Ah! What memories it brings! The pouring rain, the police escort vehicles, the hushed retelling of the stories of Alavandar, Sita and Bank Manager murders, the distribution of basundi outside the Kalikambal temple… That walk was a riot. And suddenly I find this report of it in a Pune newspaper!
http://www.buzzintown.com/pune/article-review–waking-to-chennais-underbelly/id–2001.html
S Anwar made a very nice presentation on the Nawabs of Arcot yesterday as part of the never-ending Madras Week celebrations. This was at the Freemasons Hall. The refreshments included vadai (good), laddu (did not eat) and tea (with paper cup strongly smelling of sack in which it was stored). The exhibition of Freemason memorabilia was interesting.
The presentation had some brilliant pictures of Arcot and mosques in Triplicane. Anwar had researched the subject well and despite the bad weather, there was a decent (in terms of numbers) turnout.
The highlight of the evening for me was my neighbour at the venue. He had brought a plastic topped brief case with him and inside it was his cell-phone. Halfway through the presentation there was a loud fart like noise. It was the cell, vibrating in silent mode and rubbing against the brief case.
Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbppppp -it went, sounding extraordinarily like the breaking of wind. It was a real eye-opener, especially for those who had feasted rather well on the laddus and made merry over the tea. The next release was even louder and longer. And then it sustained itself on auto-pilot.
The phone was obviously enjoying itself for it was moving rapidly in the interior making more and more digestive sounds. My neighbour was trying to pretend that all this was not from him (it was really not him but his cell). He even made some waving movements with his hand which a few rather unfortunately interpreted to mean the fanning away of er… odours. But in the end good sense prevailed and he opened his box and yanked the phone out. Peace was restored and we focused once again on the Arcots and their deeds, both fair and foul.
I guess in the old days they would have referred to this as a tour of China Bazaar and First Line Beach. It was a real walk, (no van) and it alternated between rain, humidity and brilliant sunshine.
On the 18th I was at the Sir M Ct M School, Purasawalkam where young Karthik Bhatt spoke on “Some Gujaratis of Madras”. It was a well researched piece with the presentation divided into sections comprising Jewellers (TR Tawker, TR Joshi, TB Mehta, Bapalal, Surajmals, Veecumsee), those involved in the cloth trade (Goocooladoss Jumnadoss, Mani Sunker Davey), cycles (R Patel & Co, a name that I forget and now the sole Gujarati representative BM Davey), general merchants (Haji Mohd. Sait, Mohammed Ali Sharafali, Joonus Sait, Popat Jamals) and the great families of Lodd Govinddoss and Kushaldoss. He presented it with enthusiasm and I would give full marks for a maiden attempt. Unfortunately the attendance was thin. Not many takers for heritage at Purasawalkam or so it would appear.
Yesterday, a mammoth audience struggled its way into the first floor meeting space at the Gymkhana Club to listen to Sujatha Shankar on the “The Old Guard- Early 20th century architecture firms of Madras”. She covered Prynne, Abbot & Davis (later Pithavadian and Partners), LM Chitale, CR Narayan Rao and RR Sarma. It was interesting to see that descendants of LMC, CRN and RRS were all in the audience as were the present partners of Pithavadian. A representative from each of the firms (in the case of RRS whose practice did not continue after his lifetime, his daughter spoke) came up and gave their comments.
Noted film critic Baradwaj Rangan gave a talk yesterday on this subject at The Park as part of the Chennai Heritage Lecture series. It was an excellent talk. Any speaker would have fallen into the trap of an overdose of humour with such a subject. But with Baddy (as some of us call him), it was a serious analysis with the right mix of humour. Baddy showed clips from Tamil cinema to highlight instances of English being used to depict:
1. Erudition
2. Putting down someone who does not know it
3. A conversation between intellectuals
4. Arrogance of the English-knowing man/woman
5. Stupidity of a person who can speak only English
6. English in a poor light as compared Tamil
7. Comedy
8. A law court (and comparing it with a scene where only Tamil is spoken but with the same effect)
9. Class differentiation
The highlight of the evening was K Balachander, the famed director (many episodes of whose films were shown in the presentation) attending the talk and staying till the end. The attendance was very good despite at least one newspaper printing the wrong venue for the event.
Has this ever happened to you? Considering that it was a presentation on heritage, it was perhaps appropriate. Last evening I went to inaugurate the exhibition at Studio Palazzo. My presentation was on Robert Fellowes Chisholm, the architect who gave Indo-Saracenic Architecture its present form. Just as I was about to begin the power failed. Which meant the projector did not work. Since it was a tiny hall, the audience and I decided unanimously to dispense with the LCD. All I had to do was to turn the laptop to face them and begin the talk.
It was like the Black Hole of Calcutta and I dripped all over the laptop. To cap it all my glasses misted over and I could barely see what key I was pressing and finally used my cell phone display to illuminate the keyboard on the laptop. The presentation got over and the power came back almost at once. So I ran the photos through once again on the LCD. It was certainly a unique experience. Chisholm would have understood. God knows how may drawings he made by lantern and candlelight.
Last evening, 16th August, Mohan Raman spoke of JP Chandrababu, the comedian of yesteryears and to whom credit goes for introducing Madras Bhashai to films. Mohan showed several clips and made it a very good experience. There was a huge audience turnout (in Chennai Heritage terms that is – 100 people). Nobody left till the end. For some of us it was tharai ticket as we were short of chairs. At the end, I was left with mixed feelings – awe at Chandrababu’s talents and a feeling of great sadness over such a brilliant life cut short. Sridhar Joshi has reviewed the talk here – http://sridharjoshi.blogspot.com/
The Park had put out a good spread but what with some of those who came to listen choosing to dine rather than having high tea by the simple expedient of hogging whatever was available (one man more or less cornered the market for chocolate cake; must be having a digestion of cast iron), some had to go hungry.
Sivasankari was in top form and gave a wonderful talk on her childhood days in the city. Sridhar Joshi has reviewed it http://sridharjoshi.blogspot.com/
This morning we went to Vepery with the skies holding up till the very end. I like Vepery as they say in Facebook 
Given below are further details of the events that Madras Musings is organising by itself to celebrate Madras Week:
Chennai Heritage/Madras Musings Lecture Series
All talks will begin at 7.00 pm and will be preceded by tea/coffee and refreshments from 6.30 pm. The programmes will end by 8.15 pm.
15th August: Taj Connemara: My Madras, a talk by Sivasankari, the well-known author. An awareness on social issues; a special sensitivity to social problems; a commitment to set people thinking – these are the unique characteristics of the writer Sivasankari. Hers has been a career devoted to touching the hearts of people through in-depth research.
16th August: The Park: J Chandrababu and Madras Bhashai in films, a talk-cum-audio visual presentation by Mohan V Raman, well-known film and television actor who has carved a niche for himself in his use of films as a media for conducting management training sessions. Mohan Raman has been a fixture at the Madras Musing lecture series for over three years.
17th August: The Park: Tanglish in Tamil Cinema, a talk-cum-audio visual presentation by Bharadwaj Rangan, the well-known and National Award winning film critic of the Indian Express. It is said that several film-goers base their decisions
18th August: GRT, T Nagar: The Writing on the Wall, Life in Ancient Madras as gleaned from inscriptions, a presentation and talk by Pradeep Chakravarthy. Pradeep is a young heritage enthusiast who combines his professional commitments as a member of the Leadership Coaching team at an IT major with his passions for several aspects of heritage.
19th August: The Madras Gymkhana Club: The Old Guard, Architectural Firms of early 20th Century Madras, a presentation and talk by Sujatha Shankar. Sujatha is a well-known architect of the city with several prestigious projects to her credit. Her abiding passion for heritage led to her making a film on the city’s architectural heritage. She is also on the Heritage Conservation Committee of the CMDA.
20th August: Freemasons Hall, Commander-in-Chief Road, Egmore: Sex and The City, a talk by Dr Vijay Nagaswami. The city’s leading psychiatrist who specializes in relationship issues. He is also a well-known author with three books. He writes for The Hindu besides conducting workshops and seminars for several business houses of the city.
21st August: Taj Mount Road: Policing the City, a talk by T Rajendran, the Police Commissioner of Chennai. It is Mr Rajendran’s responsibility to ensure law-and-order in this vast and teeming metropolis and he has a string of facts, figures and anecdotes on what goes into ensuring Chennai remains law-abiding.
22nd August: Ceebros Raintree Hotel, St Mary’s Road: The T Nagar I knew, a talk by Dr Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty. No resident of this city can be unfamiliar with Dr Nalli who apart from being a textile baron is also a prolific writer, a patron of the arts and champion of social causes. He has written a book on T Nagar and this was reviewed in Madras Musings some time ago.
