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WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIII No. 20 February 1-15, 2014

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Is the Metrorailslowing down?

If Chennai is to be

a tourist

destination...

52 places for thetraveller in 2014

“Chennai, in the State of Tamil Nadu (and formerlyknown as Madras), was long considered the gateway topopular South Indian tourist destinations like Kerala butwas overlooked as an attraction itself. It is, however, a na-tional cultural capital and home to several dance and mu-sic schools like Kalakshetra for dance and the Music Acad-emy for Carnatic South Indian music, which both regularlyhold performances around town. There are also historicsites aplenty, including the Kapaleeswarar Temple, built inthe name of the Hindu god Shiva. Fresh buzz makes thiscity especially enticing: Several major hotels including thePark Hyatt have recently opened, and there is a slew ofnew and trendy clubs, boutiques and restaurants, includingOttimo for excellent pizzas.”

� by A Special

Correspondent

� Can we recognise that thefootpath is a necessity forwalking and easy accessand therefore cannot beencroached upon?

� Can we, while designing ourbuildings, respect theneighbours’ space and alsoensure that those whoare otherwise abled caneasily gain access to ourbuildings?

� Can we have a law to pro-tect heritage buildings?After all, one of the reasonsthat Chennai has made it tothe list is the presence ofhistoric places.

� Lastly, Chennai rankednumber one on anotherscale just a few weeks ago –the national garbage cre-ation index. That does notsound good for a city rank-ing 26 th internationallyamong tourist destinations,does it?

This is just a first cutwish list. We are sure ourreaders will have a lot more. Ifall these fall into place, whatmore can we want in this, ourcity?

1. Cape Town,South Africa

2. Christchurch,New Zealand

3. North Coast, California4. Albanian Coast5. Downtown Los Angeles6. Namibia7. Ecuador8. Quang Binh, Vietnam9. Perth, Australia10. Rotterdam,

the Netherlands11. Taiwan12. Frankfurt, Germany13. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia14. Fernando de Noronha,

Brazil15. Nashville, Tenn.16. Scotland17. Calgary, Alberta18. Ishigaki, Japan19. Laikipia Plateau, Kenya20. Yogyakarta, Indonesia21. Tahoe, Calif.22. Yorkshire, England23. Dubai24. The Vatican25. Uruguayan Riviera

(according to the New York Times)

Witness a city in transformation, glimpse exotic animals,explore the past and enjoy that beach before the crowds.

26. Chennai, India27. Seychelles28. Krabi, Thailand29. Aspen, Colo.30. Highlands, Iceland31. Umea, Sweden32. Xishuangbanna, China33. Andermatt, Switzerland34. Indianapolis35. Mekong River36. Athens37. Barahona,

Dominican Republic38. Arctic Circle39. Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania40. Downtown Atlanta41. Nozawa Onsen, Japan42. Subotica, Serbia43. Elsinore, Denmark44. Cartmel, England45. Nepal46. Vienna47. Siem Reap, Cambodia48. Varazdin, Croatia49. St. Petersburg, Fla.50. Belize51. New Caledonia52. Niagara Falls, N.Y.

� by A Special

Correspondent

The news from the ChennaiMetrorail Limited (CMRL)

front is not encouraging. It isnow firmly established that theproject may be delayed alongvarious stretches by anywherebetween three months and overa year. Which means the citywill have to wait till 2016 at theleast before this much-touted,and much-needed, alternativepublic transport system be-comes functional. The reasonsare the usual – the bureaucracy,slowness in execution, and thetender system for selection ofvendors without much due-dili-

gence being done at the time ofshort-listing.

At the time of launch in2008, it was announced thatthe elevated sections of the

project would be completed bymid-2014 and the entireproject, including the under-ground portions, would be op-erational by the end of the fi-

nancial year of 2014/15. Theproject was believed to be pro-gressing according to scheduletill September last year whenthe first rumours began surfac-ing that all was not well.

It is learnt that while workon tracks and viaducts is goingon as scheduled, these beingcontracted out to big names inthe world of engineering, theconstruction of stations, signalsand other equipment on theelevated lines will not be

(Continued on page 2)

INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Attention-drawing calendar

• A doyen of Philately

• What’s in street names?

• What ails TN cricket?

That is the entry in The NewYork Times against Chen-

nai, citing the reasons for it tomake it to the annual list of top52 travel destinations in theworld. Our humble Madras thatis Chennai rubs shoulders withexotic locales such as CapeTown and Rio de Janeiro.And in case you thought itcame in last, here is anothersurprise – Chennai ranked ahealthy 26 and, what’s more,was the only city from India.Move over snooty Delhi,moneyed Mumbai, and bump-tious Bengaluru.

Not all the information isaccurate as can be seen, after allthe Music Academy and Kalak-shetra are not itinerant impre-sarios. But it cannot be deniedthat Chennai is a nationalcultural capital – with religiousfestivals, art shows, literaryevents, music and danceprogrammes and, above all,theatre. If only the weather wassomewhat pleasanter! Butthen nothing can be doneabout that.

Having said that, and havingagreed that Chennai admittedlydeserves this pat on theback, let us resolve to make it abetter city and perhaps aspire tobe Number One on the list.And here are some things

we could do to make thathappen.

� Cut the poster and cutoutculture out. Dirty walls andcluttered footpaths do notmake for a good city.

� Manage our traffic better.Let us resolve to respecttraffic laws, observe lanediscipline and give pedes-trians their space.

� Be more polite and displayless of road rage no matterhow tempting it is. Andwhile we are about it, canwe honk a little less?

� Can we have more publictoilets so that our populaceneed not relieve themselvesin the open. And, yes, canpeople stop spitting?

� Can we understand that theright to silence is one of thefundamental rights? Can wetherefore tone down thetelevision and radio and,more important, avoid highdecibel speakers at publicspaces? And, in the context,can we avoid shoutingwhile speaking over cellphones?

2 MADRAS MUSINGS February 1-15, 2014

A fortnight ago The Manfrom Madras Musings

wrote about the Royapettahclock tower roundabout andmany of you of the MM con-gregation under the pontificateof the Chief were kind enoughto express your appreciation.Fifteen days later, MMM onceagain writes of Royapettah,this time about its flyover.Though glorified by that name,it is nothing but a narrow stripof elevated road with twolanes, one for each direction oftraffic. The service lanes beloware eternally in a state of beingdug up and so have long beengiven up as useless. Conse-quently, there is heavy load onthe flyover, all the time.

Early one morning, resi-dents who live along theflyover were woken up to a tre-mendous sound, followed bythe sickening noise of crunch-ing metal. It was a collision in-volving a couple of two-wheel-ers, both being in the wronglanes. Fortunately there wasno loss of life or limb. After

it involved blocking one lane ata time, and on the blocked lanea series of small metal humpswere placed. A barricade waserected at the entrance to theflyover, which further acted asa deterrent to those wanting totake that lane to go across. Butdid that prevent our two-wheeler friends from hopingthat they could reach the otherside? They simply began usingthe lane that was open for traf-fic from the opposite direction.Whenever they espied a par-ticularly large vehicle comingtheir way, they would duckinto the closed lane, wait forthe vehicle to pass and then getback. In effect, a single lane onthe flyover was handling two-way traffic. A week later, theup lane was opened and workbegan on the down lane. Thechaos simply shifted from leftto right.

So what, you ask. AndMMM can hear most of youmuttering that this story oughtto have never been allowed inprint. MMM has lost it, you

declare, and so has the Chief.But you don’t know the end ofit as yet.

Last week, a bus made boldto do the same thing. The metalbarricade was pushed to a sideand bus made the ascent, eggedon by passengers, conductorand driver. Halfway up, a metalhump caved in and there wasno way the bus could cross.Have you ever seen a bus re-verse down a flyover? MMMhas, and let him tell you it is notfor the faint-hearted.

Mammon worship

These are tough times andThe Man from Madras

Musings being tough gets going– to temples. One of hisfavourites is the shrine wherethe Goddess took the form of apeacock to worship the Lord.The priests here are an openbook, at least as far as MMM isconcerned. A rupee coin on theoffertory plate will elicit a pinchof vermillion and a surly look,two rupees a grunt and a pinchof vermillion, five rupees asmile, a flower and a pinch ofvermillion, ten rupees a grin, ablessing, and all of the above.Rupees fifty, they say, means apouch of vermillion. But of thatMMM knows not.

What happens when yougive a hundred rupees is wellknown to MMM. This hap-pened several years ago whenMMM, then a demure new-comer from Delhi, waited atthe altar. Just ahead of him, andblocking most of MMM’s view,

Fault lines on a flyoverwas a gentleman of full habit.If he bulged at all odd spots,his wallet bulged even more.The priest arrived with theplate and the fat man depos-ited a hundred rupee note onit. MMM, then being a stu-dent, merely smiled at thepriest. Imagine MMM’s sur-prise when a large garland wasplaced around his neck, bene-dictions were sung in full-throated voice and vermillionapplied on his forehead. Thepriest then beamed at the busi-nessman and, pointing atMMM, said that he was ex-tremely happy that he, thebusinessman, had brought his(the businessman’s) son to thetemple. “Nothing like begin-ning our good traditions early,is it not”? asked the priest inchatty vein. He then pattedMMM on the head. The busi-nessman was just turning arather bright shade of purplewhen MMM decided to leave,garland and all.

That was, as MMM said,several years ago and no doubt

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

trading a couple of filthyabuses, the two who tried totango but became tangledparted ways. Royapettah wentback to its routine.

Such collisions are par forthe course. Two-wheeler rid-ers repeatedly find their wayblocked by slow-moving ve-hicles and being the optimiststhey are, keep trying to moveahead by darting into the lanemeant for oncoming vehicles.The major risk here is that ofa vehicle suddenly appearingfrom the opposite side neces-sitating a sudden zig, whichworks provided the party ofthe other part zags in coopera-tion. The problem occurswhen the zig party zags and thezag party also zags or when thezag party zigs and so does thezig party. You get the picture.

In such instances, there isno option but to suffercollisions, rise, check forinjuries, and heap choiceinsults and rebukes on eachother. But MMM did say thatthese two-wheeler users wereoptimists, did he not? And sodespite a number of thesezigzag attempts ending up inzigzigs and zagzags, there isalways the belief that suchthings happen to others and sowhy not try and get ahead onemore time?

Last fortnight, the authori-ties embarked on some urgentrepair work on the flyover. Atthe end of the exercise, none,including MMM, was thewiser as to what work was ac-tually done. Whatever it was,

the purchasing power of ahundred rupees has drasticallycome down despite the bestefforts of Chief’s friendwho promised to preserveBharat Insurance Buildingand convert it into an artgallery. But be that as it may,the priests too need to make aliving and every little bitcounts.

That times were bad, how-ever, came home to MMMrather strongly recently whenhe visited the same temple. Atthe altar of the Goddess, threepriests stood and, somewhatlike vendors attracting customto their wares, were outdoingeach other in beckoning devo-tees. MMM gave his offeringto the one who smiled themost, whereupon the othersopenly cursed their fate andsaid that the smiling priest hadthe luck of the devil. Such islife.

Tailpiece

The Man from MadrasMusings is still chuckling.

Apparently, a real estate firmof the city hired an actress asits promoter-model and put upa large hoarding on the out-skirts, prominently featuringher face. Under it was the cap-tion, “One thousand satisfiedcustomers.” The actress didnot participate in the laughterwith which this was greeted.Last week, the hoarding wasremoved.

– MMM

Is Metrorailslowing down?(Continued from page 1)

(Continued from page 1)

completed in time. With therolling stock already in place,Metrorail, it is learnt, is keen onat least doing a test run. But theCommissioner of RailwaySafety, whose permission isrequired, has not agreed to suchtrials being undertaken withoutthe rest of the equipment beingin place.

The problem, it is under-stood, lies with the contractorsresponsible for these alliedactivities. The constructionindustry is currently undergoinga severe financial crisis and,consequent to this, the contrac-tors who have been entrustedthe civil engineering tasks aregoing through lean times. Atleast one of these contractingcompanies has thrown up itshands, stating that paymentsdue to it are in arrears and,therefore, salaries to its staffhave remained unpaid for threemonths. The contractor com-pany has accused CMRL of notsettling bills for several addi-tional works undertaken by itand has cited this as the reasonfor its finance crunch. CMRLhas, however, issued show-cause notice to the contractorand is now deliberating on can-celling the contract. If thiscomes to pass, it means afurther delay as a new contrac-tor will have to be identifiedthrough the usual processof tendering, subject to allbureaucratic procedures andprocesses.

Yet another contractorthrew up his hands as early asAugust 2013. This contractor

was the one responsible for theairport line. With repeateddelays, CMRL issued notices forlapsed deadlines and, finally,terminated the contract. A newcontractor is yet to be identi-fied, five months after workcame to a halt.

The latest development con-cerns the underground stations.The contractor in charge of thishad applied as early as 2012 foran extension of 18 months fromthe original planned comple-tion date of 2015. CMRL it islearnt, has agreed to an exten-sion of ten months, which any-way puts the completion datesomewhere in 2016. The rea-sons given by the contractor in-clude difficulty in tunnelling,delays in land acquisition, andshortage of space, especially inthe Mount Road area. None ofthese is a new problem andsurely all of them stared in theface of any contractor whowanted to take up the job. Yetanother reason highlighted bythe same contractor points atthe inept fashion in which ourunderground utilities are laid. Ithas become impossible to locatetelephone and electrical cablesat the places they were origi-nally meant to be, therebythrowing tunnelling work out ofgear.

Surely the identification ofcontractors requires somebackground checks on theircapabilities? Were any techni-cal assessments done before thecontracts were awarded? Whois to blame for all this? Andwhy are we, as taxpayers,footing the bill for delays thathave been caused by suchbungling?

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– The Editor

February 1-15, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Differing views on treesI am sorry for the typographical errors of the botanical names

(MM, January 16th). However, Tamarindus indica is thecorrect botanical name and not Tamarindus indicus, as stated byreader Raman. Prof K.N. Rao, who wrote in Madras Musingsand the Wikipedia, as well as my reference book titled Dictionaryof Economic Plants in India (ICAR), indicate concurrence.

Not only are the seeds of the Carol tree (Erythrina) not eatenby birds, rodents and squirrels, but its roots damaged the flatsmain concrete water tank, not once but twice. I wrote aboutthis hoping that our bitter experience will help those who planto plant trees in and around their flats, or as avenue trees.However reader Raman writes: “If E.Variegata pushed its rootsinto the water reservoir is it the tree’s fault? I have notmentioned anything about a water reservoir in my paper.Thirdly, the tree is notorious for its toxicity.

I have also mentioned in my article, in passing, the dangersof growing the Indian Skunk Tree. A few days back I had somevisitors and the first thing they said was, “Your flats have a foulodour. Why are your flat owners growing these foul odour trees?Pauline Deborah has written, “The Skunk Tree Sterculiusfoetida is derived from the Latin Sterculius meaning ‘dung ormanure’ and foetida refers to the foul smell emitted by the tree.

Again, your reader says, “Referring to P.longifolia as Asokais unfortunate. In this connection, I asked a former director ofCPCRI (who was its director for 13 years), “Do you know whata Mast Tree is? In Tamil it is known as nettlingam? He had noanswer. But when I asked him, “Do you know what a Asokatree is? he said, “Oh yes, it is P.longifolia. I asked a similarquestion to an FAO spice expert. He had no answer till I askedhim, “Do you know what a Asoka tree is? to which he said it isP.longifolia.

Saraca asoca is the Asoka tree and is native to India. It is nowgrown all over the world. Buddha was said to be born beneath itand, therefore, it is auspicious. Another species, S. declinata,native to Java, is also grown in India. However, Wikipedia says,“Other trees are called ‘Asoka tree’.” A popular tree known as‘false Asoka tree’, or even as ‘Asoka tree’, is Polyalthia longifoliaand is cultivated to resemble the growth pattern of erect pillar-like Mediterranean cypress trees. It is a popular park and gardentree much used for landscaping in the Indian sub-continent.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America (1918) andother tomes say Erythrina, the bark of the Australian species ofthis genus, Erythrina broteroi, is said to contain an alkaloid,erythrinine, while the Mexican species, Erythrina coralloides DC.bears poisonous seeds in which Altamirano has found erythroi-dine, a powerful paralyzant of the motor system, erythroresin andan emetic, coralin and erythric acid. This extract has beensuggested as a substitue for curare.

Erythrina is grown all over the world and is not exclusive toIndia. There are over 130 varieties. Erythrina Americana has

cytosine, a psychedelically, but toxic chemical Carol trees. It islisted under ‘Food and plants that can be toxic to birds.’

K.V.S. [email protected]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Perhaps readers Krishna ([email protected]) and Raman ([email protected]) would like tocontinue this discussion directly.

* * *

This is a negative way of looking at trees (MM, January 16th).Any tree will put forward its roots towards a water source.

Instead of giving suggestions it is not good to advise NOT toplant a tree.

Erythrina is a legume that enriches the soil and is nectarsource for several large and medium birds.

D. NarasimhanAssociate Professor, Department of Botany

Centre for Floristic Research, Madras Christian CollegeTambaram, Chennai

* * *

Many birds visit the nectar-rich Erythrina flowers. Therefore, this is not ‘a non-preferred tree’ by local fauna. The

root issue presented by the writer (MM, January 1st) is a matterof concern. Primarily we have to check the nearness of the treeto the structure. Tree roots do penetrate sumps in some cases.These are very thin feeder roots. The quantity of 100 kg rootspenetrating inside a sump only reflects on the poor quality ofmaterial used in the construction.

Dadaps are weak trees and are easily blown away by winds.They cannot have a destructive root system unless the tree inquestion was severely pruned many times over the years,allowing more root proliferation. Planting depth at the initialstages has the foremost effect on future depth of roots and root-related issues. This does not mean that Erythrina trees are to becompletely avoided in avenue planting. That seems biased.Regarding Sterculia foetida, the tree flowers in February-Marchand matures into a fruit after 11 months. Other trees have thesame issue of fruits falling when ripe. The unpleasant odour isonly when flowering happens once a year, and that too for afortnight.

This is a very fast growing tree with equally-distributedbranches. It is sturdy and does not fall in a storm even if itreaches great heights. It has graceful foliage, yields itself fornesting, and is maintenance-free.

There are issues with all trees for that matter. People shouldnot treat their own experiences as a matter of policy applicablein general.

K . [email protected]

Festivals in changing times

� by V. Kalidas

As the Sun moves into the‘Makara’ phase, or Capri-

corn Zodiac, in the astral world,Makara Sankranti celebrationsbegin in the plains of India. Thefestival is celebrated undervarious names and throughnumerous variations in all partsof the country.

In Tamil Nadu, in its Pongalgarb, the festivities are a time ofthanksgiving to the Sun God fora rich harvest and an earnestprayer for a bountiful producein the New year.

In recent years, the Pongalflavour (pun intended) inChennai has increasingly over-taken the ‘Sankranti’ aspect.Earlier every home in the citywould conduct its own modestpooja to the Sun God with anoffering of sweet pongal (in aspecial kind of heavy metalvessel – vengalam or bronzeuruli – to be precise) along witha full-length sugar-cane bam-boo and other pooja items. A

mirror would be placed along-side this paraphernalia on theterrace in a vantage position toreceive and reflect the full raysof the bright morning sun. Asthe vessel, bedecked with afresh turmeric sapling round itsneck, brims over with its froth-ing contents, an idyllic Pongal

scenario is happily conjured upand it generates triumphantcries of “Pongalo Pongal”!

On the following morning,termed ‘Kanu Pongal’ ( not tobe confused with ‘KaanumPongal’), a variety of rice-mixesis placed on a large leaf on theterrace for birds to feast on – apractice perpetuating a harmo-nious communion with Nature.

The ubiquitous milkmanwould come around with his

cow – decorated with paintedhorns, baubles and finery – forthe usual collection spree!

Of late, there appears to be aquaint urbanisation of Pongalfestivities especially in Chennai.Retail outlets and departmentalstores are whipping up a new-found euphoria which has re-

sulted in heavy shopping activi-ties far beyond what prevailedin the more subdued past! Also,hotels and restaurants are goingto town on special Pongal offersand attractive options on eatingout and merry-making!

While these social changesare welcome, it is interesting toobserve that the advent of high-flying retail outlets, shoppingmalls and hyper stores hasbrought about perceptible

changes in the character of fes-tivals, thus adding a boost to thesagging economy.

In the past, the ‘Aadi’ phasein July was considered inauspi-cious for acquiring anything forthe household or for buyingjewels or textiles. The imagina-tive retailers made capital out ofthis negative situation by start-ing the ‘Aadi thallupadi’ (Aadidiscounts) a few years ago. To-day, the ‘Aadi Season’ is nolonger considered a low season!On the contrary, Aadi salesgenerate brisk business!

Akshaya Thrithiya was alow-profile event in the past.Enterprising jewellers in thecity, along with World GoldCouncil, have since many yearsnow given it a new sheenthrough intensive sales promo-tion efforts backed by imagina-tive and persuasive advertsing.The movement has gained


Welcome progress

The renovation of pave-ments on Conran Smith

Road, Gopalapuram, startedseveral weeks ago. Work on theproject, which took place by fitsand starts, has shown someprogress, though it’s yet to reachfinality.

Residents as well as passers-by are now able to walk longstretches on a firm, evensurface. The height of theplatform is not such that it isdaunting. The so-called rampsdescending right from the gatesof high-rise buildings and shop-ping outlets are gone, with somelevel surface made available inthe reconstruction. Some of theelectric junction boxes thatwere athwart the pathway havebeen re-aligned and are along-side the compound walls,parallel to the road. Even wheresome side roads meet the mainroad, the raised pavement isthere, with ramps created oneither side for vehicles tonegotiate these junctions.

Though the work is yet to befinished, the renovation projectis promising. We trust theconcretised surface of the plat-form won’t be dug up all toosoon to repair any faulty servicelines. To the credit of theauthorities, some co-ordinatedwork with electricity andtelephone departments andother service providers appearsto have been done.

While the created pavementis indeed a good facility,the utterly thoughtless park-ing of two-wheelers and carsand other impediments createdby humans are worrisome.

C.G. RishikeshA5 Madhurima

32, Conran Smith RoadGopalapuram

Chennai 600 086

Quality the need

Concrete or bitumen for ourroads (MM, January 16th)

is not exactly the question.Who lays it, who supervises it,what proportion of bitumen orcement, stones etc. has beenused to what thickness, howheavy a roller has been used, areobviously of prime importance.Roads in countries with muchheavier rainfall, more heat andmore traffic, such as Thailandand Malaysia, don’t deteriorateas quickly as our roads dobecause quality and account-ability are the main criteriathere.

Prem Chandran John10, 32nd Cross Street

Besant NagarChennai 600 090

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

The most interesting calendar Madras Musings received this year was one from TNQBooks & Journals (www.tnq.co.in), a publisher of scientific books. The calendar is based

on the work by M.V. Bhaskar and his team who are working on a project to restore the muralsin a temple in Chengam, Tamil Nadu. The introduction to the calendar narrates the story of theproject it is working on: Reconstructing the Ramayana.

� Each month of this 2014 calendar depicts a scene from the Indian epic Ramayana, aspainted on the ceiling of the forecourt of the temple at Chengam, a small historic town that ismidway between Chennai and Bengaluru.

The images presented are from the Yuddha Kandam – the Book of War – of the Ramayana.This part of the epic is painted on the central square of the ceiling and it constitutes the only partof the 17th Century murals that survives. The other sections of the Ramayana, painted on the ceilingof the aisles of the forecourt, are lost.

The surviving part of the painted narrative begins with the warrior prince Rama, his brotherLakshmana, and their army of monkeys crossing the ocean to Lanka where they receive assistancefrom Vibhishana in defeating his elder brother, the ten-headed demon Ravana, who has kidnapped

and taken Rama’s wife Sita hostage. The story concludes with Rama’s ascent to the throne ofAyodhya, the kingdom from which he has been exiled.

In the three-part folio of each month, the main image is of the original but substantially damagedmural. The transluscent overlay is a line drawing that includes the missing parts. An inset on thefacing page shows the same drawing in flat colour, as was characteristic of these murals.

The reconstruction effort is a collaboration between the illustrators at TNQ and a traditionalpainter who is well-versed in the Ramayana narrative. His medium is cloth and he uses a centuries-old resist-dye technique called kalamkari.

The digitisation process started with photographing every section of the mural using an80-megapixel field camera. The images were then traced both on paper and on a computer usinga touchpad and stylus. Both outputs were combined to create the master drawings.

These images represent a part of a three-year project to digitally restore these mural paintingsin their entirety.

The progress of the project can be tracked at www.chengammurals.org

An attention-drawing calendar that focusses on restoration of an ancient mural

It is not often that we have hadamong the citizens of Chen-

nai someone who was nationallyacclaimed as an authority in hischosen field of interest and whohad often served as the ‘NationalCommissioner for India’ (some-thing like the captain of an In-dian team) at internationalcompetitions held in his field incapital cities abroad. One suchrare person was Madan MohanDas, the doyen of philately inChennai. In his passing away lastmonth at the age of 90, philat-elists in Chennai have lost theirleader, who had been a source ofinspiration and guidance tothem for the past 50 years.

Philately (or ‘stamp collec-tion’ in layman’s terminology)has been often described as the‘king of hobbies and the hobbyof kings’. Madan Mohan Das, or‘Madan Bhai’ as he was affec-tionately called by his admirers,was the uncrowned king of phi-lately in Chennai. He was from aGujarati business family, origi-nally from Surat, that had settledin Tamil Nadu over three cen-turies ago. The family was ini-tially based in Srirangam and wasknown for the gifts and endow-ments made by the family mem-bers to the Ranganathaswamitemple there. Later, they shiftedto Madras and settled inSowcarpet. Madan Bhai’s fatherwas a prosperous shipping agent.

A doyen of PhilatelyForgie also had a vision of

helping the nearby villagers en-hance their skills in gardening,agriculture, handicrafts and cot-tage industry. Camp Tonakelawas to act as the support centrefor these villagers who were in-terested in developing theirskills.

Now, in its 75th year, CampTonakela continues to enthrallnature lovers who enjoy thebeauty and mystery it offers.Camp Tonakela offers 15 acresof greenery with lots of trees andshrubs, a small pond and a cov-ered swimming pool, all withinits compound . There are 24tents, adequate sanitation facili-ties and a kitchen with utensilsfor the campers to use.

To get to Tonakela, take theNew Avadi Road from Poona-malle High Road oppositePachaiyappa’s College. Just afterpassing the Dunlop factory onNew Avadi Road, there is ablack topped road on the leftnear the Ambedkar statue. Thisroad follows the tank bund untila temple is reached outsideAiyappakkam village. Turn rightat this point and follow the tracknorth to the camp. The distanceby this route is about 20 km fromMadras Fort.

* * *

The headquarters for the In-ternational Camping Fellowship

Wallace Forgie, a Cana-dian, came to Madras to

work with the Madras chapter ofthe YMCA as its Secretary.Though he retired in 1936, hestayed on in Madras to devotehis life to working with under-privileged youngsters.

Two years after his retire-ment, Wallace Forgie set upCamp Tonakela. Apparently,Forgie chose the Canadian-In-dian name meaning ‘NOT FORSELF’ but it also sounds like“THANUKKU ILLA” in Tamil,

which too means not for self.Food for thought indeed!

Forgie, with his vast experi-ence in outdoor camping, feltthat city-folk needed to be en-couraged to enjoy camping. In1946, 15 acres of land was ac-quired in Avadi by the CampTonakela Association. TheCamp’s objective was, in Forgie’sown words, “to provide a wellequipped camp site, conduct train-ing in camping and in the leader-ship of every form of characterbuilding activities.”

is at Camp Tawingo in Canada.Camp Tawingo was founded byJack Pearse, the former directorof the YMCA Camp On-da-da-waks operated by the OttawaYMCA. Apparently, WallyForgie founded that camp aswell. Dissatisfied with their camplocation on Black Bay just out-side of Ottawa, Wally suddenlyone day packed up some gear,got on the train in Ottawa, gotoff in Pembroke and biked alongrough roads, trails and throughthe bush till he came to a beauti-ful stand of Red Pine trees on abluff overlooking a large lake.“Here,” said Wally, “we willmake a camp!” And he did,founding Camp On-Da-Da-Waks which means ‘Men of theWoods’ in the Algonquin lan-guage. Including its time onBlack Bay, this camping opera-tion was recognised as the oldestin Ontario while it ran (until

Wallace Forgie; and the camp he developed.

1967). Camp Tawningo used tosend annual donations to CampTonakela.

Forgie came to India as partof YMCA outreach but becamean admirer of Indian culture andreligion which were much moreintegrated into people’s lives. Heleft the Y and began this missionon his own with support fromcamps in Canada.

Wally Forgie was “a kindlyman with a lot of integrity and adesire to help and uplift personshe worked with and worked forwithout regard to religion, caste,etc. in the finest tradition of theYMCA,” a Canadian collegianwrites. Another collegian recalls,“My earliest recollection ofWally Forgie was during one ofhis visits to Camp On-Da-da-Waks in or about 1959-60. Hewas particularly fascinated with

Lakshmana and Hanuman look at Rama with shock, as his reunion with Sita turns into a confrontation. Rama doubts Sita’s fidelity and refuses to accept her.In response, Sita proposes to ‘bathe in fire’ – if she is ‘pure’, the fire god will spare her.

The monkeys are unable to interrupt Ravana, so they attack his wife Mandodhari. She is seen being disrobed and tortured in the picture. Her cries to Ravanato come to her rescue force him to abandon his fire sacrifice, paving the way for the final confrontation between Rama and Ravana.

� by G. Ram MohanAs a boy he often went to theharbour with his father. There,in the dust bins in the offices andoutside, he would see used postalenvelopes from all over theworld, with colourful stamps af-fixed on them. He started col-lecting them, and soon it becamean all-absorbing hobby. Then,quite by accident, he cameacross a Varadaraja Chettiar, anenthusiastic philatelist fromNellikkuppam, who had beentutored in the intricacies of phi-lately by an Englishman thenemployed in the Parry’sConfectionary factory inNellikkuppam. Chettiar wouldvisit young Madan whenever hewas in Madras and would oftenpay for and take the stampscollected by his young friend.

Madan Bhai graduated fromSt. Joseph’s College, Trichy, andstarted his career in banking

with the Indian Bank inChennai in 1948. His job tookhim to Bombay in 1950 whichwas then, as now, the capital ofphilately in India. He madefriends with the well-knownphilatelists of that era inBombay, like J.N. Cooper, R.F.Shroff, R. Wadia and DhirubhaiMehta. He learnt from them allthe subtleties and refinements of‘philately’ (as different frommere ‘stamp collecting’). He

soon developed special thematiccollections of his own.

He first developed an interestin collectiing stamps known as‘Indian Classics’ – a term used todescribe early issues of stampsand rare stamps over 150 yearsold. It was, obviously, very diffi-cult to come across material forsuch a collection. But MadanBhai scoured the market withsuch vigour and enthusiasm thathe soon had a sizeable collectionof Classics.

Next, he turned his attentionto an even more difficult area ofcollection, known as ‘IndianPostal History’. This is a collec-tion of items from the pre-stampera. They are exotic items like

handstruck stamps embossed onsealing wax, wax wafers,handstruck markings applied di-rectly on letters, embossmentsmade on paper and so on. TheEast India Company, during thelatter part of 18th Century andthe first half of 19th Century,used such items to serve thesame purpose as printed postagestamps, before actual postagestamps came into use in 1854.Here again Madan Bhai suc-ceeded in collecting many of therarest of rare specimens.

Madan Bhai then took up adeep study of the lithography ofearly Indian stamps. Lithographyis the process of printing stampsusing smooth-surfaced metalplates known as dies. In the earlydays of printing of stamps thedies would be changed as theywore out, and there would beminute variations in stamps from

one die to another. Madan Bhai’sexpertise in the field was suchthat he could detect the die ofany stamp by studying the mi-nutest details that would not beperceptible to an untrained eye.He collected specimens of vari-ous die casts reflecting differentvariations.

Over the decades, MadanBhai won many gold medals forhis collections of classics, postalhistory and lithography, at vari-ous philatelic competitions heldat the State level as well as at theNational level. He became the


Madan Mohan Das

1873-84 cancellations.


Image of 1854 Lithograph whichMadan Bhai was an expert on.

... that Forgie built


(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period January 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 pertain

to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. In which Punjab city did India’sfirst and the world’s second‘Climate Change Theatre’ openrecently?

2. How did ISRO make history onJanuary 5th with the launch ofthe GSLV-D5?

3. Who won the coveted Comp-ton-Miller Medal for being theplayer of the Ashes series whichAustralia swept 5-0?

4. Name the start-up thatrecently became the first Indianentity to be bought by Facebook.

5. Who is the latest malefootballer to win the FIFA Ballond’Or and which legend was givenan honorary award?

6. Name Israel’s former premier,one of the nation’s most influen-tial figures in history, who died onJanuary 11th, seven years after hewent into a coma.

7. Which is the only Indian cityto feature (at No. 26) in NewYork Times list of 52 Places to Goin 2014?

8. Which Asian country recentlytested out a new hypersonicmissile vehicle, dubbed the ‘WU-14, that has top speeds of Mach 8to 12?

9. In which Olympic sport heldrecently in Patna did Sanil Shettyand Ankita Das win their maidenNational singles titles?

10. Which Indian railwaystation’s platform No. 1 hasbecome the world’s longest railplatform in the world?

* * *

11. Name the Tamil daily thatwas started in December 1917,with Tiru Vi Ka as its editor, toecho the views of Annie Besant’sNew India.

12. In which locality in Madraswere the first experimental rail-way lines in the sub-continentlaid in 1836?

13. Which edifice built, it is be-lieved, by Paul Benfield in the1760s, considered the first ex-ample of the Indo-Saracenic ar-chitectural style in the country?

14. What was started in 1925 byPoothoor Vaidyanatha Iyer?

15. After which divine being wasMadras first government aircraftchristened?

16. From whom did the JohnCompany rent the village ofTriplicane in 1676?

17. Which Asian scholar wasgiven the Thiruvalluvar Awardrecently?

18. Who was hailed as ‘Lion ofShencottah’ and ‘NatakaChakravarti’?

19. What natural formation inChennai is spread over about42,000 square feet and has acanopy circumference of 753feet?

20. Which medical institution ofrepute in Chennai was the brain-child of Mary Anne Scharlieb?

(Answers on page 10)

Doyen of Philately

Till February 23: Water Coloursby Gayathri (at Dakshina-Chitra).

February 7: Berlin PhilharmonicOrchestra on the big screenplaying Wolfgang AmadeusMozart’s ‘Piano Concerto in Gmajor No. 17 K.453’, and DimitriShoshtakovich’s SymphonyNo.11 in G minor ‘The Year1905’. Anil Srinivasan, the best-known classical pianist inChennai, will introduce theconcert (at Goethe-Institut, at7.00 p.m., by invitation).

February 7: Mahaphon Clang,Indo-German improvised musicwith Ramesh Shotham: Percus-sion, voice: Jan F. Kurth: Voice:Matthias Kurth: Electric Guitar;Demian Kappenstein: Drums,percussion, objects; lutz Streun:Tenor saxophone, Bass clarinet,Electronic effects.

Mahaphon Clang is a youngGerman group that teams herewith internationally renownedpercussionist Ramesh Shotham.Each concert will be unique: themusic will be composed andrearranged by the musicians onstage, in interaction with city,audience and space. The musicis inspired by classical SouthIndian and up-to-date impro-vised music by Free Jazz, Euro-pean avant-garde and Indianpopular music styles, such asTamil Pop, Bhangra (Punjabi)Beat, Bollywood, as well asDubstep, Funk and manyothers (at Goethe-Institut, at7.30 p.m.).

February 8-16: Glass sculpting byAnjali Srinivasan (at Dakshina-Chitra).

* * *

February 12: A King’s Journey, apuppet show. German puppettheatre company Handgemengetells the story of a king who isforced to go on a hazardousvoyage. He is faced with a num-ber of strange problems for whichhe finds equally unusual solu-tions. A King’s Journey is ashadow play that uses innovativelighting techniques to create auniverse of surreal landscapesand encounters (at Dakshina-Chitra).

February 13: Rhythm Is It, withViola Mokrosch and Rhapsody,a children’s concert organised byGoethe-Institut.

February 26-March 10: Paintingsby Dakshinamurthy (at Dak-shinaChitra).

February 28-March 9: Puppet Fes-tival 2014. Three groups – Cal-cutta Puppet Theatre, TripuraPuppet Theatre and Rama-krishna Kottabommalattam –will hold performances forvisitors. The groups will also holda workshop that will focus ondeveloping creativity andimproving folk media skills (atDakshinaChitra).

March 14: Berlin PhilharmonicOrchestra on the big screenfeaturing Johannes Brahms‘Symphony No.3 in F major’;Georg Friedreich Haas: Premiereof a work commissioned by theBerliner Philharmoniker Foun-dation together with the Carne-

best known name among thephilatelists of Chennai.

In 1956 he, along with hisyounger brother BalakrishnaDas, gathered together a groupof enthusiastic philatelists ofChennai and formed the SouthIndia Philatelists’ Association(SIPA). His old friend Vara-daraja Chettiar joined him inthe founding of SIPA. The firstmeeting of the six foundingmembers was held in a churchin Broadway on December 30,1956 with, literally, theblessings of the pastor of thechurch.

In 1980, SIPA startedpublishing a bi-monthly news-letter on philately called theSIPA Bulletin. Madan Bhaiheaded SIPA and was editor ofthe Bulletin for many decades.SIPA is an active body todaywith nearly 650 members fromall over India. It continues toactively serve the interests ofphilatelists. The members meetregularly on the second Sundayof every month at the exhibi-tion hall of Anna Salai Post Of-fice. The SIPA Bulletin is nowpublished as a quarterly.

Madan Bhai served on thePhilatelic Committee of theGovernment of India for some

years. He also served on a num-ber of occasions as a member ofthe jury charged with judgingthe entries at national levelphilatelic exhibitions. He wasselected twice as the philatelicNational Commissioner for In-dia in which capacity he repre-sented India and presented theIndian entries at two interna-tional philatelic exhibitions –one held in Bangkok in 1993,and the other held in Seoul in2004.

Philatelists of Chennai owe adeep sense of gratitude toMadan Bhai for two other greatservices he rendered them. Thefirst was that he was instrumen-tal in getting a special counterestablished at the Anna SalaiPost Office for philatelic items.The counter is housed in theold Electric Theatre hall andhas facilities for philatelists tosit and browse through the ma-terials available for sale beforemaking their purchases. Thesecond was that he was theforce behind the allotment of ahall at the same Post Office forthe display of collections of lo-cal philatelists. He couldachieve both these objectivesthanks to the active coopera-tion and assistance of manydynamic Chief Postmasters-General.

gie Hall, New York; and ClaudeDebussy’s ‘La Mer’. Anil Sriniva-san, Chennai’s best- known clas-sical pianist, will introduce theconcert (at Goethe-Institut, at 7p. m., by invitation).

* * *February 8-16: Art Chennai

Festival. Some of the events arelisted below:

February 8: Auction previewof Modern and ContemporaryIndian Art (at Hyatt Regency,between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.).

February 9 onwards: RaghuRai’s India, a photo exhibition (atGallery Veda on OMR).

Curiouser and Curiouser bythe Karuppu Art Collective(at Cholamandal Artists’ Vil-lage).

February 10: Reflections onGrace: International Photo Fest(till February 23 at IIT Madras).

Parvathi Nayar’s show TheAmbiguity of Landscapes (tillMarch 12 at Gallery Veda).

February 11: Role Models &Power Relations, a photographyexhibition (till February 16 atElliot’s Beach).

Signals, Signposts, Voyagesfrom the Madras Movement(till February 28 at Sarala’s ArtCentre).


CHENNAI HERITAGENo. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014

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February 12: VintageVignettes, a retrospective exhi-bition on Chennai (till February16 at Marina Beach).

February 13: Intallation –Shop Lifting by Mithu Sen (tillFebruary 26 at Express Avenue).

Bright Noise, an art exhibition(till March 8 at Lalit KalaAkademi).

February 14: Art Assemblage,an exhibition of visiting galleries(at Arts and Soul)Discussions at theHyatt Regency:

The Future of Tradition(2-3.30 p.m.)The Future of the Museum(3.45- 5.15 p.m.)February 15: Deep (skin) Skin

Deep (at Park Hyatt from 5.30p.m. onwards)Discussions at the HyattRegency:

The Future of the City(10 a.m.-11.30 a.m.)The Future of Painting(11.45 a.m.-1.15 p.m.)The Future of Art (2 p.m.-3.30 p.m.)

* * *

Workshops at DakshinaChitra(For details: 98417 77779)

For adultsFebruary 8-9: Macrame Wall

Hangings.February 20-21: Glass sculptingFebruary 23: Saree draping

For children (8-14 years)February 25: String Art – puppets

made with jute coir.

the many pine cones scatteredabout the camp property andwas quite intent on taking anumber of them back to Ma-dras. The other thing I recall isthe very large and lit cigar hehad stuffed in the side of hismouth.”

The Murugappa group haslong been associated with CampTonakela. It was in the early1950s that Slater of Tube Prod-ucts of India, Avadi, and hiswife helped to run the medicalcentre at the Camp.

For decades, TI Cycles andTube Products utilised a campsite for official get-togethers andmeetings. The workers’ union

A camp that Forgie builtalso used to make use of thisfacility, which they still do. Fourgenerations of Chandhoks ofthe Upper India Group havebeen associated with the run-ning of Camp Tonakela.

In a month, nowadays, over1200 campers, 800 picnickersand 1000 swimmers use theCamp’s facilities. Day-to-dayexpenses are met by the incomefrom camps, picnics andswimming. Capital expenditurehas to come from donations.(Compiled from commemora-tive souvenir Camp Tonekela1938-2013.)Note: For more information

contact the Director (Tel:72000 58476) or the Camp(Tel:2655 0261).



Saviour of a dance

in distressSome persons fight for the

right causes, win battles, en-sure that their achievementsyield benefits to society, shinein well-deserved limelight, butthen disappear into the shadowsof time, leaving succeeding gen-erations hardly aware of theirplace in history. E. Krishna Iyerwas such a fighter, victor andluminary who is now a half-for-gotten man. He played a deci-sive role in the renaissance ofTamil Nadu’s classical danceand its transformation fromSadir (aka Dasiattam) toBharata Natyam.

Krishna Iyer was born onAugust 9, 1897 in a village inTirunelveli District. The eighthof 14 children, he was given inadoption to a land-owningmiddle-class family in Kallidai-kurichi, a village in the samedistrict.

The terrain, tradition andthe time in which a person isbrought up foster latent talentand aptitudes. Kallidaikurichiwhere E. Krishna Iyear (E.K.)was brought up was once calledthe ‘Brahmin Chettinadu’ by awisecracking Alladi Krishna-swamy Iyer, presumably becauseit was noted as much for its con-siderable number of rich fami-lies with large tracts of land orengaged in hundi business andhandloom cloth trade as for itsorthodox and traditonal cul-ture. Every summer, its richfamilies conducted a number ofmarriage functions. In thosetimes, marriages used to be cel-ebrated over four days. And nowedding of a wealthy family wascomplete without high classmusic and a dance perfor-mance. E.K. grew up in such anatmosphere and from a youngage acquired a taste for musicand dance.

Krishna Iyer joined MadrasChristian College in 1914.Then he studied in theTrivandrum and Madras LawColleges. While he was at theLaw College hostel inTrivandrum, an amateur dra-matic institution requested himto play one of the leading femaleroles in their to-be-staged play,his looks and considerable mu-sical talent displayed in collegehaving been noticed. The playwas Sambanda Mudaliar’sSarangadhara and the role wasthat of Ratnangi. Some daysafter the play was staged, he waspleasantly surprised to readgood comments about hishistrionic talent in the localpress.

Spurred by the achievement,E.K. decided to undertake sys-tematic musical training. Hestudied with a couple of violin

� by ArudraE. Krishna Iyer.

vidwans in Trivandrum andChennai. He also started toattend all music concerts ofnote and absorb the finerpoints.

E.K. took his law degree in1921 and apprenticed withM. Patanjali Sastri, who laterbecame a judge of the MadrasHigh Court and Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court. After beingcalled to the Bar in 1922, E.K.developed a good practice bothon the original side and theappellate side of the MadrasHigh Court.

The next year he was invitedto join the Suguna Vilas Sabha,the premier theatrical group ofthe time, which was led by P.Sambanda Mudaliar, thearchitect of modern Tamil the-atre. According to Mudaliar,

E.K., besides being an actor ofability, was also a male-dancerwhose performances were note-worthy.

E.K. was inspired to becomea dancer by the example of oneRangavadivelu of the SugunaVilas Sabha who was thefirst male dancer to don andperform in female costumes.E.K. got his chance to take onthis new role when he was cho-sen to act the part of Malavikain Kalidasa’s Malavikagnimitra.The part required him to act,sing as well as dance. In prepa-ration for the dance sequences,he learnt Sadir from a cele-brated dancer, MadurantakamJagadambal.

Learning about the dancingtalents of E.K., the great natya-charya, A.P. Natesa Iyer, whowas well-known for his teachingof solo Sadir, besides BhagavataMela and Harikatha Kalakshe-pam, offered to train the youngman systematically in Sadir.E.K. was only too happy toacquire such a master who wasknown popularly as ‘Abhi-nayam’ Natesa Iyer. When thetraining was over, Natesa Iyerhad one request, namely thatE.K. should spread the art andrestore its dignity.

E.K. had a well-proportionedand supple body. This aidedhim to obtain distinction as adancer and he made his markquickly. But all his perfor-mances were benefit shows inaid of charitable causes or insti-tutions. At one place the audi-ence would not leave the hallwhen the show was over tillE.K. removed his wig as theyhad been betting among them-selves on whether the dancerwas a man or a woman. E.K.who was in the prime of hisyouth danced exactly like a tra-ditional female dancer andthere was good reason for thebetting to take place.

Even from the first years ofthe Music Academy, E.K. waseager to introduce dance in itsprogrammes. T.L. Venkata-rama Iyer, who later became ajudge of the Supreme Court, hasrecalled how he and most of theother members of the Academyopposed E.K.’s attempts.

But, although very eager,E.K. was not impatient and hebided his time, awaiting a suit-able opportunity. When he wasincarcerated for political activ-ity, the Academy in its Journalreported the event and said: “Byhis enforced absence, the Acad-emy has been very greatlyhandicapped in its activitiesand the histrionic world,wherein Mr. Krishna Iyer hadmade a name, has had a suddengloom cast over it. It is howeversome consolation to us to learnthat the Government of Madrashas thought fit to recommendhim to be placed in the ‘A’ class(of prisoners) and that he willbe back amidst us in Novem-ber.”

E.K. did not idle his timeaway while in prison. He metmany a leader there and tried toconvince them of the need torevive the art of dance. Most ofthem agreed with him.

In 1932, after E.K. fought acrucial battle in the Press withDr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, thestaunch Anti-Nautch leader,he moved and succeeded ingetting approval for his resolu-tion at the sixth annual confer-ence of the Music Academy forrenaming the dance known tillthen as Sadir, Dasiattam, etc. asBharata Natyam. This smallstep of the Academy wouldlater turn out to have been agreat leap for the most out-standing classical dance of In-dia.

In the early 1930s, E.K.started yet another facet of hiscareer and became a music anddance critic as well. His reviewswere published in various

periodicals. Khasa Subba Rao, afounder-editor of Swatantrawhich later became Swarajya,has pointed out that when E.Ktook up this new line, therewere no readymade technicalterms in English for use in dea-ling with Indian arts. E.K. hadto improvise a new vocabularyto do justice to his assignments.The public and artistes alikethought that E.K. was an impar-tial critic.

As one of the Secretaries ofthe Academy, E.K. invitedRukmini Devi to attend a dancerecital of MeenakshisundaramPillai’s disciples on New Year’sDay, 1935. He was no strangerto the ‘Adyar amma’. Sheremembered his coming to theschool founded by her husbandArundale and Dr. Annie Besantand teaching Bharatiar’s songsto the students. After seeing thedance, Rukmini Devi decidedto learn the art herself. Accord-ing to her, she consulted E.K.and he showed great interest inher desire to learn the art.Pandanallur Muthiah Pillai, sonof Meenakshisundaram, hadrecorded that his father wasreluctant to accept Rukmini

Devi as a disciple but E.K. pre-vailed upon him to do so. E.K.was the happiest man when thegreat guru agreed, inasmuch asa new convert to his faith couldlearn from the best tutor therewas. E.K. considered RukminiDevi’s success important sinceshe could win friends and influ-ence other people with her pas-sionate advocacy and example.Since she was already a well-known personality and wasconnected with the prestigiousinstitution of the TheosophicalSociety, she could, he reasoned,bring the desired respectabilityto the dance.

In 1936, E.K. did anothergreat service to Bharata Nat-yam. He was, at that time, alsothe correspondent of the Tea-chers’ College of Music startedby the Music Academy. Hearranged for KattumannargudiMuthukumara Pillai, a first-ratemaster of the authentic dancetradition, to teach there.

E.K’s passionate interest inpreserving and promotingdance was not, however, anexclusive preoccupation. Hewas a keen student of trends inclassical music and devoted hisattention also to introducingreforms when he felt they were

E. Krishna Iyer as Malavika.

necessary. For example, he feltthat the listening public wasgetting turned away by elabo-rate exhibitions of punditry. Heargued for the eschewal ofpedantry and the reduction ofthe time given to the all-too-elaborate ragam-tanam-pallaviin kutcheris. In fact, he arguedthe case for limiting the typicalkutcheri to three hours. His pro-posals triggered a fierce debatein the coloumns of The Hinduin 1929.

E.K. was involved next inthe controversy over Tamil Isai.On the seventh day of the 1931conference of the Music Acad-emy there was a discussion onthe language of music lyrics.T.V. Subba Rao, an Academystalwart, moved a resolutionwith the following text:

“This conference of theExperts of the Music Aca-demy, Madras, is emphaticallyof opinion that it should be theaim of all the musicians andlovers of music to preserveand maintain the higheststandard of classical Carnaticmusic and so no considerationof the language should beimported so as to lower orimpair that standard.”

E.K. was for a resolution thatwould reconcile the opposingpoints of view expressed in thedebate. He was for encouragingcompositions in neglectedlanguages without prejudice toclassical standards. His sugges-tion was not accepted and theofficial resolution was approvedby the house with only onemember dissenting.

E.K. belonged to the socia-list section of the IndianNational Congress and hisconcern was always for thecultural welfare of the commonpeople. That was the reasonwhy, in his later endeavours, heconcentrated on reformingBhagavata Mela and rescuingthe folk heritage. But even thenhe did not forsake BharataNatyam.

In the eventful life E.K.received many honours, awards,titles and tributes. The bestcompliment received was fromDr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, hisone-time opponent. Sending a



A great romancecut short(Continued from

last fortnight)

Destiny disengaged Kittappafrom the winning scenario

of Kannaiah’s company andcatapulted him into Colombo inthe early months of 1926. Adusky southern maiden of 18called Sundarambal had beenmaking waves there, bowlingover people with her powerfulsinging and assertive personal-ity. The expectation was thatKittappa would prove a power-ful foil for her, something thatseemed to have proved elusivein her career till then. Sunda-rambal had been warned not topair with Kittappa; he was toooverwhelming a presence andher singing would pale beforeKittappa’s. And Kittappa him-self, for his part, was asked notto act with an upstart actresswhose attempts to find a malefoil had led to audiences hoot-ing the actors out.

Both seemed to have brush-ed aside the warnings, for onefine morning Kittappa turnedup at Sundarambal’s residencein Colombo. Even as Sunda-rambal’s mother Balambal an-nounced the arrival of a ‘royalpersonality’ to Sundarambal,Kittappa walked in and satdown by her side. What temer-ity to enter a woman’s bedroomand then to seat himself on herbed, thought Sundarambal. ButKittappa wasn’t allowing hertime to react. He said that heneeded rehearsals with her.Sundarambal replied that therewas no need for rehearsals. “Mysongs are of a different kind,”Kittappa remonstrated. “I willmanage,” said Sundarambal,holding her own. “You will bedeceived,” replied Kittappa.“Let’s see who is,” retortedSundarambal. One does notknow what Kittappa’s reactionwas to this first meeting, but wehave Sundarambal’s. She wasbowled over, she felt her gan-dharva had sought her out.“What a handsome mien!What clarity of speech,” she ex-ulted.

They were a hit with audi-ences from the word go. Unlikethe panoply of special effectsand picturesque scenes thatKannaiah marshalled, the Kitt-appa-Sundarambal stage playswere like ‘special’ dramas whichgave importance to star actorsand their sterling performancesrather than stagecraft and vi-sual grandeur. They comple-mented each other musically,with Kittappa’s high pitchedsinging (in scale G or even A)easily matched by Sundaram-bal. If Kittappa sang like a mae-stro, Sundarambal had the self-confidence to cross swords withhim with her ringing voice andclear diction. The chemistry,

� by Vamanan

that resulted when the duosparred verbally with retortsand repartee, endeared thesespecial dramas to the fans. Theaudience lapped up the livethrills of their extempore con-versational combat.

Their relationship had goneto its next stage too. One day,Kittappa had arrived at Sun-darmbal’s home and declaredhis love for her. Sundarambalwas in love with him, too. Hewas 20 and she was 18. Aftershe extracted that most predict-able promise – that he wouldnever ever leave her – they weresaid to have married quietly in atemple ceremony at Mayuramin the beginning of 1927. Shewas soon pregnant, and insistedin letters she wrote to Kittappathat he must make arrange-ments for the valaikappu ritual(bangle ceremony for expectantmothers). But Kittappa was no-

where in sight when she gavebirth to a male child and noteven after the baby died tendays later. Sundarambal knewthat he had been married withgreat fanfare in 1924 to 11-year-old Kittammal, daughter of amirasdar of Tirunelveli, at agala function held in the hugebungalow of ParamanandadasChotadas in Tondiarpet.Sundarambal knew she was theother woman, but such was heradoration of Kittappa and herknowledge that he too lovedher deeply that she was pre-pared to make generous allow-ances to him.

Meanwhile, relatives onboth sides wanted them apart.Misunderstandings grew, withKittappa suspecting Sundaram-bal’s loyalty and Sundarmbalasking him to desist from hisflippant charges lest the skiescleave and shower brimstone onhim! But the two got togetherin a few years and toured theSouth to stunning effect. To-gether, they helped the nationalcause. The salt satyagraha andcivil disobedience movementhad caught the imagination ofthe people and Kittappa contri-buted in many ways to it.

Other developments in Kit-tappa’s personal life seemed tohave queered the pitch for him.The death of his mother Mee-nakshi, to whom he had beenvery closely attached, affectedhim deeply. Even before hecould get over the loss, Appa-durai Iyer, his eldest brother,died. Appadurai had been a

father figure to Kittappa wholooked up to him. It was saidthat it was Appadurai who keptKittappa away from that mostcommon failing of stage actorsof the day – booze. With Appa-durai’s death, Kittappa was leftto look after himself. There wasno one to look up to.

* * *

Despite not going to school,Kittappa was no uneducatedstage actor of his time. He hadlearnt to speak, read and writeTamil, Telugu and English. Hehad such a powerful memorythat one look at a lyric wasenough for him to memorise it.His power to absorb music wasuncanny. He was no lotus eaterbut a strapping young man rar-ing to go. He cycled, swam,played cricket and football, andwas a dashing driver of automo-biles. He made tons of money,but never touched a wad ofnotes. He would have othersspend it for him, never askingfor accounts. He was no credu-lous fool though, and could seethrough deceit easily. He wasgenerous to the members of hislarge family, and his house inShencottah was more or less adining hall open to all. Hetreated his servants like friends.How did a man of such valuesand character fall prey to alco-hol?

Kittappa it seemed, neededto imbibe spirits for his spiritedsinging. He was said to keep ajug of hot water fortified withliquor and make a clean swipeof it before launching into ahigh pitched Amma Ravammaor Evarani, his entry song.Given the charged atmosphereof the stage, it seemed quite thenatural thing to do. But for aman who was swinging betweentwo women and was trying tobeat back the angst of losing

two people who had matteredthe most to him, alcohol provedto be the black hole to nowhere,the path perhaps to the fulfil-ment of a death wish. Deviousindividuals posing as friendshastened his undoing to linetheir own pockets.

Towards the summer of1933, the sunshine seemed tobe going out of Kittappa’s ca-reer. He had swollen feet andyellow eyes, signs of cirrhosis ofthe liver. X-rays indicated thatKittappa’s stomach was severelyinflamed and his liver hadshrunk. He was treated conti-nuously for two months – in abungalow he rented in Myla-pore – and showed signs of re-covery. Then he went back allof a sudden to Shencottah withhis erstwhile friends, then to hiswife’s place in Tirunelveli andfrom there to the first floor ofChandra Vilas, a hotel in thetown. He had had a relapse ofhis addiction. By the time hereturned home to Shencottah,he was a changed man and hadthoroughly lost his zest for life.It wasn’t long before he passedaway. As he lived in the agraha-ram, he was cremated the sameday. K.B. Sundarambal, whotook his ashes to Kasi, donnedthe garb of a widow and an-nounced that she would actwith no other man on stagehenceforth. Such was her loy-alty to Kittappa whom she en-

dearingly called ‘Enga aathuk-karar’ (the man of my house,husband).

* * *

As his legacy, S.G. Kittappaleft behind the fascinating storyof a heavenly minstrel who heldlisteners in thrall with his magi-cal music for an eternal mo-ment, and a cluster of lovely re-cordings, a rainbow of songs.This treasure trove of musicmight never have been a possi-bility had Orr’s Columbia notpulled off a recording coup in itscompetition with HMV. It wasalmost the fag end of Kittappa’sshort but cataclysmically event-ful life, and future generationscan only bless their stars thatthe gramophone medium won arace that celluloid lost. A movieplanned to be made withKittappa and Sundarambal in1933 never took off. (Courtesy:Sruti)

(Concluded)

S.G. Kittappa with K.B. Sundarambal.

message for his 61st birthdaycelebration, she said that E.K.had been devoted to a worthycause and had done a great ser-vice to the South Indian art ofBharata Natyam by regenerat-ing and restoring it to its origi-nal purity and dignity. Shenoted that it had become apopular art not only in everyhousehold but also in all educa-tional institutions.

Ironically, however, E.K’s in-fluence in the Academy waned


Saviour of a dancein distress

with the passage of years as oth-ers gained ascendancy in its af-fairs. The way latter-daychronicles sketched his contri-butions to the organisation, itseemed they were already half-forgotten. So much so, for thesame birthday celebrationsmentioned previously, neitherthe Academy nor any of its ex-ecutives was in any way associ-ated with the function beyondsending a very formal message.

As Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai,a good friend of E.K., would say:“The world is like that.”

OUR ADDRESSES

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Madras Musings now has its ownemail ID. Letters to the editor can besent via email to [email protected]. Those who wish tointimate change of address can alsodo so provided the subscriptionnumber is quoted. For non-receipt ofcopies, change of address, and allother circulation matters: MadrasMusings, C/o Lokavani SouthernPrinters Pvt. Ltd., 122, GreamesRoad, Chennai 600 006. On editorialmatters: The Editor, MadrasMusings, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30,Westcott Road, Royapettah,Chennai 600 014.

No personal visits or telephone calls,please. Letters received will be sentfrom these addresses every coupleof days to the persons concerned andyou will get an answer from them toyour queries reasonably quickly.Strange as it may seem, if you adoptthe ‘snail mail’ approach, we will beable to help you faster and disappointyou less.

– THE EDITOR


� ‘Pages from History’

by DR. A. RAMAN([email protected])

Brewing, breweriesand Brewery RoadWhile in Madras recently,

staying in my house onBrewery Road in the postal zoneShenoy Nagar, I had some timeto investigate the source of itsname. There are one or twobreweries in the outskirts of thecity (e.g. Valasaravakkam), butthere is none anywhere nearBrewery Road.

Brewery Road connectsShenoy Nagar and Anna Nagar(the Anna Arch Road). It ex-tends westward from West ClubRoad in Shenoy Nagar. Curi-ously, it is one of those rareroads that forks into two, alongits western extension, botharms bearing the name BreweryRoad. A few older residents in

the area suggested that the roadis thus named because it forks –Tamil name pirital – since, whenwritten in Tamil, ‘pa’ and ‘ba’are hard to distinguish! That’san explanation for us to chuckleover.

I interviewed a long-timeresident of the area, UshaMadan, who was born and haslived there for long. Usha wasclear that Brewery Road got itsname because of a beer factory.She recalled seeing beer barrelscarted from here in bullock-drawn carts. I would placeUsha’s description in the late1950s-early 1960s.

* * *

There were several breweriesin the Madras Presidency. TheCastle Brewery was set up in theNilgiris in 1857. So was theNilgiris Brewery Company. TheBritish Brewing Corporation inMadras (1902) catered to theelite of Madras, whereas theBangalore Brewery Companysupplied beer for the army unitsstationed in Pune and Banga-lore from 1885.

* * *

The B.B.B. Brewery Com-pany Limited, an offshoot ofBritish Beer Breweries Limitedof London, was established in

1913. The managing agentswere McDowell & Co. Limited,Second Line Beach. Thebrewery’s first concern was acopious supply of pure waterand this was achieved after 14months of search. No fewerthan 14 bores were sunk; a wellof 18 foot diameter was con-structed, and 6000 gallons(about 26,000 L) of water perhour obtained. The Govern-ment analyst certified that thiswell water was pure.

The brewery was con-structed to a design by GeorgeAdlam & Sons, Bristol, with fa-cilities to expand, when needed.Sole rights were secured to usethe yeast species Saccharomycesthermantitonum . This yeast spe-cies was specifically selected forfermentation in the brewery be-cause it could tolerate the heatof Madras. A qualified Englishchemist and a brewer and 40-odd workers were employed.The brewery produced somefine quality liquor using Scot-tish malt and Kent hops.Pilsener, a light beer, was madefrom Bavarian hops and Bohe-mian malt. The overall supervi-sion of this brewery was by W.B. Prosser in the beginning.

* * *

Thomas Leishman, a Scot,purchasing the five brewerieslocated in different parts of theMadras Presidency, formed theUnited Breweries Limited[UBL], which was first regis-tered at 17 Armenian Street onMarch 15, 1915. UBL’s bullockcarts transporting casks, knownas ‘hogdshead’, of beer, becamea familiar sight on the roads ofMadras and beyond, after lo-cally-brewed beer and lager be-came popular in the early 20thCentury.

Leishman was born in 1850,and he married Mercy MaryAbraham, who was born inBellary in 1867. The Leishman–Mary Abraham marriage tookplace in Ooty in 1886. They hadthree girls (Louisa, b. Oota-camund, 1887; Muriel, b.Vepery, 1894; Daisy, b. Vepery,1895). The Leishmans lived inVepery, it would appear, fromthe 1890s.

I do not think the 18’ widewell exists today. But UshaMadan told me that parts of thebeer factory building still sur-vive on Brewery Road, althou-gh it is now used as a residece. Icould not visit this building totake a photograph.

Festivals inchanging times(Continued on page 3)

tremendous momentum andcash registers merrily ringduring Akshaya Thrithiya justas their Mumbai peers swing inwith the mood of Danterasduring Diwali.

Having long been associated(until a couple of years ago)with the Marketing Depart-ment of a major newspaper, Ican vouch for how St. Valen-tine’s Day fever in February,whipped up through the media,

has generated enormous‘branding’ activities on the eat-ing-out, gift-giving and greet-ings cards sectors in an other-wise laid-back city traditionallyknown for its more inhibitedways of life!.

Colourful supplements inthe newspapers and attractiveTV commercials from jewellershave given a new thrust toVaralakshmi Nombu too in re-cent times!

What was an individualhousehold Vinayaka Chathur-thi in the past has today grown

What’s therein a name?

Names of Chennai streets have long fascinated me. It isquite well known that Kennedy Street (next to

St. Isabel’s Hospital) was originally known as KannadigaStreet. Long ago, Kannadigas lived in this street and theywere mostly buttermilk sellers, carrying pots of butter milkon their heads with a kind of blanket round them to prptectthem from early morning cold. Poor President Kennedy hadnothing to do with this street.

The English gave their names to many roads in Chen-nai. Some of them may have been renamed. The English, Imust say, do have rather funny surnames. Don’t expect tobuy flowers on Flowers Road (Kilpauk), or bread and cakeson Baker’s Road, Hunter’s Road has nothing to do withhunting and Coats Road (T’Nagar) has nothing to do withthe sale of coats. If you are in search of a cook you will notfind one on Cook’s Road (Ayanavaram), and if you want tobuy some timber you will be disappointed if you go toWood’s Road. And there is a Powder Mill Road in GreyNagar and a Karuneeswarar Pagoda Street in Mylapore.Austin Flowers, George Baker, James R. Coats, an engi-neer in the Corporation of Madras, and Mr.Hunter lenttheir names to these roads and streets.

Some intriguing queries: Did Brick Kiln Road have akiln at one time? And who was Nancy of Nancy Street,Purasawalkam? How did Dooming Street (Santhome) getits name? Santhome is famous for its Cathedral but Doom-ing reminds us of Doomsday. Porche’s Road is a misspell-ing for Portuguese Road!

I live on Eldam’s Road and was always amused to readthe road’s name in Tamil which reads as Yeldams Road.Imagine my surprise when I found that the Tamil spellingwas the right one and the road should be spelled Yeldam’sRoad named after Mr. Yeldam, Mayor of Madras in 1801!

A word about the streets of Chennai; they are namedafter people, some of them long departed from this world.The streets are so filthy, full of garbage and rubble that thepeople after whom they have been named must be turningin their graves. I wish the descendants would honour thememory of the dead by getting the streets cleaned regularly.As for those living, after whom the streets have beennamed, I would be ashamed to have one named after me.

What’s in a name? A street would smell as foul even ifcalled by any other name.

P.S. This article is written with an apology to Sriram V.for his very well researched article in Madras Musings aboutMadras Street names.

(by Radha Padmanabhan)

into an enormous ten-daycommunity festival with hugeimages being taken in ostenta-tious processions on the lastday of the festival and immersedin the sea with much fanfare asis being done in Mumbai orPune! A far cry indeed fromthe days when the smallPillaiyar (Lord Ganesh) imagemade of clay would beimmersed in the well located inthe rear of your house or in anearby river without much adoand in silent reverence!

With a rapidly increasingurbanisation and a paradigmshift in society’s mores,festivals too have begun toreflect the vast change,perhaps all for the good of theeconomy.

In the 1910s, centralMadras’s outer limits stopped atKilpauk, and Amanjikaraiwas in the outskirts. Wateravailability and distance frompopulated areas (where wouldlinger the ‘foul’ smell thatemanates from breweriesbecause of fermentation) wouldhave been reasons for selectingthis site for the brewery.

Front view of the B.B.B. Brewery Company Limited in Brewery Road, Amanjikarai. Bullock carts cartinghogshead.


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.

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— A WELLWISHER

Answers to Quiz

1. Kapurthala; 2. It marked the first successful flight of an Indiancryogenic engine; 3. Mitchell Johnson; 4. Little Eye Labs;5. Cristiano Ronaldo and Pele; 6. Ariel Sharon; 7. Chennai;8. China; 9. Table tennis; 10. Gorakhpur.

* * *

11. Desabhaktam; 12. Chintadripet; 13. Chepauk Palace;14. Ananda Vikatan; 15. Hanuman; 16. Sultan of Golconda;17. Taiwanese poet Yushi; 18. S.G. Kittappa; 19. Adyarbanyan tree; 20. Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women inTriplicane.

What is it that ails

Tamil Nadu cricket?

� by

V. Ramnarayan

“It’s probably the water,” the visiting speaker, tongue-

in-cheek and politically incor-rect, said. “Maybe Tamil Naduwill start winning the Ranji Tro-phy once it receives enoughKaveri water,” he added in re-sponse to my question why theState was unable to translatetalent into performance despitehandsome support fromcorporates and the cricket ad-ministration.

The occasion was thelaunch of my book on TamilNadu cricket in 2002. Nothingmuch has changed since. Infact, the last two seasons havebeen disastrous, with the Stateteam failing to qualify for theknock-out rounds of the tour-nament.

Tamil Nadu last won the na-tional championship in 1987-88, and that was only its secondtitle since the tournament be-gan in 1934. Of talent thereseems no shortage in the State,and sportspersons below the in-ternational level have neverhad it better anywhere, at leastin the subcontinent. In Chen-nai, a cricketer good enough tocompete in the first division ofthe TNCA league is assured oflivelihood security of a high or-der, excellent training and prac-tice facilities, qualified coachesand physical trainers devoted toindividual teams, and a system-

atic process of talent identifica-tion and promotion.

Coaches have come andgone, and captains and teammembers have been hand-picked and nurtured at theState level, the senior leaguematches are played over threedays, there is no shortage of theshorter format games either, in-clusion in the Chennai SuperKings has bred a new avatar ofcricketer, confident, innovativeand introduced to winning waysby a dynamic captain – yet theRanji Trophy remains elusive asever for the State.

Many reasons have beencited, ranging from compla-cency and the result of beingpampered to the lack of thekiller instinct endemic to alaidback lifestyle that does notrequire a young player to com-mute miles by packed train todaily net practice. One theoryfloating around suggests thatthe trouble lies with the lack ofconsistency in selection, exces-sive chopping and changing of

the personnel on the field andoff it. “I have watched TamilNadu in Ranji cricket for over15 years, and it never plays thesame eleven for two consecu-tive matches,” claims a sup-porter who has given up hope.Some critics accuse Tamil Naducricketers of arrogance, of being

strangers to the team ethic ofsuccessful sides. This year, theState captain has himself de-plored the lack of commitmentof his men, in a newspaper ar-ticle.

The worrisome aspect of therecent debacle has been thatTamil Nadu’s worst perfor-mances came at home, on wick-ets tailored to suit its players.The team consistently failed toexploit conditions expected tosuit its team. For example, visi-tors performed better on turn-ing tracks than our own spin-ners.

True, Tamil Nadu missedthe services of its ace spinnerR. Ashwin, who was awaydoing national duty, but what ofthe other slow bowlers? Didtheir lack of experience provetheir undoing? Was the captain,once a champion pace bowler,known for his fighting spirit andability to turn matches around,the weak link in the attack? Or,as one keen observer of the

State team’s fortunes believes,is the race for the PalayampattiShield for the TNCA league,with doctored wickets – flatones against strong opponentsand nasty turners against weakones – responsible for the Stateteam’s lack of preparedness be-yond local skirmishes? Anotherobserver squarely blames theregular failure of the team’sleading batsmen at crucial junc-tures for Tamil Nadu’s poorshow.

One critic wonders whetherthe unseemly rivalries in the lo-cal league blind both playersand their patrons to the needfor cohesion and team spiritwhen the same players turn outfor Tamil Nadu. Going further,yet another long-time cricketwatcher insists that Tamil Nadualways lacked the mental quali-ties needed to win on the na-tional stage, that most of its rep-resentatives are paper tigers,happiest when the stakes arelow. He rues the very culturehere that celebrates individual-ists and ignores team men.

Do we need to make radicalchanges in the structure of lo-cal cricket to bind the playersinto a fighting unit? Is there away we can ensure that theState’s best talents play to-gether more often, even outsidethe Ranji Trophy arena, than atpresent? One solution would bethe de-corporatisation of thelocal league by whatever meansthe administration has at itsdisposal and fielding two Stateteams – as in the Buchi Babutournament – in the senior

division league, so that the same12 are together in each of thosetwo sides for the duration of theleague season. The other tenteams can be made up of play-ers drawn from the existingteams backed by companies,with a ceiling of four playersfrom any one business house.This way, the home team ad-vantage will be taken out of theequation, and the matches canbe more evenly fought.

This plan is naturally fraughtwith the risk of running into allmanner of challenges and willneed a major overhaul of mind-sets and structures. It may evenbe dismissed outright as naïveand impractical. The grim factis that Tamil Nadu cricketneeds drastic remedies for itschronic ills which have onlyensured that it has won theRanji Trophy just two times inthe history of the champion-ship. My proposal can at leastbe the starting point for expertsto sit together and draw up amaster plan with the singularobjective of triumph in theRanji Trophy. Such a plan islong overdue, for nowhere elsein Indian sport has so muchbeen invested by so many in onegame with so little to show forit.

MADRAS MUSINGSON THE WEB

To reach out to as manyreaders as possible whoshare our keen interest inMadras that is Chennai,and in response to requestsfrom many well-wishers –especially from outsideChennai and abroad whoreceive their postal copiesvery late – for an online edi-tion. Madras Musings isnow on the web at www.madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

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