What's that, again?

The Indian Motor Vehicles Act specifies that letters and numerals on a vehicle's number plate must be of a certain size. As with many other legislated limits, these are also broken quite often. As the law does not permit customised number plates (the US allows it - does any other country?), people go to some lengths to stamp their individuality on the number plate also. A variety of fonts, sizes, ornamentation around the plate.... I thought I'd seen them all.

And then this car last evening. He can't possibly have a number plate saying "BOSS" - but that's what it said and I had to lurch across to take a photo. The size of the numerals may not be standard, but it is easily readable - though it takes a moment to figure out it is 6055!

PS: If this is your car - thank you for allowing the picture to continue on this blog. Appreciate your support! If it is not - appreciate your support even more!!

A new entrance

I've always entered the Egmore ('Chennai Egmore') railway station from the east and had thought it was the only way to get in. It was a surprise to see that the western side of the station also has an entryway; for a moment, I thought this was also of the same vintage as the other side - the builders have managed a reasonably good copy of the architecture - but the lack of significant activity around this side convinced me that it was a much more recent additon, awaiting a formal inauguration.

However, I later learnt that this entrance was officially opened two years ago, in June 2006. So why the lack of crowds? Now, Egmore used to be a station where you could drive up in a taxi right on to the platform, almost to your compartment. Even today, the shortest distance from Platform 1 to the car park is only 200 m or so; with that kind of convenience on the eastern side, it will lake a while longer for people to get used to the 'long haul' entry from the west, I guess!

Time. And space.

Spotted this one almost by accident; was going up Purasavakkam High Road and wondering how badly lost I was when I noticed this clock tower at Doveton. The moment I saw it, I realized I'd always known about this - "Doveton Clock Tower" - though I had mentioned it as Vepery in my earlier post!

Someone told me that the clock tower at Royapettah is now maintained by P.Orr & Sons. This one does not seem to have caught the eye of any such benefactor. Even the board on top of it, saying "Corporation of Chennai" is cracked and has fallen away on three of the four sides. But it still tells you the time!

Colourful zones - 4

This is the last of my 'colourful' posts; and look at that building! The pinks had dulled, the blue & cream was quiet, the blues were soothing, but this one just does the shimmy in front of you! I imagine this striking colour scheme is because the building houses a TUCS 'Fair Price Shop'.

The TUCS was originally the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society and was set up in 1904 (it probably startled the authorities into passing the First Cooperative Credit Societies Act of 1904). Over its life, it had somehow become the default outlet for the state's public distribution system and is identified very closely with the government. The building seems to be Corporation property - TUCS only seems to be in charge of minding the store here!

Colourful zones - 3

Blue continues to be the colour of choice for an office of the Corporation itself; this is the office for Ward 142 (Bheemannapet) and has signboards for a women's self-help group meeting room and for the Ward health inspector.

Funnily though, I've never heard this being referred to as the Bheemannapet office - more often than not, folks call it the RA Puram office, because that's the postal code it is located in.

No sooner was the paint job over did someone stick a poster (that yellow smudge) to deface it. The poster thanks the Corporation of Chennai (and also the state's Chief Minister and Minister for Local Administration, as well as the Mayor of the Corporation). For what? I didn't read the fine print!

Colourful zones - 2

Though technically an autonomous board, the offices of Metrowater are maintained by the Corporation of Chennai. And so, the Area 6 (Chepauk & Triplicane) office on Dr. Ranga Road, has got a fresh coat of paint and completely different from the cream-gone-bad colour that it had sported earlier.

There is still some cream, of course, but added on with the standard blue-is-for-water, the combination works well and gets the building to look inviting. Managed to take this photo just a day after the painting was completed - the painters hadn't yet removed their ladder from the far wall!

Colourful zones - 1

The Corporation of Chennai seems to have decided to paint the city - with several colours. I noticed it first with transformers in the Mylapore-Alwarpet-RA Puram-Teynampet areas. The enclosures around these transformers were painted pink a few weeks ago.

How did I figure out it was the Corporation's initiative and not that of the Electricity Board? You will find out over the next couple of days; I've been trying to stay away from a series of pictures on the same theme, but some efforts of the Corporation are too eye-catching!

Esplanade

That's a bit of a misleading title: the picture is not of any esplanade, but taken from the eastern end of 'Esplanade' - that's what Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Road was originally used for, before all sight of the Bay of Bengal was obscured by the Port of Chennai and other buildings.

Looking southwards from this point, it is surprising to find traffic being so thin; even the red-and-yellow suburban train seems to be empty. That's quite unusual for 6 o'clock on a workday evening - or maybe it is just the calm before the storm of people leaving their offices hits the roads.

The picture covers some of the city's well-known features: the Rajaji Salai subway, the Reserve Bank of India building, the Beach-Tambaram suburban train, the TV Tower of Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai, the spire of St. Mary's Church inside the Fort and the floodlights at MA Chidambaram Stadium. And though the shops are not visible, the crowds at the bottom left of the picture tell you that business is still booming at Burma Bazaar!

Village women

That's what this statue (installation?) reminded me of the first time I saw it. One of the idiosyncrasies of the pieces of art along the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) is that they seem to have absolutely no relation to each other. It is likely that one needs to walk down the road and see them close up before their secret bonds are revealed, but when you get on to the smoothest road in the city, you are always trying to see how quickly you can get through it to the next bottleneck!

Another curious thing about art on OMR is that many of them seem to be untitled (again, likely that one needs to get really close to them to read the small print) and also uncredited. That's good, because you can use your imagination to even label them differently at different times, if you so choose.

But somehow, this work seemed to be the most intriguing to me. Once 'village women' crept into my mind, I haven't been able to shake it off; I've been trying to conjure up connections between village women and the IT Corridor since. The closest I can get is to think that with many villages along the OMR having been displaced and the people re-settled, this work at the entrance of the OMR is tribute to the spirit of those home-makers.

Any other ideas?

Bareback rider

It is quite likely that his fellow countrymen in the East India Company were apprehensive of how Major General Sir Thomas Munro would play his cards in furthering the interests of the British in India. Sir Thomas was more inclined to meritocracy than to nepotism and had appointed many Indians to important positions in his administration. He had also gone so far as to say that British rule of India was alien and that the natives must be prepared to "frame and maintain a worthy government for themselves".

His story speaks more of the care and concern he had for his family, the sense of fairness with which he governed and his reluctance to use force unless absolutely necessary - certainly not common themes in the history of the British in India of the late 18th century. It is believed he contributed immensely in shaping the code of conduct for a civil servant by his work and his behaviour - thereby justifying the high elevation his statue is placed at.

The statue is just outside the Army Area Headquarters on Mount Road and shows Sir Thomas riding bareback - no saddle, no stirrups. It is claimed that it was no oversight on the part of the sculptor, Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey, but a tribute to Sir Thomas' horsemanship. While that may be true, I'd like to believe that it was just Sir Francis' style - his other famous equestrian statute, that of the Duke of Wellington in London, is also bereft of saddle and stirrups!

Requiem for a memorial?

Though not very inspiring architechturally, this structure with the words 'KAJ SCHMIDT' on its leeward side is always eye-catching simply beacuse it is the only brick-and-mortar construction on the sands of the Elliots Beach. Though not as instantly recognizable as Chennai Central for 'hero arrives in Madras' shots, it has played that role in a Malayalam movie (Naadodikattu), apart from minor and major roles in hundreds of other films.

But for all that, the structure is a landmark, a 78-year old one. It is now showing the signs of its age and the complete neglect that has befallen it. Very few people know that it is an expression of gratitude, constructed by the families of two school boys of Madras who were rescued from drowning in the sea close to that spot. Their rescuer, a Danish sailor named Karl Schmidt unfortunately paid for his gallantry with his life.

And we are about to forget that great deed: "...round the decay / Of that (colossal) wreck, boundless and bare, / the lone and level sands stretch far away"^ - words that came to mind when I went to look at this memorial after about 6 years. Is that where the memory of Hr Schmidt is headed? I do hope we can do something about getting this memorial refurbished. Any ideas?

^ from "Ozymandias", by Percy Bysshe Shelly, circa 1815

Any which way

Chennai's traffic can be quite bad during the peak hours, but even then, it keeps crawling along. It is rare to experience a complete gridlock in Chennai - for that, you've got to be in Kolkata - but there are times when the vehicles appear to be on the verge of locking themselves into one. On this occasion, I was in a van and so seated at a higher elevation than usual; the 2- and 3-wheelers were merely obeying that law of nature which says a vacuum must be abhorred and were rushing in at all angles to fill the available gaps.

Though traffic can be a reasonable excuse for a lot of delays, I will not try to use it to explain the late posting of today's photo!

All rise!

The position of the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court has been in a little bit of a flux over the past few days. Mr. Justice AP Shah was tranferred as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and he assumed charge there on May 12; Mr. Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court on May 9. And then, on May 12, the President of India upon advice from the Chief Justice of India (a former CJ of the Madras High Court), transferred the CJ of the Orissa High Court to Chennai. Mr. Justice AK Ganguly is expected to assume charge today, as the 40th Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

This picture of the Madras High Court complex was taken from the top of another fairly historic building - Dare House, the headquarters of the Murugappa Group. More about this group and its constituents later; for now, we stay with the (surprisingly) sylvan environs of the seat of justice in Chennai.

The High Court of Judicature at Madras was one of the three presidency High Courts in India established during the reign of Queen Victoria. Formally brought into existence on June 26, 1862, it is certainly one of the older landmarks of Chennai that was Madras. Wikipedia says it is the second largest judicial complex in the world - I don't know about that, but it is large enough for anyone so inclined to spend many days just admiring the buildings and the courtrooms. Not to mention become completely transfixed by the variety of proceedings that go on within it!

A vision in white

It just gleams in the heat. Now that it is peak summer in Chennai, it just gleams most of the daytime. And having the rather dull tones of the Gemini Parsn complex next to it, The Park just stands out if you glance up from the midst of trafffic at the Gemini Circle. The outside of the building is very straightforward and very simple. It is a theme that the hotel has tried to mix with the silver screen legacy of the place it stands on - the site of the erstwhile Gemini Studios. The total effect is bewildering: simplicity sandwiched with over-the-top bling, a combination that can take a while to get accustomed to.

Check out the tents right on top of the building - they're around the pool on the roof and if you're so inclined, you could have lunch inside one of those tents. With the heat being what it is, you would be mad to try it these days. And you'd be mad if you passed up a chance to be there by the poolside after sundown - the view is terrific, the breeze has set in well and.... well, what more do you want? Just ask - this was fantasy land once, after all!

Do you have the time?

How many clock towers does Chennai have? The question popped up when I was travelling past the Royapettah clock tower a couple of days ago. I had my camera with me, so I just had to take this picture, but the question remains. How many clock towers?

I can think of others at Vepery, Mint, Triplicane (and there was one in Tambaram that was brought down to make space for the National Highway) - apart from the ones on buildings such as P.Orr or the Chennai Central station. I guess I'll try and run a (fragmented) series of the clock towers :)

I'm sure there is some history behind the building of these clock towers; yes, the utilitarian value of telling time must have been the primary purpose, but who decided that the populace of the city needs to keep track of time? Will also pick up some information and link to this post - later!

What's in a name?

As far as aspirational names go, 'Ezhilagam' must be a serious contender for the top spot. This building is situated on the Marina near the Triumph of Labour statute and the MGR Memorial. It was built to house several departments of the state government and for a long while after its construction was complete, it was a kind of odd-man-out, a modern structure along a row of buildings largely in the Indo-Saracenic style. (The statue of Babu Jagjivan Ram in front was a much later addition, though).

Ezhilagam (எழிலகம்) roughly translates as 'the essence of grace'. Anyone will promptly agree that 'grace' is not a word that can be used to describe the functioning or response of any government department, anywhere in the world. Maybe the brief for the building asked for grace in design and construction; with what looks like a cactus at its crown, there was probably a lot lost in translating that brief!

Doubting Thomas

He may have doubted the resurrection of Jesus, but there is no refuting the fact that St. Thomas the apostle travelled east, reached the shores of Kerala at Kodungalloor (or, as Ptolemy had it, Cranganore) and after many good works there and elsewhere, arrived at Mylapore around 50 CE. There he lived until the local priests were vexed with his actions, upon which he was hounded out of Mylapore, up the Parangimalai (today called St. Thomas Mount), where he was attacked with a lance and killed.

St. Thomas' life and times are too rich to be detailed here (Wikipedia does have exhaustive information) and there is considerable debate over where he actually spread the gospel. But I haven't heard of any other version of where he spent his last days. In any event, the belief that he was martyred atop St. Thomas Mount has been held over centuries - by the locals first and then by the invading Portugese and the British colonizers.

The Cathedral of St. Thomas was last re-built by the British towards the end of the 19th century. In 1956, Pope Pius XII raised it to the level of a Minor Basilica - it's proper name today is 'Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Thomas'. But I would support any argument that puts this basilica on par with St. Peter's. Come on, it is one of only 3 churches that were built over the tombs of Jesus' apostles (St. Peter's in Rome and St. James' in Galicia being the others). Oh sure, it does not have the grandeur of the other two, but that's no reason to forget what it is there for.

Even the official website of the basilica moans the fact that many are unaware of the importance of the shrine! How about you - are you a doubter, too?

Of things gone by

This started off as a picture to say:

"I think that I shall never see
a billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all"

just to highlight once again how, with the hoardings gone, so much more of Chennai is visible now. To those looking down from the Gemini flyover, the greenery provides a welcome relief from concrete.

But this space has been subject to a double blow; after 46 years, the Agri-Horticultural Society took back this land, which had been leased to Hotel Woodlands. They plan to build a botanical garden and merge it (through overhead walkways and subways) with their large gardens across the road. It is good to hear that this green patch in the heart of the city will remain as such. But then, it is not easy to digest the loss of what was a unique Chennai phenomenon - the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant.

It could have been an elite joint when it opened in 1962; not many cars, or even 2-wheelers, then. Yet, it was never snobbish and never had time for any bandha. One went to Woodies because the food was good, the prices economical and one could stay there for ever. When your car is your table, you don't worry about people drooling over your shoulder, waiting for you to finish.

But Woodies is gone, and the 200-odd people (including the only vegetarian Mr. Madras) who worked there must have been accommodated in other branches of the Woodlands chain. Many of them supposedly began work - as 10 to 12-year olds - when the new concept restaurant opened in 1962 and have forever been called 'boys', even after they had had children and grandchildren of their own. I do hope they are taken care of.

Woodies is gone, and the Government is getting plans for the botanical gardens ready. I hope they do not think that having a coffee shop in the middle of the planned gardens is a good idea. That would be an insult to the institution that was the Drive-In and a sore spot in the gardens themselves.

The poem is "Song of the Open Road", Ogden Nash, from 'Happy Days' (1933)

Choking the marsh

Just over a year ago, a large part of the Pallikaranai Marsh was declared a reserve forest area. While it was certainly a good deed in the cause of preserving the biodiversity of the estuarine ecosystem at Pallikaranai, what went ignored was the continued sanction to use a part of the wetland as a dumping ground.

The Pallikarani Marsh was home to over a 100 species of birds, besides having a variety of reptile, amphibian, insect and plant species. Unfortunately, it is immensely difficult to figure out how many remain. The smoke and stench from the dumping ground chase out even the most committed nature lover.

The Marsh has shrunk to less than half the area it occupied 15 years ago. The boom of Velachery as a commercial hotspot continues to put a lot of pressure on the land around the Marsh to be opened for development; that has been resisted, for the most part. But with the dumping ground spilling outside its allocated boundaries, it won't be long before the waste chokes the swamp - both on the ground and in the air. It is about time the Forest Department reclaimed the Marsh - not just on paper!

They don't make them like that anymore!

Over the years, the overhead water tanks maintained by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) have been fading into irrelevance - the water demand in the area a water tank is expected to service outstrips the tank's capacity by over a dozen times, and supplies are not necessarily dependent on the water tank.

One probable reason that they haven't gone away completely is that they still remain key landmarks in many areas. Though many of them are plain and simple cylinders, there is one in Besant Nagar that should be preserved for the sheer adventurousness of the government architect. Apart from a gazebo-like structure at its top, the cylinder itself has six spurs radiating from it, each with a lotus bud (?), supported by a lion figure.

I don't think I have seen any other water tank in the city that displays such maverick design. Do tell me if you know of one!