Madras Day

Along with its distinctive icons and landmarks, if there is another unique feature that sets Chennai apart, it is the use of Madras bashai (dialect).  Dai kasmalam, ootla soltu vantiya? Bejar pannama anthanda po! Familiar sounds, for anyone who has ventured on Chennai roads! Unique to the capital city, the dialect is believed to have evolved over several centuries, as Madras was a port city. Many people from other states travelled to the city, and as they assimilated with the population, the city absorbed many words from their languages into its lexicon. Historian Nivedita Louis Part of present-day Arani (about…

Chennai has made global news over the past few years for its woes with water. First, it was the destructive floods of 2015 that saw most of the city under water for days, as a result of excessive rains and poor reservoir management. Then came the drought of 2019, where major parts of the city went without drinking water for weeks as deficit rainfall the previous year played havoc on water availability. Water has become a major talking point when it comes to discussing Chennai's livability. For a city with a storied history, could it be that the past offers…

Madras week has not only been a celebration of heritage but also of the people who made the city. Over the years, many who called the city home have achieved remarkable feats in various fields to put Madras on the global map. One among  them is the mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan – The Man Who Knew Infinity. A walk through the Ramanujan Museum was organised this Madras Week by Rajith Nair a travel curator who regularly organizes heritage and cultural trips in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry. The walk was a celebration of the life and times of Ramanujan, who…

Did you know Crazy Mohan and Kamal Haasan met for the first time in a cemetery at St Mary's Road?  Can you even imagine that the Tamil Nadu capital had freezing temperatures during summer in 1815 due to weather changes that happened after Mount Tambora erupted in distant Indonesia? Only five localities in Chennai have a conducive environment for sparrows.  An establishment in Ebrahim Sahib street prints the cardboard tickets once used for travel and they are shutting down soon.  These are just the some of the facts around which questions were posed to participants in a quiz conducted recently…

There we go again, asking everyone to celebrate Chennai, for Madras Week is just around the corner (August 18-25, 2019). The cynics we are sure, must be already practising their counter chorus beginning with the usual litany – Chennai was not founded in 1639, the weather here is uniformly bad, there is a perennial water crisis, the roads are terrible, the civic body inactive and the traffic chaotic. To all of this we agree in toto but these in our view do not in any way detract from the fact that there are several aspects to Chennai that are sufficient…

I have been fortunate to be associated with two great noble minds in my life. K S Padmanabhan and S Muthiah. I joined Mr Padmanabhan’s EastWest Books in my early 20s. EastWest started operations in Madras at that time dealing with distribution of general and technical books, which later on took several ‘avatars’ and is now Westland Publications, a part of Amazon. During my tenure with the company, I came in contact with Mr Muthiah whose book Madras Discovered was published by EastWest, first as a small booklet and then on to a much larger edition with historical facts and…

A whiff of fresh air greets visitors at Kasimedu beach. The relaxing sound of the waves hitting the groynes does a good job of soothing stressed or anxious minds. Even as early as 5 am, the wharf at the Kasimedu harbour bustles with activity: visitors (yes, there are visitors at that hour, trying out fishing ropes) try and snag a fish, youngsters click a round of selfies and men and women take a stroll. A few yards from the wharf is the market, where you can hear the shrill voices of fisherwomen tempting customers with a description of the fish varieties…

Just beyond the mad rush of Gemini Circle is a haven of quiet, lending its name to the road it is situated in-the St. George’s Cathedral. Constructed in 1815 at a cost of Rs. 207,000, the Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Madras, part of the Church of South India. The Great Choultry Plain Most of what makes up today’s Nungambakkam, Teynampet and Royapettah used to be referred to as the Great Choultry Plain in 18th Century Madras. City chronicler S. Muthiah recounts that once the French lost their grip on the Carnatic after restoring Madras back…

The week-long celebration commemorating Madras Day, which falls on August 22, is a fun way to learn about the rich history of the city. A plethora of activities are held over the course of a week (indeed, these days, it is almost a month) that are informative and engaging. The most popular among them are the heritage walks that trace the historical roots of Chennai, formerly Madras. The Dravidian Historical Research Centre organised a Social Justice Heritage Tour led by the editor of Nakheeran Magazine, Govi Lenin. The tour traced the origins of the Dravidian social justice movement in the…

As the city gears up for celebrations of Madras Day (or Week), like every year I go back in my own time machine to reminisce about the city and in particular my locality. Fortunately, I have been living in the same locality - intersection of Anna Nagar West and Villivakkam - since my school days and have seen the rapid development and transformation of both areas. Long before 100 Feet Road became the link to all parts of the city, I remember casually hopping across this road to reach my school. The other prominent road was the New Avadi Road,…