Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

MADRAS MISCELLANY – Madras Musings and the young

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion
Montfort School, Yercaud
Montfort School, Yercaud

Madras Musings, a journal that focusses on heritage, nostalgia and on asking for a better Madras, has just completed 25 years.

Madras Musings, that tabloid-sized fortnightly that cares for the city, a journal that focusses on heritage, nostalgia and on asking for a better Madras, has just completed 25 years. That it has done so has been entirely due to a unique arrangement N. Sankar of the Sanmar Group made when it seemed as though, like many another small journal, it was doomed to failure after struggling along for five years when it had been mothered by what was then Lokavani-Hallmark Printers. The Sankar plan involved getting a dozen corporates who cared for the city to support the journal with an equal donation every year. That dozen has grown to nearly two dozen now — and no one asks for anything in return, not even reports about their activities; all they want is a place for their logos as acknowledgement.

I know of no other journal that has been kept going in this fashion. But that Madras Musings has been is because the donors felt strongly that the people of a city should know about the past and present of the place and be able to discuss its future. In the early years of the journal, this seemed to attract an elderly audience; this was reading material for old people, the young seemed to say. But to judge by the greetings Madras Musings recently received, the bulk came from such young persons’ media as Facebook, blogs and Twitter (if I’ve got the jargon right). And there appear to be more and more young people getting interested in heritage as well as wanting to do something for the city.

We are now hearing about young leaders of heritage walks, camera trails, sketching outings; we are hearing about the young getting down to beach cleaning, road sprucing, and working at reviving heritage. Just the other day, a couple of post-graduate doctors from Madras Medical College came to meet me to say they were working on a history of the college, that they were trying to give new life to old buildings like the famed Anatomy Block, and that they were trying to create a college museum.

Madras Musings, which has been associated with Madras Day, Madras Week, Madras Month has been noting how every year the participation of the young in heritage events has been increasing. You find them organising events, you find them on walks, you find them at lectures, you find them exhibiting and quizzing — and all in growing numbers every year.

It certainly triggered something, did Madras Musings, and now it watches the slow but steady growth of interest in heritage and in the city and looks forward to this burgeoning. But talk to those connected with the journal, and they’ll tell you a much wider audience needs to be reached. That there must be a reach to the grassroots. Anyone willing to support a Madras Musings-in-Tamil start-up?

Memories of times past

The picture of Yercaud and the Shevaroys last week brought back memories of my year at Montfort where I had come to do my Senior Cambridge. Together with Sacred Heart Convent (SHY), the two schools were the pride of Yercaud. It was only in much more recent times that I foundreason to believe that Yercaud, the first of the South’s hill stations, had much more to be proud of. M.D. Cockburn, the introducer of coffee, Robert Bruce Foote, the Rev. P. Percival, Dr. John Shortt, Nat Terry the boxer, and film mogul T.R. Sundaram all had their homes there. They’ve all figured in this column in the past for their significant contributions to the Presidency. But as schoolboys none of these names had meant anything to us, except possibly Terry and Sundaram of Modern Theatres. Our world tended to be centred on Montfort and on the SHY girls during the once-a-week film show in our hall into which they walked in two by two carefully watched over by Mother Bernard.

Montfort at the time was headed by Bro. Eleazar, Titch to all, but anything but small as a presence! It was only recently that I discovered that this Brother of the Order of St. Gabriel had come out to Montfort as a teenager, with his more earthly education incomplete. He arrived speaking only French, but went on to do his Senior Cambridge from Montfort in a couple of years and then Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Loyola, topping every class. What a fine teacher he proved and what a first class educational institution he made of Montfort during his tenure as Principal. That would rate him an out-of-the-ordinary Old Boy and another whom Yercaud should be proud of.

Sundaram’s was a rather different world from Titch’s. He had a gleaming white house, well raised off the road, which we used to stare at every time we went to Montfort and back. It had a magnificent garden well worth staring at if, at that age, we appreciated floral beauty, but the staring was more a sign of awe over an invisible presence, a man who made films by the score as well as money in numbers we couldn’t quite imagine. Of him, Randor Guy has said, “He was perhaps the only person in cinema history to own a studio and produce a hundred films, most of which he directed himself.” In that studio, over a period of 40 years, he produced films in all the South Indian languages besides movies in Hindi, Sinhalese and English. It was in Modern Theatres’ studio in Salem, just where the Ghat road to Yercaud begins, a studio with all film-making facilities under one roof and run like a smoothly functioning manufacturing unit, that Sundaram made the first Malayalam film, Balan, the first Malayalam colour film, Kandam Becha Kottu, and the first Tamil film in colour, Ali Babavum Narpathu Thirudargalum. As boys, particularly as boys in an Anglo-Indian school, we knew little of all this. But a movie-maker — and a person who was supposed to be the richest person in the district — was someone to be in awe of at that age, whoever you were.

So Sundaram’s house always had our attention as we marched to the Big Lake and back.

When the postman knocked…

* Mohandas has a query and I wonder whether anyone can help. Quoting this column and books I’ve written, he says the first car to be registered in Madras was Sir Francis Spring’s and it bore the number MC-1. The next car I have mentioned, he says, is Namberumal Chetty’s MC-3. But what was MC-2, he asks. It has been recorded that even before Spring’s car came out in 1901, A.J. Yorke, a director of Parry & Co, had brought out a car from England and that it attracted much attention on the roads of Madras. I wonder whether this was MC-2. Or is there another answer?

* Mail seeking help from readers of this column arrived the other day from David R. Armitage, Chair, Department of History, Harvard University. He and Jennifer Pitts of the University of Chicago are editing the essays of Prof. Charles H. Alexandrowicz for publication by Oxford University and they seek “any reminiscences of his time in Madras or any letter or any other writings of his that anyone may possess. Responses to armitage@fas.harvard.edu”. Prof. Alexandrowicz arrived in Madras in 1950 and the next year he started what was is now known as the Department of Legal Studies in the University of Madras. He started the first M.L. degree course in India in International & Constitutional Law. He headed the Department until 1961 when he left Madras after a decade in the city. He also was the first Chairman of the Alliance Française in Madras when it transformed itself in 1954 from the Groupe Française that had been founded in 1948.

* Commenting on Albion Banerjee’s religious leanings and his studying Tamil (Miscellany, April 4), M.S. Sethuraman writes, and I quote him: “Excommunication for travel abroad was followed in all parts of India. Mahatma Gandhi was ostracised and so also Dr. Swaminadhan. None of the Palghat Iyers offered for his marriage, resulting in his visit to his village and sought the daughter of Ammu’s mother.

“Sir Albion Banerjee ICS opted for Madras cadre, perhaps due to resistance from Bengal families. W.E. Banerjee, early Congress President, converted to Christianity when expelled from his caste due to his crossing the seas. Sir Albion should have studied Tamil after his Madras appointment (SM’s note: No). ICS officers were asked to learn a local language on appointment and cash awards are also awarded. A.S.P. Ayyar ICS, in addition to his Malayalam, learnt Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, but the then British Government limited the cash award to one language.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by S. Muthiah / April 30th, 2016

Sailing in search of history

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion
TRAILING THE TURTLES: Historian Orissa Balu. Photo: Special Arrangement
TRAILING THE TURTLES: Historian Orissa Balu. Photo: Special Arrangement

Historian Sivagnanam Balasubramani, popularly known as Orissa Balu, deciphers the sea trade routes used by ancient Tamil sailors through his research on sea turtles

‘Thirai kadal odiyum thiraviam thedu’ (Seek your fortune even by venturing overseas) — Tamil poet Avvaiyar.

The Sangam literature is a rich repository of information on the ancient Tamil way of living. Amidst its chapters that vividly describe the beauty of nature, lifestyle and social structure of the old Tamil country, the Purananuru elicits the flourishing sea trade of those times. From ships, sea routes, daring maritime voyages to the merchandise that were traded and the expertise of the Tamil seafarers, it talks in detail of the mighty ocean and the strong bond the people shared with it.

For the past two decades, historian Orissa Balu, has been collecting real-life evidences and remnants from across the coast of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in the world, correlating them with the references in Sangam literature. “The land expanse mentioned in the literary works is a much larger area than the present day Tamil Nadu state. Our ancestors had maintained trade links from Europe in the west to the Far East,” says Balu. “Excavations at Adichanalur have yielded skeletons of people belonging to five different races. It’s an indication that we have been a centre of international trade, paving way for exchange of culture and language.”

According the Balu, the root of the word ‘Tamilar’ comes from ‘Dramilar’, which in turn is a derivative of ‘Thirai Meelar’ – an expression to denote sea farers. “It was considered a science to be able to return from the sea. The Tamil seafarers had an advanced idea of direction, geography and weather. They were able to come back to their home turf after sea voyages spanning months and years covering millions of nautical miles. The word ‘Thirai Meelar’ is mentioned repeatedly in works like Manimekalai andSilapathikaram.”

Sea faring was such a thriving industry that the Tamil society is said to have had over 20 different communities working for sea trade. Literature talks about the Vathiriyars (people who weaved the sail), Odavis (men who built ships), Kuliyalis (Surfers) and Mugavaiyars (divers who fished pearl from the deep sea bed).

Balu who has done an extensive study on the ‘Paimara Kappal’ (sail boat), the indigenous vessel of ancient Tamils, says, “The sail cloth used in the Sangam age was 20 metres in width, 10 metres in height and could withstand a wind velocity of 250km/hr. It’s notable that even the women were experts in sailing and pearl fishing. Even today, we can find women diving into the sea in search of pearls along the coast of Tuticorin.”

He adds, “The mechanism of building the boat was unique as they used nearly 42 kinds of wood including the Karunkali wood for the central pole that withstood lightning. Today, the coastal Muslim community practices the age-old boat building technique. There are hardly 25 sail boats and five families of boat builders left in Kayalpatnam and Keezhakarai.”

The Sangam literature also documents the presence of over 20,000 islands in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, says Balu. ‘Muziris Papyrus is a document on the evolved sea trade of Tamils. It shows how advanced and strategically planned were the supply chain network and management policies of Tamil traders.” Balu postulates that ancient Tamil seafarers followed sea turtles and thus chalked maritime trade routes. For over 21 years, he has been doing research on sea turtles, mapping their migration routes.

“The turtle has the ability of returning to its home turf even after migrating thousands of miles in the sea. They float along sea currents and don’t swim in the ocean. The technique used by Tamil sailors must have been inspired from this,” he says. “There’s a proper documentation of the life cycle of sea turtles in Sangam literature.”

Balu is researching on the migration routes of Olive Ridleys, Green Turtles and Leatherbacks which visit the Tamil Nadu coast.

“My idea is to use historical facts for sustainable living in the present times,” says Balu, who runs the Integrated Ocean Culture Research Foundation, based in Chennai. “We have people from over 72 sea-related fields researching on various subjects. We have created a link between the stakeholders of the sea, from marine engineers and ship builders to fishermen.” Orissa Balu delivered a lecture at a programme organised by INATCH Madurai Chapter.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / A. Shrikumar / Madurai – April 29th, 2016

Photo Essay: Sadras- Dutch legacy on the Coromandel Coast

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion
The forgotten ruins in this small village remind us of the power that a tiny, faraway country wielded on our coast for over 200 years.
 As one drives down the East Coast Road from Chennai, about half an hour past the World Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram, is a village called Sadurangapattinam, anglicized to Sadras. An important Dutch settlement between the 17th and 19th centuries, this nondescript village is home to the ruins of a picturesque seaside brick fortress.
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Back in the 16th century, before the Dutch arrived on Indian shores, the Portuguese had pretty much monopolized maritime routes between Asia and Europe. This wasn’t a problem as long as the Dutch could use Portuguese seaports to conduct their trade. However, this became unviable in the late 16th century, as Portugal was taken over by the king of Spain, with whom the Dutch were at war.
Since the Dutch now had to find another way, merchants in the tiny country started setting up companies to send fleets of ships to South East Asia.
In the year 1602, a national resolution merged all of these players into one Dutch East India Company. The company was empowered to do business, build ports, factories and fortresses, negotiate deals, and even wage wars if required.
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Over the  next two centuries, the Dutch East India Company established settlements in different ports on the Coromandel coast of southern India.
The first foothold that they gained was in Machilipatnam in present day Andhra Pradesh, where they built their first factory. Over the following decades, they set up shop in various coastal towns, including three important centres in Tamil Nadu – Pulicat, straddling the state’s border with Andhra Pradesh, which served as their capital for a long time, Nagapattinam their later capital, and Sadras, about 80km south of Chennai.
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Sadras lies adjacent to the Kalpakkam township. Dating back to the mid 17th century, the fortress is built on a rectangular plan, and is entered through a gateway on the west, with a watchtower above it. A canon stands on each side of the entrance. The eastern wall overlooks the sea, and has a bastion on top, to protect the fort against attacks from the sea. Most of the fortress is gone, leaving a few structures like a granary, stables and a Dutch cemetery.
The cemetery contains beautiful tombs with ornate inscriptions dating back to the 17th century.
It is usually kept under lock and key, but visitors can request the caretaker to open it for them. An antechamber stands behind the graves, with sunlight streaming in through a caved-in roof.
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A structure that was used to mount elephants
A structure that was used to mount elephants
Back in the day, the Sadras fort was referred to as Fort Orange, because orange is the colour of Dutch royalty. The settlement was famous for the extremely fine muslin that was spun in its looms. Other items traded from the port included pearls, spices, rice, bricks and beautiful printed textiles called chintz.
The control that the Dutch East India Company had over the Coromandel Coast, gave them monopoly over trade routes to the East Indies, essentially the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia.
However, their supremacy didn’t last very long.
As the British rapidly grew stronger and the Dutch company began to decline due to various reasons like wars, competition, bad financial policies, increasing costs, decreasing demands, etc, it became unaffordable for them to hold on to their settlements in India. The British attacked and captured the Sadras fortress in the late 18th century, destroying it in the process.
In a few decades it went back into the hands of the Dutch, but in the 19th century, they signed a treaty with the British and ceded all of their Indian settlements to them.
The double decker tomb in front is said to belong to two brothers.
The double decker tomb in front is said to belong to two brothers.
The details on a tomb
The details on a tomb
Today, not much remains of Sadurangapattinam’s Dutch legacy, but the forgotten ruins in this small village remind us of the power that a tiny, faraway country wielded on our coast for over 200 years.

All photographs by Madhumita Gopalan

(Madhumita Gopalan is a photographer, blogger and history enthusiast who loves photo-documenting travel, culture and architecture. She blogs at www.madhugopalan.com.)

source: http://www.thenewsminute.com / The News Minute / Home / by Madhumita Gopalan / Saturday – April 30th, 2016

When banjo music filled the streets

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

When J F Bailey, a constable in British Malaya, landed on the shores of Madras in the late 1890s, he had just a trunk of clothes and a few coins to start life afresh. Why he chose to move to the city remains a mystery, but his reason for setting up base in Perambur – after buying a thatched house from a milk vendor -was obvious: the railway workshops.

A century later, Bailey’s granddaughter Barbara Pavey and her son Robert are on a quest to find out why he chose the spanner over the baton and his life in the Straits Settlements – British colonies comprising parts of the southern and western Malay peninsula and adjacent islands, including Singapore.Their discoveries, they believe will unveil not just their personal roots but the story of Perambur, one of the earliest British settlements in Madras.

“My grandfather rarely talked about his days in the Straits. But his eyes would light up when he spoke about his life in Perambur and the road that led him to the love of his life – my grandmother,” says 70-year-old Barbara Pavey, blowing the dust off a broken wall on Ballard Street to reveal a named etched below: J F Bailey. A narrow path leads to the Baileys’ house, one of the few buildings on the street that have survived the thrust to modernity, but barely. While the columns, reflecting the Indo-Saracenic style (popular during thattime), stand tall, the walls are being crushed by the roots of a banyan tree.

“The building was called `the terrace house’ as it was the first in the neighbourhood with a terrace. Even the mayor’s and police commissioner’s houses on the street didn’t have one,” says Barbara, precariously climbing a flight of stairs that a broken balustrade lined.

Barbara, who moved into the Bailey house with her parents and seven siblings in 1958, reminisced of Christmas ball and parties at the Railway Institute; of men in bowler hats and suits cycling to work, and of people drinking wine and singing rhymes. But the locality was more than that. Noted for its railway establishments since the 1850s, the Anglo-Indian community in the neighbourhood, with their grit, dominated the Railways until well into the 1960s.

“We always made time for music too.Every evening, after my father got back from work at Central railway station, he would pick up his banjo, while my mother would play the piano. Their music could be heard right down the street,” recalls Barbara. The piano now lies in a locked room in the Baileys’ house, which has remained unoccupied since 2007, after Barbara moved to an apartment close to the locality following her mother’s death. With many members of her family and community leaving the country from the ’80s, many stories like Barbara’s have died along with the bungalows that once lined the narrow Ballard street.

There were around 6,000 AngloIndian families from in Perambur earlier; there are fewer than 1,300 now.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Ekatha Ann John / April 29th, 2016

Henri gets Amnesty award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, World Opinion

The eighth Human Rights Award of Amnesty International was presented to Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director, Madurai-based People’s Watch, at a function organised in Berlin on Monday.

“Henri Tiphagne’s passionate advocacy in the fight against torture and discrimination in India is exemplary and serves as an inspiration for activists all over the world who are campaigning for human rights,” said Selmin Calıskan, Director of Amnesty International Germany.

In his address, Mr. Henri said, “We would like to thank Amnesty International for this award, which reminds us that we are not alone in our fight for human rights. India has a vibrant civil society; I am humbled to accept this prize on behalf of all the brave women and men who tirelessly campaign for human rights in India.

However, the space for civil society activists is shrinking constantly.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Special Correspondent / Madurai – April 27th, 2016

B and W Celluloid of Tamil Classics Lost in Time

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

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Chennai  :

Classic and vintage movies have always been cherished for their grandeur and story line. In a recently conducted public art festival, M Venkatesan, a filmmaker displayed a photo-art-installation of vintage classics including movies like Meera (1945), Ambikapathy (1937), Manthiri Kumari (1950) and Ponmudi (1950). But, do these movies ring a bell? Classic movie buffs can spot the one common feature in a jiffy. Yes, Ellis R Dungan!

This American film director is renowned for his work in Indian films, predominantly south Indian films. Themed around Dungan’s journey in Indian cinema, Venkatesan said, “All these pictures have been meticulously sourced and restored for the present and future generation to witness the golden era of films.”

Venkatesan has been interested in film restoration and image preservation film archiving for over a decade now. “My interest in films goes back to when my grandparents idolised MGR and Sivaji on screen. It was always about getting a haircut like Rajinikanth or being an ardent lover like Gemini Ganesan,” he quipped about his venture into the industry.

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Inspired by the works of Dungan, Venkatesh wanted to restore lost images and visuals of his works. “I have been researching, sourcing, preserving and restoring these images for almost eight years. The man introduced actors like MGR in Sathi Leelavathi and T S Balaiya. Should I say more?” smiles the filmmaker who runs a production house, Sai Media.

With most of the images from vintage movies lost in time, he explained, “Unlike foreign classic movies, most of our old movies are lost in time and there aren’t many who come forward to restore it. Why? Because we give more importance to foreign movies!” he avers.

Pointing to the installation of a still from the movie Avvaiyar (1953) starring the legendry K B Sundarambal, he claimed, “This might be the first still photo of an actress outside the sets. In those days, taking stills of actors beyond the film set wasn’t common unlike now and having a still of it is worth a million dollars.”

Having done a digital version of these images, Venkatesan elucidated, “This is my first attempt in having a hard copy of the installation. I earlier did a digital presentation. But, I feel doing it this way will have a better impact,” he said. “I have spoken to over 42 people in a single day. This shows that everyone is interested in classic cinema and they know it. They just need a medium where they can learn more about it,” stated Venkatesan who considers legendary Indian archivist P K Nair and American director Martin Scorsese as role models in Film Culture & Preservation.

While most of us think that roping in technicians from abroad and having larger-than-life sets have been a fad only for the last decade, the installations prove us wrong. “If you look closely at the photo of Bhama Vijayam (1934), you’ll be able to spot foreigners who are also a part of the movie,” he explains, “Period movies were taken on a grand scale and the sets are just mind-blowing. All this was always a part of the Indian cinema, it’s only now that people are hyped about how we have an international connection in a movie.”

Working towards his goal of taking classic cinema to everyone, he said, “My team has been supportive and I want this to be preserved for our future generation to know how rich our techniques were.”

Notable Projects

Kadhal Mannan: The King of Romance: The Biography of Late Gemini Ganesan

Kshama: Written & Directed By Venkatesan M (Special Honorary Screening: Chennai International Film Festival & Other international Festivals)

Madurai Jallikathu: Written & Directed By Venkatesan M (New York Times Media & Other Channels)

canada connect

Participated as the only South Indian Filmmaker/ Producer in the Indo-Canadian Co-Production Delegation 2015 and was part of the team which initiated and signed the Treaty with Canada Government.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Roshne B / April 27th, 2016

Six decades with the pen

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
‘TAG’ R.T. Chari hands over the citation to Charukesi (left). With them are Seetha Ravi, V. Ramnarayan and Alarmelvalli. Photo: M. Vedhan.
‘TAG’ R.T. Chari hands over the citation to Charukesi (left). With them are Seetha Ravi, V. Ramnarayan and Alarmelvalli. Photo: M. Vedhan.

Review, story, essay, translation… versatility has been Charukesi’s forte.

For Viswanathan Subramaniam, a man fascinated by the voices of Peri Como, Jim Reeves, Nat King Cole that he avidly followed on Radio Ceylon, with no interest whatsoever in Carnatic music, being given a pen name Charukesi, based on a raga was probably a forerunner of the direction his life was to take. From writing short stories and features to reviewing Carnatic music concerts, this energetic 78-year young man has just crossed a milestone, completing 60 years of his writing career.

A deep quest to spread his wings and explore and experience the world beyond the small town of Salem where he grew up, young Viswanathan moved to Madras. A job with Faizer & Co after a few small jobs initially, gave him financial security, allowing him to pursue his other passion, which was writing. Armed with the pen name given by his friend Vagoolan, Charukesi began his writing stint with an article for a children’s fortnightly Kannan published by the Kalaimagal group followed by another forKalkandu magazine. He soon became a regular contributor of short stories and humorous articles to almost all major tamil magazines such as Ananda Vikatan, Kalki, Kumudam, and Dinamani Kadir.

A turning point came when he met the editor of Kalki, Ki.Rajendran, after winning a prize for a humorous short story, ‘Ulaga Maamiyargale Onru Serungal.’ The encouragement that he got from Rajendran to write features and interviews led to his transition from the world of fiction to the arena of hardcore reality. Interviewing people ranging from politicians to film stars, artists to aam admi, beaurocrats to businessman gave him deep insight into understanding human nature. He fondly recalls some special interviews with people such as R.K. Lakshman, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Maharajapuram Santhanam.

All this was not an easy task. It entailed extensive homework and Charukesi happily burnt midnight oil. He was meticulous in getting his information and facts right, transferring his thoughts into words, and maintain the various deadlines of the publications. A noteworthy quality in him is the ability to learn new things, be it attaining proficiency in English or learning the nuances of Carnatic music. It is this enthusiasm that led to his being roped in as an executive committee member of Natyarangam, dance wing of Narada Gana Sabha.

Charukesi has travelled widely across all districts of Tamil Nadu for the ‘Madham oru mavattam’ series for Kalki, visited Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. He has interviewed Prime Ministers ,Chief Ministers, writers, celluloid personalities, musicians and dancers in his long tenure. He has translated many books from English and other languages to Tamil and vice versa and has won prizes for his stories, reviews and translations .

How would Charukesi sum up his career? A simple man of few words, he has only this to say: “Writing got me a lot of friends and I have not lost a single one of them all these years.’

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Friday Review / Anjana Rajan / April 28th, 2016

From palace of rich to hub of learning

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, Uncategorized

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Old-timers remember Chennai as Madras, a city of horse-drawn carriages, lonely streets and men in suits. A TOI series brings recollections from a mix of neighbourhoods

Tall white pillars, long ornate windows and spacious porticos – the exquisite Chettinad Palace which stands along the Adyar estuary with its sprawling lawns and vast terraces was amongst the earliest structures that adorned Raja Annamalaipuram (RA Puram) more than 70 years ago. The magnificent mansion stood solitary, overlooking the Adyar river, as its ivory coloured walls made from Italian marble and limestone bespoke the royalty it housed. Built by wealthy businessman Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar from Chettinad, the historic marvel is now part of an industrial and educational neighbourhood that buzzes with activity. “The palace was originally to be built opposite the Taj Connemara hotel on Binny road. But Lord Willingdon, the then governor of Madras requested my grandfather to give the land for constructing a club for women as there weren’t any then,” says MeenaMuthiah, Kumara Rani of Chettinad, and granddaughter of Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar. 

This led to the purchase of the expansive 104-acre estate in RA Puram where the palatial structure (the main house) and the smaller quarters, a few yards from the big one, were built.

“Our childhood memories revolve around The Theosophical Society, Kalakshetra campus, Rosary Matric school (then St Thomas Convent), where I studied and, of course, the Adyar river,” says Meena aunty, as she is fondly called.

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The locality had only a handful of buildings, including Andhra Mahila Sabha, earlier the residence of capitalist Rangachari. “Previously, this neighbourhood was called Adyar. Only in recent times, they renamed it after my grandfather,” says the 81-year-old educationist. Many eminent people have frequented the aristocratic home for high teas and dinners on the lawn.
“Politicians such as Kamaraj and VR Nedunchezhiyan came here often. Thatha used to call the governors by name,” says Muthiah. “But since we were not allowed into these gatherings, we used to peek through the railing on the balcony and see them.”

The scenic landscape and lavish interiors served as an ideal backdrop for many movies including M S Subbulakshmi’s Meera. “The stretch where the Image Auditorium stands was a dairy farm then. We used to do kalamkari printing in a small unit, near the farm,” says Muthiah, reminiscing how well-known social reformer Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay bought material from the unit to take to Bengal. The day-long holiday from the convent typically began with a visit to the library in The Theosophical Society and ended with a game of pandi. “We would often stopover at Rukmani Devi’s house too. And it was athai who encouraged me to start a school inspired by Kalakshetra’s cultural values and the discipline of the convent I went to,” says Muthiah, who founded Chettinad Vidyashram in 1986, on 7 acres of the property.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Aditi Maithreya / TNN / April 22nd, 2016

Madras Miscellany: Saving the MLS treasures

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Saving the MLS treasures

It was one of the happiest mornings I’ve spent in a long time when I recently went to the Madras Literary Society which was holding a minuscule exhibition to celebrate World Heritage Day. Two things made the morning special. First to see a group of YOUNG persons, led by Rajith Nair, a heritage walks leader, and two architects just getting into their stride, Tirupurasundari and Sivagami, not only enthusiastic about heritage but also wanting to breathe new life into what still feels like a mausoleum, the MLS. The second thing was finding that the MLS still has a few treasures by way of old books, even though more than half its collection had vanished at the time I had first visited it in the early 1970s.

The exhibition, tiny as it was, had me pausing at exhibits longer than at most other exhibitions. There was a frieze of old advertisements that had me stopping because they looked so familiar and out of my youth. W.M.A Wahid, one of them, was where I had bought all my school textbooks and notebooks. And then Sivagami produced their source — and that again took me back to beginnings. This was The Times of Ceylon One Rupee Diary that her grandfather had used when he was in Colombo in the 1950s. Then there was Tirpurasundari showing me an old inkwell-stand-cum-pen-holder-tray. “It had belonged to my grandfather’s grandfather,” she said. And much of the other exhibits the two young architects had put together had rather similar histories.

The two architects, virtually self-taught on paper conservation, are also leading a ‘Restore a Book’ project, whereby old books are being restored in scientific fashion with support for each such book coming from a donor. Both donors and volunteers are needed — and I couldn’t help wondering why, with Women’s Christian College next door, a team of dedicated volunteers couldn’t be found there. If we get enough volunteers, we’ll be able to save all the valuable old books in the library in a year, working every Saturday, says an enthusiastic Tirupurasundari.

One of the 14 old books saved till now is a 1798 edition of Captain James Cook’s Voyage in the Pacific Ocean. But interesting me even more was a tabloid-size book of Tripe’s photographs of Madurai that was awaiting restoration.

I was positively over the moon when I was told there were 11 more such volumes, of Trichy, Thanjavur etc. Tripe had been commissioned by the Government of Madras to record all the historic structures in these areas and he did so in 1854-1860. And then just as I was leaving I spotted Forest Conservator Ganesan poring over a book that kept me for another hour at the MLS.

The book, again the size of the Tripe volumes, was of Capt Douglas Hamilton’s sketches of Yercaud and the ‘Pulni’ Hills.

Panoramic view of Shevaroy Hills from the garden of Dr. Marrett’s House at Yercaud
Panoramic view of Shevaroy Hills from the garden of Dr. Marrett’s House at Yercaud

He too had been commissioned by the Government to record the hill stations of what is today Tamil Nadu and what he did was some wonderful pen and ink sketches — eight of them of Yercaud, which revived memories of the year I spent in school there. Tripe’s pictures, Hamilton’s sketches and perhaps any other such pictorial material deserve an exhibition of their own — if only there was a sponsor.

Boundary ridge dividing the Pulnis from Travancore. (Note the gaur on the left, that are being targeted)
Boundary ridge dividing the Pulnis from Travancore. (Note the gaur on the left, that are being targeted)

Meanwhile, Tirupurasundari and Sivagami and their small team are looking for volunteers for their restoration project as well as to help with a second project: the reorganisation and classification of the entire collection. Contact them at tsarchi2007@gmail.com or rajith.bala@gmail.com

For the record, the Madras Literary Society is the oldest surviving library in India, its beginnings dating to 1812.

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A Seven Pagodas’ neighbour

When my Australian correspondent Dr A. Raman finishes with papers he has used for research for the numerous articles he writes for a variety of publications every year, he sends them to me to forward to the Roja Muthiah Research Library. And usually amongst them are a couple of papers that grab my interest. Last week’s consignment had one paper that fascinated me: Descriptive and Historical Papers Relating to The Seven Pagodas of the Coromandel Coast. Edited by Capt. M W Carr and published in 1869, it included eight articles by British scholars who had explored and researched Mahabalipuram. Their findings were fascinating to say the least.

The Editor’s note began with these words: “The papers contained in this volume… have been reprinted in a collected form, under the order of the Government of Madras, with a view to promote the intelligent study and examination of these interesting relics of a bygone age.” I wonder which Government in India today, State or Central, will think in such terms.

Be that as it may, Carr writes, summarising the papers, “The origin of the European Appellation cannot be satisfactorily traced… (but) as stated by Dr Graul’s guide it may refer to the five Rathas, the Ganesa temple and the Shiva temple. The story of magnificent pagodas swallowed up by the sea is apocryphal…” Carr goes on, “A matter of greater importance, the age of the Sculptures and Inscriptions… has not …been definitely ascertained.”

Carr points out that Fergusson had thought the rathas had been carved in 1300 CE and were an architectural transition from Buddhist to Hindu styles. Walter Elliot dates the Tamil inscriptions to the latter part of the 11th Century and the Sanskrit ones “not later than the 6th Century”.

No doubt there are a heap of latter day views, but it does seem that the sculptures and inscriptions do not have definitive dates. Shouldn’t we be searching for them?

While this is an old debate, new to me was mention of a place called Saluvan Kuppam, about two and a half miles north of Mahabalipuram. Here there are several rocks that have been sculpted, there is amandapam/temple with a lingam, and several inscriptions. A frieze above the temple entrance bears in Old Tamil the word ‘Atiranachandapallava.’ Do these remains still exist or has the sand swallowed them? If they do, shouldn’t there be some focus on them for any visitor to Mahabalipuram, no matter how insignificant they seem. Like Tiger’s Cave, they would certainly indicate extent of settlement.

Elliot, examining the inscriptions in and around Saluvan Kuppam, goes into a long discussion about them that is beyond me. But I note two points that he makes at the end of it all:

1. “In a copy of a grant at Pithapur, in my possession, Vijayaditya, the founder of the Chalukhya dynasty of Kalinga, about the middle of the 6th Century, is described as destroying the southern King Trilochana Pallava… (who) it may be inferred… was of the same race and probably the same family as… Atiranachanda Pallava.”

2. “From these facts it may be inferred that the rulers of Mamallapura were in a state of independence in the 6th and beginning of the 7th Centuries. We know from other sources that the Chola kings reduced Tondamandalam about the 7th Century.”

None of this makes the history and implication of the inscriptions in and around Mamallapuram indisputable. But what I want to emphasise is that much study was going on in the 19th Century to understand and unearth the secrets of Mahabalipuram. Is the same effort going on today?

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Malabars and Malabar

R Seshadri, quoting Wikipedia, tells me that “Malabars is an appellation originating from the colonial era that was used by Westerners to refer to all the people of South India (Tamils, Telugus, Malayalees and Kannadigas included)” and not confined to Tamils (Miscellany, April 11). I’m afraid I don’t quite agree with him. Wikipedia, I have found, is not always the last word on a subject.

In this case, Malabar was first used by the Portuguese to refer to the people of what is now Kerala and Tamil Nadu from the time they landed in Calicut in what was Malabar.

The first type for printing in an Indian language was cut in Tamil script and the language of their publications in the 16th Century using this type, the first was in 1578, was called Malabar. Kannada and Telugu came nowhere in the picture at the time.

As far as I know, Old Kannada script (10th-18th Century CE) derived from Kadamba Script (5th-10th Century CE) which in turn derives from Brahmi script. Telugu script deried from Old Kannada script, the separation beginning in the 13th Century and finalising in the 18th Century.

I’m no expert on the subject, but perhaps someone would like to add to this and point to any links the two languages have with Tamil (Malabar).

The Telugus, mainly on the east coast of India, were referred to by the early European settlers as Gentoos. It was well into the 18th Century before the Europeans moved into what is now Karnataka and caught up with the Kannadigas. The only Karnataka contact they had before that was along the Konkan Coast and the Portuguese recognised them as Konkanis.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by S. Muthaiah / Chennai – April 23rd, 2016

One Step Closer to Fulfill Your Designer Dreams

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
Ramp walk at the event  Ashwin Prasath
Ramp walk at the event  Ashwin Prasath

Chennai  :

Over 200 creative designs were showcased on the ramp at Hotel Clarion recently. No heavy expenses, no competition and no over-the-top decor. This fashion show – Life is a Label — was all about giving a platform to student designers who may not have had the resources to showcase their designs on their own.

Taking this initiative forward was Fashion Students’ Association (FSA) president B Arul Mozhi who was a designer herself. After watching one session of avant garde on ramp, City Express had a chat with her in the green room, which was chaotic and energetic. “A year has passed since FSA was launched. This is the first time we have had sponsors for our second show. The first was held in a resort in ECR. There were only about 12 designers that time,” recalls Arul about the initial journey of FS

Ramp02Apr212016

So, why did she decide to create a platform for young designers? “I’m a B Tech fashion graduate from Anna University. When I attended job interviews, they’d ask for my last collection and I hadn’t done any more after my college project. Many colleges don’t teach students about what should be done to flourish in this creative field. Moreover, designing new collections and putting up shows is very expensive. There are also those who don’t have a degree but still get into the industry because they can afford the entry fee of fashion shows,” she opines. This got her thinking and FSA was created.

Ramp03Apr212016

A student designer, S Priyadarshini, who was a part of two fashion shows by FSA, chips in about her experience. “Last year’s show was my first and I struggled to come up with good theme and creative ideas. Though I chose nature as my theme, I was not happy. But I watched the other designers and learnt a lot by mere observation and further research. This time, I am pretty confident,” she smiles and continues to talk about her new cocktail collection.“Sometimes, designers do come out with their own collections, but then what? Hosting a show is expensive and the clothes end up collecting dust. Hence, we’ve decided to host four shows a year where designers can exhibit their latest works at an inexpensive entry fee,” informs Arul.

FSA vice-president R Kalpana who exhibited her silk-inspired outfits wants to design clothes for celebrities. “People who come in to watch us may go back and talk about it to people in the fashion or film industry. It would be a dream come true if I could design one for actor Trisha,” she says. The fashion show was an all-day event where Pradeesh Raj, actor and assistant director of film Visaranai was also present.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express Features / April 21st, 2016