WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIV No. 5 June 16-30, 2014

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Americans & Carnatic music

• Remembering Kalki

• The new I.A.S.

• The Chandhoks of Chennai

Guindy National Park under threat

(Continued on page 7)

� by A Special Correspondent

State’s sad, sadtech colleges

Madras Landmarks

– 50 years ago

� Think ‘Oceanic’ and it conjures upmemories of the 1950s – an empty SanThomé High Road, a pristine Adyarcreek teeming with bird life, an art-deco hotel standing at the edge – aworld-class facility where visitinginternational cricket teams werehosted. Today, all that remains is anempty plot of land, fronted by a crum-bling welcome arch over which can stillbe seen some of the letters that oncespelt the hotel’s name.

The property itself, originally fiveto six acres, goes back to probably the19th Century. Certainly, when lawyerK.R. Shenai bought it in 1917, it hadalready had an old garden bungalowin its Southwest corner. The evacua-tion of Madras in 1942 led Shenai tosell his landholdings, and thepart fronting San Thomé HighRoad was purchased by M.S.Ramaswami Chettiar of MahalakshmiFilms.

Chettiar built two hotels on thepremises – the ‘Oceanic’ and the‘Ratnagar’. Completed in 1954 orthereabouts, the Oceanic in particular

was known to be one of the best hotelsin India, “equipped with linen, crock-ery, cutlery, refrigerators, air-condi-tioners, cooking ranges, electric fans,ice-cream machines, ice-makingmachinery, light fittings and othermoveable and also with tools, imple-ments, lawn mowers, equipments,kitchen and other utensils” to quotefrom a record in the 1960s. In addi-tion it had a shopping gallery wheresome of Madras’ best known retailersset up outlets. By 1959, the Oceanicstarted attracting high class tourists –being only one of three hotels in thecity to offer air-conditioned roomsmust have helped. “LuxuriousOceanic, a most popular hotel ofMadras, situated on the sea shore, allsingle and double rooms air-condi-tioned,” ran an ad in 1958.

Chettiar died in 1964, but fiveyears prior to that, for reasons bestknown to him, he leased out both thehotels to R. Kapanipathi Rao, who atthat time was running Noel’s, a well-known restaurant on Mount Road.The lease was renewed in 1965 byChettiar’s son Meyyappan and contin-ued to run till 1970. But by then, theOceanic was no longer what it was.The fact that lessor and lessee werefighting each other in the Court did nothelp. In 1973, Kapanipathi Rao,following a High Court judgement,was asked to hand over the property toMeyyappan.

The hotel could have survived hadan urban land ceiling case not beenfiled against the owners during whichperiod it finally shut down. The trialwent on till 1993 when judgementwent in favour of the owners. Therewas then talk of the Taj Group ofhotels taking over the hotel and reviv-ing it, keeping the art deco main blockintact. But that was not to be. Theowners demolished the structure earlythis century and there was talk of anIT Park coming up there. The siteremains vacant as on date.

Becoming an engineer is oneof the easiest tasks in Tamil

Nadu what with over 570 engi-neering colleges in the State, ofwhich 520 are affiliated toAnna University. But if thatgave you the impression ofhardcore technical experts be-ing churned out in a Germanicmode, perish the thought. Mostof those who graduate are tech-nically unemployable, thanks tothe level of teaching and facili-ties in most colleges. The latestnews is that five more collegeswill be added this year. Are wefocussing on quantity instead ofquality?

A casual survey amongheadhunters would certainly in-dicate this to be so. Most stu-dents hired from Tamil Nadu’sengineering colleges, they aver,have poor communicationskills, not even bare minimumtechnical knowledge, and cer-tainly no practical experience.Those taken on have to be putthrough intensive training inthe organisations hiring them,making it almost a repeat pro-cess of education. Companiesare grumbling at the cost, espe-cially at a time when marginsare under squeeze thanks to the

recession. Consequently, theon-campus placement figuresfor Anna University colleges area measly 11 per cent of all thosegraduating.

Ever since the 1980s, whenthe State threw open engineer-ing education to the privatesector, several promoters haveentered the field. Barring veryfew, all the others have viewed

this as a moneymaking option.The investment is largely inland and buildings, which iswhy you invariably see onlythose with large landholdingssetting up these colleges. As forthe other aspects – an enlight-ened few go in for high qualityequipment and facilities. Mostsettle for organising a fleet ofcollege buses to ferry the stu-dents to the remote locationswhere the colleges are and leavethe rest to chance. The moneythey rake in, through capitationand regular fees, is considerable.Several promoters go on to fi-

nance other businesses from theincome earned!

The Government has overthe years been attempting tobring in some regulation intothese institutions. In 2001,around 400 of them werebrought under the purview ofAnna University. The numbershave been added to since then.But the move has not achievedits stated objective of raising thebar. The cause for the failure ischiefly due to the poor qualityof teaching faculty at most ofthe private colleges. Apart fromthe endemic rot in the Indianeducation system, whereinthere is a complete disconnectwith the outside world and itsrequirements when it comes tosyllabus, private colleges, bar-ring the best ones, do not at-tract top quality teaching staff.This is at a time when evenGovernment colleges are facingthe same shortage. A recentRTI query revealed that onlyfour out of ten Government en-gineering colleges even hadprincipals!

All this is in conjunctionwith the fact that the demand

Our city may take pride inthe fact that it has Guindy

National Park (GNP), one ofthe oldest reserve forests rightin its midst, but if the Govern-ment is allowed to have its way,all this will soon be gone. It islearnt that the State Govern-ment has written to the UnionMinistry of Environment andForests (MOEF) that the man-datory eco-sensitive buffer zonearound the park be removed.This is ostensibly to facilitate

the construction of buildings byGovernment-supported organi-sations and institutions in thevicinity.

The GNP has been a reserveforest since 1910. Originally

spanning over five squarekilometres, it was steadilywhittled down to make way forseveral memorials and buildingsand, by 1971, was around half

its original size. The GNP, in1978, was declared a nationalpark. Chennai thus became thesecond metro in the country tohave such a reserve forest,Mumbai’s Borivali National

Park being four years older. Ithas since been a vital lung forthe city, keeping summertemperatures down in thesurrounding area, conserving

the water table and being hometo fauna of various kinds.

All this may have been amatter of pride a couple ofdecades ago. But now with thedemand for space skyrocketing,areas such as the GNP areconsidered nuisances by thosewho think ‘development’ is theonly way to progress. At theheart of the problem at GNP isthe proposed extension of the

(Continued on page 6)

� by

The Editor

2 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2014

The Man from MadrasMusings is visibly melting

in the heat. Perhaps it is theonset of old age, or perhaps itis just addiction to air-condi-tioning. But as the yearsprogress, MMM, who for yearsconsidered himself one ofthose hardy specimens whomthe vagaries of the weatheraffect not, finds himself moreand more dependent on artifi-cial means of bringing downthe ambient temperature. Ofor a beaker full of the warmsouth, sang Keats – and hecould not have got it morewrong. What is needed is forthe south to cool down. Forthat matter, so does the north.MMM learns that those inDelhi at 47 deg C are lookingenviously at our city which,according to them, is enjoyingan unfair advantage at 41 degC.

Chennai by itself is nowbroadly divided into twogroups – the first complains itis the heat that affects it, whilethe other says it is the humi-dity. Not that it has eversnowed in our city, but there isno denying that the summersare getting worse. This ischiefly because of the way we

nai male clad in synthetics dur-ing the summer. And giventhat most of these charactersfeast rather well at lunchtimeon onion- and garlic-flavouredfoods, the odour gets com-pounded. Add smoking andfrequent coffee drinking andyou have something buildingup that could eventually blowaway the entire ozone layer. Itis time we had a movementagainst this couldn’t-care-lessattitude towards body odour.

Get on with it, MMM, saythe more delicately constitutedamong his readers. And soMMM will bring this diatribeagainst stinkers to a close. Butnot before making a few moreobservations. Firstly, thisparticular group has no classdistinction – the top-notchexecutive who recycles clothessmells the same as the ACmechanic who comes homeand leaves a rich odour behind.Ditto the chauffeur or a waiterat a restaurant. It all comesunder the head of wrong choiceof fabric. Secondly, the old ladyof Tamil who has a statue onthe beach instructed that werinse our raiment even if itwere a rag. That appears tohave been given the go-by since

This scorching summerChennai has given MMM aheightened sixth sense aboutplaces where rich pickingscould be had for this columnand something told him thatthis spot was one. And so helooked inside.

The place could have beena dioramic representation ofthe Sahara. It was barren andthe only relief features wereshards from broken bottlesthat adults who evidentlymade merry here at sundownhad left behind. A few reedmats also littered the place, in-dicating that the celebrants atsundown stayed on after theparty and left only when themilk was delivered. If theseregular party-goers had beenin other strata of society, theycould have featured in thethird page of at least one news-paper of our city.

MMM had assumed that aplay area for children wouldhave a merry-go-round, a slideand perhaps a monkey bar/climbing frame, which forsome reason is known as ajungle gym in our country. Butof these MMM espied none.He, of course, realised thatthose who frequented thisplayground at happy hours did

her days. Lastly, can we expectthe State Government to dis-pense branded deodorantsalong with everything else thatit is giving?

Not for children?

When in doubt, gowalkabout – this is one

of the various maxims that TheMan from Madras Musingsfollows. And doubts assail himoften, their intensity peakingjust when the deadline for thiscolumn nears. So it was lastweek when, keeping companywith mad dogs and English-men, MMM too walked aboutin the Indian sun, seekinginspiration for the column.

Having wandered lonelylike a clo(u)d, MMM did notcome upon a host of goldendaffodils (unlikely in Chennaiwhere you could come acrossterrible things quite easily), buthe did espy a raised platformenclosed by railings. A Corpo-ration of Chennai (second old-est Corporation in the worldand civic body in charge of thefirst city of modern India, incase you did not know) plaqueboldly announced to the worldthat this was a playground forchildren. It also gave the nameof the councillor during whosetenure this was inaugurated.And just in case the plaquemissed the average passer-by’sattention, a large but fadingdigital banner broadcast to theworld at large the name of thebenefactor once again andthanked her profusely.

Years of wandering around

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

construct our homes andoffices, and the way we dress.Of the first two, MMM willrestrict himself to stating thatthis is not a city that canhandle buildings in close pro-ximity, low ceilings, glassedwindows and shut-in interiors.But who is going to listen?Perhaps these are circum-stances beyond our control;the population being such andthe spaces being so insuffi-cient, this would appear to bethe construction style for thepresent and the foreseeablefuture.

But on the matter ofapparel, MMM has much tocavil about. What has hap-pened to the cottons that oncemade Madras a name to con-tend with the world over? Whyhas the populace abandonedthat eminently suitable fabricfor synthetic ones that are notmeant for our climes? MMMwishes that the averageChennai man would givenylons and polyesters the go-by at least in summer and re-vert to cotton. MMM learnsthat one of the reasons for theformer scoring over the latteris ease of maintenance – theydon’t crease and wrinkle likecottons. Drip-dry and wear,appears to be the motto. Onlythe drip is more of sweatwhich, when dry, hits every-one’s nose.

Everything in India smellsexcept the rose was a deroga-tory comment made duringthe British Raj. MMM wouldlike to add that nothing smellsworse than the average Chen-

not need them – they got theeffects of all this equipmentfrom what they imbibed. Butwhat of the children, MMMwondered.

And then MMM saw thesole object that could beremotely classified as a play-thing. This was one of thosesynthetic rubber water tanksthat are visible on most build-ings and have probably contri-buted more to the ugliness ofour city than anything else.This was being rolled aroundthe place by a couple of ur-chins. That made MMM rea-lise that our Corporation andits councillor had achievedtheir stated objective. Allother aspects, such as thephoto-op during the inaugura-tion of the play area and theobligatory news report, not tomention the more permanentfoundation plaque and thesemi-permanent banner, weremerely incidental benefits, ofcourse.

Tailpiece‘Pimp up your home’

screamed a link on theweb edition of one of our ul-tra-respectable newspapers of-ten compared to a Vaishnavitedeity on a once wide thorough-fare. The Man from MadrasMusings could not believe hiseyes. He later learnt that theexpression means to makesomething over-decorativewith flashy accessories. MMMrealised he had to change withthe times, particularly when itcomes to language.

– MMM

DecentralisewastemanagementChennai, like a number of cities elsewhere in the country, is set

to face an unprecedented crisis in Solid Waste Management(SWM) in the coming years. Garbage, and how we deal with it, issomething that has drifted in and out of the greater civic conscious-ness of the city over the past two decades and there are a numberof organisations and individuals who have devoted time andattention to this issue in the city. However, successes havegenerally been short-lived and throughout this period the city hasbeen moving steadily towards a crisis point. The crisis will be oneof garbage going uncollected, possibly indefinitely, as it will havenowhere to go once Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, the two massivedumpsites that serve the city, can hold no more.

The Corporation’s response to this eventuality has so far mainlybeen to scout alternative dumpsites – unsuccessfully. There aremany voices in the city, however, including the Initiative forWaste, Informal Workers, and Chennai’s Future (a coalition ofTransparent Chennai, Madras Institute for Development Studies,and Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) who oppose sucha path forward. Dumping/land-filling is both an environmentallyunsustainable and socially unjust way of dealing with the ever-in-creasing output of garbage. The Initiative is one of a number ofgroups and individuals in the city that advocates instead for adecentralised “Zero-Waste” model of SWM that emphasises segre-gation at source, maximum resource recovery (through recycling,composting etc.) and protection of the livelihood rights of peoplecurrently supporting themselves and their families off the city’swaste (rag-pickers and scrap dealers).

A decentralised model would entail that whatever waste is cre-ated within a particular geographic area (such as a ward) be dealtwith within that area. This is a more sustainable and responsibleway of dealing with waste than centralised dumping. Cities such asBangalore and Pune, as well as numerous small towns, have alreadyadopted such a system and while there have been difficulties, it isthe clearest and most favourable way forward.

� by Sushila Natraj

Towards this end, the Initiative has, over the past year, endeav-oured to build consensus amongst various groups of stakeholderson a well-defined path forward for SWM in the city. In the courseof these consultations with members of civil society, workers’groups, the scientific community and the city government, the ideaof a sustainable and inclusive Zero-Waste pilot project in onecorporation ward was evolved. Since then, it has been engaged inmobilising citizen support as well as creating research and data tohelp advocate for and anchor a potential pilot project in Ward 173that would aim at being decentralised, Zero-Waste, and inclusiveof the informal sector (rag-pickers who are responsible as of nowfor almost all recycling in most Indian cities).

Transparent Chennai, on behalf of the Initiative, conducted adetailed mapping and survey exercise in Ward 173 to establish boththe number and nature of households and commercialestablishments in the ward, as well as to assess the generation andcomposition of the waste created in the ward.

This extensive study forms the basis of a detailed proposal thatwill be handed over to the Corporation of Chennai for the planningand implementation of the pilot project. Community participationis a key component of this effort and a number of communitymeetings have been held in the Ward to disseminate the proposaland receive feedback. It is also available to the general public atwww.transparentchennai.com where you can read the proposaland give feedback and suggestions, which might be incorporatedinto the final output.

As has been mentioned above, the Initiative is also engaged increating research about, and advocating for, the informal wastesector. Waste-pickers, more popularly known as rag-pickers, areamong the most marginalised citizens of the city, yet it is theirlabour that accounts for the only progressive or sustainable wasterecycling in the city. Waste-pickers divert hundreds, of tons of

(Continued on page 4)

June 16-30, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Seetharama Rao & Shama BhatThere are a few additional points to reader

V. Theetharappan’s letter (MM, May16th).

Seetharama Rao lived in Dasaprasad, whichwas on Gangadeeswarar Koil Street, an exten-sion of Raja Annamalai Chettiar Road towardsthe temple tank, nearly opposite theGangadeeswarar-Pankajakshi Temple inPurasawalkam. He was ‘K’ Seetharama Rao. Asa primary school student in the late 1950s inthe adjacent Chidambaram Chettyar MemorialPreparatory School, I had always been intriguedby the chiming of multiple cymbals and bellsbetween 10.30 and 11 a.m. every day. Later, Ilearnt they used to be times of aarti inSeetharama Rao’s house, which was next to theprimary school I was studying in. His motherwas Ganga, to whom Seetharama Rao was at-tached immensely. Ganga lived 100 years andthat was a big story in old Purasawalkam!

Sanjeeva Rao (who used to live by theKelly’s-Balfour Road junction), one of the el-der sons of Seetharama Rao, named his newrestaurant in George Town ‘Ganga’ in honourof his grandmother. Thayir vadai was a special-ity of the Ganga restaurant and just to enjoythe ‘embellished’ thayir vadai at Ganga, I usedto go all the way from Purasawalkam-Kilpaukto George Town once a week.

I can still recall the anniversary ofMadwacharya being celebrated with pomp bySeetharama Rao. Led by him, all the males ofhis family would go dancing, chiming cymbals,in front of the decorated portrait that was car-ried in procession by his family membersthrough Lawder’s Gate Road, Adiappa MudaliStreet, Vellala Street and, then, enter Purasa-walkam High Road, before returning toDasaprasad. It is so difficult for me to imaginethat such a well-knit family has fragmented andthe giant landmark of Madras Dasaprakash hasbeen pulled down to accommodate apartments.

Ananda Rau (Manager, Hotel Dasa-prakash; he was ‘P’ Ananda Rau) lived inAnand Villa on Raja Annamalai Chettiar Road,opposite M Ct Muthiah Boys’ High School. Hewas the younger brother of the radiologist P.Rama Rau, who practised radiology on Poona-mallee High Road (later named as the RamaRau Polyclinic), which was later run by his sonBujanga Rama Rau as a nursing home for sev-eral years, and is now run by the latter’s son,Manohar Rama Rau, a UK-qualified surgeon.

Rama Rau’s Polyclinic is close to Laksh-manaswamy Mudaliar-Venugopal’s Kensingtonnursing home, which was used by the famousMadras obstetrician-gynaecologist-surgeonSarukkai (Srinivasa) Rangachari beforeLakshmanaswamy acquired it. Ananda Rau’sonly son Hari Ananda Rau, a qualified medicalpractitioner, ran a pathology laboratory for sev-eral years in the 1980s and 1990s.

I understand that Hari and family have nowshifted to Bangalore. Bujanga Rama Rau’s sis-ter (P. Rama Rau’s daughter) married K.Sripathy Rau, an MS by qualification, whopractised in Barnaby Road, which is geographi-cally exactly behind P. Rama Rau’s house andclinic on Poonamallee High Road. SripathyRau, a gentle and skilful surgeon, was the doc-tor-in-attendance during the last days of K.V.Al. Rm. Alagappa Chettiar, who lived inKrishna Vilas on Raja Annamalai ChettiarRoad, opposite the now decimated, triangularBank Manickam Mudaliar Park, which hosteda congested reading room supported by the Cor-poration of Madras.

Ramakrishna Lunch Home owner V.R.Ramanatha Iyer’s (VRR) adopted son wasRamakrishnan (after whom the hotel wasnamed by VRR), who was also a qualified medi-cal practitioner. He and his wife Jayam – aqualified obstetrician-gynaecologist (an MBBS,DGO holder) – practised in a large house oppo-site the now defunct Roxy (previously Globe)cinema house on Purasawalkam High Road.Jayam had a roaring practice in Purasawalkam.Next to the Ramakrishnans lived K.C.Nambiar, a British qualified surgeon with anFRCS, who was the family physician of the lateactress Savitri Ganesh.

VRR was the Mayor of Madras. The follow-ing is a humorous story I have heard from myfather. When VRR’s term as Mayor of Madrasended, he acquired two healthy oxen auctionedby the Corporation to use them for his (bul-lock) cart. As the story goes, whenever theseoxen saw (or smelt) a rubbish bin (those con-crete structures on streets we had in the Ma-dras of the 1950s and 1960s), they would stopbecause they had been used earlier in the rub-bish carts of the Corporation. I am not sure ofthe veracity of this story; nevertheless, it pro-vides a laugh.

Dr. A. RamanCharles Sturt University

PO Box 883, Orange, NSW 2800

Deleted names

Various reasons were citedin your column for low

voter turnout (MM, May 16th).Could this be another reason?There were many voters whofound their names had been in-explicably deleted, as in mycase! More than a month ear-lier, when it was announcedthat the voter lists were avail-able for inspection at the regu-lar voting booths, I had gone tocheck my name, and noted thechapter, page and serial numberfor reference. I have been vot-ing for the past ten years or soat the Bharath School (off LBRoad in Adyar), but this timeon voting day I discovered a‘Deleted’ stamp across myname.

I noticed other names toohad been deleted on otherpages. Even if there was anyoneto complain to, I felt it would betoo late for such a mistake to berectified and so I just headedhome. I have no idea howprevalent this might have beenacross the city/State, and doubtwhether it will be possible forthe Election Commission tocompare the voting lists onrecord with those actually de-ployed at the enquiry counterson voting day. It is always pos-sible for photo copies to exist inmultiple versions! In Maharash-tra, the deleted names becamebig news, but here victims like

To reader V. Theetharappan’s recollectionof unforgettable fare in old Madras (MM,

May 16th), I wish to add I was a regular cus-tomer in the 1960s of Shama Bhat who ranUdupi Home at Halls’ Road. I used to walkfrom my workplace in Casa Major Road toenjoy the masala dosa he served for tiffin. Itused to cost eight annas (fifty paise) and wasdeemed, the costliest in Madras. My friendsused to look at me with respect for spending somuch on that dish.

Shama Bhat looked to me like an amalgamof Madurai Mani Iyer and Lal Bahadur Shastri.Clad in spotless white khadi he used to goround the tables keeping a sharp eye on thecustomers. One day as I took a sip of coffeeafter my mandatory masala dosa he

materialised near me and asked if the coffeewas OK. I hesitated but, on his prodding, con-fessed it could have been hotter. He immedi-ately ordered a fresh cup of piping hot coffee.When I asked him how he found out that thecoffee was not up to the mark, he beamed atme and said that I winced after taking the firstsip which spoke volumes. Such proprietorswith attention to customers did exist in thosedays.

His family now runs Matsya, a deluxe eat-ery, at the same place. I enjoy the status of be-ing an old customer with a record attendanceof more than 50 years, with inevitable breaks.

J.S. RaghavanFlat E, Balu Flats, 21 Mahadevan Street

West Mambalam, Chennai 600 033

CHENNAI HERITAGENo. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,

Royapettah, Chennai 600 014

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me may have been too compla-cent to make an issue of it.

There is no end to the vari-ety of possible election frauds,and even if subsequently de-tected it will be too late. Elec-tronic voting system itself is aquestionable procedure, whicheven ‘advanced’ nations avoidbecause of the ease with whichcomputer programmes and soft-ware can be secretly manipu-lated by those who are stilful onsuch things.

Thomas TharuKasyap A-7

Nehrunagar Fourth StreetAdyar

Chennai 600 020

Raja & Rahman

Reference Dr. A Raman’sletter on etimology (MM

June 1st), the popular song,Porale Ponnuthayee, was fromBharathiraja’s Kizhakku see-maile. The composer was A.R.Rahman.

Bhilai Gopalan1/6 Sankara Flats

1, 6th Cross Street, Sasthri NagarAdyar, Chennai 600 020

Author’s name

In the article ‘SPEED, thyname is Blackbuck’ (MM,

June 1st) the author’s name –Ahana Lakshmi – was inadvert-ently omitted. The error isregretted.

– The Editor

OUR ADDRESSES

For matters regarding subscriptions, donations, non-receipt of receipts etc.: CHENNAI HERITAGE, 5,Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 14.Madras Musings now has its own email ID. Letters to the editor can be sent via email toeditor@madrasmusings.com. Those who wish to intimate change of address can also do so providedthe subscription number is quoted. For non-receipt of copies, change of address, and all other circulationmatters: Madras Musings, C/o Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai600 006. On editorial matters: The Editor, Madras Musings, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 600 014.No personal visits or telephone calls, please. Letters received will be sent from these addresses everycouple of days to the persons concerned and you will get an answer from them to your queries reasonablyquickly. Strange as it may seem, if you adopt the ‘snail mail’ approach, we will be able to help you fasterand disappoint you less.

– THE EDITOR

4 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2014 June 16-30, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Carnatic music and

the Americans RememberingKalki

� With Ponniyin Selvan just having been staged in Chennaion an epic scale, it seems apt to be...

T. Viswanathan Jon Higgins

waste from the dumps every day,buying time for the rest of us whoonly create waste and do little tolessen its impact on the environ-ment outside our own doorsteps.However, waste-pickers aresocially stigmatised, work inextremely unsafe circumstances,and are vulnerable to police andother types of harassment. Thesafeguarding of their livelihoodrights (continued access towaste/jobs) and improving thequality of their lives are an

Decentralise waste managementequally important challengefacing the city and its policymakers. There is currently an on-going effort to get the Corpora-tion of Chennai to recognise thelabour and benefits these peoplemake available to the city and toissue them I.D. cards that wouldboth validate their labour as wellas make it possible to lift themout of the poverty and margina-lisation they currently endure.

To conclude, it is apparent toanyone who pays attention thatChennai is at a critical point asfar as SWM is concerned. It is

essential that citizens around thecity begin to hold the city gov-ernment accountable for chronicpoor service delivery and insiston better planning and imple-mentation. Decentralised, Zero-Waste SWM, emphasisingsegregation at source, is espe-cially something we as citizensmust open our minds to, as thecontinued refusal to take indi-vidual responsibility for one’sown waste is most unbecoming ofa citizenry that claims to aimtowards an evolved civic con-sciousness.

(Continued from page 2)

� by V. Ramnarayan

“I would have loved to hear John Coltrane explore the

Pancharatna kritis,” said Ameri-can writer Mike Marquesee, aman better known for his writ-ings on politics and cricket. Hewas referring to Tyagaraja’s fivegems.

Marquesee, is modest whenhe speaks of his credentials towrite on Carnatic music, but hisinsights are brilliantly direct andpraiseworthy in a Westerner at-tracted to but hardly expert in it.He says of Carnatic music, “Itshistory is a history of innovationand broken taboos relating togender and caste, public and pri-vate. The kutcheri as we know itdates only from AriyakudiRamanuja Iyengar, a famous vo-calist, and the 1930s. In a singleevening it can include composi-tions with lyrics in Tamil,Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada,Marathi and Hindi. I can’t thinkof another musical culture witha comparable spread.”

Closer home, V.S. Narasim-han, an accomplished Westernclassical violonist who has pio-neered the performance of thegreat Carnatic music omposi-tions by Western musicians – hisown Madras String Quartet –dreams of being around whensymphony orchestras in Europeand America perform the mas-terpieces of Tyagaraja and otherSouth Indian composers.

On May 1, 2012, the Califor-nia-based Sacramento YouthSymphony (SYS) Orchestra col-laborated with ChitravinaRavikiran to play a Tyagarajacomposition rearranged for theorchestra. According to one re-port, “The repertoire, carefullychosen by conductor MichaelNeumann, kept the Indian spiriteven in traditional Westernpieces such as The Crown of In-dia suite by Edward Elgar andKromsky’s Song of India.”

The day Dr. Stan Scott ar-rived in Calcutta one day in the1970s, he received the shockingnews of the death of the guru hehad come all the way from theUSA to learn Hindustani musicfrom. Earlier in the US, he hadlearnt vocal music from sarodmaestro Ali Akbar Khan andSushil Mukherjee, director offine arts at a Massachusettsschool. In India, his tutelage in-cluded lessons from gurus likeKrishna Chandra Banerjee,Sugata Marjit and Mohan Singh(at Santiniketan) in classical

Dr. Stan Scott

music and Kali Dasgupta in folkmusic. His stint with VidyadharVyas at Wesleyan Universitytrained him in the Gwaliorgharana (in addition to the Agragharana, he had already learnt)and led him to his Ph.D. inHindustani classical singing.

Mathew Allen came toChennai to learn padam singingfrom T. Balasaraswati and otherdescendants of the redoubtableVeenai Dhanammal. Like StanScott, he too was already atrained musician in a Westerngenre before he ventured intolearning the complex art of In-dian classical music, he did sowell that he co-authored a book

on South Indian music withBala’s brother, the incomparableflautist T. Viswanathan, whoheaded the ethnomusicology de-partment of Wesleyan Univer-sity, Connecticut. Allen has alsowritten on padams and otherdance music of South India aswell as recent history of BharataNatyam.

It was with Jon Higgins thatT. Viswanathan entered into hismost enduring, productive col-laboration. Born in Andover,Massachusetts, Higgins, a Wes-tern classical vocalist who com-

pleted a double major in Musicand History in 1962 and an M.A.in Musicology in 1964 fromWesleyan University, earned aPh.D. in Ethnomusicology in1973.

He founded the Indian musicstudies programme at York Uni-versity in Toronto with mridangavidwan Trichy Sankaran in 1971,and returned to Wesleyan in1978 as a professor of music anddirector of the Centre for theArts. Higgins had attended sev-eral concerts of Sankaran’s withSemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, andseen him teach an American stu-dent of Viswa.

Sankaran had earlier turned

down an invitation from Ameri-can mridanga student RobertBrown – who will figure later inthis narrative – to join WesleyanUniversity as a research scholar.

Sankaran was apprehensiveabout making any long-termcommitment in view of his fam-ily responsibilities and fearful ofjeopardising a flourishing con-cert career in Madras. “I told JonI would go only for a year or two.The rest is history!” remembersSankaran, who has since madeYork University and Toronto hishome, visiting Chennai annuallyduring the music season toperform, teach and do lecture-demonstrations.

Viswa studied ethnomusi-cology at UCLA on a Fulbrightscholarship from 1958 to 1960,and headed the Department ofMusic at Madras University from1961 to 1966. He taught atUCLA and the California Insti-tute of the Arts before joiningthe Wesleyan facility in 1975 andearning his Ph.D. there. Train-ing under Viswa, Higgins becamethe first non-Indian to performCarnatic music at a high level ofproficiency.

Higgins continued his studiesunder Bala and wrote his disser-tation on the dance music ofBharata Natyam, returning toIndia as a Senior Research Fel-low of the American Institute ofIndian Studies, and making aname for himself in Carnaticmusic as Higgins Bhagavatar.

Born in Rising Star, Texas,USA, in 1935, David Reck, achild prodigy in Western music,is a familiar figure in Carnaticmusic circles in Chennai. A Fel-low of the Princeton Seminars inAdvanced Musical Studies in thelate 1950s, he pursued a success-ful career in New York as a com-poser with performances atCarnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre,Town Hall, and Tanglewood.Drawn to Indian classical musicand dance by the concerts ofRavi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan,K.V. Narayanaswamy, PalghatRaghu, and others, he studiedIndian philosophy, yoga, andSanskrit.

Coming to India in 1968

through a grant from theRockefeller Arts Foundation,David and his wife, photographerCarol Reck, moved to Madras, alife-changing decision. Davidstudied Carnatic music theoryand practice, specialising in play-ing the veena, learning from,among others, Kalpakkam Swa-minathan – at the CentralCollege of Carnatic music.

David Reck returned to theUnited States in 1971, earning aPh.D. in World Music fromWesleyan University, and join-ing the faculty of Amherst Col-lege as professor of Music andAsian Studies.

He continued veena lessons inthe US with Karaikudi S. Subra-manian and, in 1991, became astudent of Ranganayaki Rajago-palan, a disciple of KaraikudiSambasiva Iyer – Subramanian’sgrandfather and ‘founder’ of theKaraikudi bani or school of veenamusic – under a grant from theAmerican Institute of IndianStudies. A regular visitor toChennai for veena practice aswell as performances on the con-cert circuit, including kutcheris atthe Music Academy, he is a well-known author of books and ar-ticles on Carnatic music.

A survivor from cancer and aheart attack, Reck believes in thehealing qualities of Carnatic mu-sic and the veena.

Robert Edward Brown (1927-2005) was an ethnomusicologistcredited with coining the term“world music”. He was alsoknown for his recordings of mu-sic from Indonesia, which in-spired several musicians to studyIndonesian gamelan music.

Brown grew up in Clinton,New York, studied music theoryand piano at the Utica Conser-vatory. Playing the piano and or-gan and performing popular mu-sic with his own band BobbyBrown and His Swingsters throughhis youth, Brown started his doc-toral studies at UCLA as a pianomajor in 1953. He eventually re-ceived a doctorate in ethnomusi-

cology from UCLA. His disserta-tion was titled “The Mridanga: AStudy of Drumming in SouthIndia.” In 1964, Brown foundedthe world music/ethnomusico-logy programme at Wesleyan.

One of the organisers of theAmerican Society for EasternArts (ASEA), Brown alsofounded the Centre for WorldMusic in 1973. He remainedpresident of the organisationuntil his death and bequeathedhis extensive collection of instru-ments, recordings, books, paint-ings and artefacts to the Univer-sity of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-paign. The Robert E. BrownCentre for World Music openedthere in April 2008.

How did the interest inCarnatic music take root in theWest? Hindustani music spreadthere mainly through the effortsof Ravi Shankar and Ali AkbarKhan, though there had beenothers before them. Possibly thefirst Carnatic musician to makea major appearance in the USwas the iconic vocalist M.S.Subbulakshmi. Her most cele-brated concerts in America wereat the United Nations GeneralAssembly (1966) and CarnegieHall (1967).

After her UN concert, TheNew York Times said: “Subbu-lakshmi’s vocal communicationtranscends words. The cliche ofthe voice used as an instrumentnever seemed more appropriate.It could fly flutteringly or carryon a lively dialogue with theaccompanists. Subbulakshmiand her ensemble are a revela-tion to Western ears. Their re-turn can be awaited only with ea-gerness.”

Dr. W. Adriaansz, Professorof Music, University of Washing-ton, wrote, “For many, theconert by Mrs. Subbulakshmimeant their first encounter withthe music of Sourth India and itwas extremely gratifiying that inher the necessary factors for thebasis of a successful contact be-tween her music and a new audi-ence – highly developed artistryas well as stage presence – wereso convincingly present ... with-out any doubt (she) belongs tothe best representations of thismusic.”

The late James Rubin, a closeassociate of MS and her family,was an American who travelledto India several times to attendthe annual music festival at Ma-dras. Rubin who, with the helpof C.V. Narasimhan, Under-Sec-

Matthew Allen

David Reck Robert Edward Brown

retary of the UN, arranged MS’sUN concert and two coast-to-coast tours of the US, donatedhis impressive collection of In-dian classical – mainly Carnatic– music to the Archive of WorldMusic, Eda Kuhn Loeb MusicLibrary, Harvard College Library,Harvard University.

No account of Americans in-terested in and performingCarnatic music can be completewithout mention of the risingnumber of young Americans ofIndian origin, born and broughtup in the US – many of them

speaking no Indian language –who are making rapid strides asmusicians and dancers. Thehugely popular festivals of SouthIndian classical music and dance,such as the Cleveland and SanDiego festivals, annually show-case some of this outstanding tal-ent along with some of the lead-ing lights in the field from India.The dedication of these firstgeneration Americans is to beseen to be believed. They mustbe among the best products ofIndo-American cooperation.(Courtesy: Sruti)

Kalki Krishnamurti occupiesan eminent place in the an-

nals of Tamil literature and jour-nalism. A trendsetter in racyTamil prose, his vast literary out-put included all categories of lit-erature, except drama. He alsoraised the status of Tamil jour-nalism. He was a connoisseur ofthe performing arts. His critiquesof music and dance recitals ap-peared in Ananda Vikatan and,later from 1931, in Kalki. His re-ports were unbiased and humor-ous and were eagerly anticipatedby music lovers.

A commemorative postagestamp was issued on Krishna-murti on September 9, 1999 tomark his birth centenary. Thepostage stamp and First DayCover designs depicted theauthor against the backgournd ofvisualisations from his works –Ponniyin Selvan (stamp) and AlaiOsai (FDC); the latter won himthe Sahitya Akademi Award.

Ramaswamy Aiyar Krishna-murti was born on numericallyinteresting day 9.9.99 in Putha-mangaslam village, Tanjore dis-trict. After primay education inhis village, he joined NationalCollege School, Trichy, but leftit after three years to join thefreedom movement.

In 1922 he underwent im-prisonment for the first timewhile serving twelve months inTrichy jail. There he met an-other young political prisoner, T.Sadasivam, who was to becomehis life-long friend and associate.On release, he worked as a clerkin the Congress office, where hemade acquaintance with C.Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), thenGeneral Secretary of the IndianNational Congress. Krishna-murti was to accept him as hismentor and worship him as ahero trrougout his life.

Krishnamurti moved to Ma-dras, and in October 1923 joinedNavasakti, a magazine devoted tonationalism, as a sub-editor. Itwas there he learned the alpha-bet of journalism from its editor,

� by S. Sankaranarayanan

V. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar(Tiru Vi Ka), who was a scholarand essayist. Krishnamurti alsowrote regular columns, adoptinga style that approached the spo-ken form. In March 1924 he gotmarried. Four years later, he leftNavasakti as he found the salaryinsufficient to manage a family.

Towards the end of 1931 hejoined S.S. Vasan’s AnandaVikatan as its editor. Besides writ-ing the editorials, he also con-tributed short stories and serials.In a matter of two years,

Krishnamurti made AnandaVikatan the largest circulatedhome magazine in Tamil. Hewrote under the pen name of‘Kalki’, which became so popularthat thenceforth he came to beknown by that name.

Kalki started writing reviewsof music and dance recitals aswell as of records in his columnAadal Paadal under the paseu-donym ‘Karnatakam’. His writ-ings were laced with humour. (Acollection of his articles in AadalPaadal was brought out in a bookform Kalki Kalanjiyam, by Vana-thi Publications.)

One strong thread that ran

through his writings on musicwas his intense love for TamilIsai. In the beginning of 1941,Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar,R.K. Shanmugam Chetty and afew other eminent personslaunched the Tamil Isai Move-ment – a campaign for the inclu-sion of more Tamil songs in mu-sic concerts held in Tamil Nadu.Along with T.K. Chidam-baranatha Mudaliar (TKC),Kalki took an active part in lead-ing the movement. He wieldedhis powerful pen to create publicopinion in its favour. The bookSangeeta Yogam, another Vanathipublication, contains Kalki’s ar-ticles on Tamil Isai.

In 1941 Kalki resigned fromAnanda Vikatan to join the ‘indi-vidual satyagraha’ movement.He was arrested and imprisonedfor three months. In August thatyear, Krishnamurti launched afortnightly with financial aid andmanagerial support from hisfriend T. Sadasivam. As Kalkiwas already known by his pseud-onym, he gave that name to thenew magazine. Kalki was an in-stant success. In 1944, it wasmade a weekly. In a compara-tively short time the magazine’scirculation increased manifold.

Kalki continued writing reviewsof the performing arts in themagazine. It is said that he usedas many as 13 pen names for hisarticles on different subjects.

Through his columns, Kalkiled a crusade against drinking,untouchability, superstitions, op-pression of women, and otherdecadent practices in Brahminfamilies of those days. He alsoreviewed plays and films. His filmreviews were a class by them-selves.

The thirteen years that hespent with Kalki saw Krishna-murti at his creative best. Hisprodigious literary output in-cluded more than a hundredshort stories, nearly twenty nov-els and novelettes, hundreds ofarticles on a variety of subjects,and innumerable reviews of mu-sic concerts, dance recitals, dra-mas and films. Most of his shortstories, serial novels and histori-cal romances turned out to bemasterpieces.

Kalki took an active part inmany public activities. I notehere some of the more importantones. In 1935, he organised thecelebration of the 80th birthdayof Mahamahopadhyaya U.Ve.Swaminatha Aiyar. The appella-

tion ‘Tamizh Thatha’ (GrandOld Man of Tamil), by whichSwaminatha Aiyar later came tobe known, was given by Kalki inan editorial in Ananda Vikatanon the eve of that event. Kalkialso played a leading role in thefirst literary festival organised inhonour of Kamban at his birth-place. Kalki was also responsiblefor erecting the Bharati Memo-rial mandapam for SubramaniaBharati at his birthplace inEttayapuram.

All the songs but one sung byM.S. Subbulakshmi in Meera(1945) were written by Kalki.The music was set by S.V.Venkataraman.

A Kalki song which needsspecial mention is Desa sevaiseyya vareer for the filmTyagabhoomi (1939) directed byK. Subrahmanyam. The film wasbased on a novel by Kalki andserialised in Ananda Vikatan. Thepatriotic song was sung by D.K.Pattammal. The response thatthe film and the song generatedled to the film being banned bythe government.

In October 1954, Kalki suf-fered a severe asthma attack andhad to be hospitalised for twoweeks. The following month hesuffered a heart attack fromwhich he did not fully recover.He passed away on December 5,1954. He was only 55.

Announcing his demise, TheHindu observed: “Krishnamurti,as a writer, was among the wid-est read in this part of the coun-try. His novels bore the imprintof a vivid, romantic imaginationwhich could plan a story on avast scale, and a mastery of stylewhich could keep the reader in-terested from the first page to thelast.”

All periodicals brought outspecial issues dedicated to Kalki.Ananda Vikatan too published amemorial issue and, as a uniquehomage to its former editor, itcontinued to publish select writ-ings of his every week for one fullyear. Kalki was instrumental inchiselling a generation of suc-cessful humorous writers.

Kalki left this world six de-cades ago, but he lives on in themagazine which bears his name,and in his immortal creations likeSivakamiyin Sapatham, ParthibanKanavu, Ponniyin Selvan, AlaiOsai and Kalvanin Kadali.(Courtesy: Sruti)

Kalki Krishnamurti

The Kalki memorial stamp with aPonniyin Selvan background.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2014

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period May 16th to31st. Questions 11 to 20 pertainto Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Which video by an Asian artisterecently became the first video toreach two billion views onYouTube?

2. The heads of which three coun-tries have signed a treaty to formthe ‘Eurasian Economic Union’?

3. How did two Indian-Americanteenagers, Sriram Hathwar andAnsun Sujoe, make news recently?

4. In which African nation didscientists recently announce thediscovery of a remote mine the sizeof England?

5. In a big deal, Apple Inc. has paid$3 billion to buy which popularheadphone and music-streamingservice co-founded by rapperDr. Dre?

6. Russia and China recentlyvetoed a UN Security Councilresolution that would have askedthe International Criminal Court toinvestigate war crimes in whichembattled Asian country?

7. How is the ‘Congregation of thePeople of Tradition for Proselytismand Jihad’, which is wreaking havocon ideological grounds in Nigeria,Niger, Cameroon, Chad, etc. betterknown?

8. Name the world-famous Afri-can-American author, poet,dancer, and singer, known for herfirst book I Know Why the CagedBird Sings, who passed away on May28th.

9. To what sensitive and strategicpost has the former chief of IB, AjitDoval, been appointed?

10. Name the new index, launchedby Asia Index, that comprises thetop 30 companies based on marketcapitalisation from five sectors(Energy, Transportation, Non-Banking Financial Institutions,Telecommunications, and Utili-ties).

* * *

11. Apart from the Puzhal prison,where in Chennai can you shop atthe outlets of ‘Freedom PrisonBazar’?

12. Where in Mylapore can youpray at the chapel named after St.Rita and built by the Armenians?

13. Which knight, a VC of the Uni-versity of Madras, was the firstrecipient of an honorary doctoratefrom the University. It was a Doc-tor of Law degree awarded in 1908.

14. Which institution startedfunctioning at Locock’s Garden,Kilpauk, from May 1871?

15. What name would connectfamous film-maker Shakti Samantato the popular drive-in theatre‘Prarthana’?

16. The name of which buildinglocated on the Marina wouldroughly translate to ‘essence ofgrace’?

17. What once stood where PrinceKushal Towers is on Mount Road?

18. What claim to fame does Ben-jamin Schultze, a German Luthe-ran, have with regard to Madras’religious fabric?

19. Which prominent place’s namein Madras derives from an amalgamof sodium chloride and the Teluguword for ‘godown’?

20. What is the present name ofEsplanade Road?

(Answers on page 7)

A member ofthe I.A.S.

THREAT TO GNP

ESSAY

� by Prema Nandakumar

I have often been fascinatedby the Street Frame. May be it

is because it is S.K. Chettur’sbook, The Street Frame and I,most of which was filled withnarration of funny incidentsthat had happened in his offi-cial life. Having joined the In-dian Civil Service in 1939, hehad to work with a good num-ber of British bureaucrats whoenjoyed hunting tigers, pan-thers and bears. He reports ofthe superiority complex of theseofficers. However, Chettur him-self was not free of the weaknessas when he ordered the pullingdown of a pandal put up inKalpathi (Kerala) at RamaDhyana Matom during 1939 forthe Tyagaraja aradhana. Whenthe solemn function was goingon presided over by seniorvidwans, Chettur attended thefunction with his wife. Half waythrough, he started smoking. Ayoung man politely objected tothis, but Chettur went on withhis smoking and, after returninghome, ordered the demolitionof the pandal which had beenput up after getting due permis-sion from the municipal au-thorities. I guess, as Lord Ac-tion said, power tends to cor-rupt even the most civilised be-ing. The Kalpathi citizenscouldn’t do a thing about it ex-cept lament vociferously. This ispower.

All the same, in my youngerdays, the IAS remained a fasci-nating term. Parents looked foran IAS boy, if they had plentyof money to give as dowry fortheir daughter. Parents puffed

up with pride if their son hadcleared the IAS. They beganthe great adventure of choosinga bride who would be as beauti-ful as Venus and as rich asCroesus. A day came when mybrother, who had done his post-graduation, hesitantly asked myfather whether he could goahead with IAS coachingclasses. “What for?” “To be-come a Collector, Appa, and Icould do such good work for thepeople.” “Really?” came thevoice from the depths of the

easy-chair. “You will end upopening the car doors for thisand that politician. With yourflair for teaching, it is better youtake to an academic life.”

And that is what happened.Meanwhile, I had not dared tomention my thoughts to my fa-ther, but I had some romanticnotions of the Steel Frame too.Not as married to one, but as anIAS officer myself. After all, justa few years earlier the firstwoman had joined the IAS andI had read avidly how AnnaRajan George from Kerala hadbecome a SDO in Tamil Nadu.But I kept silent; surely therewould be another birth, and Iwill become an IAS officer.

We are told that intense as-piration does bring down theanswering grace sooner thanlater. But what form it will take,we have no idea.

Recently I met a dear friendin one of our well-endowed cit-ies. She was the devoted motherof six children and had seenthem through the rising tiers ofthe Indian educational system.I was leisurely choosing somescarves in a wayside shop whenSujji’s unmistakable screechmade me look up. “Hey, Burru!

Long time no see, but you havenot changed at all. Same olddrumstick figure!” Before Iknew where I was on thecrowded pavement of NehruStreet, I had been enveloped inthe embrace of the inimitableSarojini. I took in her magnifi-cent sequin-rich saree and thevariety of bangles and rings andnecklaces that adorned her andthe very stylish shoes which hadpink pom-poms bobbing awayas she dragged me up the stairsof a nearby restaurant.

I shuddered. But before Icould voice my fears, Sujji as-sured me that she was staying inthat Hotel Agni for a brief stayto offer pranams to her family

guru. Before I knew what washappening, I was set up in achair and found an Aerial’sFeast. Sujji filled my plate witha kilo of gajjar halwa, somekichidi and a couple of jalebis,not to mention guava juice. Iprotested. Suppose my husbandshould see his Burru, aliasBrihadkuchambal, sitting inthis expensive hotel, he mightthink his ancient wife had gonemad. I slithered in my seatwhich was a replica of the Pea-cock Throne (the entire roomwas in peacock motif) and mut-tered that I just would not beable to share the bill as I did inolden days where we bothwould go to a wayside eateryand order ourselves a couple ofdahi vadas. That was an unpar-alleled luxury for us.

“Who is asking you to share?It is my treat!” Sujji laughed. “Iam no more the Sujji you know,managing to run a house wihneedle-and-thread in hand torepair all those hand-me-downs. All children are grownup and I have joined the IAS...”

“IAS?”“Yes. Pappu and Sweetie are

both in Minneapolis. Yes, it getsto be very wintry there but,then, that is where the pay ishigh, they say. What do I know?Rajan and Ranjan are in Mus-cat, of course. Remember myson Sahasranamam? Sahasu inSaudi. Can you believe it? Buthe is the highest earning mem-ber. The last one? Yes, Shivvi,she is the only one in India andis in Chennai. Her husband is aglobe-trotting IT person. I amso happy that they are all fine,need me and so I am now in theIAS.”

“Oh! But you are past retire-ment age....”

“Aw, where is retirement inthis Indian Ayah Service?* I dothe rounds to Muscat, Minne-apolis and Saudi to look afterthe grandchildren. The chil-dren keep my purse filled up. Itis good Shivvi is in India. I amable to squeeze in a fortnightnow and then to come and havemasala dosai at Hotel Agni andmango pickle special in Restau-rant Satyavageeswara. Howabout some ice cream toppedwith Sharad grapes now?”

With her green-and-blueConjeevaram silk unfurled atthe zari pallu, Sujji looked acolourful goddess on her pea-cock mount. I began to chewthe exclusive Sharad grapes …so firm, so blue, so true!” (Cour-tesy: Sri Aurobindo’s Action)

*Editor’s Note: There’s a differ-ent version of this, the IAAS.And that’s the Indian Ayah andAduppadi (Kitchen) Service!

(Continued from page 1)

Indian Institute of Techno-logy’s (IIT) facilities. The IITcame up on land carved out ofthe GNP in the 1950s. Thoughit was walled off in the 1980s, ithas always been understoodthat the Raj Bhavan campus,the IIT campus and the GNPare one integrated natural pre-serve with any deforestation inone having a detrimental effecton the whole.

IIT Madras has for the pastfew years had expansionprojects put on hold due to itslocation within the GNP area.The MOEF’s 2011 regulationsstipulate that buffer zones be setup around reserve forests to actas shock absorbers betweenareas of high protection andthose where normal develop-ment can take place. The IITfalls within a buffer zone andhas, therefore, not been able togo ahead, with the MOEF stall-ing its proposals.

Last year, in a bid toobviously help the IIT, theState Government wrote to theMOEF suggesting that thebuffer zone around GNP beeliminated completely. Thereason given was that there wasno area around the GNP forcreating such a buffer. The IITis all for it, with its Directorgoing on record to state thatany development on thecampus would have no impacton the GNP because “we arecompletely walled off” – anamusing explanation from thehead of an institution meant topromote science and technol-ogy.

The MOEF has in turnasked for the views of thePrincipal Chief Conservator ofForests (PCCF) for his views onthe subject. In the meanwhile,the Special Secretary (Forests)of the State Government haswritten to the PCCF statingthat in the light of the stancetaken by the Government in2013 that the buffer zone be

done away with, a nod may begiven to IIT to go ahead with itsplans.

These developments havehad wildlife activists up in arms.They point out that the entirearea is one ecosystem and sucha move will be detrimental inthe long run. The presence ofthe highly endangered black-buck in the area is also to beconsidered, they add.

The battle is one that prom-ises to be long drawn. It is alsotypical of what is happening allover the country, with those infavour of development in themodern sense coming intoconflict with the environment.What is surprising is that aninstitution like the IIT is notable to come up with a creativesolution that will solve its pro-blems and at the same time notharm nature. Can it not thinkout of the box, thereby evolvinga paradigm that other institu-tions located the world over insimilar natural preserves canfollow?

June 16-30, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Nostalgia

Car loan for the asking

� Looking back at banks, loans and Heraldsat a time when the Ambassador

has just said ‘goodbye’

After a couple of years atMadras Christian College,

I entered the profession of jour-nalism in 1962. It was the pre-nationalisation era of classbanking.

Small, especially new, busi-nesses had no access to fundingby commercial banks. In thatera, banks were essentially acollection entity. They used tocollect financial instruments,charge for the service andstrictly no over-drawing waspermitted.

I had stabilised the businessventure that included thepublication of the transportmonthly Mobile, a bi-monthlyfor two-wheelers Trade Wheel,and a Tamil monthly CycleSeidhi. I launched IndustrialEconomist as a fortnightlybusiness journal from Southin March 1968 and beganphasing out the smaller publica-tions.

I was getting ready to gradu-ate to a four-wheeler. My bank,the second largest at that time,would have nothing to do withthat. I approached the Managerof Indian Bank, T’ Nagar, A.P.Anantharaman. He said onlythe head office could decide.

In the pre-nationalisationera, the chief executive of thebank was all-powerful Secre-tary, with the Chairman nothandling executive functions. Irang up the Secretary of IndianBank, Balachandran, andsought an appointment. Hesuggested 11 a.m. the next day.

I reached the Indian Bankhead office in the Indian Cham-ber building, Esplanade, tenminutes ahead and greeted himin his stately room.

Balachandran returned thegreeting and motioned me to sitdown. I submitted: “I am inter-ested in buying a Standard Her-ald car priced at a little over Rs.18,000. Here is the invoice fromUnion Motors. I need a termloan of Rs. 12,000 repayable infour years at a monthly instal-

ment of Rs. 250. I can payRs. 6,000 as margin money andalso the monthly interest.

“The bank releases adver-tisements worth Rs. 3000 annu-ally in Industrial Economist andso, not much of risk isinvolved.”

The Secretary looked at mefor a minute and said: “Take it!”

I thanked him. Before I wasback at my office, Anantha-raman had already telephonedtwice. In an excited voice, hesaid that the Secretary hadinstructed him to hand over thecheque. At the time, I didn’teven have an account with thebank!

The next morning, I openedthe current account, depositedthe margin money and collectedthe full payment for the car in amatter of a few minutes. I thenmildly enquired whether I couldalso ask for an overdraft for amodest Rs. 5000. Anantha-raman sanctioned it instantly!

This development was justbefore the nationalisation of the14 major banks on July 19,1969. Nationalisation markedthe transformation from classbanking to mass banking.

The 1970s witnessed a spec-tacular expansion: banks wenton a recruitment spree invitingyoung, qualified men andwomen on a scale not witnessedearlier. The nepotism and thelack of professionalism wit-nessed before gave way to sys-tem-based recruitment. Thenew generation of staff was firedby a spirit of reaching out. I re-member the Monthly ServiceAgency division of Bank ofBaroda manned by young menconstantly on the move toreach out to segments till thenunreached. Small businesses,

agriculturalists, street vendorsof vegetables and other suchwere provided bank loans forthe first time! Small barbershops received big faceliftsthrough modest loans for decor,special chairs and simple tools.

Of course, the course wasnot smooth. There were stickyloans and accumulation of non-performing assets. Some bankswere also involved in scams.

But the two decades afternationalisation witnessed spec-tacular expansion and reach.Large sections of the populationtill then unable to access bankcredit, were wooed and pro-vided loans.

In our own case, the growthwas possible thanks to the pri-ority status accorded to thesmall sector and the availabilityof bank funding on modestterms. In the 1970s, we tookover a dozen loans for import-ing printing machinery and alsofor acquisition of equipmentfrom within the country. Wecould also access funding for avariety of our needs – machin-ery, margin money for land andbuildings, cars, two-wheelers,computer systems, etc.

The opening up of theeconomy in the 1990s broughtabout fundamental changes notall of them beneficial to thesmall and medium sectors. Im-portantly, the sector lost its pri-ority status, lower rates of inter-est enjoyed by the sector com-pared to the large sector van-ished. While the large sectorcould access funding from themarket, from the foreignsources and numerous other av-enues, the SME sector couldnot do so. We witnessed a pe-culiar paradox: large companiescould borrow with interest at

rates much lower than theprime lending rate of bankswhile for the small sector it wasoften PLR plus up to 4 per cent.One witnessed the large sectoraccessing loan at 6 per cent asagainst a small unit being ex-tended loans at 16 per cent. Yetthe small sector is still describedas part of the priority sector.

The years since 1998 wit-nessed a spectacular expansionof retail lending. This in turntriggered demand for housing,cars, higher education... Theaggressive entry of Indian com-mercial banks with the lowerrates of interest edged outstrong international players.

However, commercial bank-ing is still predominantly in thepublic sector ensuring securityof the assets. But, the systemsuffers from the lack of an ag-gressive and competitive func-tioning is. The rates and prac-tices are uniform with little lee-way for differentiation. Thepublic sector culture of a slowgrind and bureaucratic func-tioning are still major charac-teristics. Technology inductionis high, but management prac-tices are still archaic. Most im-portantly, transaction costs arehigh.

Through the last 50 years, Ihave seen massive changes. Yetthe penetration level is still low.A high portion of monetarytransactions is still by cash, con-tributing to tax evasion andgeneration of humongous quan-tities of black money. It is com-mon to see in large jewelleryshops in T’ Nagar transactionsof several lakhs of rupees con-cluded in cash. (Courtesy:Industrial Economist)

– S. Viswanathan

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Answers toQuiz

1. Psy’s Gangnam Style; 2. Rus-sia, Kazakhstan and Belarus;3. They jointly won the prestigious87th Scripps National Spelling Beein the USA; 4. Republic of theCongo; 5. Beats Electronics;6. Syria; 7. Boko Haram; 8. MayaAngelou; 9. National SecurityAdvisor; 10. India InfrastructureIndex.

* * *11. At the CMDA Office in

Egmore and near the SaidapetMetropolitan Magistrates’ Courts;12. San Thome school campus;13. Sir Subramania Iyer; 14. Insti-tute of Mental Health, Chennai;15. Aradhana, a theatre; 16.Ezhilagam; 17. ‘Alankar’; 18. In1726, he became the first Protes-tant missionary in Madras; 19. SaltCotaurs; 20. Netaji SubhasChandra Bose Road.

DAKSHINACHITRA

WORKSHOPS

For childrenJune 21: Decoupage – Paper Art

For adultJune 19 & 20: Glass Fusing

JewelleryJune 28: Athangudi Tile Making

* * *Till June 23: Exhibition of paint-

ings by Madhini Nirmal andChristeena Shaju (at AchalamArt Gallery).

Till July 25: The Sacred Space – anexhibition of sculptures andinstallations in a palette ofwhites by Pierre Legrand (atApparao Galleries).

Till July 30: The Horizon Line, anexhibition of paintings byAgathe Patil and Rajesh Patil (atSandy’s, Cenotaph Road) andRajesh Patil (at Sandy’s Nun-gambakkam).

Till July 30: 24/7/365, an exhibi-tion featuring N. Ramachan-dran, M. Siva, Farhan Mujib,Dhasan, Bhavna Sonawane andManish Nai (at The LeelaGalleria).

June 20-July 13: Photographyexhibition by Kushboo Bharti(at DakshinaChitra).

June 20-July 31: Exhibition onContemporary art from itsmuseum collection (at Dak-shinaChitra).

SAD, SAD TECH COLLEGES

for engineering colleges hasbeen coming down in the State.With Tamil Nadu being one ofthe most urbanised States of thecountry, there is increasingawareness of alternativeprofessional courses. Gone arethe days when engineering,medicine and CA were the only

three ‘respectable’ options.Add to this the fact thatincreased earnings in manymiddle class families meansparents are willing to send theirchildren abroad for even under-graduate courses. The costs mayappear daunting, but the childis at least assured of a goodeducation, appears to be thepopular view.

As a consequence of all this,the number of vacancies inengineering colleges in theState has been skyrocketing.The State has over two lakhseats on offer and last year sawaround 80,000 not beingtaken! This year, the figure isexpected to reach one lakh. Is itnot time to set the alarm bellsringing?

(Continued from page 1)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2014

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

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

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

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— A WELLWISHER

From Upper Indiato Madras

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share ourkeen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response torequests from many well-wishers – especially from outsideChennai and abroad who receive their postal copies very late– for an online edition. Madras Musings is now on the web atwww. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

The Chandhoks of Chennai – 1

� by R.V. Rajan

Most of the Punjabis andSindhis who have settled

in Madras came to the city asrefugees, post-Partition. TheChandhoks of Chennai weredifferent. Lalaji, an uncle ofIndu Chandhok, the presentpatriarch of the family, came toMadras in 1931 to open abranch of Upper India TradingCo. which was started in 1920in Rawalpindi (now in Paki-stan) where the family has itsorigin. Upper India was dealingwith automobile spare parts atthe time.

Indu’s father IndersainChandhok was sent to Madrasin 1934 to look after the branchwhich was then in Bharat Build-ing on Mount Road. As nobodycame to relieve him, Indersainwas forced to make Madras hishome. He was to leave an indel-ible impression on the Punjabissettled in Madras and also con-tributed extensively to the edu-cational and social sectors ofthe city.

From 1920 till World War II,Upper India dealt mainly withimported car parts from Japanand Germany. These were mar-

keted in India under the brandname ‘Auto Friend’ and wereavailable till the 1950s. TheCompany later marketed indig-enously produced car parts un-der the brand name ‘Carex’.Upper India became a trainingground for many future dealersof automobile spare parts inwhat is now Tamil Nadu.

With business doing well,Indersain decided to do some-thing to help the local Punjabicommunity bond better. Alongwith Nazeer Hussein, a leather

merchant, and Lt.Col.GurdialSingh Gill, IG of the Prisons, hestarted the Punjab Associationin 1938. Another well-knownPunjabi of the time, PremDhawan, Manager of UberoiSports, soon joined them intheir efforts. The MadrasPunjabis used to meet everySunday morning at Indersain‘ssprawling bungalow to playgames like badminton and en-joy a leisurely lunch. Sushila,Indersain’s wife, was not only acharming hostess but a socialactivist too. During the War,when there was shortage of fooditems, particularly rice, shetaught the locals how to usewheat in place of rice in a seriesof radio talks. She was also ac-tively involved in the commit-tee formed to help War veter-ans with medical and other re-quirements. The Punjabi refu-gees from Pakistan who, about5,000 in numbers, came to thecity after Partition through thewarm relationship between Lt.Col. Gill and Chief Minister C.Rajagopalachari who had, notso long before, been theformer’s prisoner, were alsogiven help to settle in Madrasand Coimbatore.

Meanwhile, Indersain alsoinvolved himself in a couple ofcommunity projects which wereto later become landmark insti-tutions in Chennai. He was oneof the Founder Trustees of theCancer Institute, Adyar,founded by the legendary Dr.Muthulakshmi, along with herson Dr. Krishnamoorthy,

Nanalal Bhat (of Corks India)and T.S. Santhanam (of TVS).

His next effort was to start aschool on behalf of the PunjabAssociation together with D.C.Malhotra, another prominentPunjabi settled in Madras. Theschool, Adarsh Vidyalaya, withHindi as its medium of educa-tion, was to become very popu-lar among the North Indianssettled in Madras. Located on aspacious property on Peter’sRoad (where the school stillflourishes) it had VishardaHoon, another Punjabi, as itsfounding Principal; she went onto become a prominent educa-tionist in India.

Indersain was an ardentArya Samajee and wouldorganise satsangs on weekendsat the school premises for devo-tees of Arya Samaj. When theSikh members of the PunjabAssociation objected to religionbeing brought into the school,Indersain, along with friendsJaidev and Satyadev, quit theAdarsh Vidyalaya committee tostart the Tamil Nadu EducationSociety. Under the auspices ofTES, the Dayanand AngloVedic (popularly known asDAV) School was started. Theteam persuaded T.S. Santha-nam of the TVS group, withwhom Indersain was close, todonate some land on Lloyd’sRoad, where the School still

stands. Balakrishna Joshi wasthe School’s first Principal.

Around this time, Indersainbecame associated with aproject to encourage campingin Madras. When WallaceForgie, a Canadian YMCAcamper, wanted to start a camp-ing facility near Madras, it wasIndersain along with W.R.G.Ratnam, F.B. Pithavadian andPitchandi, who together helped,the Canadian establish CampTonakela on a 15-acre site inAvadi bought for Rs. 15,000.They developed facilities forswimming and conducted resi-dential programmes with theobjective of providing campingexperiences to children to helpbuild character.

Indersain was associatedwith Tonakela till he died in1984. After him, his son Indutook over the Presidentship ofthe Camp. Currently, the campenables over 1000 schoolchil-dren from different schools toenjoy and learn from campingexperiences every month.

Indersain‘s biggest strengthwas his ability to silently net-work with the who’s who ofMadras. This ability enabledhim to raise funds easily for anyof the projects he was involvedin.

An ardent sports enthusiast,Indersain was a cricket and bad-minton buff. He was also fondof travelling by car on holidayswith his family. His businessdealings as a marketer of auto-mobile car parts also led him totake an interest in motor sportswhich was just beginning to putdown roots in India.

He would never have imag-ined that one day his secondson, Indu Chandhok, his grand-son Vicky, and great-grandsonKaran would put Madras on theinternational map of motorsports with their initiatives andachievements!

(To be continued)

Lala Indersain and Sushila.

Upper India’s Golden Jubilee inMadras in 1970.