Ramanathapuram Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

This year marks Poochi’s 150th birth anniversary which falls in August. His 90th death anniversary fell earlier this month

 

An article from The Hindu -http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/07/31/stories/2009073151490400.htm

Madras Week Events by Madras Musings

Chennai Heritage Programmes for Madras Week

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF SPEAKER FOR THE 17TH OF AUGUST 

Heritage Tours: All Chennai Heritage tours are priced at Rs 250 per head and require reservations in advance.

 

Date	Theme	Starting Point & Time	Time Duration	Contact for reservation
15/8/09	The Justice Party	6.15 am at Panagal Park entrance	2hrs 30 mins	editor@madrasmusings.com
16/8/09	Some Dubashes of Madras	6.15 am at the High Court Compound, NSC Bose Road	2 hrs	editor@madrasmusings.com
16/8/09	The Story of the Beach	6.15 am at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue	2 hrs	editor@madrasmusings.com
23/8/09	Swami Vivekananda’s Madras	6.15 am at the Ramakrishna Math, Kutchery Road, Mylapore	2hrs 30 mins	editor@madrasmusings.com

The Justice Party tour itinerary takes you through T Nagar and details the history of the party that was the founder of several present day trends in Tamil Nadu politics. Many of the leaders of the party are commemorated with streets names in this area. Many more have been forgotten. Come to celebrate the roles of Sir Pitty Thyagaraya Chetty, the Rajah of Paanagal, C Natesa Mudaliar, Dr TM Nair, J Venkatanarayana Naidu, Gopathi Narayanaswami Chetty, Sivagnanam Pillai, Sir AP Patro and many more. Led by Sriram V

 

Dubashes, or men who knew two languages – Dvi Bhashis played a tremendous role in the creation of Madras that is Chennai. Though largely forgotten, their contributions are worth commemorating, whether positive or negative. Come and celebrate the histories of Cassa Verona, Thambu Chetty, Alangatha Pillai, Sunkurama Chetty, Avadhanam Papaiah, V Perumal Chetty and family, Ketty Narain Dewan Bahadur V Shanmuga Mudaliar and a couple of other surprises. Led by Sriram V

 

Swami Vivekananda’s two visits to Madras that is Chennai were studies in contrast. In the first he was completely unknown and the story of his movements here is a study of the citizens gradually discovering a treasure in their midst. When he came the second time, he was an international celebrity and the city rose in jubilation. Let us trace his path from through popular locations such as Ice House to the unknown sites such as Rahmat Bagh and Patters Gardens. Led by Karthik Bhatt and Sriram V

 

All three are tours by van with short distances on foot. They all end with breakfast – a vital aspect of Chennai’s Heritage!

 

Talks

 

Date	Venue	Speaker	Topic	Time
16/8/09	Dublin, Park Sheraton	Randor Guy	Some scandals of Madras	4.00 PM
17/8/09	The Park	Aruna Sairam	A musician’s perspective of Chennai	6.30 PM
18/8/09	Park Sheraton	CV Karthik Narayan	Chennai- The Detroit of India	6.30 PM
19/8/09	Amir Mahal	S Anwar	Muslims and Mosques of Madras	6.30 PM
20/8/09	The Park	Mohan Raman	Madras Nalla Madras- Tribute to Nagesh	6.30 PM
21/8/09	Taj Coromandel	Vedant Bharadwaj	Music performance featuring songs from the city	7.00 PM
22/8/09	Rain Tree	Chitra Madhavan	The Four well-known temples of Madras	6.30 PM
23/8/09	Sir M Ct M Boys School, Puraswalkam	Zhayyn James	The Seven Wells and the Nicholas Family	5.00 PM

 All talks are free. Refreshments will be served for the first half hour after which the talks will begin

 

Roja Muthiah Library Talks- 17^th August 2009 – Saravanan on Arutpa Marutpa, 18^th August – Theodore Bhaskaran on Emden Potta Gundu. Both talks at 5.00 pm

Nizhal Walks

 

Both walks need registration in advance and are priced at Rs 50 per head.

 

Date	Venue	Time of Starting	Contact
16/8/09	May Day Park (opposite Chindadripet MRTS)	6.45 am (walk is for 1 hr and 15 mins)	9445258328 or 9840744453
23/8/09	My Ladye’s Garden, Sydenhams Road	4.45 pm (walk is for 1 hr and 15 mins)	9445258328 or 9840744453

 

 

People’s Park Vazhi Nadai Chindu – A dance performance based on the poem of the same name published in 1915 describing the sights and scenes of Madras city as seen by a young couple as they walk from George Town to Mylapore to participate in the Arupathumoovar festival. Date: 16/8/09 Time: 9.00 am, Venue: Tag Centre; Admission restricted to the invitees of the South India Heritage Series and their guests

 

South India Heritage Series – Madras as seen in early Tamil films – an audio visual presentation by Mohan Raman. Date: 30/8/09 Time: 9.00 am, Venue: Tag Centre; Admission restricted to the invitees of the South India Heritage Series and their guests

 

For more events log on to www.themadrasday.in

Short and Snappy July 16th 2009

Passing Out Parade

 

Passing away is of course a painful thing for those around, though hopefully those who pass away do not feel anything later. The Man from Madras Musings at least fervently hopes that the latter aspect is really true, for given the way our city’s denizens send off their dear departed, it cannot be anything but painful for those who are seen off.

 

MMM has in the past written questioning the necessity for publicising deaths by printing posters with two weeping eyes set on either side of a photograph of the one who had popped off. This time it is the concept of the funeral procession that MMM would like to complain about. Given the kind of traffic we have, do we need these funeral processions?

 

The other day MMM was driving near the Institute of Mental Health at Kilpauk (now what took MMM there?)  when all traffic came to a halt. Police personnel were forcing the traffic coming up the road via a narrow opening in the median on to the opposite side. Those coming down the road had to hastily make way for the traffic up and the confusion that resulted could only be imagined.

 

Was it an accident MMM wondered. And then came the distant thumping of drums in a tattoo that MMM, after long years in the city has come to associate with funeral processions. The drum-beaters came into view and walked on regally coursing down the lane now devoid of traffic and were followed by a hearse that did not contain the dear departed but a group of mourners all laughing and shouting, stripping flowers off a garland and strewing the petals on the road. Then dancers, who probably under the influence of the stuff that cheers put up what can be termed as a ‘spirited’ performance. All these were accompanied by local toughs referred to for some reason in the Madras vernacular as ‘pista’s (why should they be equated with the pistachio?) who were bursting crackers. Those that were not doing this were trying to regulate the traffic which was thrown into chaos in the first place by these very same people. The regulating they did was not much different from that of the police. It mainly involved shoving cyclists and two-wheeler users rudely to one side and intimidating car users with rude gestures and trading abuses with bus and truck drivers. In the midst of this all was the bier, with the late lamented swathed in garlands, no doubt secretly glad that all this had come to an end and if he/she got through this procession in one piece, he/she can look forward to the peace of the grave. Even hell-fire would be preferable to a Madras traffic jam on a hot summer’s day. The bier incidentally was carried by pall-bearers. It is only our city that a hearse would be used for strewing flowers while the body is carried manually.

 

MMM is not certain, but if more such processions happen, more and more people who use roads will swell the ranks of those already under the care of the Institute of Mental Health. What MMM is certain about however is that these processions do not take place after obtaining any sort of permission from the police. That noble force appears to be as surprised about these as the lesser mortals on the road.

 

 

 

 

Competitive Comfort

 

We at Madras Musings celebrate the past, but if there is one aspect of it that the Man from Madras Musings does not look back upon with nostalgia it is the control that our Government once exercised on telephone services. MMM remembers a time when a phone connection took years and then after it was sanctioned, the instrument, rather aptly black, took months to come after which the connection was established only after follow ups for weeks and then the line went dead within days if not hours. Complaints had no effect and telephone users were periodically administered shocks by being presented with huge bills even when the connection never worked. In Calcutta, a public spirited city like no other, a funeral procession was organised for a telephone that had remained dead for months. Thousands of mourners joined the procession (rather like the one described above) and the instrument was cremated solemnly amidst multi-faith chants. Not that it had even the smallest effect on the Department of Telephones.

 

But how things have changed. There are now many agencies offering these services, telephones come in various colours and connections work, though the billing still administers periodic shocks. MMM is quite happy to be living in this present age, where he knows that when he dials a number he will get through. But even MMM can be surprised. The other day MMM’s land line, which is a number given by the Government controlled enterprise, went dead. A complaint was registered and within an hour a man arrived and said the line was fine, it was the instrument which MMM had purchased from the market that was faulty. MMM said that he would change the instrument and sent the man off. Within an hour, the man was back. He had noticed he said, that MMM did not have another instrument ready with him and so he, the man, had brought a phone to replace the faulty one. It was a used phone which was lying about at office he said rather apologetically, but it should work. The task completed, the line now working, the man departed having given an open mouthed MMM a dazzling smile. Not one rupee had been demanded and none given. It was an amazing experience and even now MMM finds himself frequently reaching out to the telephone just to make sure it is for real.

 

 Having said that, MMM wishes that the Department would get better voices for its recorded messages. There is one which says “Dyulled number yis buzzy. Please dyul yafter some tayam” which takes the cake. It then goes on to say the same thing in Hindi which sounds even worse. MMM strongly suspects that both announcements were read out from a script written in Tamil. Surely in this time and age we can get some pleasanter voices with better accents.

 

Tamil, the lingua franca

 

Now that Madras Week is around the corner, the Chief has this habit of looking quizzically at the Man from Madras Musings and MMM gets the message. “What are you doing for Madras Week?” is the unspoken question and MMM went walkabout with a colleague who organises heritage walks. Our quest took us to Kesava Perumal Sannadhi South Street in Mylapore. Having come to the vicinity of the street, MMM and colleague could not identify the place whereupon MMM stepped up to an auto rickshaw driver and asked him as to where Kesava Perumal Terku Sannadhi Street was. “No such place” was the terse reply. MMM persisted. How is it that there are streets for all the other cardinal directions but not South asked MMM. “Oh you mean South, then why did you ask for Terku?” was the reply. MMM left it at that.

Short and Snappy of 1st July 2009

Novel ways to conserve water

 

This precious liquid resource, the Man from Madras Musings is well aware, is on its way out. There are posters that predict that its supply is getting scarcer and other Cassandras have said that if wars have been fought over oil, the next World War will be over water. MMM was recently at a local branch of a nationalized bank in the city and had to attend a call of nature. When he went to the bathroom, he found a poster that carried messages on water conservation and then when he turned to the wash basin this is what he saw. Could it be, MMM wondered, that the budget for the toilet renovation was exhausted just before the taps could be put in place? And if so, is the bank awaiting the next sanction of funds before getting taps? But what MMM also noticed was that the granite table top had no provision for taps of any kind. Obviously then, this is an inspired method of conserving water. No taps- no water! Simple.

 

Happy happenings at Central

 

Too often, those of you who read the writings of the Man from Madras Musings have felt that he is more of a Jeremiah. Be more like Pollyanna is your cry. Enough of these lamentations you have said and see the sunny side. MMM has been of the view that there is no sunny side in many matters, but then, he is happy to announce that this time he is prepared to sing the praises of a new system at the Central Station. It may have been there from long but MMM availed of it only recently and therefore to him it is still new. MMM is speaking of the bus service from the Central to various parts of the city. These are air-conditioned coaches that wait at the entrance to the station and gone are the days when you had to come out of the building dreading the thought of having to interact with the aggressive auto-rickshaw drivers and their alternate blandishments and threats. You now simply stride across to the bus stand, look for the bus that goes via your destination, pay the fare and sit in comfort and before you know it, you are dropped at a location closest to your home from where you can avail of local transport or simply walk across. Not only is this energy friendly (imagine how many car journeys are saved), it is also user friendly and above all, it is shows how effective public transport can be as compared to using private means. MMM however finds that such a service is not available from the Central’s poor cousin – namely Egmore. Why this is so MMM cannot understand but he hopes that this service will be extended to that location also.  

 

Big Fat Chennai Weddings

 

The Man from Madras Musings has with experience come to the conclusion that it is easier to send greeting telegrams as compared to attending weddings in person in this, our city. If driving to a venue is tiresome, parking is even more so and the weather being what it is, MMM is certain bridal couples ought to get their heads examined for getting married in such a lousy season and then inviting people to participate in them. The more MMM reflects, the more he is convinced that South Indian weddings were not meant for the summer. The fire, the crush of relatives, the suffocating garlands and the overbearing priest all add up to a terrible total. But what about driving past wedding halls? Their suffering is as much if not more than those who attend weddings. Most of these places were built or have been designed to cater to one third or perhaps one fifth the crowd that comes and naturally enough, surrounding spaces are taken over for what the halls themselves cannot contain. If this is not chaos enough, most guests think it is a matter of prestige to be dropped off at the entrance of the hall. They just cannot wait till their chauffeur or poor head-of-the-family has found a place to park in and then walk to the venue. And in the process of getting off, they have to indulge in some last minute conversation with chauffeur or poor head-of-the-family thereby delaying everyone else waiting behind. It is not as though traffic in Chennai has come to such a pass that a chauffeur or a poor head-of-the-family who is setting off to park a car may not return the same day. And with the widespread use of cell phones surely they can be contacted at leisure. But animated conversation with one foot in the car and the other on the ground is an absolute must. It is almost akin to famous goodbyes that Shakespeare penned so movingly.

 

If this is not enough, MMM notices that great wedding processions have returned with a vengeance. There was a time when brides and grooms (MMM included) fought shy of sitting in open cars or on horseback with a couple of mewling and puking infants for company, being led in procession with an off-key orchestra belting out movie melodies. MMM remembers MMM, was most vehement and not all the tears of aged relatives who by the simple excuse of claiming that this was the last wedding they would live to see had managed to get hundreds of bridegrooms to agree could get him to budge. The procession did not take place and the aged relatives lived on to witness many more weddings. But today’s bridal couples are made of weaker fibre or perhaps they like these processions for almost every wedding has these traffic stoppers these days.

 

The police is at its wits end and can do nothing beyond try and regulate the traffic that passes these processions. MMM is quite certain that those driving by curse the newlyweds bitterly. And as for the bridegroom (or bride for she too is not exempt on occasion), how does he (or she) benefit by being goggled at from buses, cars and on occasion from passing MRTS trains? The off-key orchestra has been replaced by live singers who follow the procession in a self-contained open truck which adds to the medley but is certainly more faithful to pitch and tune as compared to the singers themselves.

 

MMM, who thought he had seen them all had evidently not run the entire gamut. Last week MMM’s car was stopped by one such wedding procession and as he had no other choice, his route being the same, MMM had to follow the snaking queue till the marriage venue. There he saw a group of men standing on eight foot stilts and doing a most complicated dance in order to welcome the bridegroom. It was almost like Cleopatra’s triumphal entry into Rome.  What next? Midgets doing tricks?

 

Such events speak volumes about the lack of sensitivity we have towards the problems faced by others when we celebrate. MMM wonders as to whether these wedding parties obtain police permission of any sort before they aggrandize the road for their own celebration. Certainly the police has no business giving permission for such events. And if permission is not sought why does the police stand by and watch?

From Shorthand to Surukkezhuttu

From shorthand to surukkezhuttu

 

The shorthand technique in English developed in the 16^th century and was refined continuously subsequently, reaching a stage of advanced development with Sir Isaac Pitman launching his eponymous method in 1837. But how, when and why did shorthand come to be developed for the vernacular languages of India, and in particular Tamil? This was the subject of an interesting talk delivered recently by Bernard Bate, Associate Professor for Anthropology, University of Chicago, at the Roja Muthiah Research Library.

 

Dr Bate traced its development to the rise of Tamil as a political language of expression, which happens to be his present subject of study, the emergence of Tamil oratory – from the Protestant sermon to political speeches – and its relationship to the production of a Tamil public sphere.

 

The use of Tamil for political oratory began in the late 1800s perhaps with men such as G Subramania Iyer who embarked on a speaking tour of Madras Presidency in 1883 to promote the cause of the Congress. But it was the Swadeshi Movement, which took birth following the partition of Bengal in 1905 that made Tamil and other vernacular languages the chosen media for oration. In Madras city itself public meetings were conducted at the Marina Beach, the Moore Market and the maidan opposite the Pacchaiyappa’s College (then located at the Esplanade). While the beach meetings were headed largely by Subramania Bharati, the Moore Market meetings were in Telugu and featured E Surendranath Arya. In Tuticorin and Tirunelveli, speeches were given by VO Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Siva. This was therefore a period of oratorical incandescence.

 

Swadeshi struck at the very foundation of commerce on which the Empire had been built. The Government was curious to know as to what was being said. Officials, largely English, did not understand what was being said. Taking it down in longhand was impossible and many of the words were lost. This was oratory that was free from the pre-written sheet of paper and spontaneous. If the speeches had to be taken down as they were spoken so that they could be analysed later for seditious content and the speaker subsequently arrested on that basis, a technique had to be evolved that would enable police inspectors to attend meetings in mufti and take down the speeches verbatim. In the words of Dr Bate, shorthand in vernacular (known as surukkezhuttu) was developed as a new political communicative technique to counter another new political communicative technique, namely the use of Tamil and other vernacular languages for oratory.

 

By 1907, while the Swadeshi Movement was being actively suppressed, the Government of Madras was considering the use of shorthand for reporting on political speeches. A technique of shorthand in vernacular had to be developed. Dewan Bahadur LD Swamikannu Pillai, considered an expert on languages, submitted a “memorandum on application of shorthand to South Indian vernacular”. At this time independent of the Government initiative, V Krishnamachari, a local scholar, developed a system based on the principles of phonography, namely the recording of words on paper as they sound and not as they are spelt, which formed the basis of the Pitman system as well. Krishnamachari decided not to publish his work and in 1907 submitted it to the Government for due consideration for being taken on as the official system of shorthand. There appears to have been some kind of rivalry between Krishnamachari and Swamikannu Pillai with the latter weighing in favour of another shorthand researcher M Srinivasa Rao, who was an employee of the Police Academy and had worked on an independent system. So while Krishnamachari received high praise for his work, it was Rao who was asked to conduct classes in shorthand for the police sub-inspectors of Madras. In 1908 examinations were conducted in shorthand and eleven candidates appeared. Nine passed and the two that failed had been trained by Krishnamachari. With that any possibility of using his techniques faded.

 

In 1910 the second examination was conducted and ten students appeared. Five were proficient in English shorthand and the results in Tamil showed that they could take down 80 to 90 words a minute which was considered excellent. Encouraged by this Srinivasa Rao went on to produce a Telugu manual for shorthand in 1912 and in 1914 the first examination for shorthand in Telugu was conducted. In 1915 shorthand became a part of the syllabus for the SSLC examination.

 

The benefit of the training received in the system became evident in 1919 when the Home Rule League and the Labour Movement reached their zenith. Usage of local languages for speeches had become very common by then and these were taken down rapidly by the trained police personnel. On the basis of his research Dr Bate concludes that the first person to be arrested based on the shorthand notes taken of his speech was EV Ramaswami Naicker, later to be known as Periyar. This was after his speech on 4^th February that year at Uttamapalayam near Coimbatore. A record sixty pages of notes in shorthand had been taken during the speech and this was produced as evidence. Shorthand had come of age.

 

From being a tool of surveillance it later became an integral aspect of commercial and government day-to-day activity. The Stenographers Guild was founded in Madras in 1937 by C Rajagopalachari. It flourishes even today.

Short and Snappy dated 15th June 2009

I have been shockingly backlogged on updating this.

Paradise no longer

 

It was not long ago that the Man from Madras Musings sang paeans to the Egmore station in these very columns. But now, like one of those remarks deemed unparliamentary in our legislatures, MMM requests permission to have those songs of praise expunged. Outwardly all is well. The Indo-Saracenic is gleaming and red granite is yet to spread its tentacles. But is architecture all that is needed? What about passenger amenities and even a rudimentary attempt at traffic regulation?

 

It is now more than a year since the new entrance at the rear of the station was inaugurated. But traffic still continues to use the Gandhi-Irwin Road entrance which has very little space for parking or navigation. The entrance on Poonamallee High Road on the other hand is totally empty and looks like a football ground on an off day. Why is there no attempt at balancing the load between these two entrances?

 

The escalator service as MMM pointed out earlier is peculiar. There are some platforms where the escalator is provided only for ascent while in others it is available only for descent. Why this is so is beyond MMM’s comprehension but he is certain that some obscure government file will have a statement that this was based on usage patterns. MMM would like to disagree on the simple premise that a passenger who goes up in an escalator will have to also come down on one.

 

But it is in the matter of information displays that the station really takes the cake. There is only one display board for the entire station which is located on platform number 4 and even this one is poorly lit and is easily missed. The other day MMM and family were south bound. What with books to review and columns to write, MMM never travels light and had to engage the services of a porter. MMM not being an expert in matters spiritual could not diagnose the elevated state of the man who helped him with his luggage. He simply followed the porter who having taken MMM to a platform (after much climbing up of stairs and coming down on escalators) led him to a carriage and deposited the entire luggage under the relevant seat numbers. Then, having taken his fee he departed.

 

MMM then stepped out for buying something and accidentally took a look at the charts. This, given the state of lighting on the platform took some doing and conceive MMM’s horror when he found none of his family members names on it. MMM was just turning his eyes heavenward to pray when he noticed the name of the train and found it was not the one he was meant to travel by. And his own train was due to leave in ten minutes.

 

MMM does not know what the record is for darting into a railway coach, informing family members of the impending disaster, gathering up as many bags as possible, darting out with family members in tow, running down the platform, swarming up escalators, sprinting down stairs (or was it the other way round?), looking in vain for information displays, clutching at passing porters (in the hope of identifying MMM’s tormentor who no doubt by then was the life and soul of the wine shop just opposite), finally getting the information about the correct platform, bounding in that direction, identifying the coach and finally sinking on to the seat exhausted. But he is pretty much sure that he holds it. The females of the species had some acidic remarks on the entire episode, but by then MMM was past caring. He was glad that he had made it en famille before the correct train left and that was all. The burnt child dreads fire goes the cliché but for MMM it is Egmore that is dread-worthy.

 

Banking burdens

 

The Man from Madras Musings has always had a horror of banks. No doubt his mother had been frightened by one. To MMM, the very thought of entering a bank and filling out forms to either deposit cheques or withdraw cash had been an act fraught with tension. And this was not helped by the extremely surly specimens that used to man the counters. But over the years these tormentors unbent in degrees and sometimes even gave MMM a condescending smile. These were occasions of great celebrations for MMM.

 

Then came the days of private banks. Young ones would smile at MMM as though he was the best thing that had happened in their lives and would talk about becoming relationship managers. All very heart-warming no doubt but what it all amounted to was that these banks did not want a personal visit and behind the smile was the message that the young ‘uns would consider it a favour if MMM did all his business through the internet. They called it EFT, ECS and all kinds of other extra terrestrial terms. And so MMM did just that though it took him quite some time to get used to it all. Then there came a day when MMM had to make out a cheque. Having hunted for the cheque book and finally found it (this would have never happened in the old days) MMM issued it only to find it come back like a homing pigeon from the recipient with a nasty note that it had been returned owing to a signature mismatch. It was now MMM’s turn to try and contact the young things but this time they were quite elusive. MMM got a lot of pre-recorded messages and very little live support. The call was eternally on hold and after a while MMM had the impression that he had been listening to jingle bells all his life.

 

Finally MMM did get through only to be told by a curt voice that MMM’s signature had changed quite a bit and the computer had failed to recognise it. This, said the voice was because MMM was not issuing cheques often enough! But what about the ECS and EFT? Yes said the voice, but it was entirely up to MMM to keep his signature unchanged. MMM asked if he could come in person and explain? No he could not, but what he could do was to access the site, download a form … And there matters rest. Watch this space for more details.

 

This would have never happened in the old days. One of them surly creatures would have taken a look at the cheque, passed it and later informed MMM that he better sign the same way or else… The threat would never materialise anyway. It would later become a joke. Try telling the computer or the disembodied voice all this.

 

The Dry Channel Season

 

Now that elections are over, most of the television channels have gone dry for matter. Oh for the happy days of exit polls, swings, analyses and big fights. The other day the Man from Madras Musings was idly surfing channels (you have to be idle to surf channels), when his eyes fixed on one of them which had a series of “breaking news” items coming up and this is how they went:

 

Home Minister visits Jammu and Kashmir

 

J&K visit of Home Minister

 

PC visits Kashmir

 

This is first visit of Home Minister to Kashmir after new government took charge

 

(considering the Govt. is less than a month old, this information was no doubt earth-shattering).

 

And on that happy note, have a great fortnight ahead.

Madras Week approaches

Madras Week, which started off as Madras Day six years ago to celebrate the founding of the city on 22^nd August 1639, now looks like becoming Madras fortnight. This year though Madras Week will be celebrated between the 16^th and the 23^rd of August it looks like the celebrations will begin on 15^th August itself and carry on till the 31^st. For the small band of volunteers who began this concept, the response from corporate and public citizens of the city has given enormous satisfaction.

 

This year, the hotels of the city will, as usual be enthusiastic participants. The Taj Coromandel, the Taj Connemara, the Raintree, The Park and the Welcomgroup Park Sheraton Hotel and Towers will be hosting various programmes. We are hoping that they will also host exhibitions and organise food festivals. Schools with heritage clubs are already talking about hosting events and competitions centring on the city as their theme.

 

Plenty of heritage walks are being organised this year. At Madras Musings, we will be conducting heritage walks around the beach area over one weekend of Madras Week. In addition we are planning special thematic heritage walks around the subjects of “Swami Vivekananda in Madras”, “Some dubashes of Madras” and “The Justice Party”. More details on the schedule and itinerary will be published in the issue of Musings dated 1^st August 2009. As has been the practice in past years, Madras Musings will be hosting eight talks at various locations, on subjects related to the city. We are also hoping that like last year, we will be able organise talks in North Chennai as well.

 

Mylapore Times, led by Vincent D’Souza will be organising a wide range of events for Madras Week. These will include walks, quiz contests and talks. A tentative list is provided alongside and further details will be regularly updated on the site www.themadrasday.in Sashi Nair has been our man for West Chennai. He has been organising events in that part of the city at the Green Park Hotel and other venues such as the Jaigopal Garodia School. We are sure that he has very many interesting events planned this year too.

 

INTACH is planning an exhibition on coins dedicated to the memory of Raja Seetharaman its active member who was killed in an accident last year around the time of Madras Week. This year, the American Embassy and the Alliance Francaise are planning a series of events to commemorate Madras Week. In addition a whole host of other organisations such as Rotary Clubs and bodies such as the Indo American Association are planning out their own events. A group of dancers are coming together to choreograph and perform the People’s Park Vazhi Nadai Chindu, a synopsis of which first appeared in Madras Musings a couple of years ago. This will be staged on the 16^th of August at the Tag Centre to an invited audience. The Madras Book Club on the 19^th is releasing a book titled “The Madras School of Orientalism” which is a collection of articles written on the 18^th century movement that saw the establishment of Tamil as a classical language many years later. The Roja Muthiah Research Library will be organising an exhibition on the theme of Gandhi in Madras during the week. As these lines are being written, more events are being discussed and finalised.

 

       A few people interested in the history of Madras that is Chennai have been responsible for encouraging the celebration of the founding of the city by schools, colleges, various organisations and groups of like-minded individuals.  Participation is purely a voluntary effort by those wanting to organise programmes during the Week.  The role of the informal group of co-coordinators is only to encourage such participation, try to organise publicity for the events and, where possible, arrange venues.  Growing from about 15 events in the first year, last year’s celebrations included about 100 programmes, including talks, quizzes, exhibitions and performances, all centred on

the theme ‘Madras’. 

      

This information is being put out well ahead so that organisations/individuals/ volunteer groups who wish to celebrate the founding of this city can have ample time to plan their events. Madras Musings can provide advisory help where needed. For any queries please contact editor@madrasmusings.com . You can also see the website www.madrasday.in for details.