WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXVI No. 1 April 16-30, 2016

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• The Nandi Hills Swamiji

• The Ryans & Rajaji

• Rameswaram & Sri Lanka

• Our lakes, once

The youth reach out to

Can Mylapore becomea heritage precinct?

(Continued on page 2)

(By The Editor)

The Mylapore Temple and Tank look beautiful in the picture above. But come closer and this is what you will see(below) behind the railings protecting the tank.

As it steps into its 26th year, Madras Musings is happy to findthat the maximum number of greetings and best wishes for its

continued existence has come in on social media – the preserve ofthe young. This makes us most happy for we believe that by mak-ing an impact on the next generation, we have carried forward theconcerns over heritage – both built and natural – as well as overour city to the guardians of the future. This by itself is a victory forus.

It was only in the last issue that we made it known that we as apublication have completed 25. Ever since then, we have receivedcountless messages on platforms such as Facebook and Twitterwishing us well. We have pub-lished some of these messageselsewhere in this issue (See page3). We thank every one of thesepeople and promise them thatwe will live up to their expecta-tions. At the same time, we alsoexpress our gratitude to theseyoung people who have dis-pelled the notion that concernsabout heritage and the city areexclusive to the elderly. This isa definite sign of changingtimes.

Let us take for instanceFacebook forums that discussour city. The Madras Local His-tory Group is perhaps the bestknown. The focus is chiefly onuploading photographs of ourcity’s past and the volume. Thevariety that has been dug upfrom various online and offlinesources is simply amazing. Thisremains one of the busiestgroups with uploads happeningall times of the day and night.Singara Chennai looks at vari-ous places in our city that addcolour, vibrancy and beauty.There are other groups that spe-cifically concentrate on wastereduction, environment andwater bodies. On the bloggingfront, there are numerous writ-ers who devote columns to theirareas of interest within the city– its arts environment, theatre,temples, and general city his-

(Continued on page 2)

Ask any tourist as to what isthe first destination he or

she has in mind when they visitour city and the MylaporeKapaliswarar Temple will mostlikely be the answer. For mostChennai residents, this rankshigh as a place of worship, asevinced by the vast numberswho throng the shrine on a dailybasis. On festival days the num-bers swell to unmanageable pro-portions. The shrine is main-tained well the year round andhas, in the last month, under-gone a spectacularly successfulconsecration.

Several crores are spent onits upkeep and deservedly so.Unfortunately, the same cannotbe said of its environs, to whichthe authorities and the generalpublic pay the least attention.The surroundings have de-graded terribly over the years.

The cultural quotient of theMylapore area ranks very high.

(By A Special Correspondent)

No other locality in Madras bet-ter symbolises the city’s its ethosand heritage. Adding aura is theMylapore Festival, unique in itsdesign and conduct. During thisfestival every January, the local-ity surrounding the templetransforms itself. It becomes abeehive of activity for thethronging crowd, which turnsits gaze towards valued memo-ries of the past, having funalongside. The same is true ofthe temple’s annual festival thattakes place in March/April.

The civic amenities aroundthe temple are no match for thecrowds. For disaster manage-ment during festive times, tem-porary measures are put inplace, with roads leading to thetemple blocked and a posse ofpolicemen posted to managethe crowd. Toilets and medicalhelp are woefully inadequate

MadrasMusings

2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2016

Youth reachesout to MM

What can we dofor Mylapore?

(Continued from page 1)

tory. Mention must also bemade of people like RamaswamiNallaperumal and R Shantaramwho add a photograph everyday to the World Wide Webfrom our city and have beendoing it for years.

The walks and tours are an-other success story. Gone arethe days when Mylapore orBeach Road was the only choicefor a heritage walk. Hundreds ofroutes have been mapped acrossthe city and, on any given day,chances are that a group of vol-unteers have set out for someunknown spot, making a picnicouting from it. The bulk ofthese people are young and ad-venturous.

Which brings us to this oft-quoted opinion of some peoplethat heritage is against progress.If that be so, what would thesepeople have to say about theyoung people who combine ex-citing, cutting edge jobs with apassion for searching out thepast? These are people who are

as enthusiastic about their workas they are in attending atemple or a beach festival andposting photographs about it onplatforms such as Instagram andPinterest. Are we to assumethat all of them are againstprogress?

These young persons onlystrengthen our basic philosophy– heritage and progress are notantithetic. They complementeach other and while it is nec-essary to look ahead, this neednot be done by wiping out thepast. Sadly, our political mastershave not yet woken up to thisfact. Not one party has evenmade a mention of heritageconservation in its manifesto forthe upcoming elections. Or ofhow to make Madras a bettercity. Today’s generation de-mands sensitivity and an all in-clusiveness and this can best bedemonstrated by adapting heri-tage to serve current needs aswe have maintained all along.The sooner those in power seethis, the better for our city.

(Continued from page 1)

even during normal times. Dur-ing the annual Arupathu-moovar festival, tonnes of gar-bage are produced, and theseneed to be cleared to make theroads usable for traffic again.The business establishments,ranging from high-end jewellersand restaurants to petty shopsselling a variety of series foradults as well as children, havemade North Mada Street acommercial hub. The shops putup on the temple tank’s periph-ery obscure its sight at theground level. Over the yearsmany of these makeshift shopshave become permanent. Thus,while the tank and tower makefor good emotional appeal, for agood view of either you need togo up the high rise structuresthat have, sadly, been allowedon the four streets.

Would it not be a good ideato convert the space in the pe-rimeter of the temple into aheritage quarter and call itTemple Square, or KapaliSquare, if you will? First, thefour Mada Streets should be offlimits to motorised vehicles. Forthe elderly and the disabled,electric cars can be made avail-able for mobility around thestreets. Second, hawkers onpavements and petty shops

should be removed from thesestreets and accommodated atspecifically earmarked spaces,making space on the roadsavailable for walkers and cy-clists. Third, all the commercialestablishments, especially onNorth and South Mada Streets,need to stop encroaching on thepavements. Fourth, now thatthe Corporation is in the pro-cess of installing mobile toiletsaround the city, the four MadaStreets need to have at least twoin each of them to maintainpublic hygiene.

A closer view of the templetank will reveal that it has apromenade on its inner periph-ery, at least along the south,west and north faces. Whenfirst planned, this appears tohave been a walkway with or-namental light posts that stillsurvive.

What has since happened isthat these paths are cut off byhigh fences and converted intorubbish tips. Can these not beopened for public use?

It is high time the adminis-tration begins thinking of howit can transform Mylapore intoa model that other localitiessuch as Triplicane, Tiru-vottriyur, Tiruvanmiyur andPurasawalkam, all built aroundtemples, can follow.

And so, Chief, here we are,on our 25th anniversary.

Congratulations to you. Asseveral in the city and else-where acknowledge, had it notbeen for you, we would nothave become so conscious ofour heritage – or our city.Those in administration, fromwhat The Man from MadrasMusings understands, alsoagree to this, only they arerather petulant about it. Theirattitude to heritage has alwaysbeen akin to what Henry II feltabout Thomas Becket if yourecall. And MMM must saythey have been doing a greatjob of ridding themselves of allheritage buildings. Fortu-nately, the city is still with no.

But be that as it may,MMM would like to join in thechorus of congratulations. Onthis occasion, MMM wouldalso like to remember, Chief,your own good lady, who al-ways took a keen interest inmatters pertaining to MadrasMusings. She it was, you willrecollect, who would alwaysnotice when we made a mis-take in the issue number of ourpublication and both you andMMM would tie themselvesinto knots in response and per-spire freely from every pore.And that brings MMM to thequarter million dollar ques-tion, Chief: Are you quite sureit is our silver jubilee? Nochance of any errors in num-ber? All right, Chief, you canrelax, it was only a rhetoricalquestion and one that MMMowed your good lady. We haveover the years, after all, beenvery factual except when itcomes to our dates. Rememberthe time Chief when we pub-lished the date of some eventin the Dates for Your Diarysection as February 30? MMMbelieves that a group of ourfaithful readers is still out theresomewhere lost in a calendar,trying to locate the venue.

But then again, it feels asthough it was only yesterdaythat all of us embarked on thisjourney, led by you. In all thethanks that you poured forth,Chief, in the last issue you for-got one significant contributor– namely the postman and hisDepartment of Posts. They tooin MMM’s view deserve ourgratitude, though we havelooked askance at their meth-ods of delivery. But it cannotbe denied that amidst flood,sunshine and heat, they haveborne aloft our MM and en-sured it reached its wide read-ership. Talking about them al-ways makes MMM laugh – forit was they who ensured wemade our free magazine into apaid one. And it was ratherbefitting, Chief, that they flunga rather moth eaten Act, onethat pertained to the 1800s, anera that our publication israther fond of, to tell us thatwe could not circulate freely!We did change thereafter andour faithful readership did notmind forking out some money.

And so here’s to you, Chief,and the beloved publication.May there be Golden, Dia-

mond and Platinum Jubileesand after that centennial, ses-quicentennial and quasqui-centennial celebrations. MMMhas reached the limit of thewords he knows for landmarkanniversaries, Chief, but he issure that Madras Musings willlast for many years after theseas well. And so, ladies andgentlemen, a toast, to our dearChief and our Madras Musings!As these are days when prohi-bition is being thought of,MMM raises his glass of butter-milk in a toast. Or should heopt for palm toddy? On thathappy note, let us proceed toother matters.

Electoral round-up

Ever since the electoral codeof conduct kicked in, every

one of our political parties is onits best behaviour. There areno posters or graffiti disfiguringwalls and no cut-outs andhoardings line the routes the

Down Silver Jubilee Lanehappens to be the local LordBountiful, practising his chari-ties with an eye on popularity.For several afternoons he setup a water and buttermilk dis-pensing pavilion that also fea-tured a high decibel music sys-tem that belted out songs inpraise of the One GreatLeader. The thirsty hordesflocked to the pavilion anddrank to their fullest. But thenwhen the party list of candi-dates was published MMMnoticed that his neighbour wasnot on it. The pavilion wastaken down and the servicesdispensed with. MMM pre-sumes that the buttermilk ofhuman kindness had turnedsour.

Sour reminds MMM of fer-mentation and that in turnbrings to his mind the stuffthat cheers. It appears that allparties in the fray have decidedthat imposing Prohibition isgoing to be their chief electoralpromise. It looks like the Stateis all set to go dry no matterwho comes to power and bythat MMM does not mean thewater crisis. MMM wonderswhat will happen to the vastpopulace that has come tolook upon its daily tipple as amatter of right. Perhaps theywill all go on the wagon andonce on it will direct it towardsthe erstwhile French colonythat is our neighbour as theydid in the past when Prohibi-tion was imposed. MMM issure there will be lot more ma-terial for this column in themonths to come.

But if the fluid that oilselectoral machinery goes dry,what will aid the digestion ofthe other electoral offering –biriyani?

Animal-loving poet

The Man from MadrasMusings is aware that very

few facts are available aboutour State’s sage who gave usthree books in ancient time –on duties, piety and love. Eventhe former Governor of aneastern State who has penneda wonderful book of transla-tions of the poet’s work admitsthat his personal life, and bythat MMM means the poet’sand not the Governor’s, is aclosed book. MMM is happy toreport that he (poet notGovernor) loved animals, asevinced by the accompanyingphotograph. On that happynote, a Happy Tamil NewYear’s Day to all. Or is that onJanuary 14th? That dependson who is elected on May16th.

– MMM

leaders take to office. Ofcourse, The Man from MadrasMusings is fairly certain thatthese people must be sorelymissing these eulogies and pan-egyrics, but then that is theprice to pay to have a job thatrequires a renewal of contractevery five years. There is oth-erwise very little else to com-plain about these modes of‘gainful’ employment.

The police are in full swingchecking all cars in the city.MMM too was stopped in adark thoroughfare and asked toopen the boot of his vehicle.MMM’s friend, who is of acheery disposition, asked theforce if they would care to takea selfie with MMM and himselfto which the lady officer incharge smiled graciously andsaid that would be done any-way if cash was found in thecar. MMM duly opened theboot to find that this was theday when his good lady (alsoknown as She Who Must BeObeyed) had placed what ap-peared to be a hundred differ-ent bags in the boot, includingher handbag. Now MMM’swallet is never known for con-taining anything more thansmall change but with his goodlady it was an entirely differentmatter altogether and so it waswith a silent prayer that MMMwatched the officers search.But the number of bags provedtoo much of a deterrent andhaving taken onelook at MMMand friend theyopted to shut theboot and wavethe car on.

There aremany hopefulsdoing the roundsfor a party ticket.So too did aneighbour ofMMM’s who

SHORT

’N’

SNAPPY

April 16-30, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Why change the nameof Madras High Court?

A memorable description

The Centre last year had announced that itwanted to change the name of the Madras

High Court to Chennai High Court, and it islearnt that the Government may introduce leg-islation in Parliament soon to achieve this ob-jective. The reason most widely proffered (aswas done when changing the name of the cityfrom Madras to Chennai in 1996) is that thenames have to be de-anglicised. But by chang-ing the name to Chennai we may not be doingthat at all.

The Centre, therefore, before placing the billin Parliament would do well to refer to certainkey issues to a select committee and examinethe following aspects. Beginning with the his-torical reference to the region, there is enoughprima facie records to establish that the areawhere Francis Day and Andrew Cogan landedwas called “Medraspattam”. The renaming wasdone at the insistence of the native chieftainDamarla Venkatapathy Nayak, who sold theBritish a strip of land owned. Nayak is believedto have extracted a promise that the Britishtown should be named after his father DamalChennappa Nayak. Hence the settlement thatgrew around Fort St George came to be calledChennaipattinam.

This theory gains greater acceptance whenwe peruse the “firman” (a written permissiongranted by an appropriate authority) granted byDamarla Venkatapathy Nayak to Francis Daywhere Medraspatam is clearly mentioned as theland where the British were allowed to settle.The grant was mentioned in the book called TheEnglish Factories in India (1618-1699). Threeoriginal and the copies of the grant are also pre-served in the India Office at London and arereferred to by C S Srinivasachari, Professor atAnnamalai University in his book History ofCity of Madras published in 1939.

In another recent discovery, epigraphists SRajvelu and Y Subbarayalu, while editing a bookon the Vijayanagar inscriptions published byICHR, observed that Medraspatnam was a smallport that existed north of latter day Fort StGeorge before the 19th Century. Evidence tosupport this assertion lies in an inscriptionfound in Penneswaramadam on the banks of thePennar to the south of Kaveripattinam.

Therefore in changing Madras to Chennaiwe do not appear to be paying homage to anyaspect of our cultural legacy.

N.L. Rajah(Advocate, Madras High Court)

� The way the West Indies won the World T20 title left every-one watching the game gasping. The wordsmiths went ga-ga overit. But none more so than a writer in The Guardian, London,according to S.R. Madhu who sent us the whole report. It’s toolong to carry here, but the first paragraphs, published below,will give you a taste of things to come.

– Editor

“Swinging for the hills, reaching the starsWonderfully devastating, hideously marvellous, beautifully

grotesque, savagely delightful, the final moments of theTwenty20 World Cup were ludicrously, inconceivably,awesomely dramatic. The final’s finale was undeniably viciousbut also, for all that, gorgeous, like standing in front of VanGogh’s Starry Night when it suddenly develops arms and fistsand clobbers your helpless self about the head, leaving youdazed and bewildered, dribbling senselessly on the floor,wracked simultaneously by pain and – weirdly, unfathomably –exhilaration.

Beyond boggling at the cool-headed brutality of CarlosBrathwaite’s batting and its possible effect on the psyche ofBen Stokes, this more than anything was an opportunity togenuflect before the glory of sport. It would have been a memo-rable, dramatic match even if, as had seemed likely whenStokes and Eoin Morgan stood in deep discussion near thebowler’s mark following Chris Jordan’s excellent penultimateover, West Indies had batted out the final deliveries and fallenjust short of their moderate target. But this match was notdestined just to be admired. There was another twist to come,the twist of a serrated knife.”

Wishing MM well – I

Little did I realize that Madras Musings is in its 25th

year. Great news.I warmly greet the journal

and its dedicated readers andcongratulate the Editors on thisoccasion.

MM has remained commit-ted to honesty and frankness onthe one hand and to the pastand present (and future?) ofMadras, a city and an ex-State[the ‘Presidency’, I say so be-cause the State is Tamil Naduat present] of chequered, butfascinating, history.

While subscribing to mod-esty, MM has encouraged andsupported many enthusiasticyoung women and men of Ma-dras to think about their cityand, thus, has served the com-munity as an avenue for themto vocalise their thoughts.

In this process, MM has notonly enabled several to greatlyimprove their communicationskills, but also has prevailed as aliberated voice of the region.

I could be listing more ofthis, since I am proud that I amone of the readers of MM fromDay One, and am continuing toenjoy reading it.

I wish the Editors all the bestin the future and wish the jour-nal many happy returns of theday.

I also wish that it will con-tinue to serve the people of

@tweets_cs: Congratulations.Wishing many many moreyears of Madras Musings.

@R_Ajay_: Heartiest con-gratulations!! Absolutelylove your work. Got to knowso much about Madrashere.

@Venkav4: CongratulationsMadras Musings! Appealingto every generation, you area wonderful publication.

@fabwrite: Congrats!! That'sone fortnightly I look forwardto!!

@rangamav: Greetings from adedicated reader of longstanding

@Eramurukan: Many Happyreturns. Madras Musings isa movement now. You are infor the longest haul

@ramprackash: Congrats sir.Learn so much about thecity we love from you.

@DilliChat: Congratulations onthe milestone to thefounders and the team of#MadrasMusings.

@catchhema: A fornightly tab-loid that everyone reads athome eagerly. 25 yrs & go-ing strong. Kudos MM team.

@kayvenkatesh: Happy Birth-day, Madras Musings! Dadused to work in Rane Ma-dras (supporter) & he usedto bring home always.

@BrianStoddart: Fantastic stufffor all fans of Madras, in-cluding me

@Ammu_Maanu: Congrats, Sir,keep it up for many moreyears.... Best wishes for that

@brahmmajoshi: My favouritemag. My fav writer.Congrats! Keep the Madrasflag high.

@Glasgowlee: Congratulations!Wishing MM many moreyears of Madras news andviews.

in touch with my formerhome. Keep up your goodwork in hustling the authori-ties for a better Chennai(Madras).

M.G. Swaminathan: Congratson the landmark achieved!

Mallikarjunan C: All the best toteam Madras Musings. Maythe Almighty bless you withlong life. stay young andlive.

prismprblog: Congrats. Fabu-lous achievement.

OUR ADDRESSES

For matters regarding subscriptions,donations, non-receipt of receiptsetc.: CHENNAI HERITAGE, 5,Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 14.

Madras Musings now has its ownemail ID. Letters to the editor can besent via email toeditor@madrasmusings.com. Thosewho wish to intimate change of ad-dress can also do so provided thesubscription number is quoted. Fornon-receipt of copies, change ofaddress, and all other circulationmatters: Madras Musings, C/oLokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd.,122, Greames Road, Chennai 600006. On editorial matters: The Editor,Madras Musings, No. 5, BhattadTower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 600 014.

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

ñ THE EDITOR

Madras (the city and the presi-dency) with the same gutsy pas-sion and forthrightness thatprevails today.

Dr. AnantanarayananRaman

Charles Sturt UniversityOrange, NSW 2800

Australia

II

Heartiest congratulationson Madras Musings com-

pleting 25 exciting years. It hasalways been a refreshing readafter weathering the (unavoid-able) bulk of pedestrian stuffthat is dumped on us by thedaily publications!

May Silver Turn to Gold!

V.Kalidasvkalidas@gmail.com

III

The 25th anniversary ofMusings! What an

achievement – getting an apa-thetic city to care about itself!

Vijaysree VenkatramanBoston

IV

From Twitter

@kbalakumar: Congrats andbest wishes to all those partof this warm and wonderfulventure. #Chennai

@arianrams: Wonderful. Wish-ing many more years...

@bharathnat: Pat-a-pat- a-paton our shoulders.. you arethe leaders .

@sarojsridhar: Congratulations.Look forward to the next 25.

@nancygandhi: Hard to believe!I hope there will be manymore.

From Facebook

Stuart B Campbell: I still keepin touch with Madras that isChennai from afar.Congrats and here’s to an-other 25 years!

Shivakumar Raman: Your con-tributions are amazing. Con-gratulations! Wishing you 50more years of MadrasMusings!

Chandra Padmanabhan:Congrats to Muthiah andSriram! In the earlier days Ialso had a column!

Sachin Anand: All the best. Iused to wait for MadrasMusings when it waslaunched and in fact am pre-serving those copies andam still continuing.

Fromsriramv.wordpress.com

Arvind Ram Kumar: Thanks toMadras Musings aficiona-dos for their tremendous ef-fort in keeping MadrasMusings alive all theseyears…. Happy silver jubi-lee.

kaushik55: Yes, it is truly a joy-ous anniversary that warmsthe heart of the Chennai-vaasi. Let us say Jai Hind tothat!

Fred Fisher (Perth, WesternAustralia): Congratulationson your Silver Anniversary!Well done! I have enjoyedreading (most of) yourmusings that have kept me

4 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2016 April 16-30, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

The Swamijiof theNandi HillsOn a train journey back to

Bangalore from Thanjavurrecently, one of my fellow pas-sengers, overhearing that I live inthe Nandi Hills area north ofBangalore and conduct curatedheritage walks in the foothills,asked me if I knew about the cu-rious case of Omkar Swamy andhis ‘ashram’ in the area. I wasn’tvery enthusiastic about enteringinto another tale of a ‘godman’,most likely a rather forgettableone, and so replied that while Iknew of the existence of the manand his ‘ashram’, I had no know-ledge of, nor particular interestin, him. My fellow passenger,however, ploughed on and I, po-litely, listened. What followed,however, kept me enthralled andled me to further research. Thisis what I found.

In 1919, an ascetic callinghimself ‘Sri Sadguru Omkar’, or‘Omkar Swamy’ to the locals, sethimself up in a small ashramwhich he built in the serene andverdant foothills of Nandi Hills,60 or so kilometres north of Ban-galore, just off the Bellary-Hyderabad national highway.Nestling in a scraggy outcrop be-tween the towering Nandi Hills

� by

Siddharth Raja

on one side, and the lower sub-sidiary hills on the other (in par-ticular, Chandragiri), the ashramoverlooked the Nandi Valley andthe villages of Sultanpet andNandi. It was located on thewestern fringes of the former.

In front of this small andrather nondescript structure, un-der a makeshift metal sheetingroof and some vegetation, heldup by four granite pillars, is asimple grave coloured red, hav-ing just a headstone and no otherornaments. The headstone states(translated from the Kannada):

“Here lies the revolutionary whofought for Indian Independence,Shri Omkar Swamiji, Death: 4thMarch 1978, Sultanpete.”

The ashram itself is a prettypicture, a single storey buildingwith a thatched verandah run-ning almost all the way aroundit, well maintained, although un-fortunately shut and lockedwhen I visited. Between thetomb and the ashram building isa rather deep and rocky creviceending in a pond. The entirecomplex, set some distance upthe hillside, and accessible by aflight of granite steps, is a prettyand welcoming sight, what withseveral large trees around.

Peering through the lockeddoor, I managed to take a photo-graph of the Swamiji himself,seen in later years. The entirecompound housing these struc-tures is well cared for. I learntthat the generosity, support andactive assistance of some of thelocals in the village of Sultanpetmade this possible.

* * *

A revolutionary swamiji, whoostensibly fought for Indian In-dependence, living as an asceticfor close to six decades in thebeautiful and quiet foothills ofNandi Hills, far from any of thecentres of protest and action,nothing could be more intrigu-ing. Nor could these titbits of in-formation gleaned from thephysical structures, be more en-ticing for me to ferret the storyout. (Editor’s Note: This storyhas already been told in MadrasMusings, so is repeated here onlyin abbreviated form.)

On July 17, 1911, the Collec-

tor and District Magistrate ofTinnevelly, Robert Williamd’Escourt Ashe, I.C.S., was shotdead at point blank range whenthe train in which he and hisfamily were travelling hadstopped at Maniyachi trainjunction.

The assassin, VanchinathanAiyar from Shencottah, then inthe princely state of Travancore,jumped off train, ran into a lava-tory on the platform and shothimself through the mouth usingthe same revolver he had used toassassinate Collector Ashe. Thiswas the first overtly violent actof resistance against the British

in southern India in the 20thCentury.

Vanchinathan Aiyar had aletter on his body that hinted ata political conspiracy behind themurder. Not long afterwards, 14men were charged with variousoffences ranging from murder towaging war against the King Em-peror of India, and criminal con-spiracy. This group of allegedconspirators was a motley crew offarmers, cooks, merchants, agreengrocer, a lawyer’s clerk, aschoolmaster and even a pot-vendor! The chief conspiratorwas a Brahmin youth of 21, ajournalist, a fiery patriot and per-son of considerable persuasiveskills and charm, called Neela-kanta, alias Brahmachari.

Since the victim was a seniorICS officer, the trial was postedfor the High Court of Madras bythe District and Sessions judge,Alfred Tampoe ICS, a CeylonTamil. After a long-drawn outcourt battle of 93 days, Chief Jus-tice Sir Arnold White and JudgeAyling found the conspirators

guilty of the conspiracy to mur-der, while Justice C. SankaranNair, concluding that murderhad not been legally proved, heldthat only the charges of wagingwar against the King had beenestablished against the chief con-spirator, Neelakanta Brahma-chari. He was sentenced to sevenyears rigorous imprisonment.The other accused were sen-tenced to various terms of lesserimprisonment.

In prison, Neelakanta Brah-machari drew close to the judgewho had first tried him, and whohad decided to transfer the casefor trial to the Madras HighCourt, Judge Alfred Tampoe.Neelakantan, born in Erukkoorin Tanjore District, had someeducation. He was drawn torevolutionaries like AurobindoGhosh and moved to Pondi-cherry where he published aTamil magazine, Suryodaya,which was subsequently bannedby the British.

While serving his sentence,Brahmachari had time to exam-ine his life, and concluded thatviolence was not the way to sal-vation. He also, jointly withJudge Tampoe, wrote fromprison a detailed history of theunderground political movementin South India. In recognition ofthis contribution, a remission ofhis sentence was granted. Afterhis release from jail in 1919,Neelakanta Aiyar become achanged man, a reformed indi-vidual, more inclined to non-vio-lence to achieve political aims.He called himself OmkarnathSwami and sought solace in theworld of religion and philosophy.

Judge Tampoe visited him of-ten in the “ashram on the till-top” and they held long philo-sophical discussions. JudgeTampoe and he become friends,no one quite sure who was theguru, who was the sishya.

� A LOOK AT THREE MADRAS ARTISTS

... and Narasimhalu & Udhayakumar in Madras

Nandagopal in Delhi...Art Alive Gallery New Delhi,

has been presenting “TheMetaphysical Edge of Sculpture”– a solo exhibition of S.Nandagopal’s sculptures.Sunaina Anand, Director of theGallery, writes “Nandagopal’scontribution to the art world isunparalleled. At this exhibition,the artist, in a departure from hisprevious array of works in brassand silver-plated sculptures, hasbrought in colour in a very dis-tinctive manner. His innovativeuse of colour lends itself to formsand figures that emerge in theprocess of a creative synthesis ofthe past and the present.

Nandagopal is one of the fewsculptors continuing the tradi-tion of frontality and linearity insculpture, one of the definingcharacteristics of the MadrasMovement in contemporary In-dian Art.

Nandagopal himself states,“My sculpture is not fully three-dimensional. But nor is it a reliefto be placed against a wall. Thegamut of Indian sculpture is re-ally bas-relief. The great‘Arjuna’s Penance’, the world’slargest bas-relief, never for a mo-ment makes you wish it were asculpture in the round. The ne-cessity never arises. Nor is thegreat Nataraja idol a three-di-mensional sculpture in thatsense. It has a certain frontal as-

pect that does not make you inthe least curious to see what liesat the back. I remember once thecritic Josef James referred to mysculpture as a sort of skin re-moved from a three dimensionalsculpture and laid flat on oneplane. That may be exactly whatmy sculpture is all about. The fig-ure, however, can never cease toattract me and frankly I cannever think otherwise. It isstrange that, when anyone isconfronted with an abstractsculpture, he hasn’t much to sayby way of criticism. But whenfaced with a figurative one, heimmediately comments on thenose being too long or the eyesbeing wonky, and so on. This isbecause he is faced with himself.He recognises all the imperfec-tions. I do believe that man willalways be man’s greatest sub-ject.”

K. Narasimhalu and R.Udhayakumar are very spe-

cial artists who recently held avery special exhibition.

K Narasimhalu (40 years) is aman who was affected by Cere-bral Palsy in childhood. He can-not walk and talk properly. Un-able to use his hands, he managesto do everything deftly with his

two feet. He is mobile by pushinghimself on a wheeled woodenboard. He was a topper in ClassX and XII. He has accomplishedbasic computer application inHTML, operating the keys/mouse using his feet/toes! De-spite all disorders he has takenlife as a challenge and uses hislegs to do all his work, right from

knitting to eating, drinking, op-erating the computer, handembroidery and the cell phone aswell.

Three of his 40-foot embroi-dered works each took him 18painstaking months.

Udhayakumar (41) has had alife that is an inspirational jour-ney of Art .... and a fight againstSpinal Muscular Atrophy(SMA). His paintings are in-spired by his imagination anddreams. Udhayakumar devel-oped his artistic ideas and con-cept by watching art/culture ontelevision. He has challengedlife, not succumbing to the ail-ment which made his whole bodystatic.

He was born a normal child.At 10 months he was diagnosedwith Spinal Muscular Atrophy(SMA), an ailment that affectsthe neurons of the spinal cordand brain stem. It slowly arrestedhis whole bodily movement.However he completed his sec-

ondary schooling and wasawarded the best student prizefor receiving high marks in Boardexams. His parents and teachersdiscovered his inclination to-wards painting/art when he wasin his second grade. He discon-tinued his studies after the 10thdue to his ailment and, sincethen, painting has been his onlypassion. At the age of seven, heparticipated in an exhibitionorganised by the Victoria Tech-nical Institute in 1982. Sincethen, he has conducted severalsolo exhibitions. His staple dietfor years has been steamed riceand vegetables; only when

beaten and filtered is he able todrink it. Yet he creates magicwith his brush.

The 10-day long charity artshow and sale was organised bythe HeART BEAT Foundation,a family trust of V S Ramana, aprofessional in Advertising, PR,Communications and CSR, nowwith L&T.

HeART BEAT Foundationhas so far held three such showsin Chennai and Pondicherry andbeen able to raise Rs. 6.50 lakhs– 100 per cent of the earningsthrough art sale go only to ben-efit the needs of the specially-abled artists.

“My appeal to art lovers, ar-chitects, interior designers andcorporates in Chennai is that,while there will be a large spaceon your walls for the works ofmaster artists, at homes and inoffices, please do consider a goodportion of this kind todeservingly support such spe-cially-abled artists. These wouldembellish the decor, enhancetheir esteem – and this is CSR aswell,” says Ramana. – (Courtesy:HeART BEAT Foundation.)

Two rare sightings at Guindy National Park in March, by VikasMadhav, were the Taiga Flycatcher (top) and Lesser Whitethroat(bottom).

Raptor watch

A raptor watch hotspot isThenneri, 55kms from the city,off the Bangalore Highway. Ofthe twenty commonly seen rap-tor species in and aroundChennai, 16 have been spottedhere in the last 2-3 years. Theyare: Common Kestrel (Winter-ing), Red-necked Falcon(Breeding resident), PeregrineFalcon (F.P. calidus-Winter-ing), Shaheen Falcon (F.p.peregrinator – Summer visitor),Black-winged Kite (Breedingresident), Black Kite (Resi-dent), Osprey (Wintering), Ori-ental Honey Buzzard (Resi-dent), Short-toed Snake Eagle(Resident), Eurasian MarshHarrier (Wintering), Pallid

Harrier (Wintering), Montagu’s Harrier (Wintering), Shikra (Breed-ing resident), White-eyed Buzzard (Breeding resident) Indian SpottedEagle (Breeding resident), and Bonelli’s Eagle (Summer visitor). Cour-tesy: Madras Naturalists’ Society Bulletin).

Rare sightings at Guindy Park

Lesser Whitethroat.

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share our keen inter-est in Madras that is Chennai, and in response to requests from manywell-wishers – especially from outside Chennai and abroad whoreceive their postal copies very late – for an online edition. Madras

Musings is now on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

K. Narasimhalu and R. Udhayakumar.

S. Nandagopal.

The ashram that’s a temple today and the headstone on the tomb before it.

The headstone.

This panoramic view shows on the right the ‘ashram’ and today a small temple with its tops now painted yellow astride a rocky ridge on a small hillock with the dominating presence of Nandi Hills in the centre,and the Nandi valley with the villages mentioned towards the left of the frame.

The best shot of theSwamijis picture considering theangle through a shuttered doorand the poor lighting.

Taiga Flycatcher.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2016

(Current Affairs questions are fromthe period March 16th to 31st.Questions 11 to 20 pertain to

Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Asia’s largest and first of its kindoptical telescope ARIES was un-veiled at Devasthal in Uttarakhandrecently. The A in the acronymARIES stands for which scientist-mathematician?

2. Htin Kyaw is the first elected ci-vilian (non-military) President ofwhich of India’s neighbours thatwas had 53 years of military rule?

3. Which Russian Grand Masterhas earned the right to challengeMagnus Carlsen for the world titleafter winning the FIDE WorldChess Candidates tournament inMoscow recently?

4. Which number has been ap-proved by the Telecom Commis-sion as the single emergency num-ber for India, similar to 911 (USA)and 999 (UK)?

5. Who are the latest winners of theNational Awards for Best Actorand Actress?

6. Name India’s first indigenousrotavirus vaccine, to combat infantmortality due to diarrhoea,launched by the Union Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare re-cently.

7. Which Chief Minister is the soleIndian in the list of the world’s 50greatest leaders ranked by Fortunemagazine?

8. Name the Dutch football legend,a pioneering exponent of ‘TotalFootball’, who lost his battle withcancer recently.

9. Which reserve in Tamil Nadu-Kerala has become the 10th Indianbiosphere Reserve to be included inUNESCO’s World Network of bio-sphere Reserves?

10. Name the British mathemati-cian famous for solving Fermat’sLast Theorem, who is the winner ofthe prestigious 2016 Abel Prize.

* * *

11. Who is this resident of Chennaiwho has been awarded the PadmaBhushan, who has been recognisedby the Guinness Book of WorldRecords for singing the most num-ber of songs in Indian languages?

12. Which film has taken thehonours for Best Feature Film inTamil, Best Supporting Actor andBest Editing in the recently-an-nounced National Film Awards?

13. Of the three main docks inChennai Port, two are named afterpersons who have been conferredwith Bharat Ratna. Name both.

14. What happened to the MadrasSailing Club, founded by Sir FrancisSpring, in June 1933?

15. Dhananjayan’s A Creator withMidas Touch is a documentary onwhich veteran screenwriter andproducer?

16. Which Sahitya Akademi awardwinning Tamil writer has said thathis recently-released third novel,Asthinapuram would be his last?

17. Which century-old luxury ho-tel in Chennai has rooms namedWallajah, Arcot and Binny?

18. What first, in terms of gover-nance of Madras, did SirThiruvalayangudi Vijayaraghava-charya achieve 100 years ago?

19. Al. M. MuthukaruppanChettiar of Devakottai was in 1963the first-ever winner of which cov-eted annual trophy?

20. Muhammed Abdul Ali is theeighth and present one. What is histitle?

(Answers on page 8)

The Ryans & RajajiPioneers ofProhibition

Rajaji was born in ThorapalliAgraharam near Hosur in

Krishnagiri District in his fam-ily house. It was from here thathe launched the prohibition ofalcohol movement throughoutthe Salem District in 1938 dur-ing British rule. On his request,the Government created a newpost and posted J.C. Ryan,Deputy Registrar of Co-opera-tive Societies at the time, asSpecial Development Officer toimplement Rajaji’s prohibitionpolicy and programmes to reha-bilitate toddy tappers and ex-addicts. This brought Ryanclose to Rajaji, who, at the time,was only an advocate though aprominent Congress politician.

Ryan’s work was to wean al-coholics and habitual drinkersfrom their unsocial, uneco-nomic and unhealthy habit andrehabilitate them in gainful em-ployment by promoting coop-erative milk supply societies andsocieties for groundnut andtapioca growers, jaggery mak-ers, handloom weavers and soon. He had to organise socialgatherings and entertainmentprogrammes, including sportsevents, musical concerts, magicshows and dance programmes.He was given a big staff and art-ists to carry out theseprogrammes which included

� by F.A. Ryan

talks on the evils of alcohol byfilm stars, reformed addicts, so-cial workers and prominentmen and women.

In connection with his work,Ryan had to meet Rajaji severaltimes in his village near Hosur,travelling from Salem in his sec-ond-hand Ford with a canvastop, driven by his faithful driver,Jaganathan. There were occa-sions when he took his familywith him to give them an out-ing, dropped them at the bigtravellers’ bungalow at Hosur,and then went on to meetRajaji.

I was seven years old then,when on one occasion I wasasked to stay in the car and Fa-ther went in. Rajaji saw me be-side the car playing marbleswith the driver and he called mein and gave me biscuits and abanana. That was the first timeI met Rajaji, not realising at thatyoung age what a great man Iwas meeting. Thereafter, I hadthe chance to meet him on twoother occasions.

My father and mother usedto talk very highly of Rajaji, whodid not interest me. I took himfor a villager who spoke fluentEnglish. I vaguely remember hisfamily home.

When Rajaji returned to

Madras as Chief Minister afterhaving been Governor-Generalof Madras, I was a college stu-dent. Father remained his right-hand man and Rajaji nick-named him ‘Pandit’ and oftenreferred to him, even at publicmeetings, as ‘Pandit’.

While in Salem, Father wasgiven the ‘Rao Sahib’ title and,later, when he became the chiefof the Prohibition movement in

Madras State, he was given the‘Rao Bahadur’ title. Shortly af-ter Independence, Father waspromoted over six of his seniors,all Joint Registrars of Coopera-tive Societies, and selected forthe Indian Administrative Ser-vices about four months beforethe IAS examinations were in-troduced. Thus, he became thevery first IAS officer of Indiaand the only IAS officer withtwo British titles.

Ryan and Rajaji became soclose that Rajaji used to phonehim now and again between9.00 p.m. and 10.00 p.m. Mybrother, sister or I used to an-swer his calls and connect himto Father.

One day, butler Arokiamwas talking on the phone andlaughing aloud when I pulledthe phone from his hand andfound that Rajaji was talking. Iapologised to Rajaji and rushedto get Father.

Mother too used to meetRajaji during functions or meet-ings in Salem and in Madrasthereafter. One of the occasionswas the opening ceremony ofHandloom Houses and the AllIndia Handloom Export Mar-keting Society, which wasfounded by Father. Soon, there-after, Handloom Houses were

opened in several big cities ofIndia and in many foreign coun-tries – London, New York,Singapore and elsewhere.

When Father met Rajaji togive him the invitation for thewedding of my brother, Leo,Rajaji thanked him, read thecard and said, “I will say a fewwords”, which Father did notexpect. He thanked him andmade the necessary arrange-ments.

The wedding was in theLoyola College chapel and itwas the very first wedding heldthere. Governor Sri Prakasa was

given a special seat in the sanc-tuary. The reception was in theadjoining Bertram Hall. WhileFather was waiting for Rajaji inthe porch, the Chief Secretary,Ramunni Menon, and the ChiefJustice arrived. As Father ledthem into the reception hall, hetold me, “Son, watch out, Rajajimay arrive any time.” When hearrived I opened the door of thecar and introduced myself andturned and there was Fatherstanding behind me. Rajaji wastaken to the main table wherethe bridal couple, some secre-taries to Government, bothfrom the ICS and IAS, andjudges were seated.

Rajaji spoke for ten minuteson his association with the fam-ily of Ryans and blessed themarried couple. The bride-groom, my brother, was at thattime working as a manager inthe Buckingham and Carnaticmills. He thanked Rajaji for histoast and blessings.

Prohibition was lifted byChief Minister Karunanidhi onAugust 30, 1971, even thoughRajaji met him in person at hisresidence and pleaded with himnot to lift Prohibition. MGR al-lowed the sale of liquor when hetook over as Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu. Now, in 2015/16politicians are again talkingabout bringing back Prohibi-tion, which has become tool intheir hands to win the votes ofwomen who are the main vic-tims of alcohol.

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J.C. Ryan with Rajaji.

April 16-30, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Rameswaram’s links

with Sri LankaPamban Island, Rameswaram

and Dhanushkodi (MM,November 2015) have beenclose to my heart ever since Iused to travel between Egmorerailway station and Colomboseveral times annually between1939 and 1945, when I was 6 to11 years old. We used to marvelat the scale model of thesteamer S.S. Elgin or S.S.Hardinge, kept in a glass case atEgmore. We would embark onthe Boat Mail in the eveningand reach Pamban Bridge bythe next afternoon. It was quitean experience going across thebridge, with heavy winds blow-ing through the train from thesea on either side of it! Afterstopping at Pamban, it used togo to Dhanushkodi station.Then it would reverse to Dha-nushkodi Pier, so that the heavyrailway engine did not have togo onto the pier.

Seeing the photo in MM,February 16, 2014, I recollectedhow we would step down fromthe coach onto the pier andstraight onto the steamer, sincethere were two tracks to suit theside of the pier the ship wasberthed at. It was indeed anengineering marvel – inaugu-rated on February 24, 1914.

In later years, soon afterWorld War II, Tata Airlineswith its Dakota once flew mefrom Colombo via Trichinopolyto Madras, due to bad weathernear Jaffna. From my windowseat, I could see Adam’s Bridgefrom the air. That impression isstill in my mind’s eye. All thisjourneying had long keptRameswaram in memory.

* * *While I was working in plan-

tations near Vandiperiar in the1970s, I visited Rameswaramwith my family and friends. Weleft one morning from Keralaand travelled to Rameswaram.There was no road link thosedays and we had to park ourcars on the mainland atMandapam, take a train toPamban railway station andthen hire two jutkas to go toRameswaram temple. The wa-ters of Palk Bay have no wavesexcept gentle ripples. All of uscould wade through the shallowwaters for over 100 to 200metres, take several dips, cometo the shore, change our clothesand get to the temple, whichadjoins the shore.

Rameswaram temple’s sanc-tum sanctorum was built byParakrama Bahu I, the ruler ofSri Lanka from 1153-1188 AD.He obviously travelled with hissoldiers, craftsmen, technicians,worshippers and pilgrims on theland route, Adam’s Bridge be-

tween Mannar and Rameswa-ram. Parakrama Bahu, the allpowerful king of Sri Lanka, wasalso considered a sage. Henamed his royal palace ‘Palaceof God Indira’. Further, being aShiva Baktha, a 11th Centurytemple known as Vanam Madevi

Iswaram, named after RajarajaI, the Chola conqueror, whoestablished his capital atPolonnaruwa, was preservedhere during Parakrama Bahu’sreign. Other Hindu templeswere also cared for. One of hiswives had the name Subhadra.

The philosophy of the kingwas “let not even one drop ofwater reach the sea withoutserving man”, a view similar tothat of Chola King Karikalan,who built the anicut (what isnow called The Great Anicut)across the River Kaveri in the2nd Century CE and which wasremodelled by the British in1804. It used to irrigate nearly70,000 acres, but now irrigatesover a million acres. This is con-sidered one of the oldest waterregulators still in use in theworld.

Similarly, Jayaweera, King of

has undergone metamorphosisinto Trincomalee. The templeis located on a steep cliff ofblack granite rock, with the seasome 350 feet below.

One pillar from the great pa-goda still stands on top ofSwami Rock, which is alsocalled ‘Lover’s Leap’ or‘Ravana’s Cleft’.

The significance of thistemple is that it is dedicated toRavanan. The temple has his10-headed image and there isalso a standing statue of Rava-nan facing the land, worship-ping Shiva. There is also here ahuge statue of Shiva in a sittingposture, as Ravanan was a wor-shiper and a great devotee ofShiva.

The Tanavaram templecomplex is in Matara, nearGalle, and was designed inKerala and built in Pallava style.The central shrine is dedicatedto Vishnu. Other shrines in-clude ones for Ganesha, Muru-gan, Kannagi and Shiva. Thisshrine is venerated as the south-ernmost of the five Ishwaram-s.The principal deity was knownas Chandra Moul Eswaram, thatis “Lord Shiva wearing themoon”, and was popularlycalled Tondeeswaram.

Munneswaram temple hasbeen in existence from 1000CE. This temple complex dedi-cated to Shiva is a collection offive temples, including a Bud-dhist temple. All these are lo-cated in Puttalam District, inMunneswaram village, on thewest coast. It is said that LordRama worshiped Shiva here, af-ter his victorious war againstRavanan, King of Sri Lanka.The place is also a centre for theKali cult.

* * *There has been recent re-

vival of a plan to link Dhanush-kodi and Sri Lanka by road at acost $5.19 billion. If the roadmaterialises, it will be a boon topilgrims. There are many Hindupilgrim centres in Sri Lankathat Indians from all parts of thecountry would like to visit.

K.V.S. Krishna

Jaffna (1380-1410) and hisdynasty till 1624, organisedblack granite stones to makepillars and other ornamentationon site near Trincomalee andthen transported them by shipto Rameswaram temple. Howmany ships would have had tobe commissioned and howmany skilled artisans wouldhave had to be employed andhow many people would havebeen needed to create and loadand unload all this work, in-cluding 1212 pillars, is mindboggling.

The Jaffna kingdoms (1215-1624) contributed to Rameswa-ram for 400 years and wereknown as Setukavalar, meaningcustodians of the temple. Setuwas used in their coins as wellas their inscriptions. The ances-tors of the King Aryachakra-varthi dynasty that ruled Jaffnabelonged to a Brahmin priestclass of the Pasupathi sect ofRameswaram temple.

In 1795, Rameswaram cameunder English East India Com-pany governance.

* * *Sri Lanka is home to five

abodes of Lord Shiva which areknown as Pancha Ishwaram. Allof them are located along ornear the coastline. They areNaguleswaram, Katheeswaram,Konneswaram, Tondeswaramand Muneswaram and are notconsidered among the 275temples that are revered as thegreatest Shiva shrines of Indiaand Sri Lanka.

Naguleswaram temple isnear Kankesanthurai in Jaffna,close to the Indian Ocean.Ketheeshwaran temple is inMannar District, in northwestSri Lanka. Its antiquity datesfrom 300 BCE to 1300 CE. Itwas maintained by Pallava andlater Chola dynasties, but was

largely destroyed by the Portu-guese in 1575 and rebuilt at theoriginal site in 1903. The site isconsidered an Buried City”.Nearby is Tirukut Ishwaram, oneof the most famous of all Saiviteshrines of the pre-Christian era.Excavations have uncoveredancient Saivite images and Ro-man coins which bear evidenceof the age and repute of the port

of Mantai, now called Mantota,near modern Mannar, once oneof the great emporiums of theEast. In fact, the wealth thatflowed through the port is saidto have financed the gloriousarchitecture of ancient Anu-radhapura, first capital of SriLanka.

Koneswaram temple, Trin-comalee, on the east coast of SriLanka, was once a temple of1000 pillars. The temple wasdeveloped during 205 BCE.This was regarded as the great-est building of its time. Theoriginal temple was destroyedby the Portuguese in 1622–1624. The temple was restoredin 1963. The temple is on thesame longitude as Mount Kai-lash in Tibet. Hence, it is alsocalled Dakshina Kailash. It loca-tion is known as Tiru-kona-malai (hill of three sides), which

Koneswaram Temple, Ravanaworshipping Shiva, with the sea in thebackground. Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

Pancha Iswaram locations in Sri Lanka.

The famed thousand pillared corridor of Rameswaram Temple.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2016

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Till April 10: Distant Views-VibrantHues by Madhukar Maithani.Landscapes in vivid jewel-likecolours in semi abstract forms onlarge dramatic canvases – (atApparao Galleries).

Till April 25: Colour-Space-Action,an exhibition of paintings byJohn Tun Sein – (at ApparaoGalleries, The Leela Palace).

Till April 25: Chennaivasi, an ex-hibition of paintings by S.Kumar. The artists has capturedthe essence of the look of thetemple-goers in and around thetemple – (at Apparao Infinity,Chennai) For details, please call:99410 12388, 9686112078

Till April 28: The World Accord-ing to Bhavna by BhavnaSonawane. For fantasy land-scapes are filled with a magicalpositive energy (at ApparaoGalleries).

Till April 30: Stories of Architec-ture, an exhibition of paintingsinspired by architecture featur-ing Dhanush Kodi, RitendraRoy, Anjani Reddy, ChelapathyRao, and Lalit Sharma. “TheStructure” is the primary focus inthis collection of works from se-lected artists (at Sandy’s, Ceno-taph Road).

Answers to Quiz1. Aryabhatta; 2. Myanmar; 3.

Sergey Karjakin; 4. 112; 5.Amitabh Bachchan (Piku) andKangana Ranaut (Tanu WedsManu Returns); 6. Rotavac; 7.Arvind Kejriwal; 8. Johan Cruyff; 9.Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve;10. Andrew Wiles.

* * *

11. P. Susheela; 12. Visaranai;13. Jawahar (after Pandit Nehru)and Ambedkar; 14. It became theRoyal Madras Yacht Club; 15.Panchu Arunachalam; 16. R.N. JoeD’Cruz; 17. Connemara; 18. FirstIndian full-time President of thecity’s Corporation; 19. The IndianTrust Invitation Cup; 20. Prince ofArcot.

The lakes we once had

Catching up with our series on theLakes of Madras, reader VIKRAMRAGHAVAN from Washington DC,USA sent us this 1814/16 mapwhich will give readers an idea of

how much space was occupied by theNungambakkam and Long Tank aswell as Spur Tank which is now in thenews for welcome restoration. Themapís title reads: ìThe Environs ofMadras, surveyed in 1814, Latitude ofthe Observatory 13:4.10 N Longitude80:19.10 E from Greenwich, London.Published by W. Faden, Geographer toHis Majesty and His Royal HighnessThe Prince Regent, Charing Cross,December 1, 1816î.EDITOR’S NOTE: Colour shading oflakes added by MM.