once the "Snob's Alley" of Madras!

Old books

Looked at one way, he had a long reign. But in 1825, when Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan came to the title of the Nawab of the Carnatic, he was barely a year old and it was his father's brother, Azeem Jah who served as the regent until the young Ghouse came of age, taking over the responsibility in 1842. It could have been a much longer reign, given his youth when he ascended the masnad, but fate cut it short: Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse died in 1855, and having died childless, allowed the British to take over the Carnatic, ending the reign of the nawabs.

It was during Ghouse's reign that Dr. Edward Balfour, a multi-talented surgeon landed in Madras. Dr. Balfour had thrown himself into India; he had translated the Guldasta-e-sukhan, a 14th century work into English and was generally all for progress and integration. At his insistence that the Muslims of Madras needed a library for themselves, the Muhammadan Public Library was set up in 1850. The Nawab made a grant of Rs.700 to the corpus, and a monthly grant of Rs.35 for the library's upkeep. And with Dr. Balfour coaxing people all over the Madras Presidency and beyond, the library opened with nearly a thousand books. Of these, the majority was gifted by well wishers across the country, and shortly after it opened, the library received a gift of 240 books in Arabic from Abbas Pasha, the King of Egypt.

The library faded out in the 1990s, because the building it was housed in went to seed. Thankfully, the secretary of the library, Saba Mustafa, kept the faith and in 2005, the library was re-opened in its current location. So that explains why the building does looks very dapper for its 175 year old occupant!

Pointed connection

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

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

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

Colour in the court

A courtroom is not the first place that one thinks of when it comes to beauty. But beauty does make an appearance in all kinds of places, and a courtroom is no exception. 

This one is from the Madras High Court. It was a holiday for the Court and therefore it was easier to spot the stained glass on the lunette (I believe that's what it is called) above the door. I think I would have been too captivated by the drama around the door - it leads to the Court Hall - 1, where the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court sits. 

You may also find it difficult to figure out the beauty of the lunette - the corridor is quite well shaded from the sun. And being a holiday, there was only the one tubelight along the way, distracting from the stained glass, as it were. But you don't have to take my word for it. Visit the Court and you will see not only this, but also beautifully tiled ceilings and other stained glasses - including a few over the CJ's seat!

Simple things

No, we haven't had more rains in Chennai. And no, it is not because I have been so traumatized by those rains in December.

It is just that this picture seemed to be just right for today's Theme Day - Simplicity. What can be more simple than this paper boat? And what childhood joy can be more profound than getting wet in a gentle rain, while setting such boats out on their journeys?

Tagore has written about them; Jagajit and Chitra Singh have sung about them - both works highly charged with simple emotions!