Chennaiites have over a 100 different events to choose from while celebrating the 375 birthday of their city. The celebrations mark the day when the small piece of land on which Fort St. George stands today was formally handed over to the East India Company.

From walking and learning about heritage structures to getting your answers right at quizzes to watching aachis from Chettinad spice up food, listening to lectures about Australia’s connection with Emden and celebrating the centenary of actor T. S. Baliah, there is a whole lot that a lover of Madras can do till the end of this month.

Madras Musings editor and historian S. Muthiah, who along with other enthusiasts addressed the press on Wednesday at the Taj Connemara, explained how the Madras Day celebrations began 12 years ago as just a half-a-day event and has now grown to a month-long string of events. Talking about some of his favourite programmes from among the over 100 events, he said the day-long seminar by geography teachers’ associations, teaching taxi drivers about the city was truly special. He also said he liked an exhibition by the Armenian Association of Paris at the Armenian Church from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from August 17 to 25.

You can keep tab of all the events through the Madras Day app (available on Android and iOS) developed by Broad Gate Technologies and funded by Sundaram Finance Ltd. Historian V. Sriram said that the app helped smartphone users sort events based on classification, date and location. “Another app Past Forward, which was also launched recently, provides details of heritage buildings and their pictures,” he said.

Actor Mohan Raman and the architect of the celebrations Vincent D’Souza were also present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Madras 375 / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 14th, 2014