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Vol. XXVIII No. 14 November 1-15, 2018

WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

INSIDE

Short ‘N’ Snappy The TNPL winners� �Connemara restored� Best bird sanctuary� Tamil magazines�

A nod or two

for restoration

quality of life?When the area was expanded

to 1,189 sq.km, Government rea-soned that a large area wasneeded to find the best possiblelocation for employment, afford-able housing and relocation ofslums and developing connecti-vity. This was primarily to beachieved by creating satellitetowns and peripheral ring roads.

Of five proposed towns, onlytwo – Manali and MaraimalaiNagar – were accomplished. Thishas not been adequate to arrestthe rising overcrowding inChennai city. The object ofmaking housing in suburbs anattractive option has not beenrealised. Reports from residentsin outlying areas indicate thatlocal roads have not been put inplace nor has the supply ofserviced land for middle and

Are conditions for ‘Ease of Living’poor in State?

(by The Associate Editor)

The Connemara Hotel, Madras’s oldest and now the Taj Connemara, celebrates a 2-yearrestoration (see page 5).

The pillbox in Kasimedu after restoration by the Indian Oil Corporation. But note the litteralready around it. (Pictures by R. Raja Pandiyan.)

It is not often that we at Madras Musings have occasion to celebrate when it comesto heritage. Most of our stories are gloom and doom, chiefly documenting official

apathy and wilful neglect that results in various grandiose edifices biting the dust.But in this festive season, we do have a reason to rejoice. We, a few days ago, sawthe low profile restoration of the Second World War shelter that had for longremained neglected by the seashore at Kasimedu. This marked the culmination ofsome concerted action by several agencies and we are glad to report that MadrasMusings too played a role in it.

The concrete air-raid shelter, also known as the pillbox owing to its design, wasone of several put up all along the seacoast by the administration of Sir ArthurHope, during the first three years of the WWII. Weighing several hundred tonnes, itwas probably cast in-situ and apart from its massive walls, it also has evidences ofmetal plating on the inside. Narrow windows provide a lookout and also enable thepositioning of anti-aircraft guns. Records on these shelters are non-existent todayand, indeed, there is no proof of ownership either. The last named was a bane and aboon, when it came to the recent restoration of this particular shelter, the lastsurvivor of its kind.

It had remained neglected for years and served among other things as a dwelling,a public convenience and a rubbish dump. It would have gone on that way, hardlynoticed by passersby had it not been for it lying plumb in the middle of the route fora proposed pipeline of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). That necessi-tated bringing down the shelter and demolition work began in October 2017. Thatwas when Madras Musings was alerted about this and carried an article in its issuedated December 16, 2017. The Hindu, one of the supporters of Madras Musings,followed up and the city newsdesk published a detailed story.That got the IOCL interestedand they willingly suspendedthe demolition.

The Corporation of Chennaiwas kind enough to offer itsservices for shifting the struc-ture to the Museum if the latterwas willing to host it and, moreimportantly, if the owner of theshelter had no objection. Ascramble began on establishingownership over the bunker.The ASI and the Army had norecords. Strictly speaking, thestructure was poromboke, for itstood on public land andnobody had a claim over it. TheIOCL then offered to retain theshelter at site and, what’s more,decided to repair whateverdamage had been done by wayof demolition.

This was soon attended to,the quick action being possiblechiefly because there were noconflicting Government depart-

(Continued on page 2)

� by A SpecialCorrespondent

A healthy practice is in placeover the last three years or

so to measure the efficacy ofpublic services in terms of out-comes. The latest one in theseries is the Ease of Living Indexat the initiative of the Ministryof Housing and Urban Affairs,of the Central Government.The survey, commenced inJanuary 2018, is a bit too earlyto test the status of Ease ofLiving when governments arestill grappling with this problemof many ramifications.

The survey covers 111 citiesin the country, the evaluationbased on four pillars, as they arecalled, namely, institutional,social, economic and physicalfacilities. Under this mainclassification there are 15parameters and 78 indicators.Based on data received for thesemain and sub-main parameters

scores are assigned and aggre-gated to rank cities for perfor-mance.

On a prima facie reading ofscores/ranks, Tamil Nadu’s per-formance is as follows. No

Tamil Nadu city has made it tothe top ten out of the 111 citiesassessed. Among the first 50cities ranked, 12 Tamil Naducities have come in, but thatmay not be saying much. OnlyTiruchirappalli and Chennaiare in ranks 12 and 14 respec-tively, which is some consola-tion, ranking within the first 15

out of a field of 111. The overallscore is set against a maximumof 100 and Chennai scores47.24. This is not a high score.Pune is declared the best city forease of living, but with a scoreof only 58.11. It is a sadcommentary that for Ease ofLiving in the country the bestscore is only 58. This meansthat the country, as a whole, isnot doing well for Ease ofLiving. Chennai can consoleitself by claiming that its scoreof 47.24 is as high as 81% of thebest performer! Another doubt-ful consolation is that Chennaiis Number 2 in position amonglarger cities with over 4 millionpopulation, below GreaterMumbai at number 1 with ascore of as low as 57.78. The

survey shows that most thingsare bad in most places and mostthings in most places must beimproved. Didn’t we know thisalready?

Often physical data, in termsof numbers, reflect a good pic-ture while actual experience ofbeneficiaries turns out to bedisappointing because of poordelivery. The outcome must,therefore, be evaluated bydirect access to a large enoughsample of beneficiaries to deter-mine whether numericalcompliance matches beneficiarysatisfaction. This part of theevaluation is important to knowthe “real” situation and must behighlighted in future reports.

The survey, being in theearly stages, suffers from inad-equate data. Some of the

(Continued on page 2)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2018

The Man from MadrasMusings looks out via the

window even as he types this.In the sky above, there is not acloud and yet this was the datethat the weathermen/womenhad given out for the arrival ofthe monsoon. The rains havetricked the Met Office twiceover – the first time in midOctober when the combina-tion of two cyclones, one onthe east coast and the other onthe west was cited as enoughreason for an early onset of themonsoon, and the second be-ing this glorious sunshine-filled day at end October.Now, so MMM learns from anews release, the weatherpeople are saying the rains arejust five days away.

Chennai residents are un-derstandably worried. Lastfortnight’s water-tanker strikeshowed what havoc shortage ofwater can cause to highrisesand IT Parks, all of which arestriking proofs of our city be-ing well on its way to becom-ing Chenngapore. But then noteveryone is concerned. TheChennai Metrowater and Sew-erage Board is delighted for ithas just embarked on whatpromises to be a rather long

and babies were rocked to sleep– all very domestic and a scenethat MMM did not complainabout. But he did have secondthoughts when the workers,and babies used the garden asan open toilet as well. In thesedays of Swacch Bharath,MMM can only hope thewomen found some toilet touse. The offer to use a servant’stoilet in the house did not meetwith encouraging response.These are people who preferthe wide open spaces.

At the end of the day, threehuge craters had opened up, allof which made entry and exitfrom chez MMM quite a chal-lenge. On day two, when ac-cording to the supervisor, thestormwater channels were tobe laid, there was deathly si-lence, with not a worker insight, even as sewage filled thepits. The workers are yet tocome back as this column goesto press. But the stagnant wa-ter in the caverns is a perfectbreeding ground for mosqui-toes.

MMM now realises that theworkers, when they said theyneeded three days to completethe task, did not mean threeconsecutive days. What they

Rain, rain, where art thou?may, the smell-free inspectiondoes open up possibilities. Per-haps there are agencies that of-fer personnel who are freefrom BO.

‘IF YOU NEED GOODFRIEND IN YOUR AREACALL ME OR WHATS UPME’ ran a second one. It madeMMM wonder as to how thesender knew the area whereMMM lived. Also, the sendermust be a really gregariousperson, if friends could berustled up from any area andfor any area. Truly, somepeople are really friendly.

In the meanwhile there isno let up when it comes tomessages from massageparlours. The latest offers arefrom what claims to be a newlyopened spa. It specialises inwine massages, whatever thatmeans, done by ‘3 femaletherapist’. MMM assumes thatthe expression ‘sic’ is to beadded after that one. An addedattraction is that the same spaoffers a diamond facial for freeif we avail of its wine massageby 3 female therapist. As towhat a diamond facial is,MMM has no clue. He hasread somewhere that the dia-mond is among the hardest

had meant were three workingdays interspersed with severallong breaks. MMM is now leftwondering if an early onset ofmonsoon is such a good thingafter all.

Eats, Shoots andLeaves

That if you recollect was thetitle of a best-selling book

that dealt with punctuation er-rors. The Man from MadrasMusings was reminded of thiswhen he recently came acrossseveral interesting messages, inprint and sent via telephone.

“Offer 10% Pest ControlServices for Cockroaches, Ter-mites, Bedbugs with out smellFREE INSPECTION at URhome or Office” ran the firstone and it made MMM wonderas to whether the service of-fered was for the benefit of thepests listed. In which case, itwould eliminate the humansthat coexisted with these in-sects. The other question thatMMM had was about ‘SmellFree Inspection’. Most servicepersonnel who come to attendto household or office repairssmell to the high heavens, whatwith our spice-rich diet, plentyof honest sweat, a tendency tosmoke like chimneys and afondness for polyester fibre inclothes, thereby leaving behinda rich aroma long after theyhave left. MMM is no snob, butthere are days when he doeswonder if these people wouldnot have been better off invest-ing in a deodorant. Be that as it

substances known and, so,whatever this is, it is bound tobe painful. But all that is noth-ing compared to this one –Best relaxing ful body pain re-lief massage! Oil, Thai, AromaMassage Avl! Dne by weltrained South and North FE-MALES!

And then there are thoseresorts that are running emptywhen our legislators are notstaying in them. The latest of-fer from these is Rs 4,000worth VIP Cracker Box, if youstay there for eight days.MMM assumes that the VIPCracker is the only instrumentby means of which you canevict a legislator from a resort.That is apart from an adverseHigh Court judgement ofcourse.

Tailpiece

Dovetailing with all theabove is a poster that The

Man from Madras Musings es-pied on all the pillars of ourMetrorail down Pallavaramway. “To Let: Bachelor, Fam-ily, Office, Godown” it ran.MMM was really intrigued atthe number of ways in whichpeople are making money. Henever knew bachelors andfamilies are available on hire.If that be so, why is the bach-elor not hiring the family andvice versa? On that happynote, here is to a greatDeepavali, filled with light butnot crackers, in keeping withSupreme Court norms.

–MMM

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

and leisurely dig all around thecity. Everywhere you go youfind mysterious bags filledwith soil lining the footpathseven as gangs of workmencrush the concrete, asphaltand whatever else that goesinto defining that narrowsliver of space that is allottedto the pedestrians. Closer en-quiry reveals that these are forimproving the stormwaterdrains so that as and when(and if and when as well) itrains, we ought to be ready fora swift clearing away of thesurface water.

Ask any of the supervisorsas to why the great dig had tobegin just when the monsoonsare (hopefully) around thecorner and you have themflummoxed. They blush, theytwiddle their thumbs and ad-mit that you have a pointthere. But what can be done,they go on to ask, for such isthe tendering process and thespeed at which it is gonethrough that work can beginonly when the rains are justarriving.

The curse came uponMMM a fortnight or so ago,when gangs of workmen andwomen arrived at his doorstepand began breaking the foot-path. The work would be com-pleted in three days flat, theysaid, even as they went abouttheir task. These toilers movearound en-famille and so thechildren made themselvescomfortable in MMM’s frontgarden. Hammocks were sus-pended from tree branches

‘EASE OF LIVING’IN TAMIL NADU

(Continued from page 1)

respondent cities were unpre-pared to provide the necessarydata. Those who did not givedata, penalised by zero mark,are losing in the race. It is quiteprobable that good performers,who did not have data toprovide, have been relegated aspoor performers in the findings.Delhi ranks 65 because of itsfailure to provide data. Delhi’srank would, arithmetically,have been surely better hadthey provided the data.

The results of this survey areof limited practical value at thisstage as States are still trying toclear the cobwebs of the past.Ease of Living calls for reformsin many areas that touch ourdaily needs – gas connection,power supply, clean watersupply, driving licence renewal,school vicinity, school admis-sion, condition of our ownstreet, sanitation, bank access,mobility, play space, sense ofsecurity and so on. Building thedata base over such a vast rangeof services is a task that statesare grappling with.

Of all the sub-indexes of thissurvey, the physical componentis the most important and hasbeen rightly assigned aweightage of 45 per cent. TheReport on the internet does notprovide break-up of perfor-mance in respect of 46 indica-tors on the physical supports forEase of Living. These shouldalso be provided for city admini-strations to recognise specificdeficiencies in performance.The physical componentencompasses housing and inclu-siveness, power supply, trans-portation and mobility, assured

water supply, waste water man-agement, solid waste manage-ment and reduced pollution.Some of these are the focus ofimportant initiatives likeAMRUT (Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation) which coverswater, sewerage, stormwaterdrainage, public transport andamenities, the Smart CitiesMission with covering redevel-opment, green-field develop-ments and pan-city applicationof smart solutions, PradhanMantri Awas Yojana, envision-ing housing for all by 2022, andSwachh Bharat Mission for bet-ter sanitation. Future reports ofthe Ease of Living Survey wouldthrow more meaningful infor-mation on the progress of thesemajor initiatives.

Such a survey, carried outannually, would highlight goodand bad performances, acting asa mirror to city administrations.The National AchievementSurvey 2017, based on a studyof education in 700 districts inthe country, the 2017 Report ofSwachh Survekhsan by theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs (MoHUA), and theSocial Progress Index by theInstitute for Social Competi-tiveness, India, are other studiesfocusing on different aspects ofwelfare. All of them should becoordinated to avoid duplica-tion and should adopt acommon consistent yardstick.

To the question – Are con-ditions for Ease of Living poorin Tamil Nadu? – the answer is‘yes’, but we are in the companyof low performers all round, re-flecting a countrywide need foraccelerating measures to makeLiving Easier.

Two nods forrestoration

(Continued from page 1)

ments squabbling over it. Theshelter was given a coat of paintas well and gleams now. TheIOCL has cordoned off thestructure and also offered to putup a plaque on it, explaining itshistory. The route of theproposed pipeline has beenchanged so that the shelterremains undisturbed. TheIOCL will also hopefully main-tain the structure.

It is rather ironic that whileseveral edifices of the city havebitten the dust or continue tocrumble, the humble pillbox hasproved a survivor, almost likeCinderella. It was thanks tocoordinated effort amongvarious agencies that there wassuccess. Now if only the YMIAread this and began focusing on

Gokhale Hall, or the SBIthought of what could be doneto its magnificent First LineBeach office or the LIC pon-dered over Bharat InsuranceBuilding the same way, the fu-ture of heritage in Chennaicould be a lot brighter.

Editor’s Note: Your Editorbeing of Word War II vintage,has a rather different viewabout air raid shelters andpillboxes/bunkers. The latterwere meant as ‘mini-forts’ fordefensive purposes, in this case,coastal defence. Machine gunswere their main weaponry. Airraid shelters were ‘civilian’spaces, meant to be shelters forthe local public during an airraid. Would be glad to hear theviews of someone from theArmy.

November 1-15, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Endangered parks

The implications of Geeta

Doctor’s passing mention

of the CMRL’s plans for an un-

derground line/station (MM,

October 1, 2018), has me all

knotted up. Much as I would

like to shut my eyes to the fact,

soil testing aka ‘Geotechnical’

testing, is indeed going on

within the Chetpet Eco Park

which lies alongside the existing

Central-Kilpauk-Airport Metro

line. The Kilpauk Metro station

is a minute or two walk from the

Park. So, what does the new

Metro plan propose? And, to

cut to the chase, will it be the

beginning of the end of the Eco

Park ?

My impatience and fears are

not unfounded. In 2011, I was

among those who were silent

witnesses to CMRL’s takeover

of the circular 9-acre Thiru-Vi-

Ka Park in Shenoy Nagar where

I have been staying for a little

over 40 years. There were

officially put up notice boards

outside the covered park carry-

ing the break-up of the number

of trees (believed to be 300) in

the park, number to be trans-

planted, those that were to face

the axe and trees that would see

the light of day in the ‘restored’

park. But here’s the rub. Post-

May 2017, after the Metro

station was inaugurated, the

authorities have had better

ideas than restoring the park.

With headlines like 21K sq.ft

underground facility to come up

at Shenoy metro’ hopes of old-

timers and every green enthusi-

ast have been dashed. Today,

nine months down the line,

more trees, visible to residents

living around the park, have

said their last goodbyes.

Waking up to the dangers of

the commercialisation of the

park, we, the residents ran a sig-

nature campaign, met CMRL

and Chennai Corporation offi-

cials, the MP and MLA and

posted a petition to the Chief

Minister. To seek clarity, we

filed a petition under the RTI to

which we have got no response.

While, we continue talking to

anyone who would care to

listen, contractors are busy at

work in the 9-acre site where

once stood the Thiru-Vi-Ka

Park. As for the CMRL’s latest

plans for the Park restoration,

residents like me have our

doubts about any newfangled

replacement.

Back to my question on the

fate of the Eco Park. Mind you,

the word ‘park’, developed at a

cost of Rs 42 crore, pays no

justice to what is definitely an

environmental model. Reduced

to its bare minimum, the Eco

Park is all of 16 acres of water

and land-spread ringed by a 1.2

km walkers’ path. The park also

abounds in greenery. At a time

when there’s a sense of urgency

about preserving and maintain-

ing water bodies and open

spaces, will our need for trans-

portation ride rough shod over

the cause of the environment ?

T.K. Srinivas Chari2A, Mithila

4/39, East II Cross StreetShenoy Nagar

Chennai 600 030

Photo printing

I have since found two

papers published in the 1856

volume of the Madras Journal

of Literature & Science, one by

Tripe and another by Jesse

Mitchell on printing of photo-

graphs. I provide below the

complete bibliographic details

o f bo th , the Tr ipe and

Mitchell articles:

1. Tripe, L., 1856, ‘On a

photographic printing process’,

Madras Journal of Literature &

Science, 1 (N.S.), issue 1, pages

166-170.

2. Mitchell, J., 1856, ‘De-

scription of a plain or, waxed

paper process in photography’,

Madras Journal of Literature &

Science, 1 (N.S.), issue 1, pages

71-81.

Both articles are freely avail-

able on the Internet.

Notable that Tripe had sent

the above communication to be

read at one of the ordinary

meetings of the Madras Photo-

graphic Society (MPS), while

he was in his last phase of

service in India, attached to the

12th Regiment, Native Infan-

try, Bangalore. This paper was

read at an MPS meeting by J.D.

Scott, Madras Artillary. In this

article, Tripe indicates that his

formula was developed on that

then popularised by Thomas

Sutton of Jersey, which

involved the use of gold

hyposulphite as the toning

agent.

These details shall interest

and benefit those interested in

the evolution of photography in

Madras.

Dr. A. Ramananant@raman.id.au

Printer’s Devil leaves story unfinished� The Printer’s Devil was at work

on the last issue of Madras

Musings (October 16th) and

rather unfortunately forgot to

deliver on his commitment to

continue on page 6 what he had

promised on page 5: to continue

the last portion of the Jagdish

shop story. We regret the care-

lessness and make good the

omission, starting from what

might be considered the begin-

ning of a second part of the story.

–The Editor

Mylapore was not a geo-graphical spot. It was a

social phenomenon. It wasIndia’s legal brain and centre ofculture comprising music,dance, temples, colourful festi-vals, early morning marghazhibhajans and a school of consid-erable repute that producedIndia’s senior civil servants.Mylapore also provided consti-tutional architects, SupremeCourt judges, great jurists, asilver-tongued orator reputed tohave known all the words in theOxford Dictionary, freedomfighters, musicologists, compos-ers, poets. Mastery of Law wasthe speciality. If you were bornin Mylapore you could not havehelped being an eminentlawyer. Every girl of marriage-able age aspired to marry into aMylapore lawyer’s family. Theheroine, Miss Malini, in a movieof that title, sang the lyrics com-posed by Kothamangalam

Subbu, also a Mylaporean:Mylapore Vakkeelaatthu Maattu-ponnaavaen!

Edward Elliot’s Road markedthe northern boundary ofMylapore. This one road couldboast of many luminaries –T.R.Venkatrama Sastri (jurist), Rt.Hon. Srinivasa Sastri (whosemastery of the English languageastonished the British), Sir P.S.Sivaswamy Iyer (lawyer), E.V.Srinivasan (opthamologist, whowas seen in his Rolls Royce),C. Rajam (founder of MadrasInstitute of Technology) andlesser known, but no less distin-guished, Chief EngineerRamasundaram who made aname for himself for buildingseveral airstrips in the countryin record time to prepare Indiaagainst possible external attackduring the Second World War.Rajam lived in a palatial housecalled India House, at the junc-tion of Mowbray’s Road. Busconductors would shout IndiaHouse! with extra gusto perhapsto express their awe of theimposing bungalow, to alertpassengers desiring to disem-bark in that area. India Housewas later acquired byS.S. Vasan, celebrated asIndia’s Cecil B. de Mille as hewas the forerunner in producingmovies with spectacular set-tings at costs running to severallakhs at the then value. Some-what diagonally opposite, on

Mowbray’s Road, was FarmHouse, the residence of KasturiGopalan and Kasturi Srini-vasan, owners of India’s premiernewspaper, The Hindu. Alsoadjacent was the spacious com-pound called Dare House thatwas residence of the ButchiBabu family that producedsome of the naturally giftedsports persons in tennis, cricketand golf.

Jagdish’s shop was outsidethe charmed Mylapore bound-ary, lying, as it did, on the wrongside of the dividing Edward

was Mahalingam, a pioneer byhis own right, living in his mod-est apartment. He was a salesexecutive of George Oakes, anEnglish company that importedluxury cars. Almost all cars thenowned by the elite of southMadras were bought throughMali who used to bring differ-ent models to the door-step ofthe high and the mighty forthem to try before buying. Inmotor car marketing, Mali wasmuch ahead of his time. Hemade owning a second-handcar respectable and put this

whose statue stands in front ofthe General Hospital. Dr.Rangachari was known for hiscompassion and treatment ofthe poor. Doctors of repute,such as Narayanaswamy andSankaran, would make homevisits at request. They wouldcome, dressed in spotless white,in a Morris Minor or StandardEight with their kit carried byan accompanying assistant.Prescriptions, that were recipesfor a liquid mixture of appropri-ate drugs in required propor-tion, would be compounded byqualified pharmacists in anearby medical shop. Ready-made patented and brandedtablets, capsules and liquids hadnot come in to vogue. Themixtures, however, did thetrick.

Although this stretcharound Jagdish’s shop in southRoyapettah had enough toboast about, the residents stillpreferred the prestigiousMylapore badge. No one in thearea would want to call oneselfa Royapettan. The shadow ofMylapore was enough to claimpedigree. Mylapore had its auraand magic and willingly cast itsembrace over the southernfringe of Royapettah. But, overthe decades, the uniqueness,leisure and simple charm aregone and with them thesprightly little social symbolslike Jagdish’s shop.

� byN.S. Parthasarathy

Elliot’s Road (now Radha-krishnan Saalai). This fringewas the last outpost ofMylaporeanism. As if Mylaporewas at a loss to find space for allits famous citizens, the surpluseminence overflowed on tosouthern part of Royapettahwhich accounts for the impor-tance of Jagdish’s location.Around Jagdish’s shop, within amile radius, were Raja Iyer, Ad-vocate General, A.V. Raman,civil servant of the English eraand close associate of Rajaji,and C.R. Srinivasan and KhasaSubba Rao, both nationallyknown Journalists. And there

status symbol within reach ofthe emerging professional uppermiddle class. In the automobilebusiness, Mali is still a namerecalled with respect; the com-pany in his name, even today,dominates the car marketpresided over successfully byanother Mali, grandson of theoriginal.

It is difficult to overlookmention of Rangachari Homeand Ranga Nursing Home bothin this area run by Dr. Nara-yanaswamy and Dr. Sankaran,respectively. They were seniorphysicians who worked with thelegendary Dr. Rangachari

4 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2018 November 1-15, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

LOST LANDMARKS OF CHENNAI– SRIRAM V

All that’s left

is a road and

an area name

Black-headed Ibis.Pelican.

Spoonbill.Painted Storks

The best little bird sanctuarya dozen species of waterbirds –cormorants, egrets, storks, dart-ers and herons among them –will arrive to raise their familiesin these treetops. The fortress-like setting gives the birds pri-vacy to breed, the “moat” is fullof frogs, fish, and insects for rav-enous chicks. Everything is lushand green.

... And onealive andpreening

The Connemara Hotel main block before remodelling began in 1934. Jackson and Barker’s sketch of what the remodelled Connemara (1930s)was expected to look like when completed.

Tea-time at theConnemara again

� byGeeta Doctor

Like the legendary Phoenix,Chennai’s iconic hotel, now

called the Taj Connemara, hasgone through as many transfor-mations as the City itself.

It started as a garden housebuilt by John Binny, a surgeonattached to the Nawab ofWallajah’s court. When Binnybecame the Sheriff in the early19thCentury, the Nawab gavehim the land on which he built asuitably grand mansion. In sub-sequent years the house passedthrough different hands to be-come the Imperial Hotel, (1867-1886), the Albany (1886-1891)and finally the Hotel Connemarain 1891 when it was purchasedby M/s Spencer & Co.

Lord Connemara was theGovernor of Madras from 1886-1890 and has left his stamp andhis name on other well-knownlandmarks of the City.

It’s however LadyConnemara’s spirit that walksthe corridors of the hotel evenafter the long passage of time. Asthe second wife of the honorableGovernor, she created a minorscandal by leaving theGovernor’s residence and takingrooms at the hotel then knownas the Albany. One of the de-lightful aspects of the newlyrenovated hotel are a set of pub-lic spaces named after her — theLady Connemara Bar andLounge that together replenishthe spirits and the romance ofthe past with style.

As S. Muthiah has had thepleasure of recounting in thepast; “It was not Oakshott repre-senting the Spencer’s whobought the property, butOakshott himself. The land hebought from TriplicaneRuthnavaloo Moodelliar in April1891 was 6 cawnies for 21 ½grounds in extent, a bit less than9 acres.” It was sold to Spencer’sin 1913.

In between the war years, itbecame the leading establish-ment with separate quarters forFamilies and Bachelors, boastingof a Tennis Court and a well laidout garden where tea and lightrefreshments were served. TheArt Deco style that was in voguebecame a design feature of theHotel that has been continued to

this day. There were variationswhen Geoffrey Bawa took overthe renovation with the additionof a new residential wing in thestyle that he popularised as“Tropical Modernism”.

Sue Freeman, the British de-signer who has nurtured the ho-tel in the past, has created acharming medley of all these dif-ferent aspects in her cool and el-egant approach to the latest re-invention of the Connemara.

It’s probably seen at its best inthe Lady Connemara Lounge, an

oasis of sage greens and palemagnolia set in a drawing roomthat Lady Anna Maria Russell,7thDuchess of Bedford, wouldhave enjoyed. As the Menu cardreminds the guest she was theone who felt the need to assuagewhat she called ‘that sinking feel-ing’ between lunch and dinner,by inventing a ritual called the“Afternoon Tea”.

It was also a time at the heightof the Victorian era to displaythe avant-garde style ofDarjeeling tea served in exquis-ite porcelain with a silver service,embroidered linens and, ofcourse, a Butler to serve the teacakes and crustless sandwiches.

It’s not Lady Bedford whostares down at the modern-dayguest who needs to satisfy his or

her “sinking feeling” between 3pm and 5 pm at the LadyConnemara Lounge, but thePrince of Arcot, the old Nawabof Wallajah. What he makes ofthe salmon sandwiches, thescones, the jam and clottedcream is hard to say. Maybe hewould thoroughly approve of thespecially plucked and decantedbrews of a single estate tea fromValparai, or the coffee from theYanagundi estate in Coorg. For,more than anything else, theNawab was someone who en-joyed sharing the good life withhis guests.

As Ahmar Siddiqui the af-fable GM who stood by andwatched the renovation of theTaj Connemara Hotel from theground upwards through a longperiod of 22 months, confided,“It’s been a great experience forme to have been a part of the his-tory of this grand old hotel thatis connected so intimately withthe history of the City. It’s some-thing I will treasure for the restof my life.”

It gave its name to an entiresuburban district of our city –

Chromepet. But of the factory orthe several acres it occupied atone time, there is not a trace. Inits time, it was a well-known em-ployer of the city and its productsfound a ready market in Indiaand abroad.

The Chrome Leather Workswas founded by GeorgeAlexander Chambers in 1913.He was an old Madras hand,having first come here in 1894,at the age of 26. For ten yearsprior to this, he had worked inthe leather trade in London. Ar-riving in Madras, he worked hisway up in a private companywhose name is not known and,in 1903, opted to branch out onhis own. This was a trading en-tity and he exported hides andskins. But his heart was in settingup a tannery of his own and,within a few months of being inbusiness, he managed to cobblethe necessary capital to set upsuch a facility in Pallavaram,then “12 miles distant from Ma-dras”. Here he pioneered theprocess of chrome tanning in thecountry.

The firm of Simpson & Cobecame interested, for this wasan era when they were into mak-ing custom-designed carriagesand needed leather for the seats.They entered into a collabora-tion with Chambers and the newentity, with a tannery inTondiarpet, came into existenceunder the name of Brown & Co.This, however, did not prosperand when Simpson’s withdrew,Chambers agreed to take overthe assets of the company. It wasrenamed Chambers & Co andbecame one of the principalmembers of the British-domi-nated Madras Chamber of Com-merce, then a powerful represen-tative body for trade and manu-facturing interests across the en-tire Presidency.

The chief cause of failure ofBrown & Co had been Cham-bers’ inability to make chrometanning a commercial proposi-tion and he became bitterly op-posed to the process itself, pre-ferring to revert to traditionalmethods. In the mid-1900s, theGovernment of Madras beganpondering over ways and meansto create an industrial appetiteamong Indians in the Presidency.It appointed Alfred Chattertonof the College of Engineering to

come up with schemes and he,after due study, suggested severalalternatives, including pencilmanufacture, soap making, alu-minium processing and chrometanning. In all of this he wasstrongly opposed by the MadrasChamber, which abhorred theidea of Indians taking to busi-ness. And within the Chamber,it was Chambers who stridentlycriticised Chatterton’s attemptsat chrome tanning. He was of theview that the process was un-suited to Indian conditions andpredicted that Chatterton’sscheme was doomed. But realityturned out otherwise.

It was a bitter pill, especiallybecause Chatterton had enticeda key employee of Chambers toprove that chrome tanning wasworkable. The Government wasdelighted and Chatterton wasknighted in recognition of sev-eral of his pioneering efforts. Butit was Chambers who mademoney out of chrome tanning.He worked with a convert’s zealand, by 1913, set up the ChromeLeather Company (CLC) in 25acres of land in Pallavaram, at asite that was described as possess-ing “a good elevation, and withexcellent water.” It is pertinentto note that the area, which be-came Chromepet, does not haveeither attribute today. The oldChambers & Co became theManaging Agent for the CLC, itstannery in Tondiarpet havingclosed owing to an outbreak ofmalaria in that area.

World War I saw demand forIndian leather soar and Cham-bers prospered, with the CLCemploying over 400 workers by1916. A showroom for theCompany’s finished products wasset up “on the Mount Road, fac-ing Neill’s statue and near theMadras Club.” Over 100 peoplelaboured away in producinghand-made footwear. Exportswere made to “South and EastAfrica, Abyssinia, Aden, the Per-sian Gulf, Mauritius, Burma,Ceylon and parts of the FarEast.”

By the 1930s however, com-petition blunted CLC’s edge,what with several British compa-nies jumping into leather andmany Indians being attracted toit as well. Nevertheless, CLC re-mained a name to contend with.George Chambers died on No-vember 16, 1937. He had mar-ried three times, and it was his

last wife, Ida, and Roy Edwin, hisson through his second wife, whoinherited the business. The twodid not see eye to eye and even-tually it was Ida who ran CLC,leaving Roy Edwin to other pur-suits, though he did not relin-quish or sell his share in the busi-ness. Ida, by all accounts was atough character, who stayed onin India post-Independence andmanaged CLC, seeing it throughmany labour troubles and otherproblems that plagued enter-prises in the 1950s and 1960s. Inthis she was helped considerablyby M Subbaraya Iyer, the famedlawyer, who was her advisor.When he won a tough labourcase for her, he requested that hisfee be given as donation to a petproject of his – the Vidya MandirSchool. An entire wing wasnamed after her in gratitude.

By 1965, Roy Edwin and Idareached an agreement to sellCLC. The Company was pur-chased by A Nagappa Chettiar,leather baron extraordinary whodid much to make Tamil Nadu amajor in this sector. Ida Cham-bers bequeathed most of hershare of the money to charity be-fore dying in 1968 in a road acci-dent. Nagappa Chettiar, in themeanwhile, made a success of theCLC, introducing leather boardsout of cuttings and also develop-ing leather washers. It appeared

(Continued on page 7)

If you went to school inChennai, chances are you

have visited the VedanthangalBird Sanctuary, some 75kilometres south of the city. Asan eighth grader, I went there onan excursion. Oblivious to thebirds in the distance, my friendsand I sat in a circle, chatteringaway over a picnic lunch. Thatday trip did not make a birder ofme but I now travel to remoteareas to spot rare endemics. Andeach winter, when I visit the oldhometown, I am eager for an an-nual rendezvous with my feath-ered friends in southern India’soldest bird sanctuary.

With the onset of monsoonsin October, the compact 74-acrehaven comes to life. Good rainsfill up the seasonal lake at theheart of the sanctuary, almostsubmerging the mini-groves ofBarringtonia trees that dot thelake bed. Only the crownbranches don’t go under. At least

counting the migrants. Even bar-headed geese, which fly over theHimalaya to escape the bitterwinters of Central Asia, havebeen spotted here.

Local farmers have alwaysbeen good hosts to the nestingbirds, trusty suppliers of organicfertiliser. Fledglings are known toeat more than their body-weightof food each day. After all thisfeeding, the birds, both parentsand chicks, drop guano, rightinto the seasonal lake below.Farmers use the enriched water

to irrigate the adjoining paddyfields.

History records that, in thelate 1700s, the villagers asked theCollector of Chengalpattu togive them a document assigningthe area protected status. Noshooting or snaring of birds. Per-haps, they needed to wave thispiece of paper at Europeans whoshowed up for the huntingseason. But there is a reason tobelieve that Vedanthangal has

This sets the stage for somegreat birding between Novemberand March. Because space istight in this colony, different spe-cies take up residence on thesame treetop. Walking along thelong tank bund, you can see themotley bunch of waterbirds inthis rare, mixed rookery. Apartfrom this, there are close to ahundred different species ofbirds in this sanctuary, not

� byVijaysree

Venkatraman

(Continued on page 6)

6 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2018

(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’squestions are from October 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 relate toChennai and Tamil Nadu.)1. Name the present CJI sworn inon October 3.2. Which famous type of mangofrom Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg,Palghar, Thane and Raigad Dis-tricts of Maharashtra got aGeographical Indication (GI)recently?3. Which Nobel Prize has beenjointly shared by Denis Mukwegeand Nadia Murad?4. According to the 2018 HenleyIndex, which country has themost powerful passport with itsholders enjoying visa-free accessto 190 destinations?5. Arkady Dvorkovich is the newpresident of which sporting bodyin which India has produced afive-time World Champion?6. Name the maverick Englishartist, whose painting ‘Girl withBalloon’ self-destructed througha built-in shredder hidden in theframe after selling for $1.4 millionat an auction.7. Google recently announcedthat it is shutting down whichoffering after seven years due to‘very low usage’ and a softwareerror?8. Which Indian State has beennamed the world’s first totally or-ganic agriculture state?9. Name the new word added tothe Oxford Dictionary which re-fers to a society consisting of orgoverned by people characterisedas idiots or a government formedof people considered stupid.10. In which State capital isIndia’s and Asia’s first DolphinResearch Centre to come upsoon?

* * *11. Who has been the most fa-mous resident of 75 (new 67)Thulasinga Perumal Kovil Streetin Triplicane?12. Which legendary film-maker’s family’s house was at theplace where the present DominicSavio School is located in SanThomé?13. Parasakthi, which saw the de-but of Sivaji Ganesan, was madebased on whose stage play?14. In August 1777, MoinudeenMahomed Abu Baker became thefirst to officially hold which postspecific to his religion?15. Which cricketer fromChennai has the distinction ofscoring a century on his Test de-but for India?16. What is the surname of theEnglish civil servant with theChristian names George Town-send who has a famous thorough-fare named after him in T. Nagar?17. Which famous sabha wasfounded by Manni Thirumala-chariar in 1900?18. Which school in Mylapore,started in 1937 by V.N. Sharmaand his German wife Ellen, wasone of the city’s first MontessoriSchools?19. What is the name of the au-ditorium in Kalakshetra that isbuilt in the Kerala style?20. Which big medical facility inthat began functioning in 1961Adyar was the brainchild of Dr.K.S. Sanjivi?

(Answers on page 8)

been a haven for birds evenbefore. Why else would they askthe Collector for that docu-ment? Was it the goodness ofthe people, or was it the guanothat made them want to protectthe nesting birds? It doesn’tmatter, because it has been awin-win situation for both birdsand farmers all along.

Now, a national highwayprovides easy access to thisonce-sleepy village and tradi-tions in the region appear to bechanging. A study from the Na-tional Conservation Founda-tion indicates that the huntingof waterbirds has gone up in thisdistrict in recent times. Re-searchers reported that themeat from medium-sizedwaterbirds was sold in the area,

between 6 pm and 8 pm, to buy-ers who specifically sought wildfowl. The rest went to local res-taurants and cheaper eateriesnear liquor shops.

Barring news of this disturb-ing development, you’ll find allthis information about thesanctuary, and more, in a slimbook called The VedanthangalWater Sanctuary for Birds writ-ten and illustrated by naturalistM. Krishnan. Issued in 1960and priced at less than a rupee,it should have found a place inevery school library. The beau-tiful prose and the precise de-tails about the natural history ofthe place could have turnedsome students into birders.(Such awareness could havealso kept children in the areafrom eating wild fowl later inlife.) The book remains an ex-

The best little bird sanctuary(Continued from page 5) cellent resource though it has

no color photographs.The keen-eyed can see fair-

sized waterbirds from a dis-tance. Don’t let a lack of bin-oculars bother you, you can rentthem just outside the sanctuary.There is a spotting scope at thewatch tower inside the sanctu-ary. On the walls, there arepainted pictures with descrip-tions, to help you identify birds.You don’t even have to getthere bright and early. Show upa good hour before the wintersunset. Take a leisurely stroll,look for some migrants orcolourful locals like the copper-smith barbet, flamebacks, theIndian Roller, and wait for thebig event of the day –waterbirds coming home toroost. This is not the bright-colored spectacle you will see in

some well-produced naturedocumentary, but it is some-thing to experience.

On one of my trips, I saw anelderly local woman burst intospontaneous applause at thebeauty of it all. With theorange-violet sky of dusk as thebackdrop, the waterbirds madeone last appearance before re-tiring for the night. There werepouch-mouthed pelicans,black-headed ibis, and spoon-bills that looked like they weremaking off with a chemistry labspatula each. And my favorites,the painted storks with their ro-seate tutus. I saw them all, andfor a few glorious moments, Idid think to myself – what awonderful world! – (Photos byG.V. Balasubramanian – anavid birder.)

Revivedmemories ofa journalist

From India’s Digital Archives– Karthik Bhatt

� The Digital Library of India

(DLI) project, an initiative of the

Central Government, aims at

digitising significant artistic,

literary and scientific works and

making them available over the

Internet for education and

research. Begun in 2000 by the

Office of the Principal Scientific

Advisor to the Government of

India and later taken over by the

Ministry of Electronics and

Information Technology, it has

to date scanned nearly 5.5 lakh

books, predominantly in Indian

languages.

This month’s book is RevivedMemories by K. Subba Rao

(Ganesh and Co. 1933). It iscredited with being one of theearliest autobiographies of anIndian journalist. Starting hiscareer as an educationist, SubbaRao later joined The Hindu andwas also involved with theIndian Social Reformer as itsJoint Editor. He then shifted togovernment administration byjoining the Mysore Services.The book is a fascinatingaccount of his life and interac-tions with several notablepersonalities of his times.

Subba Rao was born inTanjore in the 1860s. Hisfather, Krishna Rao, heldseveral positions in the Govern-ment, starting as a Munshi inthe Deputy Collector’s Office inTanjore and rising to becomeSub-Magistrate of Vedaranyam.The family was originally fromCoimbatore. In 1876, SubbaRao joined the GovernmentCollege in Kumbakonam, thenconsidered as the Cambridge ofSouth India. He was, however,forced to discontinue his educa-tion following financial con-

straints in the family thanks tohis father being relegated to theposition of a Taluk Sheristedaron the insistence of a ratherunscrupulous Collector, H.S.Thomas.

Subba Rao notes that it wasaround this time that demandwas being felt for the opening ofNative High Schools acrossSouthern India following thesuccess of the one inKumbakonam. On receivingseveral representations from hisfriends in Coimbatore, hemoved there and started theCoimbatore Native HighSchool in 1882. The schoolgrew against all odds (includingobstacles in obtaining recog-nition, primarily as the teach-ers, though dedicated, had notpassed through the TrainingCollege), producing excellentresults in a short span of time.Following its success, a similarschool was established in Erode.While at Coimbatore, SubbaRao also started nurturing aninterest he had long harboured,that of becoming a journalist.He started to contribute lettersto The Hindu and after severalrejections became regularlyaccepted.

Subba Rao moved to Madrasin 1886 in search of a job thatwould earn him a steadier

income that would help thefamily finances, which had fur-ther plummeted following hisfather’s summary dismissal fromthe services along with 18others on the recommendationsof the Board of Revenue for theTanjore Remissions inquiry. Hejoined the offices of The Hindufollowing an interview withG. Subramania Aiyer, itsfounder and Editor who hadbeen in occasional correspon-dence with him and was postedas its Madurai Correspondent.He arrived in Madurai just asthe Government was in themidst of active damage controlfollowing its defeat in thefamous Garstin Dacoity Casewhich had resulted in theacquittal of the Zamindar ofBodinayakanur, who had beennamed as chief accused. SubbaRao’s work as an investigativereporter reporting on the confi-dential enquiry commissionfound acclaim with his employ-ers and thus began a nearlydecade long association.

Subba Rao was an activemember of the Social Reformmovement. In the book, he nar-rates three incidents of widowremarriage that he was closelyinvolved with (the first onebeing that of G. SubramaniaAiyer’s daughter) in the face of

heavy social opposition. Alongwith a few others, he foundedthe Indian Social Reformer, aweekly devoted to moral andsocial reforms, and subse-quently the Madras SocialReform Association.

After eight years with TheHindu, Subba Rao quit to jointhe Mysore Services. The shiftin the profession came aboutthanks to, in his own words “adismal financial horizon”. G.Subramania Aiyer was, how-ever, not too keen to let him goand even left the door open forhis return until the time theMysore Services had confirmedhis appointment. There was,however, no looking back, butthe association with The Hinduwas renewed when, in 1924, hewrote a series of articles docu-menting his life and associationwith several public personali-ties, which form the basis forthis book.

The book is a valuable docu-mentation of public life andseveral notable incidents of thelate 19th and early 20th centuryin the Madras Presidency. Theshort biographical accounts ofthe various people Subba Raowas in close contact with, suchas Sir T. Muthuswami Iyer, G.Subramania Aiyer, Sir K.Seshadri Iyer (Dewan ofMysore), and SrinivasaRaghava Iyengar (Dewan ofBaroda) do justice to the re-markable personalities theywere, without coming across asbeing hagiographical.

In his Foreword to the book,the Rt Hon’ble V.S. SrinivasaSastri commends the book asbeing a “good specimen of itsclass” and makes a specialmention of how Subba Rao hassteered clear of making uglydisclosures and destroying repu-tations. A fine line of humourthroughout the narrative addsvalue to this must-read book.

November 1-15, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

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Once upon a time...

� If Tamil publications of the 1950s had a staid

and decorously clad Bharatiya nari (Indian

woman), or a conscientious, God-fearingmiddle-class man on their covers, today’s

feature a typical, fashion-conscious, daringly

clad college girl leading a ‘fast’ life. Is themedia reflecting social changes, or society

being influenced by media depictions? It’s a

moot point. Strangely enough, alongside the‘progress’ in terms of modernity and

‘liberation’ that the magazines reflect today,

there is also evident, a more daringmanifestation of sexism, which ‘modernity’

frowns upon, says Sakuntala Narasimhan of an

unbelievable metamorphosis.

Growing up in Delhi in thepost-Independence years, I

learned to read my mothertongue, Tamil, only throughmagazines like Ananda Vikatanand Kalki, two popular weekliesthat my mother subscribed to.Legendary Tamil writers likeKalki (Krishnamurthy),Lakshmi, R. Choodamani, andJayakanthan had their novelsserialised in these magazines,and I remember Alai Osai,Ponniyin Selvan, Pareesukku Poand other long stories thatenjoyed avid readership. Somewere social novels, some histori-cal, but the language wasuniformly gripping and – andmore to the point – grammati-cally pure and correct.

Vikatan’s cover always had anice cartoon illustrating a joke;there was very little aboutcinema or film actors and ac-tresses. Illustrations were oftenby the gifted ‘Silpi’, who createdmasterpiece reproductions oftemple sculptures and intricatedepictions of historical figuresto match a story’s narrative.

Half a century later, when Ipick up current issues of thesemagazines, I am struck by thechanges, in content, layout,choice of subjects and generalget-up. If the publications of the1950s had a staid and deco-rously called Bharatiya nari(Indian woman), or a conscien-tious, God-fearing middle-classman, today’s feature a typical,fashion-conscious, daringly cladcollege girl leading a ‘fast life’.

Is the media reflecting social

changes, or society being influ-enced by media depictions? It’sa moot point. Strangely enough,alongside the ‘progress’ in termsof modernity and ‘liberation’that the magazines reflect to-day, there is also evident, amore daring manifestation ofsexism (which ‘modernity’frowns upon).

The language, for one –grammar and adherence to lin-

in Tamil script). “Sooper”(again, written in Tamil letters,in place of what would havebeen 50 years ago, Sari (allright) or Pramaadam (super).Worlds like naatla, veetla, androadla, which would have beennaattil, veettil and theruvil origi-nally, have taken on new,‘modern’ inflections.

Appadi illanga (it is not likethat), a film director says now,

guistic norms, go for a toss. Notjust colloquialism, but down-right hybrid ‘masala mixtures’,call it a textual equivalent ofchaat-masala and pani-puri (notpart of South Indian cuisineoriginally, but even weddingreceptions offer these NorthIndian imports today, in thename of ‘trendiness’).

Here’s a sampling of sen-tences from today’s pages:“Okay vaa?” (Is it okay, written

in an interview, the way a lowerclass, semi-literate personwould say it; that would havebeen, correctly, Appadi illai, in amagazine of yesteryear.Paaraattitta ought to bepaaraatti vittaal. And so on.Kondaaduranga (they arecelebrating) would have beenpreviously Kondaadugiraargal.Partly, it is perhaps a dilution ofBrahminical-literary styles, infavour of commonly spoken,caste-less phrases. Partly, it isalso a reflection of the‘anglicisation’ of urban lifestylesand speech. ‘Creativity illai’(there is no creativity), onephrase says. Isn’t there a wordfor creativity in Tamil?

Curiously, there is no ‘Hindi-isation’ or admixture, in tandemwith the Anglicisation –whereas even ads for nationalentities like the Life InsuranceCorporation, or multinationals,routinely use Hindi phrases likeaap ke liye and jawaab nahin intheir ads. Interesting! There’sgrist here, for political/social/North-South research…

Then the pictures – womenin shorts, short skirts, knee-length boots, striking sexyposes, with hair left open andno pottu (bindi) on the cover –not done, just not done, in a‘family magazine’ commandinga wide circulation (includingSouth Indian readers settled inthe north). Two generationsago, decent females did notleave their hair open, much lesscut it, and being without a bindiwas, well, considered sacrile-

gious and sinful for Hinduwomen other than widows; asfor showing leg – only womenof loose morals did.

The magazines would havepromptly lost circulation andreadership with such depic-tions, during my mother’s time.Now, perhaps, these are the im-ages that sell. Even salwar-kameez was not acceptable once(I used to wear salwar-kameez toplay tennis, and that was sup-posed to be scandalous in theSouth, even during the late1950s when I entered college.)

The recipe page offers chaat(unknown in the South, at onetime) and pizza as ‘special’treats. The titles and subtitlesfor features are ‘In box’ (writtenin Tamil script of course) and‘Visual corner’. ‘TV corner’ isthe title of one section (mymother-in-law would not haveunderstood the word corner).“Lights on’ is the title foranother section (on filmigossip). English words prolifer-ate. One article is on Beyonce(that’s globalisation for you)with a picture that would havenever been seen in these maga-zines half a century ago.

A recent issue of Kumudam,another popular weekly, has‘Women who smoke’ as its leadstory, with a young woman onthe cover to match, with sareecarefully pulled down to exposea breast.

The trend started perhapsthree decades ago, with the rise

of writers like Sivasankari and‘Sujatha’ (whose serialised fic-tion commanded a huge fan fol-lowing and turned them intosocial icons). Their novels weregripping and were enjoyed forthe plots’ conception ratherthan literary merit. Nonethe-less, the language still remainedlargely uncorrupted, and faith-ful to the South Indian ethos.That has changed dramatically,in the New Millennium.

There are still a few Tamilliterary magazines, untouchedby these trends, but they are byno means ‘mainstream’ or popu-lar in the sense of wide reader-ship. Which is perhaps true ofother languages too (includingEnglish). Is that a good thing?Had one of today’s issues ofAnanda Vikatan been availablewhen I was in school, trying tolearn Tamil, I would have beenconfused by the hybridisation ofthe written word – part English,part colloquial, and part agenetically modified version ofregional writing.

A requiem for somethingwholesome that is gone, or ahailing of something more inkeeping with today’s confusedtimes? That brings us back,then, to that earlier question:Do publications reflect thetimes or mould them throughwhat the older generationwould call a ‘corruption’ oflanguage, themes and presen-tation? (Courtesy: RINDSurvey.)

that his golden touch hadworked at the CLC as well, butthat was not to be. In 1972,India suffered a major creditcrunch and export financingwas withdrawn. The CLC suf-fered enormously as a conse-quence. Nagappa Chettiar’shealth too declined around thesame time and the Companyfaced difficult times. The banksstepped in after prolongednegotiations in 1981.

This was the decade whenChromepet began developingfast as a residential and indus-trial area. The land on which

CLC stood became far morevaluable than any promise itserstwhile leather business hadheld. In 1993, much of theshares of the Company were ac-quired by a private trust thatwas into education. It conse-quently took over the assets andbegan selling them piecemeal.The gateway and the com-pound walls of CLC stood forlong and have now vanished aswell. A warren of shops and fac-tories has come up there. Thethoroughfare leading to thismaze is still CLC Works Road.That, and the nameChromepet, stand testimony toa pioneering leather enterprise.

(Continued from page 4)

All that’s left is a roadand an area name

8 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2018

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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Published by S. Muthiah for Chennai Heritage, No. 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086, printed by Anu Varghese at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai 600 006, edited by S. Muthiah, 2-F, 1st

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Answers to Quiz1. Ranjan Gogoi, 2. Alphonso, 3. Peace Prize, 4. Japan, 5. FIDE (Chess),

6. Banksy, 7. Google +, 8. Sikkim, 9. Idiocracy, 10. Patna.* * *

11. Subramania Bharathi, 12. K. Subrahmanyam, 13. PavalarBalasundaram, 14. Chief Kazi of Madras, 15. A.G. Milkha Singh, 16. Boag,17. Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, 18. Children’s Garden School, 19.Koothambalam, 20. Voluntary Health Services Hospital.

The Siechem Madurai Panthers.

The 2018 Tamil NaduPremier League threw a

surprise when the unfanciedSiechem Madurai Panthers beatthe tournament favouritesDindigul Dragons in a near one-sided contest. The hero of thewinners was opening batsmanArun Karthik who finished thegame with a scintillating un-beaten 75. With this score,Karthik also emerged as thetournament’s highest run-getterwith an aggregate of 472 whichincluded six half centuries.

The final played at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, wasbowler-friendly despite whatthe commentators said beforethe start of the game that it wasan easy track and would pro-duce plenty of runs.Unhesitatingly, the Panthers onwinning the toss sent the Drag-ons to bat first. The moveclicked as the latter struggledfor runs right from the start los-ing half their wickets for just 21.

Narayan Jagadeesan, whotook over the Dragons’ cap-taincy after RavichandranAshwin’s departure for Englandto join the Indian team, alone

batted with confidence, hitting51. Nevertheles, the Dragonswere bowled out for just 117with just one delivery left.

Panthers’ right-arm seamerAbhishek Tanwar used thewicket and the conditions wellclaiming four for 30. His right-arm seam partner T.D. LokeshRaj who was playing only histhird TNPL game claimed threewickets for 31 runs. Leg spinnerVarun Chakravarthy picked uptwo wickets for just nine runsoff his four overs, one of whichwas a maiden over.

It was surprising that Drag-ons, who scored 203 for six inthe first qualifier and dismissedPanthers for just 128, werebowled out cheaply. The Pan-thers, after their splendid showin the second qualifier, hit peakform just in time.

The Madurai team was in fora shock when it began chasingits small target losing threewickets for just two runs to left-arm spinner Silambarasan whotook the new ball. All the threedismissed batsmen, failed toscore. However, the reliableKarthik played with his head

down before opening out skill-fully as he hit four fours and foursixes facing 50 balls for his un-beaten 75. Shujit Chandran (38not out off 49 deliveries) gaveexcellent support as the pair buton an unbroken 117-run part-nership for the fourth wicketand carried Panthers safelyhome. Karthik signaled the winwith a splendid off-driven six offpaceman Mohammed.

runs in tournament which in-cluded six half centuries.

The 32-year old wicket-keeper batsman who turns outfor Assam in the Indian domes-tic cricketing tournament re-served his best for the qualifiergame and the finals and pro-pelled his team to success.

Karthik had been adept atturning games into his side’s for-tunes many times in the past.Coming to mind is his game forthe Royal Challengers Banga-lore in the 2011ChampionsLeague game against the SouthAustralian Redbacks. Heinitially had an IPL contractwith Chennai Super Kings andwas bought by RCB that season.That move paid off quite spec-tacularly in the ChampionsLeague later that year, when hislast-ball six against South Aus-tralia took Royal Challengers tothe semi-finals.

Originally a right-handedtop-order batsman and occa-sional opener, Karthik beganhis first-class career with 149 ondebut against Karnataka in2008-09. He was part of a strongTamil Nadu batting line up thatseason, scoring 344 runs in fourgames. Karthik began his main-

stream career in Sri Lanka,where he representedRadureliya Sports Club for oneseason. He was the leading run-scorer for his club, with 213runs in nine games in the 50-over tournament.

Why was Karthik not underconsideration of the TamilNadu team selection, com-pelled him to play for Assam.But he has since then been theNortheastern State team’s bat-ting mainstays. He enjoyed agreat Ranji season for TamilNadu in 2009-10, scoring 573Ranji runs at 53.19.

While Karthik played forAssam for three seasons, from2014-15 to 2016-17, he accu-mulated over 1,300 runs. Heplayed for Kerala in the 2017-18 season and aggregated 332runs. His performances in thejust-concluded TNPL seasonbear testimony to the fact thatKarthik is still a prolific run-get-ter. Tamil Nadu could recon-sider its selection policy and in-duct Karthik into the teamagain as the State side badlyneeds some experience in themiddle order. – (Courtesy:Straight Bat.)

SurpriseTNPL winners

� by A SpecialCorrespondent

Karthik was duly. namedPlayer-of-the-Match andPlayer-of-the-Tournament andfully deserved the accolades forhis splendid displays throughoutthis edition of TNPL. Tanwar’swicket tally in the tournamentwent to 15 following his splen-did bowling in the final.

A cursory glance at Karthik’stournament statistics clearlyshows the value of his presenceat the top of the batting order.The Panthers triumphed when-ever Karthik scored and this hedid with cricketing precisionwhich helped him amass 472