WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXVII No. 14 November 1-15, 2017

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Has 2015 taught us?

• The ship-grounding cyclone

• Comedy in Madras

• The third lighthouse

CMYK

Better environmental sanitationonly way to curb dengue

(By The Editor)

� by Our Health Reporter

Flattened with impunity

(Continued on page 2)

Dark days for heritageconservation

Polluting or not, you can't deny they may make pretty pictures. (Photos: Vijay Sriram).

The Binny headquarters in the 1980s.

buildings of the city (and notsurprisingly, given the neglect,the availability of dry timberand age-old electric wiring),swept through the interior. Itdid not in any way structurallydamage the building and itsfaçade at least was rock solid.But that did not prevent theowners from approaching theDepartment of Housing andUrban Development for a no-objection certificate to demol-ish. This document, which

Tamil Nadu may have a Heritage Act and Chennai city a Heritage Conserva-tion Committee, but there is really no protection for heritage structures even if

they are listed and recognised as such in judgements by the High Court of Madras.Those concerned with conservation and preservation of historic structures are madepainfully aware of this fact every now and then. The most recent instance has beenthe demolition of the historic Binny building on Armenian Street.

If you went strictly by the rulebook, this structure could not be demolished.Going by the 2010 judgement of the High Court of Madras, delivered on writpetition no. 25306 of 2006, this was one of 400 odd buildings of the city recognisedto be of historic importance. The structure was accorded Grade 2 status, meaningits façade could not be changed and its interiors modified only to an extent. Allsuch changes had to be done only after permission from the Heritage Conserva-tion Committee (HCC) of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.That Committee had been constituted in terms of this judgement and it was tonotify owners of all heritage buildings that demolitions were not to be contem-plated. The owners of the Binny building were also duly written to.

The structure was not maintained in any way thereafter and then, most conve-niently for the owners, a fire, which is now more or less a given in all heritage

(Continued on page 7)

There is a sense of con-cern, even panic, over

the outbreak of Dengue in theCity and in several parts of theState. From all over the State,12,324 cases have beenreported with 75 days more togo for this year. Considering

that an outbreak of similarproportion occurred in 2012,when 12,826 persons were af-fected, this shows that system

failure alarms have not beenheeded and that we are contentto take symptomatic action, re-actively, after the disaster hasoccurred. A team from theCentral Government, Ministryof Health, has toured the Stateto assess the epidemic, recom-mend remedial action and esti-mate the extent of central assis-tance that the State would needin terms of money and techni-cal support. The Central team’sstatement that the 40 deathsreported are minimal out of re-ported cases of over 12,000 isstatistically correct, but hardlycomforting.

The State has sought Rs.256 crores from the CentralTeam. Political leaders havevisited hospitals. The HighCourt has demanded a statusreport from the Government.

The report has been submittedto the Court. Opposition lead-ers have placed the responsibil-ity squarely on the present Gov-ernment. The Chief Ministerhas admitted that the situationis serious and said that the Gov-ernment is taking all possibleaction. Expressions of concernover loss of lives have poured in.Thus, everything has run ac-cording to script. But when it allsubsides, we will go back to do-ing nothing to avert recurrenceand have a lasting effect.

Dengue fever is a diseasecaused by a family of virusesthat are transmitted by mosqui-toes. The virus is contractedfrom the bite of a striped Aedesaegypti mosquito that has previ-ously bitten an infected person.The mosquito flourishes duringrainy seasons, breeding in wa-ter-filled flower pots, plasticbags, and containers.

2 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2017

Only way tocurb dengue(Continued from page 1)

Poor sanitation at the house-hold level and inadequate ca-pacity of the public sanitationsystem provide ideal conditionsfor the vector to thrive. Thedengue carrier mosquito breedsin stagnant clean water; it doesnot breed in dirty water. Urbancrowding multiplies the breed-ing sites manifold. When popu-lation growth outstrips an al-ready inadequate infrastruc-ture, sanitation facilities are un-able to cope with the increasedrefuse. Widespread neglect ofelementary sanitation practices,by the educated and the illiter-ate alike, contributes to openwater storages, water puddlingand collection of rubbish, likeused tyres and plastics, creatinga perfect environment for dis-ease-causing mosquitoes tobreed in.

The problem with dengue isthat both prevention and cureare fraught with difficulties.Prevention is currently limitedto vector control measures,there being no effective vac-cines. Likewise, when it strikes,there are no specific therapeu-tics according to WHO Denguevaccine research. Typical medi-cal therapy for dengue fever issupportive care with IV fluidsand pain medications – there isno medicine to cure dengue fe-ver. When the number of plate-lets falls below a safe minimum,transfusion becomes necessary.Thus, prevention is by vectorcontrol measures throughminimisation of open waterstorages, avoiding waterpuddles, especially in rainy sea-sons and responsible garbage/waste disposal practices – allcalling for behavioural changeto improve environmental sani-tation.

Eminent members of themedical profession conversantwith public health issues areemphatic that an assured envi-ronmental sanitation is the an-swer and that it can be accom-plished only by strong and sus-tained awareness programmesfor a behavioural transforma-tion. Reducing open collectionsof water is the preferred methodof control, as spraying of insec-ticides and biological controlagents also produces negativehealth effects. Introduction of avariety of fish that feed on lar-vae in lakes and ponds checksthe spread of the vector. Cam-paigns should be continuous tobring about correct practices on

water logging and waste dis-posal and reinforced ahead ofthe rainy season, as rain pro-vides water puddles for the mos-quito to breed.

Smart projects have beencleared (which includes repair-ing 5.5 km of broken links in thestormwater drains in T’Nagar ata cost of Rs. 9.37 crore) thatwould contribute to improvingenvironmental sanitation. TheChennai Corporation has initi-ated a mass cleaning drive,forming 200 teams employing331 fogging machines and com-prising 16,000 workers. But thatis a post occurrence effort tocontain the problem.

The National Family HealthSurvey-4 shows that TamilNadu has 52.2 per cent ofhouseholds with improved sani-tation facilities in 2015-16,which is an improvement over2005-06. But that is far behindwhat is needed and comparedto Kerala’s 98 per cent and 70-80 per cent in Punjab-Haryana.

These examples show thatGovernment action can be ef-fective and give lasting protec-tion only if it is (a) diagnostic,(b) precautionary and preven-tive and not reactive, (c) ad-dressing the basic cause and notthe symptom, (d) aimed atbehaviour transformation to-wards establishing sound sanita-tion practices, and (e) raisinginstitutional efficiency. Obser-vance of safe sanitation prac-tices is equally the duty of re-sponsible citizens in the inter-ests of their own health.

In sum, as pre-protectionvaccines and post-occurrencetherapeutics are not the easyoptions as in the case of otherdiseases, the only way to pre-vent the disease is to improvethe environmental sanitationwhich, in turn, entails citizens’cooperation and municipalmechanisms’ efficiencies.

Dengue was widespread in2012 and it has come again. Weare fighting it after it has oc-curred and assumed alarmingproportions. The communityshould have been educatedpost-2012 into adoptinghealthy and safe practices fortotal environmental sanitationthat would have avoided recur-rence and would have given alasting defence against dengueas well as other communicablediseases. We cannot afford a re-peat of such negligence and suf-fer repetition of an epidemic ofa disease that is difficult to man-age.

(Word)play for a composer

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

The greatest composer inthe world of Carnatic Mu-

sic is at present suffering thecelebrations associated withthe 250th year of his birth. TheMan from Madras Musingsuses the word suffer guardedly,for the travails of this person-ality are nothing compared towhat a deceased nightingalehad to go through when herbirth centenary was observed ayear back. Melody Sublime, asshe was known, would havebecome Misery Supreme hadshe been around.

But to come back to thecomposer. This was a person-ality who held up a mirror tosociety, laughed at theirfoibles, and, above all, detestedpraising anyone of the humanvariety. It would be assumedthat a programme associatedwith his memory would haveadhered to some modicum ofsimplicity. But evidently no-body has learnt from his teach-ings. As to whether they learntanything from his music is alsoa moot point, but MMM willnot go into that.

It was a programme to cel-ebrate the 100th staging of aplay on the composer’s life.When MMM states life he uses

compared, for want of anythingbetter, to the monkey God whojumped across the Palk Straits.Then a speaker began pickingout certain people in theaudience for praise and thatwent on for a goodish bit oftime. In between everyonepresented everyone else withmementoes (you know theTamil standard – a gopuram-shaped wooden whatnot with asilver roundel on it). And tothink this was a play about acomposer who mercilesslylampooned those who praisedmortals.

There appeared to be noend to the speeches, eventhough the initially enthusias-tic applause had begun to taperoff rather sharply and latercame to be replaced by adeathly and resigned silence.An hour and ten minutes later,MMM’s sciatic nerve, which heconsiders to be the best indica-tor of whether a programme isworth sitting through or not,began urging him to get up andleave. There was a lull in theproceedings as one speaker hadjust taken his chair whileanother was preparing to graspthe mike. MMM upped andleft, rapidly followed by his

good lady. Shakespeare put itall rather aptly – Exit hurriedly,pursued by bear.

Demands of Adhaar

It all began rather innocentlyenough – the Adhaar, a new

identity card. The Man fromMadras Musings like everyoneelse, went, stood in queues, gothimself photographed, had hisfingerprints read and cameaway with a sense of quiet sat-isfaction. And then a fewweeks later the card itselfcame, all shining and bright,with a photo of MMM lookinglike one of those people whosepictures you see at police sta-tions and areas where the pub-lic congregate, with aWANTED or MISSING leg-end attached. MMM then filedit away and forgot all about it.And then it began – the tortu-ous process of linking thisAdhaar to just about every-thing. The gas registration wasthe first off the mark andMMM had his card linked,feeling all the while that he wascontributing to nation-build-ing. He began receiving callsasking him to surrender his gassubsidy and he did it willingly.After a few weeks came a callthat he had to link his bankaccount(s) to the same Adhaarcard. MMM did that too,though it must be admitted notso willingly, for the verythought of establishing contactwith a bank fills MMM with anameless horror. They have atendency of coming right backat you with forms that you need

the term loosely, for this is apersonality whose time onearth appears to have been ex-traordinarily miracle-prone –Gods descending on terrafirma at all odd hours withoutso much as a by your leave,idols resurfacing in rivers,dead men waking up on hear-ing a song, burglars beingchased away by mysteriousbow-wielding warriors andwhat not. MMM is pretty surethat the above play was no dif-ferent. But then he had re-ceived several invitations toattend the stagings all of whichhe had missed and so he de-cided to go for the 100th.

The programme said kick-off was at 6.30 pm and soMMM was there, his good ladyin tow. Seats in the front rowwere found by a kind usher.The curtains went up to reveala full row of VIPs seated onstage. It was then that MMMrealised with a sinking heartthat the play would bepreceded by what is locallyknown as ‘Felicitation’. Andsince there were six VIPs, itmeant at least half an hour ofdelay. MMM was prepared forthat. What he did not expect,and which smote him like athunderbolt only when theproceedings got underway,was that each speaker wasgoing to take 15 minutes. Andthe burden of each one was topraise the others assembled.And praise them sky high.Each one was compared to adivine being and one unfortu-nate, though not in anyway due to his looks, was

to fill in and then sign in tripli-cate, apart from affixing yetanother signature across yourphotograph. Somehow thislast never works for MMM,the ink dries up the moment ittouches the photo and all hegets is a scratch. But the link-ing did eventually go through.

Thereafter came calls fromMutual Funds – asking forMMM to link his Adhaar cardto them, failing which, thoughit was not exactly specified, allhell would break loose. And soMMM obediently did thesame. Now the cell phonecompany has woken up and isdemanding the linking ofMMM’s number to theAdhaar card.

MMM has now begun tolive in daily terror of furtherdemands for the linking ofAdhaar. Will it become neces-sary to use the Adhaar to openthe front door at chez MMM?What if the lights and fans donot switch on without thewaving of the Adhaar in frontof them? And from there towater closets demanding theflashing of the Adhaar may bebut the next step.

Strangely, for a card that isto be perpetually in use, it is

physically quite flimsy.Compared to the hard andlaminated driving licence andthe initially laminated but nowhard PAN card, the Adhaar israther reedy. And because ithas to be carried about on yourperson all the time, what withit being asked for at all kindsof places, it is unlikely to lastlong. MMM’s card is alreadyfrayed at the edges andbecause it is also quitecrinkled, MMM’s face asdepicted on it now has a ratherdebauched look about it. Theworry as of now is how tomake the card last as long asMMM does.

Tailpiece

The Man from MadrasMusings is quite sure you

would have noticed it – theway the smog rolled in onDeepavali night and managedto penetrate the house despitewindows and doors beingkept tightly shut. That nightthe TV channels reported onhigh pollution in Chennaiand crowed about how metrossuch as Delhi were farbetter off. What everyoneforgot was that Chennaicelebrates the festival a dayahead of most parts of Indiaand so the next day, our aircleared up while the rest of thecountry was under a cloud.Clearly, this is anotherinstance of what the Chiefkeeps saying – Chennai (onlyhe calls it Madras) is wheremodern India began.

–MMM

November 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Did we learnanything from2015 flood?

� byS. Gopikrishna Warrier

Thank you, DonorsWe today, publish donations received with thanks for

the period from 16.05.17-15.10.17– The Editor

Rs. 50: Srinivasan, V.

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One of the two municipal solid waste dumps for Chennai is located within the Pallikaranai marsh in Perungudi (Photoby S. Gopikrishna Warrier)

� The people of Chennai

responded admirably to the

climate crisis unleashed by

unprecedented rains in Novem-

ber-December 2015, but the

city is yet to build upon the

lessons it learnt during the

subsequent floods.

Indian cities are starting tolook boringly similar on the

ground. The roads look similar,and so do some of the malls,buildings, apartment complexesand shops. Looking at a citywhile approaching it in an air-craft, train or by road gives aperspective of the landscape onwhich it is built upon.

Landing at Chennai, you willsee many irrigation tanks.These are usually depressions inwhich a mud or masonry wallhas been constructed at thedeep end, with a spillway allow-ing excess water to flow backinto the stream. Downstream,not very far from this tank,would be another, for which theinlet stream will be from theoutlet of the earlier one. Thesenetworks of water bodies arevisible when driving into thecity from adjoining Thiruvalluror Chengalpattu districts. Butthe city is different.

There were many lakes inChennai, which have mostlybeen built in over the decades.

The four rivers traversing fromwest to east have had their floodplains constructed over. TheBuckingham Canal that runsthrough the city on a north-south axis has constrictions inits path. The complex of wet-lands near the Pallikaranaimarsh has disappeared to a sig-nificant extent.

The end-2015 flood high-lighted these ecological faultlines. The floods hit those areasworst that were once part of thewetland and water-body net-work. The southern localitiesaround the Pallikaranai marsh

were the worst hit. Even inother localities, those who werenot even aware that they wereliving on former lakebedsrealised the flood water washigher in their homes than inother areas. The flood along theAdyar river spared none in itspath, including the super rich,slum-dwellers, patients in in-tensive care units of a hospital,and a housing complex built forsenior Civil Servants.

The city responded coura-geously. Somewhere, there wasan inherent resilience built in,which came into effect duringthe crisis. A study on Chennai’sresilience prepared by IFMRLead and TARU Leading Edgefor the Asian Cities ClimateChange Resilience Networkshows that in addition to re-sponse by the fire services, po-

lice force and the National Di-saster Management Agency,there were many innovative re-sponses.

For instance, the reportstates, to reach food to thestranded, a restaurant calledKolapasi opened its kitchen anddelivery systems. At a time 300volunteers cooked for 170,000people. Volunteers ranged fromuniversity students to business-men, and even the elderlyhelped in the kitchen. Theyused social media to raise fundsand identify where to take thefood. The report also notes asupermarket chain stored andsupplied essential commoditiesat a reduced price so as to helpfamilies recover.

To help families start theirkitchens as early as possible,Servals Pvt. Ltd., a companythat specialises in energy-effi-cient stoves, supplied their unitsto families that were outside theGovernment’s distribution net-works.

The most innovative movewas by a call taxi aggregator,which turned itself into a callboat aggregator during theflood. They commissioned smallfishing boats and vessels to helprescue people and also doubledas a call boat taxi service. Theimage of fishing boats with thecompany’s stickers became oneof the iconic images from thefloods. The picture of a well-known industrialist escapingthe floods in a fishing boat fromhis estate on the banks of theAdyar river was another iconicimage from the floods.

It was the social and infor-mal media that took centre-stage during the floods. Mes-sages shared on Facebook,Twitter and other sites helped

save lives, rescue people andreach food to those stranded.These worked from outside thecity and from those localitieswhere power and telephoneconnectivity returned compara-tively quickly.

Bengaluru had become theoperations centre for much ofthis. Arun Ganesh, a digitalmapmaker, along with hisfriend designed a crowd-sourced map where residentscould feed information on howdeep water was at any point onany street. This was launchedon December 1, 2015, and wasimmediately picked up byChennai residents. At anygiven time during the floodsthere were at least 100 peopleaccessing it. Flooding was re-ported from 15,000 road seg-ments and in the two weeks ofits launch it had registered 1.2million views.

People from Chennai work-ing outside the State wanted topitch in. A group of Indian Ad-ministrative Service officersfrom Tamil Nadu working inother States got together andstarted a call centre inBengaluru. It was established atthe Karnataka Urban WaterSupply and Drainage Board of-fice by the then managing direc-tor P. Manivannan. Helpinghim to work at the call centrewere young professionals fromChennai working in Bengaluru.They knew the geography ofChennai, and were well placedto receive distress calls and di-rect relief.

Pradeep John, an amateurweather watcher, found greattraction for his Facebook postsand tweets. He had practicaladvice on when the next spellof rain was coming, how intenseit would be and how long itwould last. John became anovernight celebrity, and hispostings under the name of‘Tamil Nadu Weatherman’ hasan increasing number of follow-ers ever since.

Radio jockey Balaji, actorSiddharth and singer Chinmayiformed another group that ag-gregated calls for help throughsocial media and directed helpto where it was needed. The so-cial media momentum contin-ued when the city faced otherextreme weather events, suchas Cyclone Vardah and thedrought of summer 2017. It was

also used as the youth of TamilNadu congregated at the Ma-rina Beach to protest againstthe ban on traditional jallikattu.

Did Chennai learn from thecrisis and take steps to deal withfuture events? Although therains were not as severe as thatduring end-2015, exactly a yearlater, when Cyclone Vardahstruck, Municipal authoritieswere quicker with their re-sponse. With gale winds reach-ing 140 km per hour, Vardahbrought down nearly 20,000trees in the city. The Corpora-tion cleared these trees off theroads in the next few days. Also,power, phone and Internet con-nectivity were restored faster.

But this still does not meanthat the city will not flood withthe next rains. A ParliamentaryStanding Committee on theChennai floods notes in its re-port dated August 12, 2016,that the encroachment of lakesand river beds played a majorrole in causing the floods. “TheCommittee feels that the StateGovernment should check themafia involved in illegal con-struction for business andusurping water bodies for theirreal estate business. The floodchannels and riverbed shouldbe cleared as soon as possible byremoving illegal/unauthorisedconstructions.”

This has not happened. Theriver channels have beendredged and widened in someplaces, but the river mouths (in-cluding the mouth ofPallikaranai marsh atMuthukadu) continue to beblocked by sand bars.

The authorities had arguedbefore the Committee thatsince the end-2015 flood was aone-in-a-hundred-year event, itwas impossible to prevent thedamages. The parliamentariansfound this unacceptable. “TheCommittee does not quite ac-cept the argument that sincethe rainfall was unprecedentedand was more than the hundredyears average therefore thedamage was also huge.”

The citizens of Chennai arescared because rain events ofeven lesser intensity have beencausing waterlogging and floodsin the past few years. The fur-ther the city moves from theoriginal landscape on which itwas built, greater is the risk offloods.

Rs. 500: Madhavan Sulabha

Madhavan, S

Muthukrishnan, V

Rs. 505: Vipradas, G.B.

Rs. 900:

Ananthanarayanan, T.

Satyabhama, S.

Rs. 1000:

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Subramanian, N

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Dharma Raja, A.R.

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEB

To reach out to as many readers as possible who share our keeninterest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response to requests frommany well-wishers – especially from outside Chennai and abroadwho receive their postal copies very late – for an online edition.Madras Musings is now on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

– THE EDITOR

4 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2017 November 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

The ship-grounding1966 cyclone

A judge’s wealthfor a market

LOST LANDMARKS OF CHENNAI

– SRIRAM V

– SRIRAM V

CHARIVARI – 7

The defender of theDistrict Courts

The Hon’ble W. Holloway, Puisne Judge of the High Court ofMadras, was a product of Haileybury College, that institution that

turned out Civil Servants for employment in India. Arriving in Indiain 1849, Holloway was first stationed in Thanjavur and then, in 1853,became the Registrar of the Sudder Court. Thereafter he wasappointed to various judicial positions in Malabar. While there, hestudied the local systems and practices assiduously, and became anexpert on the customs of the region.

It was during this time that the functioning of the mofussil courtscame in for a lot of criticism and Holloway, stung to the quick, wrotean elaborate defence of it. The work titled A Madras Civilian’s Defenceof the Mofussil Courts of India, was kept under wraps. Holloway,wanting to steal a march on his detractors, most notable of whom wasJohn Bruce Norton, Bar-at-Law. The book was despatched by the mailpacket from Madras, to be delivered in London via Southampton. Butunknown to Holloway, Norton had already received a pirated copyand read the whole of it. Knowing full well that the mail despatchwould be delayed, Norton wrote his rejoinder, A Reply to a MadrasCivilian’s (Mr Holloway’s) Defence of the Mofussil Courts of India, inone night and had it sent to his brother GR Norton, via Marseilles.The result was, as GR Norton wrote in his preface, the rejoinder wasready in book form to greet Mr Holloway’s book on its arrival!Norton’s work is available as a free-for-download on the Internet andits conclusion a classic – Holloway, according to Norton, wroteaccording to the creed “There is no service like the civil service andHolloway is its prophet.”

By the 1860s, Holloway was elevated to the Bench, making himthe youngest civilian to become a Judge. He was also among the firstbatch of judges of the then newly formed High Court of Madras. Givenhis experience in the districts, Holloway developed an understandingof Indians in a way few others did. He keenly felt the necessity forIndians to have a greater say in the laws that governed them. Whenasked to recommend three names for appointment of a Judge at theSudder Court, he wrote thrice the name of T Muthuswami Iyer, whomhe admired greatly and who was then holding judicial office in thedistricts. The latter became the first Indian to be appointed Judge ofthe High Court of Madras in 1883, by when Holloway had long retired.In fact, the Charivari (published in 1877) makes mention of hisimpending departure to England. But Muthuswami Iyer and heremained in touch.

It also notes that Holloway was a charming Whist player and full ofsocial graces. It was perhaps this side of his personality that led to hisbeing made the first President of the Cosmopolitan Club. But he hadanother aspect to him – on the Bench he was known to be brusque,though none could fault his judgements. He was also known to abhorthe Press. Holloway’s Garden on Pantheon Road, Egmore, probablytook its name from him. It was there that India’s first broadcastingservice, by the Madras Presidency Radio Club, was begun in 1924.That property is now the Co-optex premises.

– Sriram V

In the annals of the High Courtof Madras, the contribution of

the Vembakkam clan is unique.This is a small village in theChingleput District and was speltVembaucum in pre-independentIndia. It was from here that anumber of legal stalwarts emer-ged – Sir VC Desikachariar, VCSeshachariar, VV Srinivasa Iyen-gar, VC Gopalaratnam and soon. Among these, Sir Vembak-kam Bhashyam Iyengar, not to beconfused with another legal lu-minary of the same name of latervintage and not knighted, has astatue in the compound of theHigh Court of Madras.

Born in April 1843 in Madras,Bhashyam, the second son of VVaradachari, Head Sheristadar,District Court, Tirunelveli, wasemployed in the RegistrationDepartment initially and rose tobecome District Registrar, FirstGrade. He studied law during hisleisure hours and having passedthe BL in the first class, enrolledas a Vakil on July 22, 1872.There followed a hugely success-ful legal career, marked not bybrilliant oratory, but “cold logic,subtle reasoning and relevance ofstatement.”

Bhashyam Iyengar becamethe first Indian to be appointedthe Advocate General, in 1897.He was elevated to the bench in1901 and was knighted. In 1904he chose to resign as judge andrevert to practice in the samecourt, which was permitted atthat time. The reason cited wasthat his earnings on the benchwere but a fraction of what hemade as a lawyer! Subsequently,while arguing a case, he wasfaced with a judgement of hisown that ran counter to his th-read. He is said to have famouslydismissed it as being ‘obiter’ (saidin passing), and so did not mat-ter! He suffered a stroke whilearguing in Court on November16, 1908, and collapsed at thefoot of the statue of his friendand colleague Sir T. Muthu-swamy Iyer. He died three dayslater. The lawyers of the Courtvolunteered to carry his bier, butthe orthodoxy of the times pre-vented this unique farewell.

Sir V. Bhashyam put his weal-th to good use. The family resid-ed in Lakshmi Vilas, a palatialbungalow once owned by MVenkataswami Naidu, the Du-bash of Parry & Co. It was wherethe Kamadhenu Talkies (nowKalyana Mandapam) stands onLuz Church Road. He alsobought up much of what was tothe east of this expanse, sepa-rated from his house by Roya-pettah High Road. This vast

acreage was given the nameVembakkam Gardens. In today’scontext its frontage was onRoyapettah High Road while therear extended to MundagakanniAmman Koil, Nattu SubbarayaMudali and Kalvi Varu Streets.Here he put up a second familyhome, named Ambuja Vilas, afterhis wife Ambujavalli. The houseitself spanned thirteen grounds.To the south of this property, onanother part of Vembakkam Gar-dens was the Mylapore Ladies’Club, set up by family members.This institution would in turngive birth to the Vidya MandirSchool, to which BhashyamIyengar’s family donated theland.

To the north of Ambuja Vilaswas an empty land of eight and ahalf grounds and it was on thisthat Bhashyam Iyengar planneda market for Mylapore. The spotwas conveniently located, be-tween Royapettah High Road onthe west and the BuckinghamCanal on the east. He thereforebuilt the facility – a series ofraised platforms sheltered undersloping Mangalore-tiled roofs.The wholesale commodities ar-rived by boat via the Canal andso the shops dealing in themwere located on the east, while

the retail outlets – for fresh fruit,vegetables and flowers – were onthe west, facing Royapettah HighRoad. The transport by waterwas, however its best feature andso Thanneer Thurai (waterside)market it became. It is interest-ing to note that at least till the1970s, the Corporation of Ma-dras recorded it as BhashyamIyengar’s Market.

Given its location, the marketsoon became a great conve-nience for several of the sur-rounding areas. Also, as in mostsuch facilities, the immediate vi-cinity degenerated considerablychiefly due to congestion and theway infrastructure collapsed inMadras from the mid 1960s. Bythen, the Bhashyam Iyengar fam-ily had long relinquished its own-ership, the market being sold toa consortium of 18 merchants, allof whom had shops there. Theyin turn rented out the remainingspaces to others.

The cessation of transport ofgoods by water in the 1960smarked the beginning of the endfor the market. Produce nowcame by road transport, whichmeant the blocking of Roya-pettah High Road or, worse, thenarrow lanes to its rear. With theproliferation of cars and two-

This is the story of s.s.Stamatis, as it actually hap-

pened. I am in a position to givethe correct story, because of mypersonal involvement with theship, and the devastating cyclonewhich battered Madras on No-vember 6, 1966 at which time Iwas a Professional Surveyorthere.

s.s. Progress, Marore, andStamatis were chartered byBethlehem Steel Company’sshipping subsidiary to offloadwheat in bulk which had beenbrought to Madras in their bulkcarrier Mari Hora, which arrivedand moored in Madras harbouron November 5th, 1966. Thefirm Ericson and Richards (Ma-dras), of which I was then Pro-prietor, was appointed by thecharterers to inspect the threedaughter vessels (term used forsmaller vessels), with respect totheir fitness to receive and carry

wheat in bulk to Calcutta fromthe mother vessel, Mari Hora.

This inspection requires thesurveyors to thoroughly examinethe vessel’s cargo compartmentsto ascertain that they have beenthoroughly washed and are abso-lutely clean, free of infestation,with no loose rust, in other wordsin grain-worthy condition.

My colleague, Capt. S.R.Dighe, and I set out early morn-ing on November 5th to inspectthe three vessels which were an-chored in Madras Roads. Thefirst vessel was Stamatis whichwas a ‘Liberty’ type vessel. Thevessel’s cargo compartmentswere examined, and the ship wasfound to be clean except forsome minor deficiencies whichwere immediately corrected bythe crew and we certified her asfit. Then, on to Marore, a Cana-dian ‘Fort’ type, and we foundher also fit. Then we visitedProgress which we had inspectedon the previous occasions whenshe was chartered by the samecharterers. Capt. Heing, Masterof the Progress, was fully aware ofthe requirements, and had hisvessel absolutely ready in all re-spects to carry wheat. Just beforeleaving her, Capt. Heing askedus to request Capt. VictorRaymond, Port Captain (Char-terer’s Representative) to bringher alongside the mother vesselfirst, though he had arrived acouple of hours after Stamatis.

We returned ashore around 5pm and went to Mari Hora at thecentre moorings, and informedCapt. Raymond that the threevessels were passed for loadingand also communicated Capt.Heing’s request. Having knownhim from earlier trips, he readilyagreed and sent a message toProgress through the signal sta-tion that the ship should be readyin all respects to come alongsidethe mother vessel by the first pilot,at 6 am on November 6th, 1966.

By the time we left Progress,the wind had become very fresh,and the sea started breaking with‘white horses’ all over. But theNorth-eastern Monsoon havingalready set in, this did not alarmus to a great degree. While on

the Mari Hora, we saw prepara-tion being made to dischargecargo. This involved placing ofvacuuming machines at properplaces alongside the hatch comb-ings, connecting pipes, etc.These machines suck grain fromthe mother vessel’s holds andpump it across through the pipesinto the holds of a daughter ves-sel. When we left Mari Hora byabout 8 pm, the wind had in-creased considerably, and we

both noticed a slight change inits direction. There was also in-termittent rain.

By about midnight, it was rain-ing continuously and the windhad freshened to gale force. Iwaited for some time, but finallydecided to go to the signal stationto see the conditions. Against mywife’s protestations, I finally leftthe house by 3 am on my way tothe harbour. The roads hadstarted to flood and it took menearly an hour to reach theharbour. When I got to the signalstation, the entire MarineDepartment’s officers, which in-cluded Capt. Van Geyzel, DeputyPort Conservator, Capt V.V.Sheshadri, Harbour Master,Capt. P. Balaram and Capt.Thiyagarajan, Dock Masters, andalso Capt. Kelkar, Capt. Venu-gopal and other pilots were there.

It was now pouring hard, withgale force winds. Storm signalswere put up. You could faintlysee anchor lights of the vessels,anchored in the roads. The dis-cussion was on the rapid shiftingof wind and steep fall in the baro-metric pressure. We all came tothe conclusion that the severecyclone which was reported ear-lier was likely to pass over Ma-dras, or at least close to it, andwould do so very shortly. Surpris-ingly, the Meteorological De-partment kept on giving the po-sition of the cyclone at 150/200km SSE of Madras when weknew that it was far closer thanthat. The D.P.C. and H.M. werealso muttering and blaming

themselves for not sending outthe vessels in the harbour theprevious evening itself. Now allthe ships were demanding assis-tance from the signal station, asit was becoming impossible forthem to remain alongside, fortheir ropes and wires were snap-ping like strings of twine. Therewas hardly anything the Portcould do at the time, though theydid dispatch mooring crews toassist the ships.

By about 6 am, watching theshifting direction of the wind andbarometer, we knew that the cy-clone was crossing right overMadras. There was torrentialrain, and wind speed had risen tomore than 100 miles an hour. Atdaybreak, we could finally seethe silhouettes of the ship at an-chor. Three or four ships werenot to be seen, and we figuredthat the Masters must haveweighed anchor and proceededto sea, which was the safer way.

The Progress was anchorednorth of the harbour entrance,approximately near the newchannel that turns to the eastabout 1 to 1½ mile away. Wecould see that she was driftingsouthwards, and sometimescould faintly see her propeller ris-ing in the air, as her stern roseabove water due to heavy pitch-ing. Apparently the Captain wastrying his best to get away, butthe wind and heavy seas were toomuch for her power. What wascausing immense worry to Portofficials was that she mightfounder right in the middle of theharbour entrance! They werecursing and praying at the sametime, that she keeps clear of theentrance. Their prayers were an-swered and at the last moment aheavy return swell pushed herout seaward, and she dashed onthe breakwater but on the out-side. A heavy sigh of relief wasbreathed that she did not breakup inside! She apparently brokeinto two, but, there was verylittle to do to help the crew at thetime, as heavy seas were batter-ing the breakwater walls. –(From the late Capt. PrabhakarDatar’s notebook, sent to us byMrs. Snehalata Datar).

Snehalata Datar adds, “I can-not find my husband’s account ofwhat happened thereafter to theStamatis, in particular, so I amadding this footnote fromGoogle:

A spectacle that remainsetched in the collective memoryof the city is the sight of the half-submerged Stamatis, the cargoship which hit Marina beach onNovember 3rd, 1966 and re-mained a sorry sight till the1990s.

Worst affected by the storm ofNovember 6th was the Progress.The ship split in two and about25 crew members, mostly Chi-nese, died.

The Stamatis and Marore,jostled violently by the storm,drifted. While Marore ranaground off the Port Trust mar-shalling yard, Stamatis wasdragged further and reached Ma-rina beach. The Madras Steam-ers Agents’ Association, after afew days, declared that Marorewas “as good as wrecked as it haddeveloped a big crack amidship,”but they had some hopes aboutrefloating Stamatis.

Ten days later, attempts topull the ship out of the sand com-menced. Large crowds had gath-ered to witness the event, butthey were disappointed since therecovery operations failed.

M/s. Diana Maritime Corpo-ration, the owners, agreed to sellwhat was remaining of the shipfor its scrap value — about Rs.3.3 lakh — to a local company.However, the wreckage couldnot be completely removed.

The ruined ship attracted alot of curious onlookers, but italso turned into a death trap.Many who swam close to it werenot aware of the buried, sharpsteel girders and were often fa-tally injured. In January 1983,over three days that followedPongal, 19 dead bodies werewashed ashore. This tragedy cre-ated a furore.

Finally, in 1990, a major effortwas made to haul the wreckageto shore. A Bombay-based com-pany mobilised more than 30workers to wrap the broken shipwith wires and tried to haul itwith the help of two winches.The wreckage was removed, butnot completely. There are bits ofit still under water close to thesite where it beached.

� From notes recalling a

horror – and a footnote

to them.

wheelers, the market became abyword for traffic hold-ups. Butit was still a charming open-airfacility, where you could walkaround and buy what youwanted. You could also enjoy thesharp wit and repartee that thesellers indulged in, provided youwere not at the receiving end!Some of these jokes made it toAnanda Vikatan as well. One ofthe best-known being:

Buyer: Such exorbitantprices!

Woman vendor: Yes, withthe profit I make, I plan to builda bungalow in Mylapore.

Rather incredibly, a real es-tate developer found the Than-neer Thurai market a suitableplace to put up a private residen-tial complex. It is an indicationof how in Chennai a spot desig-nated for some purpose can beused for something entirely dif-ferent, with no thought or worryabout the immediate environ-ment. The builder began buyingoff the owners of the marketpiecemeal. Some of those whorented the shops went to Court,but to no avail. The takeover be-gan in 2002 or so and was com-pleted by 2008. The market wasdemolished and a multi-storeyresidential block stands in itsplace.

Several of the vendors set upmakeshift shops around the com-pound and, so, the congestionalone has remained – as amemory of Thanneer ThuraiMarket!

The ‘Stematis’ that ran aground off Marina beach in 1966.

A Tower Block that has replaced the Thanneer Thurai market.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2017

(Answers on page 8)

Stand-upcomedyin Chennai

� byLavanya Narayanan

“Macha, why would youdo that, da?” The audi-ence is already in splits and S.A. Aravind has

hardly begun. The auditorium in the Museum The-ater, Egmore, is full to the brim with the sound ofthigh-slapping guffaws as he calls out stereotype afterstereotype. The Tamilians smile in appreciation: fi-nally, someone who’s telling it like it is. But moreamazing still are the smiles painted across the faces ofthe Mumbaiites and Delhiitesas Aravind tears into them.“Since when has Rajnikanthworn chashma, da?! You areconfusing Rajnikanth with RajKiran, ok?” The cheers are con-tinuous and unstoppable. In thecorner, Evam Entertainment’sfounder Karthik Kumar smiles.He’s seen this phenomenon be-fore. In fact, he had birthed it.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to sayI thought Chennai was the nextbig thing for stand-up comedy,”he confesses. “At least, not atfirst.” His initial innings as whattrade pundits now refer to as the‘failed Madhavan paradox’ sawKumar trying his hand at almostanything that got him on stage.Remember his strong start withMani Ratnam’s Alaipayutheyand Yuva? And yet, as the in-dustry morphed, so did Karthik,finding space first on the the-atre stage and, then, at an openmic. “We’re able to use humourto break language barriers andspread social messages. What’s

more amazing is that people arewilling to pay us to see that!” Itmight be bewildering, but thathasn’t stopped Karthik fromturning it into a full-fledged en-terprise.

Over the last few years,Evam has led the pack, pavingthe way for comedy collectivesto make inroads in the city.They’ve given Chennai a newsplash of colour among the deep

hues of the Margazhi seasonand the flashy exteriors of theindependent-cum-film musicscene. “It’s an art that allows meto connect with so many peopleof different backgrounds here inthe city, no matter how manyTamBrahm jokes fill my half-hour set,” Aravind says. The

development is heartening butunbelievably recent.

Three years ago, comedy wasnestled in the classics: Nageshon the big screen with his an-tics, the staple serving of filmcomedians such as Vadivel,Santhanam, Parotta Soori, andthe youngest of them all, Satish,and the tasteful acts of a Y GeeMahendra show, served in smallportions to the viewers. Now,it’s permeated the city’s culturein a way that was unprec-edented. Of course, not that thecomedians are complaining.

“Chennai has five open micnights, happening every week,”says stand-up comic SudarsanRamanurthy, better-known asSoda. A healthy number, giventhat it’s more than what’s of-fered even in cities like Mumbaiand Bangalore. And yet, evenwhile playing host to a plethoraof talent, Chennai still has along way to go. “The Chennai

audience is fun and intelligent— they pick up on the nuancethat we deliver. But, the sceneis still in its nascent stages,” saysBangalore comedian SundeepRao, who’s performed inChennai’s hotspots before.“The city needs to evolve moreand give people comedy of allshades so that local and na-tional comedians can co-exist.”

Evam’s third man, AswinRao, couldn’t agree more. “Wedon’t make bones about wherewe come from. In stand-upcomedy, it’s your own experi-ence that counts.” And whilehe’s both heartened andamused by the number ofmacha-s that are called out inappreciation at the end of eachshow, he says, eventually, it’s allabout the connect. “You haveto find your own voice. Theneverything falls into place.”–(Courtesy: Matrix, the housejournal of the Sanmar group).

Madras/Chennai as twenty see itHow would you like on your

plate aromatic servings ofmemoirs mixed and matchedwith short stories with the com-mon thread of Madras-Chennaiand dollops of literary flourish?The anthology Madras on MyMind: A city in stories, has sevenwomen and 13 men betweenthe ages of 30-plus and 80-plussharing their musings. Threepieces are translated from Tamiland one from Telugu. Some ofthe writers have debuted andothers have been in the businessfor a long time. It is edited byChennaivasis Chitra Vira-raghavan and Krishna ShastriDevulapalli who believe Madrascan never be removed from theequation. A true-blue Madrasi,Krishna has been in the citysince the late 1960s, early ’70sand, for the record, is “olderthan the Gemini flyover and theValluvar Kottam”. Accordingto Chitra Viraraghavan, it wasone hell of a task to make aclean break with existing bookson the city and come out withan anthology with a fresh startand a new perspective.

Discover in the pages whatMadras was like in 1939/40

through the eyes of an 8-year-old. His fascination for trainsand tram rides, his wide-eyedwonder at the ragtag bunch ofthings for sale at Moore Market,including mongrel puppies, thediametrically different Spen-cer’s, his climb up the light-house and gorging on sundaland murukku at Marina.

Marvel at the deity ofThiruvanmiyur, Marundeesh-waran, materialising Himself inflesh and blood with thoughtsand feelings while on a writingassignment about the city Helords it over; a small town stu-dent and aspiring artist makinghis tentative move into the bigbad city where Taramani was

like a forest in the back of be-yond; the story of a guide whopasses out of AllianceFrançaise, Madras, and laterscooters around the city withhis French woman-client; thetwo watching the movie IrumbuKottai Murattu Singam; a Mus-lim child growing up with Tam-Brahms and, while keeping akeen eye on their practices, fall-ing in love with rasam. Andthere’s still more.

The mixed up and musicaltale of a lawyer in Kondi ChettyStreet; the world of Anglo-In-dians at its most entertainingwhen enjoying the spirit ofChristmas; the tragedy of awronged wife breaking up withher two-timing husband; thefunny surprises the Madras filmworld throws on an unsuspect-ing Telugu rice merchant; vividremembrances of cricket in thecity played in those days whenthe shade of a large tree was thedressing room and boys played‘book cricket’ in classrooms; thebitter-sweet telling of an oldSowcarpet Gujarati man’s fa-miliarity with eateries of histime and his relish for food; theeerie story of a stoic son’s search

for his father’s dead body amonga pile of bodies in a city undercurfew; two friends meanderingin the city and landing up atVandalur Zoo on KaanumPongal; and hell breaking loosefor an IITian even as he wadesthrough the flooded roads forsome marijuana. And there’sstill more to Chennai.

The private and convolutedlife of maidservant Muniamma;Partha’s love in the city in‘From Triplicane to Taramani’;young Arjun’s churning withinon his drive to Mahabalipuramdown the ECR with his friends;Shanti’s sojourn in the city andher longing for what could havebeen; the son of an actressgrowing up in Madras and com-ing back to Chennai with achild of his own; and to wrap upthe collection, a brave man’sday-long journey fromKumananchavdi near Poona-mallee to Velachery and backthrough a city under water inDecember 2015.

Madras on My Mind informs,entertains and gives back a vi-brant life to the city.

– T.K. Srinivas Chari

(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’squestions are from October 1 to15. Questions 11 to 20 relate toChennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. In which world-famous US citydid a lone gunman go on a shootingrampage on October 1st leaving atleast 59 people dead and 527 oth-ers injured?2. Which organisation has beenawarded this year’s Nobel PeacePrize “for its work to draw attentionto the catastrophic humanitarianconsequences of any use of nuclearweapons and for its ground-break-ing efforts to achieve a treaty-basedprohibition of such weapons”?3. Which European nation recentlybecame the smallest nation bypopulation to qualify for a FIFAWorld Cup?4. Which pioneering chat messen-ger from AOL is to shut down onDecember 15th, 20 years after itsinception?5. From which respected UN bodyhas the USA and Israel decided towithdraw, citing anti-Israel bias?6. Which legendary cartoonist/artist’s home in Santa Rosa, Cali-fornia, was destroyed, along withhis priceless personal collection andmemorabilia, by wildfires that rav-aged that US State?7. Which award-winning actor hasbeen appointed as the new Chair-man of the Film and Television In-stitute of India (FTII) in Pune, suc-ceeding the controversial GajendraChauhan?8. Which place of worship in TamilNadu has been adjudged as thecleanest iconic place in the countryunder Swachhta Hi Seva (the‘Cleanliness is Service’ programme?9. After which BJP ideologue hasKandla Port, the country’s largestin terms of volume of cargohandled, been renamed?10. Name the eminent doctor andscientist who has become the firstIndian (and Indian woman) to beappointed as the Deputy DirectorGeneral of the World HealthOrganisation?

***11. Name the Kongu Jain whowrote Sivaka Chintamani, one of thefive big Tamil epics.12. In which temple is the deity inthe ‘Utthana Sayanam’, a postureakin to the process of getting up,thanks to a request by Thirumazhi-sai Azhwar?13. Which place on the ECR, nearKalpakkam, was once called Raja-narayan Pattinam?14. Which society was founded in1857 by Army doctor AlexanderHunter?15. Which former Chief Minister’suncle was the composer-singerPapanasam Sivan?16. After which legendary vocalistis erstwhile Griffith Road inT’Nagar named?17. Which is the oldest FreemasonsLodge still functioning in Chennai?18. Which Chennai-based musi-cian has won the 30th IndiraGandhi Award for National Inte-gration for 2015-16 for his servicesin promoting and preserving na-tional integration in the country?19. The steps of the KapaleeswararTank are due to the efforts of whichtheatre personality, whose familyonce had hereditary trusteeshiprights to the temple?20. Which area in Chennai wasnamed in 1952 after the Tamil yearwhen the colony was developed?

Aswin Rao, Karthik Kumar, S. Aravind of Evam Standup Tamasha.

November 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

The third lighthouseReplacing the second inthe High Court campus

The second and third lighthouses.The third lighthouse.

(Continued fromlast fortnight)

To follow this story in all itsclarity, readers must be

wise to this fact. When we saylighthouse, we imagine a tallstructure, usually a cylindricalcolumn, with a light on top.This is fine. However, light-house experts tell us the part ofthe structure enclosed in glassand emitting light – usingoil+wick/kerosene/electricity— is the lantern room. So,what’s called the “Third Light-house” is actually a lanternroom on top of the tallest domeon the Madras high court cam-pus.

If this is the third lighthouse,which ones were the first andthe second? According to Re-searcher I.C.R. Prasad, in 1795,commanders of several shipsput up a proposal to the Gover-nor in Council in Madras for alighthouse. “To avoid dangersfrom Armagoan, Pulicat shoalsand Tripasore reef,” they said.A conical wooden tower with alighting apparatus was placed

on top of the two-storeyed Ex-change Committee building atFort St. George. But the light-house created more problemsthan it solved. The cyclone of1807 damaged the structure sothoroughly, the repair work wasas good as constructing a newone. The coconut oil wick usedin the lamp leaked and the

flame discoloured the surround-ing glass. When Argand lampswere introduced for efficientburning of oil, the glass chim-neys cracked often. Ship com-manders complained of “defi-cient light” from the reflectors.The cyclone of 1827 dislodgedmost of the glass-frames. By1833, the braces supporting thelamps had rusted badly. In ef-fect, the wooden tower was fall-ing apart. A new lantern roomwas ordered, but the summit ofthe wooden tower could not ac-commodate it.

In 1838, a Captain Smithwas entrusted with the task offinding a spot for a new light-house. Protracted discussionsand correspondence betweenCapt. Smith and the MarineBoard followed. On 24 July,1838, the Governor signed anorder that the new lighthouse,a lantern room atop a Doric col-umn, would be built on the Es-

planade between the north endof the Fort and Parry’s build-ings. That’s where it stands to-day. The 135-foot tall flutedgranite-stone-covered towerwas commissioned on January1, 1844.

Fifty years later, the secondlighthouse gave way to a new-comer. The third “lighthouse”(lantern room) on top of a HighCourt dome opened in 1894.

In his book Madras ExchangeLighthouse, D. HemachandraRao traces the story of how alantern room was put on top ofa High Court dome. He is cat-egorical there was no proposalto provide a lantern room onthe dome when the court com-plex was built (it was inaugu-rated in 1892). But once thetallest dome soared into the sky,it dwarfed the Doric lighthousecolumn close to it. Ship com-manders complained that theyneeded a light above the exist-ing one as the dome distractedthe light at night and was in theline of vision of the lighthouseduring daytime.

The governing councilagreed and it was decided to in-stall a lantern room, “an engi-neering marvel”, over the tall-est dome in the High Courtcomplex.

The main dome has threestages – a rectangular-shapedfirst one with stairwells in eachcorner, an octagonal secondstage from which a cast-iron spi-ral staircase and a flight ofstraight steps takes you to thethird stage. While the first twostages had windows, the thirdstage had only lancets andCatherine wheels for ventila-tion. Elders who’ve been to thetop (entry was stopped 35 yearsago) say that the dome is formedwith eight rose-windows and in-ter-locking granite blocks.

To create the new light-house, the top was cut open toprovide access to it through aspiral staircase, says Rao. Thecircular lantern house was 2.5min diameter, with 2.1m-high

murette plates at the bottom. A1.2m-high glazed portion con-sisting of 20 triangular-shapedcurved glasses would make a360-degree view possible. Theroof was a gilded dome, tomatch the other domes in thevicinity. The total height of thestructure was 190 feet while thelight beamed at 166 feet aboveMSL. “The new tower was alto-gether 55 feet taller than theexisting Doric column,” writesPrasad.

A revolving light emitted bya kerosene lamp was supplied byM/s Chance Brothers, Birming-

Flattened with impunity(Continued from page 1)

experience has shown us is notvery difficult to obtain, facili-tated the Corporation ofGreater Chennai to permitdemolition, which of course wasdone with an alacrity neverseen when maintenance or con-servation has to be done.

The HCC, it appears, wasnever consulted. If this was in-deed so, it is a downright viola-tion of court orders. It also goesto show how anybody whoknows their way through thelabyrinthine corridors of theGovernment can circumventthe law. It is clearly mandatedthat the HCC is the overall au-

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thority when it comes tochanges in heritage structuresand if it has been bypassed, thenthe owners are clearly in thewrong. If indeed the HCC wasconsulted and gave its consentto demolish, then it is that bodywhich is answerable.

Whatever be the truth, thefact is that the building, whichrepresented over 200 years ofcorporate history in the city, hasnow vanished. It was also thebirthplace of the Madras Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry,which body, founded in 1836, isthe second-oldest trade repre-sentative organisation of India.The Madras Labour Union,India’s oldest, was founded toband together the workers ofBinny. The company itself, oneof South India’s largest, em-ployed in its heyday over 25,000workers at its Pulianthope mills.It folded up in the 1980s.

But that is not all. As thisarticle goes to press, we under-stand that Leith Castle, in SanThomé, is also well on its wayout. Also listed in the samejudgement, its sale and permis-sion to demolish are all wrappedin secrecy.

All this is a sad commentaryon the seriousness of the TamilNadu Government when itcomes to heritage conservation.It also goes to show that the bestof judgements and the mostcomprehensive of Acts can berendered toothless by a pliantadministration and a greedy realestate lobby.

� byGeeta Padmanabhan

ham, England. It sent out atwin-flash in 30 secondsthrough a capillary lamp, whichwas able to produce 18,000 can-delas power. The lantern roomwas commissioned on June 1,1894.

Amazingly, in spite of beingthe largest port of east India andthe head-quarters of MadrasPresidency, the city never gotthe latest lighting apparatus tillIndia became free. Even the pe-troleum vapour lamps usedworld-wide reached the light-house only in 1925, and by thattime, lighthouses the world-over had switched to electricallamps. The mystery deepenswhen you find that a D. AllenStevenson, a Scottish light-house engineer, sent to India in1927 to report on the conditionof Indian lighthouses, had rec-ommended electric lamps toimprove lighting on top of theHigh Court dome. The govern-ment did modify several light-houses through follow-up ac-tion on Stevenson’s report, buthis suggestion on the Madraslantern-room was by-passed.Mariners had to wait for elec-tric beams till 1977, the year thefourth lighthouse came up onthe Marina.

(Concluded)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2017

Published by S. Muthiah for ëChennai Heritageí, 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.

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1. Las Vegas; 2. The International Campaign to Abolish NuclearWeapons; 3. Iceland; 4. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM); 5. UNESCO; 6.Charles Schulz, the creator of ‘Peanuts’; 7. Anupam Kher; 8. MeenkashiTemple, Madurai; 9. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay; 10. SowmyaSwaminathan, daughter of the famous M.S. Swaminathan.

* * *11. Thiruthakkatevar; 12. Sarangapani Temple in Kumbakonam; 13.

Sadras; 14. Madras Photographic Society; 15. V.N. Janaki; 16.Maharajapuram Santhanam; 17. The Lodge of Perfect Unanimity No.150which was consecrated in 1786; 18. T.M. Krishna; 19. Pammal SambandaMudaliar; 20. Nandanam.

Answers to Quiz

The Anglo-Indianlove for sport

� by Partab Ramchand

Meeting up with manyAnglo-Indians during a

recent screening of a HarryMacLure documentary on thecommunity, The Anglo-Indiansof Madras, my mind went backto the number of Anglo-Indiansportsmen I had seen in actionand interacted with during my35 years as a sports journalist.The first sport that is associatedwith the community is hockeyand many Anglo-Indians haverepresented the country at theOlympics and other interna-tional meets.

As a sports reporter, I havespent many happy hours at theEgmore stadium watchingyoung and not so young Anglo-Indians excelling at the sport.They were speedy, skilful andresourceful and above all teammen. The one whose memory Ishall cherish most is that ofJimmy Carr. The enterprisingplay-maker from Southern Rail-way was always a joy to watch.His skill with the stick was awe-some and his exuberance wasinfectious as he goaded his teammates to play above their poten-tial. Off the field, I had many anenjoyable moment with Jimmy

whether it was discussing hoc-key, the weather or taking a tripdown memory lane where Wes-tern music was concerned.

Carr represented Madrasand Railways in the Ranga-swamy Cup but somehow thefondest memories I have are ofthe matches he played for Sou-thern Railway at the EgmoreStadium during the TNHA se-nior division league. As insideright, he formed a formidable

combination with CarltonCleur who played outside rightand the delectable dribblingand the accurate passing be-tween the two frequentlybrought the spectators to theirfeet while bewildering the oppo-nents.

Another Anglo-Indian hoc-key player I remember quitewell and whose flamboyantgoalkeeping I enjoyed wasCharlie Huggins. He repre-sented ICF, Tamil Nadu andRailways through the 1960s and

‘70s and there was no game inwhich he did not leave hismark. Two hallmarks were hiscourage and anticipation. Hewas not overawed by the repu-tation of the forwards who chal-lenged him and would rush tothe top of the D to thwart them.He was also remarkably agile inparrying away the ball from thenet at the last moment. I wellremember one of the headlineswe carried in the newspaper I

worked for – ‘Huggins playsHoratio for ICF’ – a headlinethat summed up his courageousand devil-may-care approach.

Of course as far as myhockey memories are con-cerned, pride of place will haveto go to my interactions withLeslie Claudius. His is the firstname that comes to mindwhenever the Anglo-Indians’association with hockey is re-called. Years after his death hecontinues to enjoy an exaltedstatus. Claudius has been hailedas a legend and a giant of Indianhockey and for once this is nothyperbole. After all, he repre-sented the country in fourOlympics from 1948 to 1960and won three gold medals andone silver medal. I have had theprivilege of meeting him morethan once in Calcutta and Ma-dras and these constituteamong the most cherishedmemories of a long journalisticcareer.

Very few Anglo-Indianshave made it big in cricket

though Roger Binny is well-known as one of the heroes ofthe unexpected World Cup tri-umph in 1983. His son Stuarthas also played for the countryin recent times. But one Anglo-Indian cricketer with whom Ienjoyed a very good personalrelationship was Alfred Bur-rows. He was a typical memberof the community – fun-loving,helpful and having a kind wordfor everyone. He could very welltalk about his frustrations aboutbeing ignored in Madrascricket, but with his sunny dis-position and ever present smilehe preferred to concentrate onthe more positive and happieraspects of life. Fortunately, Bur-rows worked for Southern Rail-way and so was able to representRailways in the Ranji Trophy. Afairly burly opening or top orderbatsman he believed in beltingthe ball hard, high and hand-somely as far as he could. Thisbuccaneering approach en-deared him to the spectatorswho longed to see Burrows’ bighits and he did not disappointthem. With all this there was acertain flair that marked hisbatting.

The Madras-born Burrowsenjoyed a fairly successful firstclass career from the late 1970sto the mid-’80s. In 20 matcheshe scored 1269 runs with fourhundreds and five half centuriesand a highly respectable aver-

age of 37. His career had arather peculiar ending. Hescored 193, his highest score infirst class cricket for Railwaysagainst Vidarbha in 1985-86,and that proved to be the finalgame of his career. Burrows wasgood enough to represent Cen-tral Zone against the all-con-quering West Indian touristsled by Clive Lloyd in 1983-84.Against an attack that includedMichael Holding, WayneDaniel and Winston Davis,Burrows got 31 (second topscore) in his only innings. A fewyears ago he migrated to Perthwhere he died last year at theage of 63.

One healthy feature I havenoticed about Anglo-Indiansportsmen and women is thatthey never lose their love for thegame and would like to be asso-ciated with it in some capacityor the other after their playingcareers were over and this in thedays when there was no moneyin sport. It was genuine love forthe game that prompted thismove. Numerous hockey play-ers I know went into umpiringor took up administration. EvenBurrows, for that matter, tookup umpiring once he stoppedplaying. This is a very healthy,positive and far-sighted attitudeto possess and underlines thefact that for Anglo-Indianstheir love for sports can neverdie.

Jimmy Carr. Charlie Huggins.