WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIV No. 2 May 1-15, 2014

Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/12-14Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepaymentfor India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/12-14

Rs. 5 per copy(Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-)

CMYK

Publication: 15th & 28th of every month

CMYKCMYK

Challenge to Chennaimedical tourism?

INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Initiating May Day

• Perambur’s Anglo-Indians

• Future of Indian tennis

• Fixing cricket matches

(By A Special Correspondent)

(Continued on page 8)

� This is an instance of a building being far better known than its occupants.For, Airlines Hotel marks merely the third, and least known, phase of a struc-ture that was famous in the hospitality business for several decades. A historicsite, for this is where Spencer’s began life in 1863 as Durrant’s, it was acquiredby the Italian confectioner D’Angeli, caterer of choice for successive Governorsof Madras, when Spencer’s moved in the late 1890s.

D’Angeli’s eponymous hotel opened for business here in 1908. Its outer ap-pearance then was modelled on Watson’s of Bombay – wrought iron railings onthe ground and first floor, and a courtyard within that boasted of a Parisiangarden, with rooms around it. Cuisine was chiefly Italian and French. It changedhands in 1927, being acquired by yet another Italian confectioner – AttillioBosotto, who also ran the Palace Hotel, Ootacamund. Under his control, HotelBosotto as it became known, acquired its art deco frontage, the railings makingway for fashionable concrete.

In 1950, Attillio and his wife Emily, who was English, opted to settle inEngland. The confectionery business was sold to Muslappa Chowdhry of Cham-pion Dairy, Wallajah Road, for Rs 15,000. He had been the principal supplier ofdairy produce to the hotel. Chowdhry and his sons continued the business underthe name of Bosotto’s and it is now with the third generation in the family. Theproperty, with the hotel, however, appears to have been sold to others. The newpurchaser, it appears, changed the name to Airlines Hotel.

Who ran it is not clear, but by the mid-1960s, the company, Airlines Hotel& Caterers (Madras) Pvt. Ltd., along with the building it owned, had beenpurchased by Ramnath Goenka’s Express Group of newspapers. Thanks to theintricate cross-holdings of the Group, Airlines Hotel at one stage was even part-shareholder and owner of The Indian Express! In 1980, the property, by thenknown as Bosotto Building, its days as a hotel long gone, except for Bosotto’swhich continued as a restaurant in rented space, was sold for Rs 36 lakh toM.G. Gnanasoundari, a lawyer of the High Court of Madras. The property, itwas felt, would be ideal for her husband M.J. Durairaj’s steel scrap business, anindication of how much fashionable Mount Road has changed in the course of acentury!

The couple converted the building into a shopping complex, named after thehusband. He had briefly shot to fame in 1967 when he had bid for and then,unsuccessfully, tried to salvage the steel in the wreckage of the ship Stamatis,grounded on the beach following a cyclone.

The M.J. Durairaj Nadar Shopping Complex (best know occupant – Bata)became mired in legal disputes. A fire in 1986 destroyed much of the interior,though the structure still remains strong. Rapidly going to seed, it was acquiredby a construction company, which filed eviction notices on the tenants in 2007or so, following permission granted for demolition by the Corporation on thegrounds that the structure was weak. This was challenged but the Courts havesince upheld the eviction. The Metrorail in its inspection has also certified thatthe building cannot withstand underground work as and when it happens in theneighbourhood. What is holding up demolition is the listing of this structure as aheritage precinct in the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee report. Can the oldglamour of D’Angelis be revived?

Madras Landmarks– 50 years ago

India is one of the medical tourism destinationsof the world, with numbers expected to reach

3.25 million patients from abroad by 2015.Chennai, attracting around 40 per cent of thesevisitors, is considered the medicare capital of thecountry. With its estimated 18,000 hospital bedsand hosts of multi-speciality services, it has set apace that is hard to match by other Indian cities.While all this is to the good, what is not is thatcompetition is soon catching up internationally,with Dubai poised to become a new medicaltourism hub in this region.

The current statistics are heavily loaded inDubai’s favour. The tiny nation, having burnt itsfingers in trying to fashion itself into a financialhub, has now decided to put its excellent infra-structure to better use by catering to medicalrequirements. The medical tourism strategy for

the country was unveiled last month. During itstwo phases, respectively ending in 2016 and 2020,22 hospitals (18 private and four public) are to bebuilt. Thousands of visas are expected to be is-sued by the emirate to attract qualified staff fromall over the world. Significantly, the report,though it does not mention Chennai by name,identifies cities in India as sources for personnel.A drain of qualified medicos can soon be expectedto begin. The plan also pointedly states thatDubai needs to attract patients who are currentlygoing to India for treatment.

The master plan, which envisages the emirateoffering multi-speciality services, is targeted at thesame user groups that Chennai caters to – Arabnationals, people from the Commonwealth of

Transport unification ahead

It is almost three years sincethe Tamil Nadu Legislative

Assembly approved the settingup of the Chennai Unified Met-ropolitan Transport Authority(CUMTA). But the State Gov-ernment is yet to notify it. TheCMDA, which is handling theactivities of the CUMTA in theinterim, has commissioned astudy on integrating the mul-tiple modes of transport in thecity. Four international consult-ants are at work on this, which

will include all modes – train,bus and the metro. It will alsolook into the setting up of acommon ticket and fare struc-ture to facilitate seamless com-muting, something that is in ex-istence in most world-class cit-ies today. The State Govern-ment wants Chennai to followthe London model, which iseasier said than done.

Like the CMDA, theCUMTA was to chiefly have aplanning function and oversee

the work of several agencies in-volved in the running of thetransport systems. It was also toperiodically revise and upgradeits plans. Headed by the Trans-port Minister, it was to have theChief Urban Planner (Trans-port) of the CMDA as itsMember-Secretary. Others onboard were the Chief Secretaryand the Vice-Chairman,CMDA (both ranking as Vice-Chairpersons), the Secretariesof the Departments of Finance,Transport, Home, Housing &Urban Development, and theGeneral Manager of the South-ern Railway. As to why thiscommendable idea is not beinggiven form is open to question.A change of regime can prob-ably be a reason.

On the face of it, CUMTAor, in its absence, the CMDA,has an unenviable task on itshands, given the current state oftransport infrastructure. Let usbegin with pavements. Thesehave shrunk over the years andwhere they exist they are only1.5 metres at their widest, ingross violation of the Indian

(Continued on page 8)

“That’s the voting booth... it’s so hot, we are in line here to buy cooldrinks and ice cream!”

(By A Special Correspondent)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS May 1-15, 2014

The Man from MadrasMusings, as his regular

readers know by now, is areluctant guest at marriages.But there are weddings of closeones that MMM sits back andenjoys and he has just returnedfrom one such. Everythingwent like clockwork, the hos-pitality was princely, and as forthe browsing and sluicing, itwas as mother made it. Aboveall, the priest was not given amike to intone chants into andadvise the audience on how tobehave. That itself made thisan event to remember. Morememorable was a booklet onHindu weddings that thecaterer circulated. Hardlyanyone bothered to read it, butnot so MMM. He made a care-ful perusal of the work duringthe ceremony and thosearound him were not a littleastonished at the periodicguffaws of laughter that he letout.

The slim volume, titledSouth Indian Wedding, TheRituals and The Rationale,assumed that Tambrahmweddings were the only ones inSouth India (the rest of thempresumably live in sin?), for it

– The bride then is given anauspicious ablution (YeGods!)

– The bride and the groom arelifted to the shoulders of theirrespective uncles and in thatposition the two – bride andgroom – garland each other.

– Then the marrying couple isseated on a swing where theyrock forth and back (Rathererotic that, but nothing com-pared to what comes next)

– I shall be the Upper World,you the Earth, together weshall beget children (Frankand forthright as you can see.No birds, bees, etc).

– The Mantra says – “Let thymind be rock firm.”

MMM was very thankful forthe book. It helped him passthe time between weddingbreakfast and lunch. And, italso helped him avoid count-less relatives whose names hedid not remember.

Who art thou?

It was still early morning andThe Man from Madras

Interpreting the marriage vowsdoing it and that too on one legeach. At long last, the trioarrived at the page in questionand then the man in themiddle (should MMM refer tohim as MIM?), beamed atMMM and asked MMM if he(MMM) was SoundarapandiNadar.

MMM had to say ‘no’.Whereupon MIM was deeplyoffended. It almost appearedas though he was going toaccuse MMM of masquerad-ing under a false name. How,he asked, could MMM not beSoundarapandi Nadar whenthe register declared him to beso? MMM was nonplussed.But that was not all. MIM nowdemanded that MMMproduce Gangu Bai andDhanashekar, none of whomMMM had any clue about.When MMM said so, a deepdiscussion in hushed whisperswent on among the three. Itappeared that MIM was of theview that MMM was somekind of a serial killer who,having done away withSoundarapandi Nadar, GanguBai and Dhanashekar,had usurped their place ofstay.

Musings was not yet his brightself, all set for another day withthe Chief. The doorbell rangand having rung, kept on ring-ing, rather as though the mov-ing finger from Belshazzar’sfeast had called on MMM. Onopening the door MMM sawthree men who, it transpired,were not Magi but who wereladen, not with rich gifts, butwith an open register. Theybeamed on MMM. The twomen on either side were evi-dently juniors in official statureto the man in the middle, forthey held the two ends of theregister and shuffled the pageswhile the man in the centremerely looked on. It beingquite a tricky business to holdon to the book and simulta-neously shuffle the pages, theduo at the extreme ends pro-ceeded to lift one leg each andbalance the book on the sameeven as they busily perused thepages. Offers of chairs byMMM were curtly refused.

The man in the middlebroke the ice by declaring thatthe team was from the local of-fice of the Corporation andwere there to verify if MMMand family were registered vot-ers. MMM offered to fetch thevoter identity cards, but thatsuggestion was airily wavedaway. All details, declared theofficial, were in the good bookhe was carrying. It struckMMM as somewhat unfair thatthe man thought he was lug-ging the register around whenin reality his assistants were

(by B. Parvathi)

Perungudi on Old Mahabalipuram Road, now known as RajivGandhi Road, was more like a village. As the population

increased, more areas came to be urbanised and small manufactur-ing units were started. Subsequently, residential colonies weredeveloped.

In course of time with vast open land, it became a garbagedumping yard. The dumping of garbage for more than ten years haspolluted the entire colony.

Residents say children are often falling sick with cold andmalaria due to the pollution, and the dump is a breeding groundfor mosquitoes and, besides all this, we face a dog menace too, saysB. Radhika, a resident of Perungudi for the last four years.

I have been born and brought up in Perungudi. Earlier it waslike a clean village. We are waiting for the dumping yard to beshifted from here to have clean surrounding, says 30-year-old Y.Mary who has two school-going children.

Recently there was a fire at the garbage dumping yard atPerungudi. Even though the fire was put out by the Corporation,the dump yard still continues to smoulder, emanating toxic gasesfrom the burning garbage. This is a health hazard.

This goes on throughout the night, affecting the residents livingin colonies which are in proximity to the dump yard.

The vast area comprising the dump yard and the adjoining lakehas potential for development as a huge park with facilities likewalkers’ paths in the midst of green fields and trees and boating inthe lake. The lake is also visited by birds. Eventually, the park issure to attract a lot of visitors from all over the city, particularlyduring weekends.

Places such as these have been converted into parks in othercountries. Hopefully, environmentalists will welcome the sugges-tion and the authorities will shift the dump yard and convert thisas an open recreational space, says Siddharth Kumar. – (Courtesy:Adyar Times).

From dumpto park?

Is it possible?

� The Asian Waterfowl Census 2014 was conducted in Tamil Naduin the wetlands around Chennai, Madurai, Tuticorin, and Theni.Thirtyeight wetlands were covered. Four wetlands were dry. Twowere over-flooded, and 27 had normal levels of water. 136 specieswere sighted and the data revealed:

� Top 5 species present in most wetlands [Species – Number ofWetlands (1%)]

Indian Pond Heron – 24 (72%)Little Cormorant – 24 (72%)Little Egret – 23 (69%)Little Grebe – 21 (63%)Great Egret – 20 (60%)

� Top 3 near-threatened species present in most wetlands [Species –Number of Wetlands (1%)]

Back-headed lbis – 13 (39%)Oriental Darter – 11 (33%)Spot-billed Pelican – 11 (33%)

� Top 3 wintering ducks present in most wetlands [Species – Numberof Wetlands (1%)]

Garganey – 12 (36%)Northern Pintail – 12 (36%)Northern Shoveler – 9 (27%)

� Top 1 wintering tern present in most wetlands [Species – Number ofWetlands (1%)]

Whiskered Tern – 19 (57%)� Fulvous Whistling Duck was recorded in at least 5 wetlands in

Chennai.� Among diving ducks, ‘Common Pochard / Tufted Duck’ were

sighted only at Manimangalam Lake, Chennai.� Wintering Storks.

A pair of white storks were sighted at Kaveripakkam Lake nearKanchipuram. – (Courtesy: Madras Naturalists’ Society).

Following the Waterfowls

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share our keen inter-est in Madras that is Chennai, and in response to requests from manywell-wishers – especially from outside Chennai and abroad who receivetheir postal copies very late – for an online edition. Madras Musings isnow on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

focussed solely on that variety.Halfway through, the authormust have realised that he hadleft the others out and so heincluded a justification that“mostly this is applicable toany other Hindu section.”

The book claiming to un-ravel the Vedic significance ofweddings, started out by say-ing that the bridegroom needsto be brought to the marriagevenue in a decorated car. Ofcourse, our sages being suchfarsighted men would have nodoubt stipulated a car, thoughMMM wonders at their notspecifying a brand and modelas well.

MMM realises that theChief has rather strong viewson how a book review has tobe written. The critic oughtnot to impose his views, is theChief’s motto and what is goodfor the Chief is good forMMM. And so MMM willnow restrict himself to directquotes from this learned text.But where he cannot resisthimself, MMM has includeda few comments in parenthe-ses.

– What a “Ritual” is?

– This ritual invokes the bless-ings of the eight-direction-quartered guardian angels(Rather spread out aren’tthey? Must be Yoga)

– Holding the bride’s left foottoe (She must be a strangecreature to have toes else-where)

MMM, thinking quickly onhis feet, wondered if he shouldwake up his good lady (alsoknown as She Who Must BeObeyed) and get her to pre-tend she was Gangu Bai, butas for the absent Dhanashekarthere was little he could do.Then a thought struck him.He made bold to ask if theelectoral register was as perthe new or old house numbers.It transpired that the touringelection commission atMMM’s doorstep had mixedup the two. A hurried shuf-fling of pages ensued and sureenough there was MMM’sname like that of Abou BenAdam, followed by that ofGood Lady (aka SWMBO).All was well. MIM’s assistantsput down their bent legs andwere then advised by MIM tobe more careful in futureabout new and old numbers.The trio departed, presumablyin search of SoundarapandiNadar, after giving MMMvoter slips and a stern warningto go and vote on D-Day.

Tailpiece

Apropos last fortnight’slament by The Man from

Madras Musings that his carhad not been searched by thepolice for cash, MMM is gladto report that amends weremade, while MMM was in thePerambur area. He can nowhold his head high.

– MMM

May 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

� Madras Musings has in the past brought to the attention of the publicthe danger faced by the Coja Petrus Uscan plaque on the MaraimalaiAdigal Bridge (Saidapet), with the Metro Rail work going on alongside it.

Recently, after the visit to Madras of a couple of members of theSociety for Armenian Studies, when they were shocked to find

the state the plaque was in, the International Union of Land andCulture Organisations, Society for Armenian Studies, Paris, wrote toHis Excellency Mr. Ara Hakobyan, Ambassador of Armenia in India,New Delhi, stating:

‘Your mission in India as an Ambassador has undoubtedly madeyou, more than anybody else, sensitive to the significance of theArmenian patrimony in this country. Besides, being associationsfounded around people in Armenian diaspora, it can only benatural for us to consider you our legitimate representative. Thatis the reason why we are turning to you today hoping that yourposition could make possible an effective intervention from yourpart into the direction of appropriate authorities regarding thecritical point related hereunder.

Last February, some historians belonging to our associationswent to Chennai on a study trip on the path of the ancient and sobrilliant Armenian colony of Madras, with a view to issuing apublication. This document is to be centred for some part on theinscriptions alluding to the very famous merchant Coja PetrusUscan, a highly generous benefactor to Madras in the XVIIICentury.

The most known building of public interest among thosefunded by Petrus Uscan is Marmalong Bridge, also namedArmenian Bridge (today Saidapet Bridge). A plaque recalls thishistorical milestone in three languages (Armenian, Persian,Latin).

The point is we have felt indignant when we discoveredthrough watching the photographs brought by these historiansthat this plaque is now partly covered with concrete because ofthe construction work for Metro Rail. As a result, the Armeniansection of the writing is completely covered up.

On a very elegant and well-known plaque set on this bridge,the merchant indicated, within an inscription in three languages(Armenian, Persian, Latin): “This bridge was built for public in-terest by Coja Petrus Uscan, belonging to the Armenian nation,A.D. 1726.”

In 1966, Petrus Uscan’s bridge was destroyed and replaced bytoday’s Saidapet Bridge. But in those days the plaque had beenpreserved and moved to the end of the new bridge where it washardly put into light and where the writing in Armenian was be-ginning to be covered up.

Its patrimonial value has been even more significant since thedestruction of the old bridge. It has repeatedly been studied byresearchers, be it in Armenia, India and many other countries.Moreover, it is well-known far away beyond the expert’s area as itis referred to by many press articles in several countries as well ason the Internet where its photograph is displayed on theWikipedia pages dedicated to Petrus Uscan.

But the patrimonial value of this plaque is utterly obvious. Wehope that the damage is not irreversible; that is why we aremobilising, so this plaque could be carefully extricated and placedin a more appropriate location where it could be more honorablyput in light.

Already before the construction work started, some activemembers of the association, INTACH of Chennai and the bi-monthly review Madras Musings, two institutions working at thepreservation and enhancement of the patrimony, had alerted theGovernment of Tamil Nadu and the Company in charge with thebuilding of the Metro Rail, but their alarm had unfortunatelyremained unnoticed.

We are delighted that the installing of a new Armenian monu-ment should be currently considered today in Chennai to tightenthe links between India and Armenia. But, along with this project,it would be suitable to preserve the existing patrimony which is atestimony of the Armenians’ historic presence in this town.

Thus, we are hoping that, as the Ambassador of the Republicof Armenia in India, you will have an easy access to the rightpersons, so that regrettable error could be corrected.

We ensure Your Excellency of our support in case you wouldneed to resort to us at any time in this mission.

We strongly wish that our combined efforts will be successful.

We are vividly hoping that our request will attract yourExcellency’s attention.’

‘Save this slowly vanishing plaque’

The plaque before the construction of the elevated railway (on left) whenthe Armenian lettering was partially covered and the plaque as it was in Febru-ary 2014 (on right) with the Armenian lettering fully covered.

.In his time, Coja Petrus Uscan himself funded several works

of public interest among which was Marmalong Bridge. That workof art, sometimes named “the Armenian Bridge” has often beendepicted by artists such as William Daniell.

Opportunity lost

You have been leading acrusade to protect Chennai

heritage. You should crusadeagainst how new development isnow taking place. I recentlymade a trip on the O.M.R. area.The road goes through newlydeveloped areas. What I saw wasextremely saddening: Haphaz-ard, unplanned, mostly dirty-looking constructions. An op-portunity lost to develop greatsuburbs. I feel that you should gofor a drive from Mahabalipuramto Thiruvanmiyur or to Pulicatetc. and write about your visualexperience. It may stop what isgoing on.

S. Sundar2-B, Sahas Manor3-C, Third StreetNorth Boag Road

T. Nagar, Chennai 600 017

Are they the answer?

To the list of disadvantagesof concrete road you have

given in MM, January 16th, itmust be added that these roadsare difficult to repair. As a rem-edy, the Corporation has addedlayer upon layers of concrete onmany roads during the lastdecade. Roadside homes havealmost become basementaccommodations.

I have lived in Taramani forover a decade. Until about2002, Taramani village, as itwas called then, had no tar orconcrete road. Then, almosthesitantly, a tar road wasattempted at. But a rain or twolater, and aided by Metro Wa-ter and BSNL, it was soon in astate of disrepair. Then it waschanged to concrete. Sincethen, damage to the road hasonly been answered with an-other layer of concrete. In thelast ten years, the road has risenthree times. Consequently, resi-dents of homes that used tooverlook the road now have totiptoe to look up to the roadand to get out of homes.

It has triggered a sort of racebetween citizens and the Cor-poration. A number of oldhouses otherwise in good con-dition had to be demolished toescape being flooded in therains. The new houses in thearea are built with unnecessar-ily high elevation of their plinthto avoid becoming subterra-nean. But no one is sure howhigh will be an insuranceagainst possible burial. Manyhave accepted this with a senseof resignation, enduring themisery every monsoon. Othershave sold ancestral propertyand moved out. Taramani nolonger has many natives. Nei-ther does it have a word of con-cern from those who matter.

Shreesh ChaudharyProf., Dept. of HSS

IIT Madras, Chennai 600 036

‘Singara Chennai’ – some observationsLife in the metro offers many vignettes. Some of them are plea-

sant, others are otherwise – and not cared for.� The other day, I noticed a man being served at a medical shop.

He had been prescribed six tablets of a specific drug – one eachto be consumed twice a day for three days. But the pharmacistsaid that the item comes in packs of fifteen and cannot be soldloose – the reason being that the rest could not be sold for wantof takers. On enquiring what to do with them, the pharmacisthad no answer but a scowl. For the customer, the extra moneypaid was a total loss.

� Many are the dog lovers in the city who take their pets for aroutine stroll and incidental defecation. Many of these pets showa keen interest in iron gates to lift a leg or squat in the middle.The owner or the handler is not at all concerned about theinconvenience being caused to others who walk that way.

In our locality, however, a man, while taking his pet out forsuch a routine stroll, always takes with him a sheet of old news-paper, removes the poo and deposits it in the garbage bin lo-cated in the street corner. I was thrilled to see this one day andstopped near him to salute him for his civic consciousness. Mayhis tribe increase.

� Over the last decade, the Corporation has been engaging con-tractors to remove the garbage. While Onyx started the assign-ment with gusto and did quite a good job, its successors havenot paid that kind of attention. The sweepers do a half-heartedjob and remove only large size garbage and leaves from thestreets, leaving aside small and tiny leaves, twigs and rubbish ofother kinds. While the handymen in compactors dump thewaste into the vehicle’s belly, a lot of it is returned to the road tobe trampled upon or blown away by the wind. There is no propersupervision or even occasional inspection to verify the quality ofthe work done. Besides where have the sanitary inspectors gone?Or is it beyond their calling? The selection of the garbage con-tractor, it has been reported, was based on tenders and com-parative quotations. But experience over the years indicates thatgood quality work cannot be obtained cheaply.

� A similar case in point is the difference you can notice in thequality of building in government quarters and hire purchaseflats. The former, built three decades ago, are in good shape,

(Continued on page 4)

“The Armenian Bridge, near St Thomas’s Mount in 1820”, by WilliamDaniell.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS May 1-15, 2014 May 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

The man from Madraswho initiated May Day

Perambur– an Anglo-IndianbastionMalayapuram Singaravelu

Chettiar (1860-1946), alsoknown as M. Singaravelu andSingaravelar, was a pioneer inmore than one field in India. Hewas associated with the firsttrade unions in India, whichwere formally established in Ma-dras. On May 1, 1923, he organi-sed the first ever celebration ofMay Day in the country. Singara-velar was a leader in the IndianIndependence movement, ini-tially under the leadership ofGandhi but, later, joining thebudding Communist movement.In 1925, he became one of thefounding fathers of the Commu-nist Party of India, and chairedits inaugural convention inKanpur.

Though the British Govern-ment arrested him along withother leaders on charges ofconspiring to wage war againstthe Crown, he was set free soonafter, on account of his failinghealth. Singaravelar was also apath-breaking social reformerwho in his early life took to Bud-dhism, seeing it as a weaponagainst the evil of untouchabil-ity, which was particularly severein 19th Century India.

He was also in the forefront ofthe Self Respect movement inthe Madras Presidency thatfought for equal rights for back-ward castes. In his later years, hewithdrew from active politics,but remained a staunch advo-

� by A Special Correspondent

cate of the causes he hadpioneered, till his death at theage of 85.

Singaravelu Chettiar wasborn in a wealthy family, thethird son of VenkatachalamChetty and Valliammal in Ma-dras. He matriculated in 1881and then did his F.A. at MadrasChristian College. He thereaftertook his bachelor’s degree fromPresidency College. He nextjoined Madras Law College andgot his B.L. Degree in 1907. Hethen practised law at the MadrasHigh Court.

In 1889, Singaravelar marriedAngammal, who did not belongto his caste. Their only daughter

was Kamala. Seetha, his grand-niece, married Philip Spratt, aCommunist journalist, in 1939.Singaravelar was successful as alawyer; within a short period, heearned enough wealth to acquireproperty in Madras and itssuburbs.

In the history of the workingclass movement in India, Madrascame to occupy an importantplace when, within six months ofthe Russian Revolution, the firstformal trade union was organisedin India, the Madras LabourUnion, by activists like G. Selva-

pathy Chetty and Thiru Vi Ka(V. Kalyanasundaram), with theblessings of Singaravelar andothers of his ilk. Then followedunions such as the M.S.M.Workers’ Union, and the Elec-tricity Workers’ Union, theTramway Workers’ Union, thePetroleum Employees’ Union,the Printing Workers’ Union,the Aluminium Workers’ Uni-on, the Railway Employees’Union, the Coimbatore Wea-vers’ Union and the MaduraiWeavers’ Union.

From their inception, tradeunions in Madras were drawninto long, and often bloody, con-frontations with the manage-

ments. The Buckingham &Carnatic Mills workers’ strike isa case in point. The managementof the Mills did not even concedethe workers’ right to combine.The union was banned by theBritish authorities. A flash pointoccurred when a British managerthreatened workers with a gun,which was snatched by theworkers who started firing back.The police came and opened fire,killing two workers.

The leaders of the Unioncalled for a strike on June 21,1921.The management retali-ated by instigating a caste warthrough recruitment of workersfrom ‘low’ castes to fill the stri-kers’ vacancies. The striketurned into a caste clash betweentwo warring groups. On August

29, 1921, police firing near theMills’ premises in Peramburkilled seven people. When theirfuneral procession was taken out,some miscreants threw stones,leading to another round of casteviolence. Two more firings – onSeptember 19 and October 21 –followed. After six months, thestrike came to an end, failing tomeet any of its objectives.

Singaravelar became con-vinced that political backing wasnecessary for any working classmovement to sustain itself inIndia. Speaking at the TamilNadu Congress Committeemeeting in September 1922, hesaid that the Indian NationalCongress should take up thecause of labour.

When Gandhi launched hisnon-cooperation movement inSeptember 1920, Singaravelaraccepted his leadership and be-came one of the influential lead-ers of the Congress party in theMadras Presidency. He set fire tohis lawyer’s gown at a publicmeeting in May 1921 as a symbolof boycotting the British courts.He wrote a letter to MahatmaGandhi explaining his action. “Ihave given up my profession as alawyer today. I shall follow youas you strive for the people of thiscountry.”

An important event of theperiod was the visit of Prince ofWales and his consort to India.When they came to Madras,Singaravelar organised a boycottof the visit through an unprec-edented hartal, which closeddown the town. The shutdownwas complete, but there were in-stances of compulsion.CHENNAI HERITAGE

No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 600 014

I am already on your mailing list (Mailing List No....................) /I have just seen Madras Musings and would like to receive ithereafter.� I/We enclose cheque/demand draft/money order for Rs. 100(Rupees One hundred) payable to CHENNAI HERITAGE,MADRAS, as subscription to Madras Musings for the year2014-15.� As token of my support for the causes of heritage, environ-ment and a better city that Madras Musings espouses, I sendChennai Heritage an additional Rs...........................(Rupees.......................................................) Please keep/put me onyour mailing list.

Name : ..............................................................................

..........................................................................................

Address: ...........................................................................

..........................................................................................

..........................................................................................

All cheques to ‘Chennai Heritage’. DD/Cheque should be sentby Speed Post only.

Gandhi in an article in YoungIndia dated February 9, 1922criticised the hartal and Singa-ravelar for not imbibing the truespirit of the non-cooperationmovement.

When the Indian NationalCongress met in Gaya in 1922,Singaravelar participated, seeinghimself as a representative ofworkers. He spoke in favour oflabour legislation and felt thatthe labour movement in Indiamust be a part of the Congressmovement.

Following his speech, theGaya meeting adopted theLabour Resolution that said, “Itis the opinion of this conferencethat all Indian labourers shouldbe united, to safeguard theirrights and prevent their exploi-tation and for equal distributionof wealth among all, the variouslabour and kisan unions shouldbe united and for this purpose, acommittee of six has been con-stituted.”

Singaravelar, however, brokewith Congress and on May 1,1923. founded the Labour KisanParty of Hindustan (a party ofworkers and peasants) inMadras. The inauguration waspurposely kept for May Day, andfor the first time in India, underthe auspices of the newly formedparty, the day was observed asInternational Workers’ Day. Onthat occasion, again for the firsttime, the red flag was used inIndia.

Singaravelar made arrange-ments to celebrate May Day intwo places. One meeting washeld on the beach opposite theMadras High Court; the otherwas held at Triplicane beach.

The Hindu reported, “TheLabour Kisan Party has intro-duced May Day celebrations inMadras. Comrade Singaravelarpresided over the meeting. Aresolution was passed statingthat the government shoulddeclare May Day as a holiday.The president of the partyexplained the non-violent prin-ciples of the party. There was arequest for financial aid. It wasemphasised that workers of theworld must unite to achieveindependence.” (Courtesy: TCCDigest)

‘Singara Chennai’ –some observations

while the latter have breathed their last in half the number of years and havebeen demolished. I wonder if the two arms of government, the PWD andHousing Board, have different standards for building.� All over Chennai, we find shops dealing in FMGs, clothing and electron-

ics announcing price reduction sales. They announce ‘Season Sales’; ‘Endof Season Sales’ and ‘Off Season Sales’; in addition to “Closing down”and “Seconds Sales”. Can anyone explain when a Season begins or ends,as this process goes on round the year?

� And speaking of the Corporation and ‘Seasons’, once mosquitoes wereconsidered ‘seasonal’; now they bite throughout the year. Much money isspent on various methods to ward off the insects, but nothing works.When and how will the Corporation come to our rescue is at the top ofeveryone’s mind.

S. Krishna81/2, Fourth Main Road

Gandhinagar, AdyarChennai 600 020

(Continued from page 3)

The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes – (Courtesy: The Hindu).

A Perambur landmarkOne of the landmarks of Permabur is the Shrine of Our Lady of

Lourdes, a church replicating in form the famous church inLourdes, France, situated there.

While the plans for building the Shrine date to the 1940s, thePerambur Church’s history goes back a long way before that. Itwas in 1879 that Fr. H.E. Hennessey from Vepery built a chapelin Perambur near where the Presentation Convent was later es-tablished. The next year he dedicated the chapel to ‘Our Lady ofLourdes.’ It was to be 1935 when the sixth parish priest, Fr.Michael Murray, began to think of developing the chapel intosomething like the Basilica at Lourdes. He launched a collectiondrive whose activities and fundraising visits – including collectingthe cost of a brick or that of a bag of cement – got a tremendousresponse that continued thrugh the early 1940s. That’s when theArchibishop of Madras, the Most Rev. Dr. Louis Mathias, invitedJ.R. Davis of the then leading firm of Madras architects, Prynne,Abbott and Davis, to design the shrine to resemble the one inFrance.

It was to be in January 1951, however, before Dr. Mathias laidthe foundation stone and February 22, 1953 when he consecratedthe lower church of the Shrine. In March 1958, the foundationstone was laid for the upper church and, after another fundraisingdrive, the work was completed in 1960 and Archibishop Mathias,who had seen the work from conception to completion, was thereto consecrate the upper church on February 11, 1960. Today, ser-vices are held in Tamil in one church and in English in the other.But in the early years, the congregation was mainly Anglo-Indian,drawn from two institutions which helped the chapel to grow: TheB&C Mills, which were established between 1877 and 1882 andthe Railway Workshops established in 1895.

� by GeoffreyK. Francis

Situated about 7 km fromChennai Central is Peram-

bur with its massive CarriageWorks and Loco Works Factoryand the internationally knownIntegral Coach Factory, one ofthe largest coach factories inAsia, Perambur, still with a largenumber of Anglo-Indians own-ing property and living in fairlywell-to-do conditions, is the cen-tre of a huge crescent of theAnglo-Indian community inChennai. It has, to its north,Madhavaram where a large num-ber of Anglo-Indians live, own-ing their houses and property. Tothe west of Perambur is anotherAnglo-Indian area, Ayanava-ram, which leads into Veperyand Purasawalkam, which wereonce highly populated Anglo-In-dian centres. Leading furthernorth from Perambur is JawaharNagar, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, andPeriyar Nagar, where there arequite a lot of Anglo-Indians. ThisAnglo-Indian crescent comprisesVepery, Purasawalkam, Ayana-varam, Perambur and Madha-varam. The other Anglo-Indianconcentration is in south-westChennai, in St. Thomas’ Mountand Pallavaram near the Airport.

By any yardstick, Perambur isthe very heart and soul of theAnglo-Indian community. Noother place in the world, or in In-dia, has so many Anglo-Indianfamilies in one cluster. Havingbeen all over the country meet-ing groups of Anglo-Indians intheir homes and residential colo-nies, I have never found anyother place in India that canmatch Perambur for the Anglo-Indian mix it has. In Peramburyou have the upper-middle class,the middle class, the low-incomegroups as well as the poorest ofpoor who live in huts and one-room tenements, all living to-gether. The Anglo-Indian stampcan be gauged from the fact thatas you enter Perambur, you willfind many Anglo-Indian homeson the Main Road and womenstill wearing frocks, which can-not be found anywhere else inindia.

The rise of Perambur as a pre-mier Anglo-Indian centre wasmainly because of the CarriageWorks and Loco Works and thehuge Perambur Railway Colonypopularly known as the Panan-thope Railway Colony.

The growth of the communityin Perambur can also be attrib-uted to the Railway School thatwas once packed with Anglo-Indians, and which was the larg-est Railway School in the coun-try, as well as the well-knownAnglo-Indian school run by thePresentation Convent, St.Joseph’s Anglo-Indian HighSchool. It has more Anglo-Indi-ans than any other Anglo-Indianschool in Chennai. The presenceof Lourdes Shrine and the HolyCross Church has also beenresponsible for the growth of the

community in Perambur.The high point for Anglo-In-

dian culture is the Railway Insti-tute with its huge hall and excel-lent dance floor that throbs withlife during the Christmas andNew Year Balls and the manyAnglo-Indian weddings. Fornearly a century, the Institutehas been the heart of the Anglo-Indian community and at theChristmas and New Year dancesgathers together the communityin Chennai as well as Anglo-In-dians who come from Australia,Canada, U.K., and other parts ofthe world.

With so many Anglo-Indiansconcentrated in Perambur, it isnow drawing more and moreAnglo-Indians from the otherparts of the State and many fami-lies from the once well-knownAnglo-Indian centres of Royapu-ram, George Town, Purasa-walkam and Vepery have mergedthere.

Perambur cannot be consid-ered as a highly developed cen-tre in Chennai and cannot becompared with the best residen-tial areas in the city. But it is afairly well-developed centrelinked by train and bus to allparts of the city. Besides a well-developed transport system,Perambur has various shops andhotels and, best of all, AjanthaBakers that operates on PaperMills Road, specialising in cakes,puffs and various other pastriesfavoured by the Anglo-Indian

community. Full credit has to begiven to the Anglo-Indian com-munity who, through their pa-tronage, have made the bakeryone of the best in the city. It alsocaters to 70-80 per cent ofAnglo-Indian weddings.

Another factor that can beconsidered important for thegrowth of the Anglo-Indiancommunity in Perambur is thatland cost as well as the price offlats is relatively cheap whencompared to other parts of thecity.

The key areas in Peramburwhere there is a concentration ofAnglo-Indians are Main Road,also known as Siruvallur Road,Foxen Street, Paper Mills Road,Ballard Street, and JaganathanStreet. You will find about 2000Anglo-Indian families in theseareas. A noteworthy feature isthat Foxen Street has a largenumber of flats known as PalmGrove Apartments where 90 percent of the families are Anglo-Indians. This is a typical Anglo-Indian colony where you findpets and plants and children run-ning in and out of homes, someof them on little cycles or in littlecars. Every flat is kept spic andspan with traditional curtains,sofa sets, dining tables, musicsystem, flowers, vases and centretable. This is a common sight inPerambur where Anglo-Indiansmaintain their traditional cul-ture.

Sadly, in Perambur, there arealso a large number of Anglo-In-dians at the lower end of the eco-nomic scale who stay in huts andsmall rooms. They eke out a liv-ing, barely making ends meet.This state of affairs is mainly dueto lack of employment because oflack of education.

St. Joseph’s Anglo-IndianHigh School, in the very heart ofPerambur, and the RailwayMixed Higher SecondarySchools next door are two greatinstitutions that have played avery big role in the growth anddevelopment of Perambur. St.Joseph’s Anglo-Indian HighSchool’s student strength is pre-dominantly Anglo-Indian. It alsoemploys a large number ofAnglo-Indian teachers. It is runby the Presentation Conventnuns. St. Joseph’s has been giv-ing excellent education for overa century and the large number

of Anglo-Indian girls who havestudied in it, have successfullygone on to higher levels of edu-cation and professional training.The school also takes in boys upto the 6th Standard.

The school next door, namelythe Railway Mixed Higher Sec-ondary School, at one time had alarge number of Anglo-Indianstudents. In fact, I was told thatin the 1950s and 1960s, 80-90per cent were Anglo-Indian stu-dents in the Railway School.With a large number of Anglo-Indians no longer employed inthe Railways, the number ofAnglo-Indians in this school hascome down.

M. Singaravelar.

Like several parts of Chennai,Perambur is now growing into abustling economic and commer-cial centre. For the Anglo-Indiancommunity, Perambur is a bus-tling cenre of integration for thewhole community.

It is the last bastion where youwill find so many of the commu-nity doing extremely well andshowing to the community allover the country that togetherwe can achieve a lot and byworking together we can achieveand succeed in a country that isbecoming competitive, growth-oriented and making its mark inthe world.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS May 1-15, 2014

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period April 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 per-tain to Chennai and TamilNadu.)1. Scientists from NASA and theEuropean Space Agency recentlyestimated that Enceladus has anocean of liquid water under itssurface. Of which planet – is it amoon?

2. Lafarge and Holcim, the twolargest manufacturers of whichproduct have agreed to a mergerto create a behemoth in that in-dustry?

3. Who was chosen the man ofthe series in the ICC World CupTwenty 20 that was won by SriLanka beating India in the final?

4. On April 9th, Microsoft offi-cially concluded which popularproduct of its after 12 years ofsupport?

5. On April 12th, which movie-dom legend was named to receivethe Dadasaheb Phalke Award?

6. Name the India-born poet whohas been awarded the 2014Pulitzer Prize in poetry.

7. Which swashbuckling Indianbatsman has been chosen as oneof Wisden’s Five Cricketers of theYear?

8. The book Accidental PrimeMinister: The making and unmak-ing of Manmohan Singh has cre-ated headlines for some criticalobservations made by the author.Name him?

9. The World MeteorologicalOrganisation announced onApril 4th which place in India ashaving regained the world recordwith the highest 2493 m.m. rain-fall?

10. A company called IBCommercial Pvt. Ltd. recentlypurchased which iconic IndianNaval property for Rs. 60 crore?

* * *

11. Name the hotel that stoodwhere the ‘Oberoi Trident’ is nowlocated.

12. Why did S.S. Vasan pay Rs.200 for taking over AnandaVikatan?

13. Which reputed Chennai-headquartered company wasstarted by T.R. Ganapathy Iyer in1936?

14. Which waterway that flowsthrough Chennai is consideredthe shortest classified riverdraining into the Bay of Bengal?

15. What came up on ‘Man-thope’, a 56-acre property nearAmbattur, in the early 1950s?

16. Which prestigious award inthe world of music was presentedfor the first time on January 1,1943 at the RR Sabha?

17. Which educational institu-tion in Chennai is located on thesite of Old Jail, Madras’ first civiljail?

18. Where in Chennai is thechurch replicating the famousbasilica in Lourdes, France?

19. Which legend in the textilesindustry started a Tamil daily,Tamil Nadu, and is considered thefirst Nagarathar to become a full-time journalist with an Englishlanguage daily?

20. Which locality near theChennai airport was created forWorld War II veterans?

(Answers on page 8)

A look back at the future

Two pages of sport

of Indian tennis

If Bombay is the headquartersof Indian cricket and

Calcutta of Indian football,Madras has always been thenerve-centre of Indian tennis.There are many reasons for this,but the predominant one isobviously the fact that Madrashas been the home of the twogreatest families in Indian ten-nis, the Krishnans and theAmritrajs. In addition, Madrashas always had a great tennistradition, excellent facilities forplaying the game and coachingthe young, and a smooth-run-ning tennis administration.This three-way conversationexamines various aspects of thegame in the State, country andabroad.

Partab Ramchand (PR):Krish, Madras has always beenconsidered the tennis capital ofthe country. Would you saythat this is just because it is thehome of the Krishnans and theAmritrajs, or has it evolvedthrough any system?

Ramanathan Krishnan(RK): I would trace the growthback to 1953 when I becamethe first player from the Southto win the national title. Peoplein the South who did not knowhow to play the game on grassrealised that one had to do wellon grass to become a goodplayer. I remember when I firstplayed on grass at Calcutta in1950 I fared very badly. Irealised that grass was a fastsurface and you had to movequickly. So, I learnt to play ongrass because in those days allthe important tournamentswere played on grass. I won thenationals, I broke the barrier,and then others from the Southsaid that if Krishnan can winthe title we can do so too. Sothey started doing well too.Then I extended the trail-blaz-ing by playing in the Davis Cup,by playing in the USA and byplaying at Wimbledon. No onecares if you win a tournamentat Beckenham, Bristol or Brus-sels. You have to do well at

� Matrix, the quarterly housejournal of the SanmarGroup, recently brought outto celebrate its 25th year aspecial issue featuring onearticle from every issue.

In June 1989 it featuredan article in which tennischampion RamanathanKrishnan, Tamil Nadu Ten-nis Association PresidentN. Sankar, and sports writerPartab Ramchand dis-cussed the changing tennisscene in India. This is howthe discussion went. Muchof it holds good 25 yearslater.

Wimbledon to become wellknown, and you have to do wellin the Davis Cup. These are thetwo big tournaments.

PR: Sankar, I have a ques-tion for you. Whenever I talk ofMadras being the nerve-centreof the game in India, peoplecynically ask me, “But where isthe system? The Krishnans andthe Amritrajs have come uponly because of parentalencouragement. Who else hasMadras produced?” As TNTAPresident, how do you reply tothese people?

N. Sankar (NS): Let me addthat in the case of the twofamilies the development hasbeen more talent-orientedrather than through any system.In the Krishnan case, I haveknown the family for long. Itwas talent, the parental encour-agement and his own effortsthat made Krishnan a greatplayer. In the Amritraj’s case,yes, it was again talent andparental encouragement, but bythen a system was available andso in their case as well as that ofRamesh Krishnan, in additionto the other questions, therewas a bit of system too thatplayed its part in their comingup. Since then the system hascome up a lot more, and a lotmore families have taken to thegame. Today you have a lot ofcamps, kids of 5 and 6 playingthe game, but somehow thereare no world-beaters; and here Ifeel that even if any system is tosucceed, a lot of talent iscalled for if the player is tomake a mark in the inter-national arena.

PR: I have been coveringtennis for some time and I feelthat the infrastructure is therein Madras. You have the camps,the coaches, the courts, the ten-nis centres. You have a lot ofkids playing the game, as youhave mentioned. Now it is saidthat out of quantity comesquality. But don’t you think thequality is lacking.

RK: If you name three top

players from here in the last 30-odd years, it is myself, Vijay andRamesh. Now all of us had a tre-mendous family background.Without this, we could nothave made it to the top. I knowmy father gave me all supporteven in those difficult days. Igave the same support toRamesh, and I am sure Vijay gotthe same kind of encourage-ment from his parents. Nowmaybe you will say not allparents give the same encour-agement.

PR: Yes, I was coming tothat point. I was talking withH.K. Joshi, the Chief Coach atthe TTT (Triangle TennisTrust), the other day and hetold me that parental encour-agement is sadly lacking. Hesaid that if there was an excep-tionally talented youngster andhe pointed out to the parentsthat the boy or girl could goplaces if sent abroad or moremoney is spent on training, theparents always seemed to tellhim that tennis is not the onlything, studies are more impor-tant and that stifles the talentof the young players.

RK: That used to be thecase. They may be saying thaton the outside; but I am surethey really want the boy or girlto play tennis seriously.

NS: Today things havechanged. In the days ofKrishnan and his father, theywould never have given anythought that they could make aliving from tennis. Today’s atti-tude is different. Anyone feels,“If I am putting in so much, howmuch can I get out of it?” Theproblem is that the initial costis very high: one, in terms offamily commitments, and sec-ondly, the money involved. Forexample, I saw a few days ago anine-year-old girl, the daughterof a friend of mine, playing atthe MCC courts and was veryimpressed. She hit the ballharder than older people. Nowher father’s problem is that forher to come up, he has to take

her to a completely differentenvironment and ...

PR: What do you mean by“different environment?” Youmean a different country?

NS: Yes, he would like totake her to the USA or Austra-lia and play on different surfacesand get advanced training.

PR: Yes, but that again costsmoney.

NS: Yes, so the investmentcalled for is very much higherbecause the game has changedso much, just to mention onepoint. Krishnan used to playthree or four months a year andthen come back to India. Todayyou have to play almostthroughout the year.

PR: Things have changedsince your days, Krish. I meanthings are more professionalthese days, right?

RK: Those days it was anamateur sport. When someoneasked you what you do, you didnot answer, “I play tennis.” Itwas always tennis and some-thing else, because you had ajob. These days it is only tennis,and parents these days wanttheir children to play tennis fortwo reasons. One, it has becomea glamour sport, secondly, it canbe a lucrative career.

NS: Back in 1959, Krishnanreceived an offer from JackKramer to turn pro and I re-member there was a lot of dis-cussion about what Krishnanshould do. Finally, he turned itdown. Even though the offerwas a large sum of money, hedid it because he decided thattennis was a game he was play-ing for the fame, not to makemoney out of it. Today the situ-ation is different because no oneis strictly an amateur any more.The hard work is probablymore, but the dedication is less,because even an average playercan make a living out of thegame.

PR: Thirty years later, Krish,in a hypothetical situation, ifthe same offer was made to you,

(Continued on page 7)

From left to right: Ramanathan Krishnan, N. Sankar and Partab Ramchand.

May 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Fixing cricket matchesThe year 2000 undeniably marked a watershed in

the nearly three-centuries-long history of cricket.It was perhaps for the first time that dishonesty cameto be associated with the game in a prominent andcredible manner. As a former CBI Director who over-saw the 2000 match-fixing enquiry, to this day, I amquizzed – not unreasonably – by friends and acquain-tances as to whether I believed that the outcome of amatch could be dishonestly altered by any player(s).

My response usually is that while the naturalcourse of a game could be tinkered with slightly by adishonest player acting on his own or in concert witha few of his mates, it is illogical to assert that a wholematch could be transformed by a rogue wearing flan-nels. A few may not agree with me. Nevertheless, Iam emboldened to take this firm stand drawing frommy more than four decades of experience with cricketin different capacities, including those of a radiocommentator and an umpire.

You must remember that the most hardened andavaricious bookie does not also desire this outcome.He wants to make money by merely exploiting isolated

(By R.K. Raghavan)

incidents of a minor nature which are distinct for theiruncertainty and yield themselves to wild and indis-criminate betting. This is a simple exercise in mischiefthat does not call for any great skill. This is why I willnot lose sleep over the recent episodes which havebeen blown out of proportion by both the media andlaw enforcement. But we must remember that the cur-rent political and business ambience in the countrypromotes dishonesty in every sphere of life, and cricketcannot remain unaffected by the attendant venality.

I am pained that all those who administer the gamehave been lambasted for either indifference or collu-sion with dishonest players and bookies. The chargeslevelled in this context cannot be disbelieved orignored totally. But they contain only a grain of truth.To brand all officials as either dishonest or negligentwould be unfair. This is particularly so after 2000when corrective action was initiated in a major way.Severe disciplinary action – including a life ban againstthree delinquents – was taken. This was meant to actas a deterrent. What more could an administration do?This is why I take the stand that if a player is deter-

mined to be dishonest or has a congenitally flawedmental make-up, the harshest of measures will notstop him.

This explains what we witnessed recently with re-gard to a few IPL players. Just as we see that in thereal world conventional crime is not deterred even bydraconian laws, we should be prepared for shocks andsurprises in the cricket arena. The regulation of se-verely curtailed access to players, both physical and incommunication, has brought about some discipline.But to expect that this would totally eliminate mis-conduct is unrealistic and is asking for the moon. Thenearest parallel is public servant corruption. Institu-tions like the CBI and the Lokpal may at best have amarginal impact on corruption. It is not very differentin the case of those who play a game or administer it.Let us not go overboard seeking a special legislationor demanding more restrictions on players.

Eternal vigilance and less complacence could bringabout a somewhat cleaner game which would delight

(Continued on page 8)

The future of Indiantennis

(Continued from page 6)

I am sure you would not turn itdown?

RK: I turned it down for tworeasons. One, I wanted to dowell in the Davis Cup andWimbledon. When Kramer hadmade me the offer in 1959 I hadnot done either. I entered theWimbledon semi-finals in 1960and 1961, and helped Indiaenter the Davis Cup final in1966.

PR: But don’t forget thathad you not turned down proyou could not have playedDavis Cup.

RK: Yes, the rules did notpermit this; but if the rules hadpermitted, I would have takenthe money and played DavisCup too.

PR: We are talking ofchanging trends, and this is arelated topic; sponsorship andthe role that companies canplay in the promotion of sportsand sportsmen, I think it isabout time that business housesin India took a more realisticview of the situation andupped the prize money andmade job offers more attractiveto budding young players,right?

RK: This is a very interest-ing topic. In those days, howwas one to run a tennis tourna-ment? By getting governmentgrants and some donations. Inthose days we used to get a smallamount for our expenses. Thebig change took place in 1968with the advent of Open tennis,and one can call Jack Kramerthe father of Open tennis. To-day, so many youngsters, likeAgassi, may not even knowabout Kramer; but they arereaping the benefits for whichKramer had to struggle. It wasKramer who opened the gatesfor professional tennis. All theyoungsters making money nowshould thank Kramer for that.Kramer, while sacrificing a lot,made enemies. In those days it

was the International TennisFederation and Tennis Associa-tions which were running thegame, and they made the rulesand regulations. I think Opentennis came about becausesome of the tennis federationswent too far with the rules. Thefederations were a bit too toughon the players. In America, forexample, I remember the Asso-ciation used to tell top playerslike Barry Mackay and othersthat unless they played in theAmerican circuit they wouldnot be allowed to play atWimbledon. Kramer foughtagainst this and gave greaterfreedom to the players. Greatersupport for the game cameabout via the public and media.These two are always No.1for the game, and next comethe sponsors. Sponsors havetaken the place of the tennisfederations. Without sponsors,you can forget professionalsports.

PR: But the sponsorshipscene has not really caught onin India, has it?

RK: It has in the last fewyears. I think we have wastedthe whole of the 1970s in Indiain this regard. We did not keepabreast of the far-reachingchanges that were taking placethe world over since the adventof Open tennis. I feel this is be-cause the AITA has alwaysliked to have some control overthe players.

PR: Sankar, you being anadministrator, how would youreply to this?

NS: Tennis calls for a differ-ent sponsorship. It is not a teamgame like cricket. What you paya good tennis player is a pit-tance compared to what he can

earn by himself. You need tonurture him during the earlyyeas and give him the opportu-nities to play more tourna-ments. Players need the spon-sorship when they are stillyoung and not when they areestablished.

RK: Sankar is involved intwo things: he is President ofthe TNTA; he is also a sponsorof sports. As President of theAssociation, he cannot do asmuch for the game as he can doas a sponsor. He has a free handas a sponsor, because he bringsin the money. Sponsors shouldbe given a free hand. If there isinterference from the associa-tions, they will withdraw andtake up some other game. Wehave been making this mistakein India. I know instances whensponsors have come forward,but then the associations haveput too many rules and regula-tions, with the result that thesponsors have backed out.

NS: In sponsorship, thereare people who are still commit-ted to the game and not somuch for what they get out ofit. A company does it to get ad-vertisement or publicity. But wecan support the game in manyways. For example, I have sug-gested to the TNTA that ourcompany would sponsor thetwo artificial surfaces to be laidin the city. I doubt whetherChemplast will get anything outof this, but it is more out of in-terest in the game. There is an-other aspect to the sponsorship.One has to get the top stars toparticipate in the tournaments.Those who play in tournamentshere are people like Vasudevanand Mark Ferreira who are goodplayers, but then the public

have seen the top players in theworld on TV or video and sothey are really not keen onother players, and if you do notget the top players the sponsorswill not come.

PR: Then do you think itwill help if Ramesh Krishnan orVijay Amritraj come and play inthese tournaments?

NS: Absolutely. But then wehave to make it worth theirwhile.

RK: The importance ofsponsors is so much now thateven in the US championship,which is one of the Grand Slamevents, the sponsors have theirsay. For instance, this is a two-week tournament and there areplenty of courts. But do youknow what they do? They waitfor the second Saturday andplay the semi-finals at 6 0’clockin the evening, and McEnroe inone year beat Jimmy Connorsand the match finished at 11.30in the night after five-and-a-half hours, and the next day hewas scheduled to be on thecourt against Borg at 3 o’clock.He had hardly 12 to 13 hours’rest. McEnroe objected to thisand said, “This is nonsense; it isa two-week tournament; whycan’t you make me play on Fri-day and give me one day off?”The organisers insisted that hehad to play since the sponsorswere putting up a few milliondollars and they wanted primetime on TV. So you can see howimportant sponsors are.

PR: Turning to administra-tion, Sankar, to touch upon thenational hard court champion-ship, which was held here inFebruary. One criticism wasthat the tournament was toounwieldy with a lot of entries

and a lot of the events held onso many courts. I felt it wasdifficult to conduct such a tour-nament. Do you think it wouldhelp if the entries for such tour-naments are limited?

NS: The main objective ofholding the national champion-ship was to bring big tennis backto Madras after more than 11years. I was particularly happythat despite live coverage of themen’s final on Saturday morn-ing, one-half of the Egmore Sta-dium was full. I did not expectsuch a crowd.

RK: I think Sankar did theright thing in having a lot ofevents and a lot of players.Eventually, you will get goodplayers only if you have rankingtournaments.

NS: In fact, the players cameand told me that it was nice toplay a national tournament inMadras at the Egmore Stadiumafter a long time. We are tryingto get the Egmore Stadiumfor our own, and then I believewe could develop the gamefurther.

RK: We have to create morecompetitions at a junior level,now that sponsorship is comingin.

NS: Krish, you have beenwatching tennis closely for over40 years. Who would you sayis the greatest player of theera?

RK: As I already said, it isdifficult to make a comparisonof players of different eras. But Ifeel Rod Laver is the best. I havemy reasons for saying this. It isnot because he was my contem-porary, but I state it becauseLaver could win on any surface.The definition of a true cham-pion is to play and win any-where and on any surface. Thatis why Laver won two GrandSlams. Secondly, I give verygreat importance to tempera-ment. Laver could keep hisemotions under control, but in-side he was a demon who hadthe killer instinct.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS May 1-15, 2014

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

Madras Musings is supported as a public service by the following organisations

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014, printed by Anu Varghese at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006, and edited by S. Muthiah.

Bata India LimitedAmalgamations Group

F.L. Smidth LimitedThe Hindu

Group of Publications

Rane Group

UCAL AUTOPRIVATE LIMITEDTVS MOTOR COMPANY

Hotels Resortsand Palaces

Sundram FastenersLimited

Since 1856,patently leaders

— A WELLWISHER

Answers to Quiz

1. Saturn; 2. Cement; 3. Virat Kohli; 4. Windows XP; 5. Gulzar;6. Vijay Seshadri; 7. Shikhar Dhawan; 8. Sanjaya Baru; 9.Cherrapunji; 10. INS Vikrant.

* * *

11. Pleasant; 12. He priced each (Tamil) letter of the name atRs. 25; 13. Rane; 14. Cooum; 15. TI Cycles; 16. Sangita Kalanidhi;17. Bharati Women’s College; 18. Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdesin Perambur; 19. Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar; 20. VeteranLines in Pallavaram.

Fixing cricket matches(Continued from page 7)

Till May 30: An exhibition ofpaintings by J. Antony Raj andM. Ramu (at DakshinaChitra).

Till May 31: Art works by VeeraSanthanam – ‘Museum collec-tions make connections’ (atDakshinaChitra).

June 4-30: Art exhibition byBrijesh Devareddy (at Dakshina-Chitra).

June 5-30: Photographs byKushboo Bharti – art in publicspaces of Jaipur. (at Dakshina-Chitra).

* * *Children’s Summer Art Utsav

2014 at DakshinaChitra:May 7: Balloon sculpting. 10 years

to 14 years.May 8-9: Jewellery making – paper

jewellery, bead jewellery andthread jewellery – 10 years to 14years.

May 8-9: Strokes and Shades –water colour painting. 10 years to15 years.

May 8-9: Paper Mache – mouldingand mask making, collage art. 9years to 14 years.

May 10-11: Theatre and folk –theatre games. 9 years to 15years.

May 10-11: Palm leaf craft – palmleaf engraving, decorations andthoranams. 9 years to 14 years.

May 12: Nature walk atDakshinaChitra – flora & fauna,nature art and nature games. 8years to 14 years.

For details contact LakshmiThyagarajan 98417 77779.

* * *DakshinaChitra WorkshopsWorkshop for adultsMay 7-11: Tanjore paintingMay 10,11 & 17: Terracotta

jewellery makingMay 17 & 18: Kerala Mural on

duppattaMay 31: Paper quiling jewellery

For Children (8-14 years)May 10: Activity Camp OneMay 17: Miniature heritage house

modelsMay 24: Activity Camp Two

a majority of us looking for skill and entertainment. The IPL ismore vulnerable than other formats. But that is no reason tolook down upon it as a devalued form of a glorious game.

Let us not be blind to the enormous entertainment it hasbrought to the average housewife who wants relief from her dailycares of managing the household against spiralling prices andthe agonising non-availability of domestic help. In sum, unlessthe moral fibre of the entire nation and the polity shows im-provement, we cannot expect sports to remain insular and clean.(Courtesy: Straight Bat).

Challenge to Chennai(Continued from page 1)

Independent States, Africansand those from Southeast Asia.On the anvil are packages thatcover visa, travel options, placesof stay, sightseeing and, ofcourse, treatment. Most signifi-cantly, Dubai believes thatapart from the medical facilities,its infrastructure, safety recordand friendly atmosphere willmake all the difference. Dubaiaims to cater to 500,000 inter-national patients by 2020.

It is time that Chennai

wakes up to this threat. Afterall, its doctors, nurses and otherpara-medical staff are probablythe most likely to be enticed.Secondly, when it comes to in-frastructure, there is no denyingthat Chennai, no matter howinternational it claims to be,cannot hold a candle to Dubai.There are, of course, enoughand more reasons for this, all ofwhich are regularly touted, butthe truth is that our city is strug-gling for basic amenities and isstill a destination only becausethere are no better options asyet available. You only need to

contrast Chennai’s currentratio of 2.1 beds to 1000 popu-lation to the WHO’s norms of 3per 1000 to get a picture.

What is noteworthy is thatthe Government of Dubai istaking an active interest in pro-moting the new strategy. Thisneeds to be contrasted to whathas happened in Chennai,where medical tourism cameabout largely because of variousprivate initiatives and notbecause of any State-inspireddrive. It cannot be denied thatsome of the Government hospi-tals in the city are centres of

excellence, but it is highlydoubtful if any of them is in aposition to cater to even upperclass local residents, leave aloneinternational visitors. Even inDubai it can be seen that theplan is to bank more on privateinitiative than State sponsor-ship, but the State is keen toplay a role as a facilitator by cre-ating a framework for such anindustry to develop. This is akinto the way industrial estateswere set up in our city in the1950s and IT Parks came up inthe early years of this century.Can we now expect a similarmaster plan for improving infra-structure and promoting themedicare industry in Chennai/Tamil Nadu?

Is transport unification ahead?(Continued from page 1)

Road Congress recommenda-tions of 1.8 metres. There isonly one cycle track in the en-tire city – and that too only fora short stretch on OldMahabalipuram Road (RajivGandhi Expressway). The threerail corridors – Chennai Beachto Tambaram, Chennai Centralto Tiruninravur, and ChennaiCentral to Minjur – are com-pletely independent and in noway connected to road trans-port, a throwback to the 1930swhen roadways were considered

a competition to the state-con-trolled railways. If that is a trag-edy of history, what is sad is thatthe Mass Rapid Transport Sys-tem, developed in the 1980s,was planned the same way withno interconnectivity of anykind with bus transport systems.The poor patronage for theMRTS, about 80,000 passen-gers a day, is chiefly due to this.

In the midst of all this is theMetropolitan Transport Corpo-ration whose fleets of about

3700 buses run along somethingclose to 800 routes. With anageing fleet that is notorious forpoor maintenance and a badroad safety record, this serviceoperates on a stand-alone basis,subject to severe overcrowding.It is no surprise to see tightlypacked passengers in a bus go-ing along a busy thoroughfare,with an MRTS train running inparallel, largely empty!

These are the issues that thepresent study hopes to look

into. From here to action is butthe next step but, given ourtrack record that can be a life-time, much depends on how se-rious the State Government isabout tackling one of the big-gest challenges the city faces.But given that the concept of aunified transport authority isstill on paper despite beingpassed by the Legislature, thestudy too may remain on paperwith no immediate solution insight.