WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIV No. 24 April 1-15, 2015

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

•When Madras got sewerage

• ‘Father of Nilgiriology’ speaks

• Two pages of comment

•A mixed dance season

Madras Landmarks

– 50 years ago

(By A Special Correspondent)

(Continued on page 2)

● Armenian Street has several interesting buildings to its credit. Some are historical,while others demand attention for being significant works of architecture. One ofthe few that has both claims to fame is the Oriental Insurance Building.

The eponymous company that owned the property prior to its nationalisationcame into existence on May 5, 1874 as the Oriental Government Security LifeAssurance Company Limited in Bombay. Its founding fathers were famous menof that city – Cumroodeen Tyabji, JP, Member of the Bombay Corporation andSolicitor was the Chairman; the other Directors were R N Khote, JP, Merchantand Member of the Bombay Corporation; Jehangir Rustomjee Mody, Merchant,and (later Sir); and Pherozeshah M Mehta, Bar-at-Law and later Chairman ofthe Bombay Municipal Corporation.

The Oriental fared very well in the first decade of its life and kept the pacegoing thereafter. In Madras, the company operated through its Managing Agents,McDowell & Co, whose handsome offices on Second Line Beach have longsince been demolished. By the turn of the century, Oriental decided to have itsown branch in Madras, and this came into existence in McDowell’s premises onApril 1, 1901. It was the first regional office of the company. By 1906, businesshad grown in Madras Presidency and the firm decided to move into its ownpremises. A suitable site with an existing building was identified at the intersec-tion of Errabalu Chetty and Armenian Streets and the operations shifted there.

The Company decided to build a new edifice on the site in 1935 and the taskof designing it was entrusted to the firm of L M Chitale. What emerged thanks tohis conception and care came to be rightfully known as the first building in thecity to follow ‘modern Indian architecture’. Structurally, it was the first buildingin the city to be entirely of reinforced concrete with floors, beams, columns andfoundation using this medium and the filling in between being done in brick workand cement mortar. It was also the first planned six-storeyed building in the city.

That was an era of edifices with corner entrances. The Law College hadshown the way at least three decades earlier. Later, Sir Edwin Lutyens had putthis to dramatic effect in New Delhi’s circuses, especially at Princes’ Place nearthe Government House where Hyderabad and Baroda Houses had cornerentrances along a circular periphery while opening out into the rear in a butterflypattern. Oriental Building on Armenian Street followed in the same traditionwith a dramatic corner entrance and a central tower, thereby allowing forextensive frontage along two streets. In an article written on the occasion of theinauguration of the building in 1936, Chitale was to hope that the other threecorners of the intersection would soon have complementary structures therebymaking way for a circus, but that was sadly not to be.

An interesting feature of the building is its sunken basement, designed exclu-sively to house a safe deposit vault. The first of its kind in Madras and the biggestin South India, this came to be occupied by the Kothari-promoted Madras SafeDeposit Co Ltd. In its time, the vault was designed to withstand any form ofattack – burglars, fire, flood, earthquake and air raids. The basement was toconsume a significant part of the overall concrete usage of 1000 tonnes. Twodoors, each weighing six tonnes and specially made by Godrej, led to the vault.

A disappointing budgetby the Corporation

(Continued on page 2)

(By The Editor)The State Governmentappears serious at long last

about conducting its GlobalInvestors’ Meet. After two post-ponements last year, nowscheduled for May 23rd and25th this year, the plan is to gar-ner Rs. 1000 crore in invest-ments within these two days.This may seem ambitious, but ina vastly urbanised and indus-trialised State this can beachieved provided the planningfor the event is right. There are,however, many rumblings atground level that indicate theusual slap-dash, and last minuteefforts are the order of the day.The question is: Are global in-vestors not going to see throughit all?

Take for instance the ques-tion of city beautification. Can

this be done in a matter of twomonths? And yet that is whatthe Corporation hopes toachieve. You would have no-ticed a sudden proliferation ofbollards along footpaths andmedians. On the anvil are road-sweeping machines and a wallart initiative. The former, inci-dentally, are to be used onlyalong specific roads – those onwhich the delegates to the in-vestors’ meet will be driving toand from their places of stay.What of the rest of the city?Well, that is not going to beseen by these visitors from over-seas, so why bother?

The wall art initiative, goodthough it is in intention and de-serving of encouragement, can

never be a success unless weeducate our political class, thecinema world and the TamilNadu printing industry thatwall spaces are not meant forposters. These are the worst of-fenders, apart from petty adver-tisers hawking quack cures.Taking a cue from these rolemodels, the average man on thestreet has also begun putting upposters, commemorating any-thing and everything frombirths and deaths and thereaf-ter to first, second, third andnth anniversaries. Can wall artreally make an impact in a citywhose populace is so insensitiveto it? Let us also not forget thatCorporation Councillors, pastand present, are themselves not

(Continued on page 2)

The Corporation of Chennaihas gone through the

motions of presenting yet an-other annual budget. The fi-nancial plan has disappointedon many counts – the cut in ex-penditure on necessary civic in-frastructure being the most im-portant issue. What is worse isthat the Corporation has notdelivered on several plans thatwere included in last year’s bud-get. That makes for a very poorperformance and will definitelyhave an impact on the qualityof life in the city.

Last year we had reviewedthe budget in this publicationand given it a rating of A. Themost commendable featuresconcerned the focus on non-motorised traffic. Pedestrianzones had been planned in

Mylapore, T’Nagar and Che-pauk. Granite footpaths were tobe laid along 100 bus routes. Aseven kilometre cycle lane wasto connect Fort St. George toForeshore Estate, the route go-ing along the Marina. Cycles forthese users were to be availableon hire at various places enroute. The scheme was to beextended along the Metro andMRTS corridors to provide lastmile connectivity.

The next praiseworthy in-clusion was the scheme to setup 100 new parks and the intro-duction of rainwater harvestingand drip irrigation in all theparks in the city. Solar energywas to be tapped for publiclighting. Public fixtures for civichygiene were to be washedregularly. The Corporation also

pledged to look into the matterof parking fees and the possibil-ity of collecting a congestion feein places such as T’Nagar, themoney so accruing to be usedfor civic projects.

Not one of these schemeshas seen the light of the day.The only one on which someprogress has been made is thelaying of footpaths along ahandful of arterial roads. Ac-cording to the Corporation’sown admission, 165 of itsplanned schemes are yet to beacted upon! The civic body’shonesty in admitting this is tobe commended, but that is notgoing to take it far.

These worries apart, what isalso causing concern is the

Can a few cosmeticchanges lure them?

� Global investors

2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2015

The Man from MadrasMusings has received

several emails and messagesasking whether the meetingthat MMM Sar was to attendwith the Government Sar (ref‘Short and Snappy’ in MM is-sue dated March 16th) evertook place. To this MMM isvery happy to respond by stat-ing that the meeting did hap-pen, and how!

The meeting was resched-uled to a particular date at 3.00pm and promptly at 2.45,MMM could be seen, by thosewho cared to notice, walkingup a broad staircase that wasspick and span and, what wasmore, devoid of any posters orbillboards praising the ruler ofthe day. The corners were alsofree of any betel juice. MMM

As committed by Govern-ment Sar the minutes of themeeting were ready for MMMto see via email as he reachedhis office. From then on, mostdiscussions were over phoneand the planned task was com-pleted to the satisfaction of allby the agreed date. The inau-guration was a simple matter,Government Sar opining thatthis being a routine develop-ment, there was no reason forany fanfare.

Taken all in all, it was anexcellent experience. MMMwas delighted by it all andhopes that he will be called into work on committees withthe Government more often inthe near future. GovernmentSar and MMM have also be-come good friends and the

former often drops in to pickthe brains of the latter and,when he does come, he alwaysdrives his car which, inciden-tally, is sans a revolving redbeacon on its hood.

Now, friends, MMM truststhat the above story satisfiesyou all. Before you move on tothe story below, remember thatthis issue of Madras Musingswas printed on April 1st. Youare advised to use discretion inbelieving the contents of theabove story.

Parking meters

This, unlike the previousone, is a true story. The Man

from Madras Musings was oneof the many innocents wholauded the installation of auto-mated parking meters all alongNorth Mada Street. He hailedit as the coming of a high techdawn to this international cityof ours. Alas! Those metershave, like the proverbial Arabs,long folded their tents and van-ished into the dead of the night.Those that remain have ceasedfunctioning. And, so, mattersare back to where they startedfrom – a man who claims to bean employee of the Corpora-tion (and to prove it, he wearsa faded luminous jacket withthe civic body’s logo) is nowcontrolling the parking.

Shopkeepers who do notwant vehicles in front of theiroutlets have long since squaredhim up and so, within the nar-row space that is available,there are slots that are out ofbounds for the average vehicle.The man does not issue re-ceipts for the fee that he col-lects and woe betide anyonewho has the gumption to askfor one. The rates quoted arearbitrary as well. A placardabove the once-upon-a-timespace for a parking meter has itthat the rates are Rs. 5 for anhour, Rs. 10 for two hours and

When the Sar-s finally metRs. 15 for three. But the manon the ground does notrecognise anything but a ten-rupee note and multiples.

The other day MMM wasguided into a slot by attendantand then asked to pay Rs. 10,which MMM did without amurmur. Returning after ahalf-hour visit to the templeMMM got into his car and wasreversing (with, it must be ac-knowledged, much guidancefrom the parking attendantwho, from the way he shoutedand waved his hands, couldhave been a coxswain on aboat) when his eye fell on theplacard that clearly spelt outthe rates. MMM then madebold to ask the attendant forRs. 5 as he had parked his carin the slot for less than an

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

was asked to present himself atan electronic identificationcounter that, having checkedMMM’s retina and made surethat it was indeed he, allowedMMM in.

Having walked ahead,MMM was welcomed by asmiling receptionist who thenushered him into a meetingroom where the GovernmentSar was waiting. The otherinvitees came in and the meet-ing began on the dot of three.The Government Sar had readall his notes and no time waswasted on picking up lost andtangled threads. The Govern-ment Sar also informed the at-tendees upfront that the meet-ing would last exactly thirtyminutes by which time he ex-pected everyone to havereached a conclusion on thematter at hand. He also saidthat the minutes of the meet-ing would be circulated withinan hour of the meeting withclear action points and datesfor everyone concerned.

The meeting then pro-ceeded apace, but not beforeGovernment Sar requested ev-eryone to keep his/her cellphone on silent mode. Hisown, he said, he would keepswitched off during the meet-ing so that he was not dis-tracted in any way. Thereafterthe only other interruptionwas a tea lady wheeling in atrolley from which each at-tendee could select the bever-age of his/her choice apartfrom a snack or two. Govern-ment Sar took copious notes,was all eyes and ears and madeextremely pertinent observa-tions. A budget was workedout for the task to be done and,being within GovernmentSar’s discretionary powers, itwas sanctioned at once. As theclock on Government Sar’sdesk buzzed the half hour, itwas time to shake hands andleave.

hour.The attendant could not at

first believe his ears. Then helooked rather pityingly atMMM for his audacity in ask-ing for a refund. Seeing how-ever that MMM was ratherpersistent about it, he said thatMMM had been away for twohours and so there was noquestion of any return ofmoney. To this MMM (thehonking traffic that was build-ing up notwithstanding) saidthat he would call a neigh-bouring vagrant as witness.The vagrant, sensing that hecould make money immedi-ately, turned up and nodded.

The attendant knew he wasbeaten. He paid up grudginglyand muttered under his breathabout cheapskates that camein cars and sought accountsfor a paltry Rs 5. MMM wasnot bothered about it and gavethe money to the vagrant whowent off happily. Well, at leastsomeone benefited from thewhole matter.

However, what is sad is thatour Corporation, having takenthe correct step of mechani-sing the collection of parkingfees, has gone back to such aprimitive system that is proneto chronic misuse.

Tailpiece

Heights of numerology, feltThe Man from Madras

Musings on seeing this sign-board. Or should he say it wasthe very depths of it?

– MMM

Can cosmetic changeslure investors?

(Continued from page 1)

above putting up posters andcovering walls with politicalgraffiti. The recent arrest of anoctogenarian activist who triedto remove banners and postersshows where the sympathies ofthe administration truly lie.

The powers that be need torealise that, unlike in the past,the world is extremely con-nected today. With the socialmedia being what it is, no city isreally an unknown entity to anewcomer. The investors whocome in are likely to be almostthoroughly clued about the realconditions in Chennai. Consid-ering that the Investors’ Meetwas originally scheduled for2013, we have had ample timesince then to plan a properevent, with the necessary infra-structure in place for it. But wehave gone about it in an all toofamiliar fashion – bringingabout cosmetic changes whenour core remains as weak asever. After all, a Dubai that be-

gan working in 2014 to prepareitself for its Global Expo 2020cannot be very wrong, can it?

There are a couple of otheraspects of the Investors’ Meetthat merit introspection. Firstly,is May really the best time of theyear to present our city? Or is itdriven by the logic that onceyou showcase the city at itsworst, everything else will ap-pear better anyway? Secondly,the local industrial houses seemto be completely unaware of theevent. A casual survey revealsthat Chambers of Commercehave not even been involved.Would not a potential investorwant to engage with those al-ready present here to assess risksand opportunities? Lastly, giventhat land prices in Chennaihave made investment in largeindustries completely unviableunless the Government subsi-dises the purchase, would it nothave been better to have show-cased a Tier II city such asCoimbatore?

A disappointing budget bythe Corporation

(Continued from page 1)

Corporation’s financial posi-tion. 2016 being an electionyear, it has been decided thatproperty taxes will not be re-vised. This is a myopic stance,considering that very few prop-erty owners really vote in anyelection, civic or otherwise. TheCorporation is, therefore, facedwith falling revenues and is re-sorting to borrowings on a largescale to fulfil its promises. Theloan component has increasedfrom Rs. 546 crore the previousyear to Rs. 1020 crore in 2015-16. The interest burden hasjumped from Rs. 14 crore in2014-15 to a whopping Rs. 105crore in the coming year. Giventhis situation, it is but naturalthat the civic body is cuttingdown on all capital expenditure– roads, bridges, lighting, parksand stormwater drains. Nowwhat does a city corporation ex-ist for if it is unable to cater tothese needs? And how does

Chennai hope to be an interna-tional city if it does not spendon the upkeep of its infrastruc-ture?

Apart from stagnant rev-enue, the Corporation’s fi-nances are in poor shape be-cause it has had to contend witha vastly increased area. The newzones have had to be brought tosome level of parity with theolder areas of the city and sohave swallowed a significantportion of the money available.The slew of welfare schemes,beginning with the canteens,have not done much good tothe bottom line either. Lastly,you would have expected that acivic body that confessed in theHigh Court that many buildingsin the city are illegal (GeorgeTown alone had 90 per cent il-legal structures) would havesome significant incomes fromfines, wouldn’t you? Well, thenet fines collected under thishead for the year were Rs 1000!That’s the way it goes.

(Continued from page 1)

Madras Landmarks

– 50 years ago

Each floor above had an entrance hall with access both by stairs and electric lift.The top-most floor was designed as servants’ quarters, while the ground floorhad a commodious garage, accessed from the north.

The entire structure was noted for its use of materials largely sourced fromwithin India, the flooring in particular being a combination of mosaic and marble.The steel doors and windows, an essential feature of the art-deco style thenmaking its way were fabricated at the historic Beehive Foundry on Broadway, afirm that is still functioning. The Oriental Insurance Building is not as wellmaintained as it ought to be, but it still catches the eye.

(This article concludes this series. It will be renewed at a later date. Anew series will feature in this space from next fortnight.)

– THE EDITOR

April 1-15, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Trichy proclamationSwarajyamag.com recently published “a

declaration of independence you have prob-ably not heard about”. This was the text of whatwas known as the Trichy Proclamation. It wasissued by Marudu Pandyan in 1801. The docu-ment is a significant historical one, represent-ing one of the earliest organised attempts atevicting the English East India Company fromIndia (jamboo dweepa in the proclamation). Itwas issued by one of the leaders of a looselyorganised confederacy of Southern poligars whoresented the sudden usurpation of power andauthority over the natives by the English.

Here are excerpts from the Trichy Procla-mation, copies of which were found on the wallsof the Arcot Nawab’s palace in Trichy, Sri-rangam temple and the strategically importantTrichy Fort.

“Whoever sees this paper, Read it withAttention.

“His Highness the Nawab Mohammad Alihaving foolishly given the Europeans placeamongst you is become like a widow. TheEuropeans violating their faith have deceitfullymade the kingdom their own and considering theinhabitants as dogs, accordingly exercise authorityover them. There existing no unity and friendshipamongst you the above castes, who, not beingaware of the duplicity of these Europeans have notonly inconsiderately calumniated each other, buthave absolutely surrendered the Kingdom to them.In these countries now governed by these lowwretches, the inhabitants have become poor andthe rice has become vellum (water).

“And although they manifestly suffer, they arestill without understanding to discern it. It is certainthat the Man must die although he may live athousand years! And it is as certain that his famewill survive him as long as the Sun and Moon(Shine).

“Therefore it is devised and determined that in

future each shall enjoy his hereditary Rights,namely to His Highness the Nawab Arcot Subah,Vijaya Ramanah Tirumala Nayak the Carnatic,Tanjore the first place and to others their respectivekingdoms all to be given to their rightful sovereignswithout any violation of faith and national customs.(The Europeans must) confine themselves to adependent service on the Nawab from which theymay expect to derive a real and uninterruptedhappiness.

“As the authority of the Europeans will bedestroyed, we shall enjoy as in the service of theNawab, constant happiness without tears. It istherefore recommended that every man in his placeand palayam fly to arms and unite together in orderto make even the name of the low wretches cease.Then all the poor and the needy will get subsis-tence.

“But should there be any who like dogs desirousof an easy life, obey the commands of these lowwretches, such should be Karoo or cut off. As allknow with what subtlety these low wretches, alwaysin unity with each other, have subdued the country!

“Therefore you Brahmins, Kshetriyas Vysyas,Sudras and Musselmen, all who wear whiskers,whether civil or military, serving in the field or else-where, and you subedars, jamedars, havildars,nayaks and sepoys in the service of the lowwretches and all capable of bearing arms, let themin the first place display their bravery as follows –Wherever you find any of the low wretches destroythem and continue to do so until they are extirpated.Whoever serves the low wretches will never enjoyeternal bliss after death, I know this. Consider anddeliberate on it.

“To all living at Srirangam the priests and greatpeople, Marudu Pandyan, prostrates himself at theirfeet. The Sovereigns made and kept ports, mudbastions, churches and chapels, the above greatRajahs and People by the injustice of the lowwretches are now reduced to poverty. So great apeople as you are reduced to this State! Grant meyour Blessing.”

Cousins in Kotagiri

The note on Margaret Cous-ins’ work on our national

anthem was informative (MM,March 1st). Being an accom-plished concert pianist she isalso said to have sometimesbroadcast on All India Radio inits early days.

James and Margaret Cousinsmoved to Kotagiri in theNilgiris while still being underthe patronage of the Maharajaof Tranvancore. It may be re-called that it was the Maharajawho endorsed James Cousins'conversion to Hinduism in1937. Between 1939 and 1943,the couple made their home atGhat View in Kotagiri overlook-ing the main road to the plains.The Maharaja himself had hisholiday home a little aboveGhat View. It was known as theTranvancore Palace and duringNehru’s time, Sheikh Abdullah,the Lion of Kashmir, was in-terned there for a short time be-fore he was moved to Kodai-kanal.

It is on record that MargaretCousins had made the followingremark on her stay in the hills:“My doings at Kotagiri were amix-up of domesticity, femi-nism, patriotism, humanism,occultism, nature and music.”Her neighbours were certainlynot amused by the oddity of thecombination of these pursuits.The dabbling of Margaret Cous-ins, especially into occultism,continued to haunt the housefor a long time to come.

James and Margaret Cousinsfrequented a picnic spot in the‘Longwood Shola’ in the upper

reaches of Kotagiri. James Cou-sins, also a distinguished doyenof the Irish Literary Revival,penned a delightful 82-linepoem on the Shola’s pristinecharm which to this day hasbeen, thankfully, retained.Cousins beautifully rhymes thisenvironment, in part;“.... Lilts alluring themes for

lyricsUnder boughs that richly shedNourishment for heart and headFancy’s fruitage roundly ripenedAs the early riser’s stipend.”

Rev. Philip K. MulleyAnaihatti Road

Kotagiri 643 217

* * *

Apropos the article onTagore, Cousins and the

National Anthem (MM, March1st), my father, M.P. Saranga-pani, was in the audience whenTagore sang the English render-ing of the future NationalAnthem. It was published forthe first time in The Madana-palle Magazine, the college jour-nal, of which M.P. Sarangapaniwas the Managing Editor andDr. James Cousins the Editor-in-Chief.

My father was a lifelong jour-nalist, starting with Prakasam’sSwarajya in the 1920s and end-ing his career as the ExecutiveEditor of Rajaji’s Swarajya foralmost ten years, retiring inearly 1971 when cataract af-fected his vision. He was 77 atthe time and passed away twoyears later.

msparthasarathi@att.net(6450 Old Chesterbrook Road

McLean, VA 22101)

Reader K.S.S. Seshan in his article on the Indian NationalAnthem (MM, March 1st) has attributed to Dr. Cousins a

comment on the ‘second verse’ of the anthem which outlines thevarious religions of India. I recall having had to sing during myschool days in 1938 the National Anthem in chorus with otherschool children. The second verse was sung with great pride. I re-produce from memory the bits and pieces of this verse hereunder:

“Aaharava Tharavaja Vanaprasthitha Sumitha Bhavadhaya Vani...Hindu, Bhaudha, Sikha, Jaina, Paarasika, Mussalmana, ChristhaniPurva Paschima gaathe...Thaava Singhaasana Paase

Jana Gana Aikyavi Gaayata Jayathe Bharatha Bhagyavi Daatha

Jaya He, Jaya He, Jaya He, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya He. ..” (E&OE)

This verse was omitted from the National Anthem by the rulingparty of the day, for reasons unknown.

Today’s rulers should examine the possibility of restoring thisverse in the present National Anthem to enhance the value of thisbeautiful song. This step will cause no offence to any communityin India.

K.S. NarayanA23, Chaitanya Nest

9, Rathna Nagar Main RoadChennai 600 018

Keeping it clean

Reader P.M. Belliappa isright in his criticism of the

proposed ‘Nature Trail’ by thebanks of the polluted Cooum(MM, March 16th). Any ex-penditure on Cooum, for thatmatter the Ganga also, willprove to be a total waste unlesspeople are educated on how tokeep the natural resources pureand clean.

I had the opportunity to takea Nature Trail by car on thebanks of the Karukum Canalwhich brings water from RiverAmu Darya to Ashkabad, capi-tal of Turkmenistan. The canal,running over 500 km from nearthe Afghan border, is kept inpristine pure condition withoutany pollution. I did not see menbathing or washing their cattleor clothes in the canal. Therewas a layer of foam to reduceevaporation.

If only our people learn notto chew and spit on the publicroads, we will be ready for atransformation.

S.S. Rajagopalan30, Kamarajar Street

Chennai 600 093.

English corrected

In column 2 para 2 (MM,February 16th), it reads

“MMM could not able to doanything”. The words “couldnot” or “cannot” should not be

used with the words “able to”.It should be “MMM was notable to do anything.”

Aaron David A.M.(NFSC)

Divisional Fire Officer (RETD.)

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Editor’s Note: We are deli-ghted to find there are readerswho go through every line ofMadras Musings.

When seweragecame to Madras

4 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2015 April 1-15, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Words from the ‘Fatherof Nilgiriology’

� As the trek to the hills begins...

The Sullivan Memorial, Kotagiri, which housed the Nilgiris Documenta-tion Centre.

� Why is Nilgiris so fascinating forforeign scholars?

There are several reasons.One is the extreme diversity insuch a small area: biological di-versity, yes, but also cultural andlinguistic diversity. A district ofjust under 1000 square miles hasroughly 17 indigenous groups,plus immigrants from all overSouth India and a smattering ofEuropeans too; and speaking adozen Nilgiri languages plus En-glish, Hindi and the majorDravidian languages.

A second attraction is the sce-nic beauty of the district, whichappeals even to the hard scien-tist, and always provides a pleas-ant, healthy environment to beworking in.

But perhaps the most attrac-tive feature for scholars, Indianor foreign, is the amount of re-search work that has alreadybeen done here. Nilgiri researchin the natural and social sciencesstretches back two centuries.

The bibliography of well over8000 books and articles onNilgiri topics is unmatched inany other area of South Asia thatis of comparable size. This meansthat no matter what you plan tostudy there is already a large lit-erature on the subject. That canmean more reading for the seri-ous student, but at the same timeit means that he or she does nothave to start from scratch in un-derstanding the topic of re-search. And the range of disci-plines for which there is so muchliterature is itself large: agricul-ture, anthropology, astronomy,botany, climatology, costume,epidemiology, forestry, geogra-phy, geology, history, linguistics,literature, music, plantations,public health, religions, and zo-ology.� How significant is Nilgiriology to-day?

Because of this huge litera-

� Prof. Paul Hockings is the Professor Emeritus of Anthro-pology at the University of Illinois, USA. He is also theAdjunct Curator of Anthropology at the Field Museum ofNatural History and Editor-in-Chief of Visual Anthropology.Prof. Hockings’ has been researching the Nilgiris,particularly the Badagas, since 1962, resulting in a numberof authoritative publications including the Encyclopaediaof the Nilgiri Hills. Prof. Hockings’ contribution has pavedthe way for Nilgiri studies being classified today as Nilgirio-logy. Prof. Hockings was 80 on February 23rd and wasfelicitated in Ooty by The Nilgiri Documentation Centre.DHARMALINGAM VENUGOPAL of the Nilgiris Documen-tation Centre has sent us the following text of an e-mailinterview he had with Prof. Hockings.

ture, scholars from numerouscountries have often chosen tolocate their research in theNilgiris. One remarkable statisticfrom this district is the fact thatits literature includes over 120Master’s and Doctoral researchtheses: again, something that isunmatched in quantity in anyother small region of South Asia.� Is the interest in Nilgiris sustainedtoday by the younger generations?

Younger generations of schol-ars are still interested in workingon the Nilgiri, and do so. Thereis no obvious falling-off in inter-est in the community. YoungerBadagas are sometimes inter-ested in their community’s his-tory, but sometimes not. Thosewho have migrated to distantparts are often curious readers ofthe literature on Badagas, as theyhaven’t received much commonlore from their relatives and wantto know more about their cul-ture.� Is the focus of Nilgiri studieschanging?

In the natural sciences, all thelatest concerns may be read intoday’s research literature, espe-cially in the realm of environ-mentalism. Since the Badagacommunity have proved them-selves to be forward-looking, andhave successfully moved into theIndian middle class through theirlong-standing emphasis on edu-cation and a common desire toadopt urban professions, anthro-pological studies nowadays tendto view this community as amodel for self-motivated devel-opment. I certainly hold thatview.� Why have you studied theBadagas for half a century?

The main reason for studyingthe Badagas, from 1962 onwards,was that the neighbouring Todaand Kota communities wereknown worldwide through theanthropological work of Rivers,

Emeneau and Mandelbaum,whereas the largest and eco-nomically dominant local com-munity, the Badagas, remainedin the shadows. Given that therehad always been a complex ritualand economic interchange be-tween these three groups, itseemed imperative that theBadagas’ role in it should bedocumented in detail. The factthat in the late 20th CenturyAnthony Walker was doing acomprehensive re-study of theTodas made it all the more use-ful to examine the Badaga casein detail for the first time.� How do you see the transforma-tion of Badagas over the period?

I have spelled out this trans-formation fully in my recentbook, So Long a Saga: Four Cen-turies of Badaga Social History(Manohar, 2013). The majorchanges started early in the 20thCentury when a few Badagas be-gan going to college, a few othersstarted small tea plantations, andpotato farming took off as a prof-itable commercial enterprise.With Badagas taking up posi-tions in law, administration andteaching, their enhanced posi-tion in modern society was as-sured. The control of populationgrowth through the adoption offamily planning practices sincethe 1970s was another equallyimportant factor in theirmodernisation.� How long an existence qualifies apeople/group to be called natives?

This has never been deter-mined by social scientists, andperhaps cannot because it de-pends very much on how thegroup behaves and what atti-tudes others develop towardsthem. In this regard I like to drawa contrast between the Englishand the Parsis. The English havebeen in England for about 1500years and everyone, especiallythey themselves, consider them

A threat toheritage

Yet another connection with Tamil Nadu’s heritageappears to, literally, be heading for the dustheap. The Nilgiris

History Museum and Documentation Centre (NDC) seems to befacing closure.

Thirty years ago, Dharmalingam Venugopal, a Badaga, heardof John Sullivan. He got interested in the man because he was thefounder of a beautiful ‘piece of green’ called Ootacamund or Ooty.Venugopal campaigned for nearly two decades to have a memorialfor Sullivan established in the Nilgiris. Finally, it happened inKotagiri in the Nilgiris where Sullivan had set up camp when hefirst came to the Blue Mountains in 1819. The ruins of thatancient camp house were rebuilt in 2002, thanks to a sustainedcampaign and to the Collector at the time, Supriya Sahu. But itremained an empty memorial till 2006 when Venugopal took overits running and converted it into a museum and documentationcentre, that became a well-known destination in the Nilgiris.

Now, suddenly, the Museum has to wind up and Venugopalhas had to shift the valuable collection into a cramped shed nearby,where he will keep it open as a private museum.

There is no clear reason why the District Administrationwanted to evict the NDC from the Sullivan Memorial. The usualreasons of ‘mismanagement of funds’, and ‘lack of maintenance’ ofthe museum have been given. Venugopal denies all allegations.But whatever the truth, what is necessary is to save the heritagebuilding and ensure its proper development as a heritage centre.Will the Administration or any NGO, to whom it may be handedove, maintain the building in a manner worthy of its significance?

P. Murari, a former IAS officer, once wrote after a visit,“Having served in Tamil Nadu State for over 37 years, it has beenmy ambition as a senior civil servant to visit the Sullivan Memorial.Sullivan was the discoverer of the Nilgiris. He was also a role modelin that he devoted a lot of his energy not only in building up theinfrastructure amenities in the district but also ameliorating thelives of the inhabitants including the tribals. My congratulationsto Supriya Sahu for having done a great job in creating thisevocative and lasting memorial. A truly enjoyable pilgrimage forme and my wife. I understand a project has been submitted forfurther development of the memorial. I hope that it is sanctionedsoon and the Nilgiris Documentation Centre develops into a ‘mustsee’ place for all visitors to the Nilgiris to get a flavour of the richcultural history of the district.”

Now that the Documentation Centre has been ousted, itssuccessors have a major responsibility on their hands, aresponsibility that can be fulfilled only if there is a commitment toheritage.

as natives there. The Parsis havebeen in Western India for nearlyas long as perhaps 1200-1300years, yet very many would holdthey are not Indian natives andthey themselves make no at-tempt to hide their cultural ori-gins in Persia. The English, incontrast, are unaware of theirorigin in Schleswig-Holstein. Soit is more a matter of attitudethan of the actual number ofyears involved.� How do you define the Badagasociety today?

The Badagas do still have adistinctive culture which setsthem apart from those of their

close neighbours, the Todas,Kotas and immigrant groupsfrom the plains. For an anthro-pologist two features defineBadaga society today: use of theBadaga language, and intermar-riage only with other Badagas.Thus there can be little argu-ment about whether some par-ticular individual is a Badaga ornot.� Are Badagas natives/tribes/indig-enous community?

The term "tribe" was a usefulone, universally used by Britishadministrators in India to

� Florence Nightingale waslargely responsible forMadras getting propersewerage.

“The more things change, the more they remain the

same,” says a pithy adage. When-ever we refer to the Cooum Riverin Chennai, we invariably asso-ciate it with sewage and foulsmell. It is interesting, in thiscontext, to see what was saidabout the Cooum in 1867 after aspell of heavy rain:

“The abundant rain pro-duced such an overflow of theCooum that the town wascompletely flooded in manyparts and as no sufficientlycapacious store reservoirsexist and the upper part of theriver is not dammed, the usualcourse of letting the freshwaters we so much need toescape into the ocean has tobe resorted to with the usualeffect, viz. that the streamrushed seawards with suchrapidity that the upper watersonly escaped, leaving thefilthy lower stratum and thesolid poured therein, at thebottom of the riverbed. Andnow we have our nostrils oncemore assailed with thedisgusting odours emittedfrom one of the greatestcloacae of Madras.”

This comment was made inthe context of the proposal madeby one Captain Tulloch sentfrom the U.K. specifically toMadras in 1866 at the bidding ofnone less than Florence Nightin-gale, “the Lady with the Lamp”,who never visited India but waslargely responsible for Madrasgetting proper sewerage!

The ‘Dry Latrine’ system thenin vogue was one where defeca-tion was done in cemented pitsor in buckets from which thesolid was removed by humanlabour in basketloads and whosewashings went into the openroad storm water drain! When intime it came that people wouldhave to change from the drylatrine to the water closet, it wascommended, “Such alterationcan only be secured by astringent law, rendering thecommittal of nuisances punish-

able summarily. There may besome such law existing, for whatwe know, but, if so, it is a deadlaw….To trust the presentNative Police would be to leanon a bruised reed, for it must benotorious to everyone notaffected with the obliquity ofvision that the Police peons aregenerally great sinners in thisrespect and look upon the drainsas public urinaries.”

Nevertheless, sewerage sys-tem came to Madras in duecourse. Captain Tulloch made athorough study of the problemand planned to “lay 6 inch and 9inch earthware pipes of Englishmanufacture with means offlushing and access to the pipesat intervals of 300 ft. The sewagewas to be taken to a central spotnorthwest of the mint and in theneighbourhood of Korrukkup-pet.” William Cornish, the thenPhysician and Sanitary Commis-sioner of Madras, had raisedseveral objections to thisproposal and Capt. Tulloch hadresponded to his objections byhimself playing the devil’sadvocate role and clinicallyexamining his proposal in thelight of Cornish’s objectionswhich are detailed below:

Objection 1: There are noperennial rivers to supply thewater needed for flushing theclosets.

Answer: Abundant rain fallsevery year but in a limitednumber of days. If enoughstorages are provided, then therewill be more than enough ofwater needed for it.

Obj 2: Where will the sewagego?

Ans: It is wrong to divert it tothe rivers as done in England,

and even in Bombay andCalcutta. It should go to the vastwastelands and fields nearby.Unlike in England, it rains onlyfor a limited number of days here.These farms will thereby get notonly water throughout the yearbut the manure for their crops aswell. Such usage was alreadygaining ground in England toowith great benefit. Alternatively,it could be led into the sea.

Obj 3: What about the smell?

Ans: The sewer pipes will beprovided with charcoal deodori-sers at every 300 ft distance.

Obj 4: The natives are usedto defecate in the squattingposition. They will not take well

to the sitting position in the newsystem.

Ans: I will design appropriateclosets for defecating in thesquatting position. (This is indeedan innovation which seems to havegone unrecognised so far.)

Obj 5: The material used forthe sewers are such that theliquid part of it will leak into the

earth leaving the solid in thepipe, resulting in blockage in notime.

Ans: I will provide steampressed bricks set in hydrauliccement and lined throughoutwith asphalt.

Commenting on the impacton life in Fort St. George madeby the “great sewer at the north-east of the Fort”, he said:

“No description can conveyto the minds of those whohave never lived within theinfluence of the smell from thissewer, its over-poweringoffensiveness when the outletis open.

“It is certainly not pleasantto be awoken in the middle ofthe night by a frightful senseof suffocation, and a feeling asif there were somethingunpleasantly thick in the air,and then to have yourolfactories assailed with asickening stench, only to begot rid of by closing the doorsand windows, setting thepunkah vigorously in action,and freely sprinkling the roomwith Condy’s or McDougall’sfluid with an after-dash ofRimmel’s Toilet vinegar. Andit is equally unpleasant tohave a little social gatheringterminated by one’s guestssuddenly calling for eau-de-cologne, plunging noses intotheir handkerchiefs and hast-ily ordering their carriages inorder to drive away out ofrange of the dreadful smell. Itis fortunate for the residents ofthe Fort that the ‘unfavourablewinds’ blow only for a few daysin the year. Those who havesuffered from this outfallsewer can sincerely pity theirpoor fellow citizens compelledby circumstances to reside insuch places as Anderson’sStreet and Stringer’s Streetwhere the air is impregnatedwith the same kind of effluviaonly in a less concentratedform.”

Capt. Tulloch, therefore, tookthe precaution of locating theoutfall in Korukkupet because “itwould be under the influence ofwinds which would carry anysmell to the town only for a fewdays in the year.” He alsoemphasised the point that “everytown in India has an interest inthis project” for “if it could beproved that the sewerage oftowns could be profitablyand safely applied to land inIndia, an incalculable benefitwould be conferred on the wholecountry.”

While his idea of using thesewage for farming did not seemto have materialised, an alterna-tive system of disposal of excretawas available even then. Called‘The Poudrette’ or the ‘EarthCloset’, it avoided all use of waterand converted the faecal mate-rial into manure by depositing itinto a drum and adding soil to itafter every defecation. This wasrejected because of the logisticsinvolved in transporting themanure formed therein fromeach house to the fields. Afterthe lapse of almost two centuries,this system, now termed the ‘eco-san toilet’ was introduced in afishing village in Kerala by aBriton again, by name PaulCalvert. This system, whichenables the installation ofhygienic toilets at very low cost,is very well suited to the ruralmilieu, as it provides rich manurewhich can be used by the farmersin their fields. An NGO inTiruchi, SCOPE, is activelyinvolved in promoting this inrural India and has made con-siderable progress.

In this system, two drums areplaced side by side with provisionof a door for emptying its con-tents and covered with a floor.Defecation is done in one drumthrough a hole in the floor andthe hole kept covered. Some limeor ash is put into the drum aftereach use. When one drum is full,the second drum is used. By thetime the second drum is full, thefaecal matter in the first drum isconverted into pleasant smellingmanure which is removedthrough the door provided. Nowater goes into the drum as theurine is led via a slope on thefloor to a soil bed on whichwater-loving plants like cannasare planted. Washing is done inanother hole in the floor and isalso led to the same bed. Inter-estingly, SCOPE has refined thesystem and has even establishedhow the urine also can becollected and used in the fieldsas manure. It is stated that thetotal output of urine from oneindividual gives enough of ureain a year for an acre of land!

The basic cost of providingthe two drums and the floor isvery low and privacy above thefloor can, depending on thefamily concerned, vary from asimple thatti to a pucca wall witha tiled floor with the sides alsotiled! If indeed the eco-sansystem is utilised widely in ruralareas, it will literally result in amajor revolution in rural India:The farmer will not only beproducing good quality manurefor his fields but his family’shealth too will improve a lot anddignity will be conferred on itswomen.

(Summarised by Dr Indu-kanth S. Ragade from an articlewhich had appeared in theMadras Journal of Medical Sciencein 1867 and traced by Dr. A.Raman.) (Continued on page 7)

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(By A Special Correspondent)

6 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2015

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period March 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 per-tain to Chennai and TamilNadu.)

1. Why did Leslee Udwin makefront page news in the first weekof March?

2. What is the significance of thefossil ‘Ledi jaw’ discovered inEthiopia recently?

3. Which tech giant has replacedAT&T in the Dow Jones Indus-trial Average index of stocks?

4. Dawn became the first space-craft to enter a dwarf planet’s or-bit to begin a 16-month explora-tion. Name the heavenly body.

5. Who is the latest holder of theSantosh Trophy, the symbol ofsupremacy in Indian football?

6. In which coveted area in Lon-don was a historic bronze statueof Mahatma Gandhi unveiled onMarch 14th?

7. Name Maldives’ first demo-cratically-elected President whowas sentenced to a 13-year im-prisonment by his country’scriminal cases court under theanti-terrorism laws.

8. Name the renowned fantasyauthor and creator of theDiscworld series who passed awayrecently.

9. Which Asian legend becamethe first batsman to score fourconsecutive ODI centuries?

10. Who has topped the Forbes’Global Billionaires 2015 annuallist for the 16th time with a networth of $79.2 billion?

* * *

11. Where in Tamil Nadu is theGrizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctu-ary?

12. How many zones does theGreater Chennai Police Commi-ssionerate have?

13. After whom has the commu-nity college in Puzhal CentralPrison, established to offervocational training courses, beennamed?

14. By what name was MajorFreeman Freeman-Thomas, aformer Governor of Madras, bet-ter known?

15. Who played the Mahatma inKamal Haasan’s Hey Ram?

16. If Azim Jah was the first in1867, then who is the eighth andpresent one?

17. Which famous studio wasstarted by Thiruchengodu Rama-lingam Sundaram?

18. Which is the birthplace of theiconic religious figure who pro-pounded Vishishtdvaita, a subschool of Vedanta?

19. If one of the terminal pointsof the 472-km-long NH45 isChennai, then what is the other?

20. Sarsaparilla juice is a commondrink served by juice shopsthroughout the State. What is itsTamil name?

(Answers on page 8)

The rushfor

bondas

Two pages of comment

� Krishna Shastri Devulapalliwelcomes your comments at letters@scroll.in

� A book club in the city isfinding its popularity – forwhatever reason – beingsorely tested at many ameeting by members andnon-members. The behaviourof many – particularly thoseturning up half an hour beforethe announced time – hasinconvenienced severalgentler members, forcing onemember to write this com-mentary on how peoplebehave on certain occasionsin the city.

I swear I’ll take a bullet for myChennai writer friends –

provided it’s a blank and I’mwearing the leather jacket thatbelonged to my maternal aunt –but when I attend their bookdos, I have to confess there is abit of an ulterior motive. While51 per cent of me goes to cheerthem and threaten people withmy finger gun into buyingseveral copies of their book, theremaining 49 drooly-tongued,rumble-stomached bit goes forthe epic vegetable bondas andsnow-white coconut chutney(followed by sweet andfilter coffee, obviously), thathave come to define thesesoirées.

The preface

I’m getting ahead of myself.Let me begin at the beginning.It has come to be that no bookworth its spot lamination by aChennai writer is consideredtruly launched unless it islaunched by the Chennai Lite-rary Forum (CLF). Period. Infact, my own debut book had tobe given their helping handbefore it became something of acult classic among my mother-in-law’s friends. And noChennai Literary Forum do iscomplete without the vegetablebondas they serve before theproceedings.

CLF came into being abouta quarter century ago. Its origi-nal intention was providing thesorely required platform forbook lovers, both readers andwriters, to meet and ponderover all things literary in ourcity. And it did. Until a well-meaning five-star hotel cameinto the picture to support theircause by providing a venue andrefreshments at social-friendlyrates. Then, right before thehorrified eyes of the good folkwho began this organisation,CLF grew from a modest half-a-dozen-attendee garage opera-tion, where obscure poets andsporadic writers read tentativelyfrom their oeuvre to a two-fifty-strong gladiatorial affair ofoctogenarians fighting untodeath for the last bonda in theconfines of an air-conditionedhall as the hapless writer lookedon from the dais.

Here are the proceedings of

the last CLF book event I at-tended.

The build-up

While the script-style fonton the invite requested our el-egant presence at 6.30 pm, Icould read the invisible subtitlesquite clearly. If CLF proceed-ings of late were anything to goby, I knew my presence by 5.30pm at the very latest – with ab-domen guard and Krav Magadefence moves firmly in place –was mandatory. If I hoped to getmy hands on even a couple ofthose deep-fried balls of Tam-Brahm heaven, that is.

As I rushed up the staircasethat led to the hall at precisely5.29, sound effects not dissimi-lar to the ones in the AmarChitra Katha comics of mychildhood, signalling the tear-ing down of fort gates, ema-nated from upstairs.

At the landing, my worstfears were confirmed. A demen-tia of senior citizens was pound-ing steadily on the colonial-styledoors of the hall. A spry eighty-year-old, trying to pushingthrough his contemporaries,paused to clear my doubts.

“I hear it’s two varieties ofbonda today,” he yelled to makehimself heard over the rhythmicthump-creak-thump-creak of adoor fighting for its life. Then,he was gone. Sixteen grand-mothers in resplendent Kanjee-varams and flying jasmine fol-lowed in his wake through theunhinged doors with surprisingagility.

The conflict

The distended lobby area ofa moment ago was now emptierthan a publisher’s promise. Ifyou didn’t count the writer ofthe day, that is. He was stillthere, getting up and dolefullydusting the footmarks off hisnew Fabindia kurta. Havingbeen there before, I gave him asympathetic shrug.

He pointed to the large pileof press-fresh copies of his newbook. There was a familiar look

on his face. I wondered whereI’d seen it before. Then it cameto me: on Kamal Haasan’s facein the death-of-his-son scene inNayagan.“So ... congrats,” I said.“And you are...?” he said.

I told him. Mentioning myname and profession but leav-ing out the medication I was onbecause of it.“And I am?”

”You’re ... well... um,” I said,trying to look at the invite asdiscreetly as possible. “So-and-so. Author of such-and-suchbook.”

“Oh, yes ... I remember

now,” he said.“Nervous?” I said. “You

know, with the stage, readingand all?”

“Tell me, and don’t lie,” hesaid. “My book ... is it fiction ornon-fiction?”

“Don’t worry,” I said.“Whichever one it is, the otherone is better.”

“That’s a relief,” he said.

The crisis

Meanwhile, inside, the buf-fet counter had turned intoGangs of New York meets OnGolden Pond. The air was rentwith the thwack of walkingsticks and gnash of bared den-tures. My octogenarian friendwas already into his secondround of bondas, one foot firmlystuck out to ward off interlop-ers. The hotel staff maintaineda good ten feet between them-selves and the counter ofsteamy contents to preventthird-degree burns.

I hadn’t come this far to beoutdone by a decay of dodder-ers. Invoking the God of FriedSnacks in our pantheon one lasttime, I jumped into the melee. Iwas welcomed by a silkendoyenne stepping on my toeswith her Size 12 Reeboks. I ig-nored the motherfrying pain, bitback a girlish scream, andsquashed my way into thequeue. I tried not to pay atten-tion to a waiter being repeatedlybitten by an eighty-year-old

who had taken out his denturesand was using them like a sta-pler.

“Bonda. Bonda!” – the onlythought in my head.

I was at the counter now,plate in hand. All that sepa-rated me from the rapidly disap-pearing snack was a couple whowould’ve known Rajaraja Cholapersonally if you combined theirages. I saw a gap between theirwrinkly profiles and shoved inmy hand triumphantly. Bondas,at last!

But the waiter gave me alook and shook his head. Be-cause that’s all I had – a hand.No plate. An elf-sized Mamaemerged from under my splayedlegs with the contraband, gaveme the Mylapore version of aBronx Cheer, covered me in co-conut-flavoured spittle and har-pooned the last four bondas thathad my name on them.

The resolution

That night, as I tossed abouton my bed, my bonda-lessbelly burbling in protest, thewords of the emcee rang in myears.

“Ladies and gentlemen, fromthe next meeting onwards, onaccount of the bonda situationgetting somewhat out of hand,we have decided to numberthem using permitted foodcolouring. Also, hereinafter,kindly bring your ID cards for allsessions. The hotel has in-formed us that there will be aslight change in bonda distribu-tion. Henceforth, members willhave to display their cards. Onlythen will they be handed a plas-tic packet containing twobondas and a sachet of chutney.There will be no seconds. Onestainless steel drumload of cof-fee is all that will be available towash down the bondas. Nomore. We request our membersnot to use fake IDs. Or stealcups and spoons belonging tothe hotel out of spite. Or biteunsuspecting staff members ...even with fake teeth. The man-agement has informed us thatthey are not beyond introduc-ing frisking, bouncers, retinalscans...”

The afterword

My last thought before Isuccumbed to spasmodic slum-ber was of the writer. Standingall by himself next to his largelyuntouched pile of books, swat-ting away the acrid odour of anin-your-face bonda burp from agassy geriatric.“So, good show, man,” I’d said.“You think?” he’d said.“Now all you have to do is waitfor the reviews,” I’d said.“Good one, man. Good one.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: We hearthat if identity cards don’t workat the CLF, it might be down totea and Marie biscuits!

April 1-15, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

WATER– A crisis thathas to be met

March 22nd, World Water Day, has been celebrated everyyear since 1993 to increase awareness of the importance

and need for conservation of water. The focus this year was on“Water and Sustainable Development”.

During the last two decades and more, some of the issuesdealt with were: “Water for cities, Water for health, Water forfood security, Water and women, Water and sanitation, Waterand energy, Groundwater the invisible resource, and Water iseverybody’s business”.

Water is critical for the survival of any form of life. In 2010,the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolu-tion affirming the human right to both safe drinking water andsanitation. In the last decade, though efforts have been made toincrease the availability of water, about 750 million people glo-bally do not have access to an improved source of drinking wa-ter. Available sources of fresh water which could be exploitedare getting depleted and degraded. Experts apprehend that man-kind may face a global crisis in the 21st Century. Thereforethere is a need to conserve this precious life-giving resource.

It is relevant to examine the water situation in Chennai. It isestimated that the demand in 2026 is likely to be 2,248 MLD(million litres per day) and the availability, taking into accountthe proposed projects, will be 1,535 MLD, resulting in a short-fall of 713 MLD. Potential intra-state and interstate resourceshave already been tapped. Augmenting existing reservoir capac-ity, creation of new storage capacity, desilting of six tanks anddeepening of one tank are the proposed projects. A third desali-nation plant and an additional plant at Nemmeli have also beenproposed.

It will no longer be wise to depend on new projects. The bestoption for all users, agriculture, industry, domestic and institu-tions, is to conserve, recycle and reuse and implement rainwa-ter harvesting widely, effectively and continuously. These effortscould be strengthened if corporate houses, in addition toin-house conservation measures, also support this as a part oftheir CSR (corporate social responsibility) programmes.

It is needless to say that citizens have a vital role to play inthe implementation of water conservation measures.

The UN Secretary-General’s message is, “To address themany challengers related to water, we must work in a spirit ofurgent co-operation, open to new ideas and innovation, and pre-pared to share the solutions that we all need for the future.” –(Courtesy: Adyar Times.)

– S.P. Ambrose

Does denominationor ethnicity matter?

● This article is not aboutMadras. But what it has to sayis as valid for India, evenMadras, as it is for Sri Lanka.The sad times we live in coulddo with more voices like thisone.

– The Editor

I’m not a religious person. Idon’t go to church very often.

But I was in church one recentSunday because my beautifuland talented Hindu friend in-vited me to listen to her choirat an event titled HymnFest – afestival of hymns for brass, or-gan, choir and congregation. Sothere I was at the quaint old St.Andrew’s Scots Kirk, Kollupi-tiya, listening to the powerfulvoices of a very ethnicallymixed choir, including myHindu friend.

When everyone is dressed innondescript black, singing inone voice, you don’t see the in-dividuals, you see one unifiedbody with a single thread thatbinds them together – a love ofmusic and singing. A glance atthe names in the programme re-vealed a Malay (making his de-but on Timpani), Burghers,Tamils, Sinhalese, a ColomboChetty and a few foreigners. Yetlittle did it matter what theirdenomination or ethnicity was.No one questioned the appro-priateness or their right to be ina church singing hymns to anaudience that was equally di-verse. There were even someseemingly foreign Muslim ladiesin the gathering!

My friend may be a devoutHindu, but she has been singingin choirs all her life, thanks toher open minded parents. Sheis the youngest of six siblingswho were all encouraged to gobeyond their cultural and soci-etal boundaries in their questfor hobbies, interests and pas-times.

While I listened to hymn af-ter hymn and observed the‘congregation’, I marvelled at

byAjitaKadirgamar,daughter ofLakshmanKadirgamar,

former Foreign Minister ofSri Lanka, who wasassassinated by the LTTE.

how unique and special thiscountry is, for it affords us sucha mixed tapestry of citizenship.

Having lived for long periodsaway from Sri Lanka, the onething that lures me back timeand again is the rich and variedfriendships I have here. Thereare my two Borah friends. One Imet through a common socialcircle and though years maypass with no contact, the bondof friendship is renewed in aninstant from the first welcominghug. The other whom I metduring a diploma course in the1990s, is a sane voice in a madworld and keeps me grounded.My long time ‘Sinhala Buddhist’friend who calls me her sisterand who felt abandoned when Ileft the country ten years ago, isdelighted I am back and hasbeen a source of tremendous

support as I readjust to life here.My European friend and formerneighbour was born a Catholicbut converted to Islam whenshe married a Sri Lankan andmoved here over 30 years ago.We were the kind of neighbourswho were in and out of eachother’s homes, borrowing eggs,sugar, needle and thread, what-ever the need of the day. Herhome was our second home. Asa young child, my son thoughthe was a Muslim too, especiallyduring the month of Ramadanwhen he would rush there to‘break fast’ with them in theevenings. He loved the samosasthat uncle would bring from themosque.

Our lane in fact was a pic-ture book microcosm of a har-monious Sri Lanka, for therewere Sinhala, Tamil and Mus-lim families wall to wall, livingand socialising in perfect coex-istence. The children wouldplay cricket and basketball, thewomen would stand aroundchatting in the evenings, wewould visit the homes of new-born babies, and condole whenthere was a death in the family,food would be shared at festivalsand special events. Such joyoustimes!

To top it all, the house nextto me functioned as a Montes-sori. For nearly a decade it washome to children from everycommunity and walk of life.

All of this is in stark contrastto the few friendships I devel-oped in the US. For instance,my first friend there, a GreekOrthodox American on a spiri-tual quest, once said she shouldnot even be friends with me be-cause I was not a “church-goingChristian.” We remainedfriends even though she movedto another State, but this com-ment always bothered me. Wasreligion a deciding factor infriendship? This was an alienconcept to me.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankanmodel of neighbourliness cannever be replicated elsewhere.Though I did associate with oneneighbour in the US, through ashared interest in gardening(there were no fences separat-ing our properties), and invitedthem over a few times over theyears, never once did they re-ciprocate.

Friendships aside, when Ilook at professional and otherrelationships I realise that heretoo the diversity is plainly evi-dent even though it is not aconscious choice. My dentist isMuslim, my doctor is Sinhaleseand my lawyers are Tamil. Dowe not select them for their pro-fessionalism and expertise firstand foremost? Dr. LakshmanWeerasena, whom I haveknown for nearly 30 years now,speaks English, Sinhala andTamil and with equal ease. Hewill speak to a patient in thelanguage he or she is comfort-able in and whether prince orpauper he or she will receive hisexpert prognosis with equalcare and concern. This man isthe true essence of a real SriLankan whom I hold in thehighest esteem.

Never, never have I ques-tioned the multi-ethnic, multi-communal make-up of thiscountry. It is and will always bewhat makes this island unique.Shame on those who thinkotherwise.

from a caste. But quite recentlyanthropologists have beenabandoning the use of the word“tribe” in India for the equallyambiguous phrase “indigenouscommunity” – ambiguous, as Ihave stated, because it is un-clear how "native" any particu-lar group is. This, however, isthe term I would now use toidentify the Badaga community.Two centuries ago Badagaswere already telling inquisitivevisitors that their ancestors had

describe and census categoriesof the population that were notembedded in the caste system asBrahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyasor Sudras. Tribes tended tohave their own territory, oftentheir own language, their ownsystem of leadership, sometimesa distinctive economic base,and certainly a tribal name. Allof this helped distinguish a tribe

come from a small block of vil-lages just to the northeast ofNanjangud after the Vijaya-nagar Empire broke up. Therewere even a few Badagas inMelkunda in 1603 who spoke toa Jesuit visitor, Fr. Fenicio, inKannada, and gave their nameas Badegas, “northerners”.Since that crucial move Bada-gas have embedded themselvestotally in the larger Nilgirisociety, becoming like a tribeamong tribes.

(Continued from page 5)

Words from the ‘Father ofNilgiriology’

Till April 9: Micro Trends, anexhibition of paintings andsculptures by The ProgressivePainters’ Association.

The Progressive Painters’Association (PPA) is one of theoldest art organisations in India,started by the late K.C.S.Paniker in 1944. Members of thePPA include many eminent art-ists as well as some promisingnew talent, most of whom residein Cholamandal Artists’ village(at Cholamandal Artists’Village)

Till April 20: Exhibition of col-lages by M.G. Raffic Ahamedand S.V. Prabhuram. Raffic’scollages are well known for theirelaboarate and complicatedcompositions which create surre-alistic imagery. Prabhuram’scollages reflect heritage themes(at DakshinaChitra).

Till May 23: Modernist Paradigms,Nativist Leanings, an exhibitionof paintings by M. Senathipathi,one of the founder members ofthe Cholamandal Artists’Village, and a veteran whose artpractice spans more than 5

decades. His works have thequality of timelessness with theartist having passed into historyas one of pioneers who confi-gured the Madras art movement(at Forum Art Gallery).

8 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2015

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A curate’s egg ofa dance season

Answers to Quiz

1. She is the director of the controversial documentary India’sDaughter; 2. Anthropologists are claiming it to be the oldest and fromone of the very first humans; 3. Apple; 4. Ceres; 5. Services; 6. Parlia-ment Square; 7. Mohamed Nasheed; 8. Terry Pratchett; 9. KumarSangakkara, 10. Bill Gates.

* * *

11. Srivilliputhur; 12. Four; 13. Mahatma Gandhi; 14. LordWillingdon; 15. Naseeruddin Shah; 16. Muhammad Abdul Ali, thePrince of Arcot; 17. Modern Theatres in Salem; 18. Sriperumbudur isthe birthplace of Sri Ramanuja; 19. Theni, 20. Nannaari juice.

� by

V.V. Ramani

December 2014. The air wasfilled with excitement as

the cultural season breezed in,but it breezed out quietly with-out any ripples. No new prodi-gies surfaced nor were there any‘Oh, you really missed it’ kindof performances. The seasonwas a blend of some good, somebad, some mediocre.

For me, the mood for theseason set in with an invitationto attend an international con-ference on Bharat Natyam inSingapore. Realisation dawnedon me, while listening to the in-formative sessions, that notonly has Bharat Natyam be-come a global art form but theissues and problems that danc-ers have to contend with – be itfuture directions, funding is-sues, or dwindling audiences –are the same in either Chennaior Singapore. This brought meback to the dance conferencesof Chennai. Dancers whomthese conferences target areconspicuously absent and theregular rasika is not motivatedenough to come because theshort sessions, packed one afteranother, leave no time for ei-ther the speakers to presenttheir concepts or for interactivediscussions on issues. They ca-ter to the speakers, critics andNRI artistes, and also to thosewho find it the most opportunetime to network and be seen atthese venues. Artistes must un-derstand that a lecture demon-

stration is meant to highlightsalient features of the subjectand not use it as a platform topresent mini-performances.The scenario is bleak andorganisers need to address theissues.

Dancers today have to con-tend with the fact that the au-dience for dance is dwindling.Artistes too find little time orinclination to attend their fel-lows’ performances. This leadsto a narcisstic obsession, as thedancer fails to see beyond her-self, and is seldom able to evokerasanubhava in the rasika, whois therefore not motivated towatch performances. To com-pound this problem comes thestaging of dance performancesduring the afternoon lunchtime

siesta slot! This may satisfy theorganiser’s obligation to placatethe dancers who seem to behappy with this gesture, as theyhave been acommodated dur-ing the season! With just ahandful of friends and relativesin the audience, it does not au-gur well for the art itself.

However, all is not bleak andthere were some memorableprogrammes. Alarmel Valli’sperformance to recorded musicwas a refreshing change fromher routine and captivated theinterest of the audience. Thecouple from Bangalore – Sri-dhar and Anuradha – provedthat the sheer quality of dancewithout resorting to gimmicks,which would dilute the art, canstill move the finest among therasika-s, who could look at itwith a critical eye. The Nritya-gram ensemble was flawless asusual with fine coordinationand presentation, but the seri-ous rasikas (though smaller innumber may be) wanted morethan the expected precision,sans the predictability. Srikanthand Aswathy’s production reit-erated the strength and futureof the younger generation, striv-ing to maintain the high stan-dards of the classical idiom.

The need to reach out to alarge audience base and the de-mand from organisers for nov-elty has led to a new develop-ment – of using multimedia im-ages for dance. As a visual art-ist, I welcome the move of in-terspersing other media into theknown art form. Visual artistskeep abreast of changing times,some learn new ideas and weavethem into their own thoughts to

spell out a new idiom. However,it is pertinent that artistes seek-ing these mergers must be con-versant with new trends andspend sufficient time under-standing, digesting and then in-corporating them into their newscheme of things. It is importantto understand that one art doesnot encroach into the space ofanother. In Malavika Saruk-kai’s solo production Vamatara,the intensity and nuances of theartist’s abhinaya, which was veryrefined, were distracted by thecontinuous play of a largescreen projecting constantlymoving images. While the

dance and multimedia were bythemselves captivating visually,it was the coming together ofthese two streams that createdthe discord.

On the other hand, KrithikaSubramaniam’s Swapnam wasan example of the good use ofmultimedia, which was thestrong point of the production.Interestingly, the abhinayaportions carried only colouredlights to form the backdrop, inorder to set the mood, andmoving images were cleverlyjuxtaposed to fit in to thescenes accordingly to enhancethe imagery. So innovation byitself need not be scoffed at, itonly needs to be used judici-ously.

Aharya is an importantfactor in dance and somedancers need to take a relook attheir costumes. In the age ofcloning, where dancers try tomimic established divas, theymust also realise that style is sodifferent from fashion. Just aseach artiste finds his or her ownartistic expression, it is equallyimperative for dancers not toape the trend but to discovertheir own aesthetic answers tomake it holistic. Otherwisethere is a fear of the dancerlosing her identity as she dis-appears behind the many masksthat she has created for herselfover the years.

And so the season goes onuninterrupted; we are left withsome good memories that makeit worth the while. We couldcomplain endlessly about thestate of stage backdrops,costumes, green rooms, lack ofperformance slots for the reallytalented... yet year after year,every rasika, every critic andevery artiste waits eagarly forthe promise that the nextMargazhi season will bring.(The author V.V. Ramani is anartiste, designer and writer) –(Courtesy: Sruti)