The national flag gallery at the Fort Museum, among other exhibits, traces the evolution of the Indian flag

As the nation marks its 67th Independence Day, tucked away in the second floor of the quaint Fort Museum is the first Indian national flag hoisted from Fort St. George.

“The Indian national flag that was hoisted on the morning of 15 August, 1947, at Fort St. George is made of silk and measures eight feet by twelve feet,” said an official.

The flag, which was part of the museum’s reserve collection, has been on display since Republic Day last year, the official said. The response has been very encouraging, he added.

“The flag is an important part of our history and we wanted the public to see it. Several school students and families have visited the museum and this particular gallery,” the official said.

The Fort Museum, which comes under the Archaeological Survey of India, has galleries that display arms, medals, portraits and coins, among several other exhibits, primarily from the colonial period.

The national flag gallery and the adjacent freedom fighters gallery, among other exhibits, trace the evolution of the Indian flag and the earliest postal stamps of independent India.

The freedom fighters gallery has a list of over 1,000 freedom fighters, apart from photos and copies of some documents given to the museum by freedom fighters’ families.

“We request families of freedom fighters to come forward and share photos, documents or any information about them so that we can display it at the museum,” the official said.

The period museum has been functioning from what is called the Exchange Building at Fort St. George, since 1948.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Madras 375 / by Asha Sridhar / Chennai – August 15th, 2014

The latter half of the 19 century in the port city of Madras found Colonel Kenney-Herbert, an Englishman serving in the British Indian Army, extremely annoyed.

Despite having scoured through various books, an adequate cooking guide for the average Englishman in India simply could not be found. Wasting no further time, he produced Culinary Jotting for Madras, a ‘treatise in thirty chapters on reformed cookery for Anglo-Indian exiles’, under the pen name ‘Wyvern’.

In 1878, Higginbothams published the first edition of the book traversing 30 dinners of multiple-course meals.

While Wyvern’s love for English cuisine was unquestionable, the dependence on tinned foods was something he particularly despised. This meant introducing new garden habits or using local ingredients in ingenious ways to suit the Victorian palate.

Vikram Doctor, a food writer, says, “I was so surprised to learn that Jerusalem artichokes were grown in Chetpet around 140 years ago! Topinambours a la Chetput was one of his signature dishes.”

However, Wyvern was not the first to conceive of a recipe book dedicated to serve expatriate Britishers in India. An anonymous ‘Old Lady-Resident’, it appears, beat him to it with The Madras Cookery Book, a bilingual in English and Tamil published in 1877.

Beatrix D’ Souza, former MP and an old-time Anglo-Indian resident of the city, confesses that some of the dishes mentioned in these cookbooks are still made by many in the community. “Madras qurma, bully beef, and masala chops are all dishes typical of both our community and the city,” she says.

The famous Railway Running Room recipes, a treasure the community prides itself on, boasts of delicacies such as mutton breast bake, head bake, and kutti pi (made of the unborn kid in the goat’s womb). These were made by cooks stationed in running rooms, for engine drivers who halted to rest en route to various destinations.

Dr. D’Souza, who is now over 75, emphasises that tinned meat and sardines from Spencers on Mount Road, fish patties, and specially-made ding ding (marinated dried meat) for long journeys were other staples that people of the community consumed.

Be it fish curry or the Brightons pudding, the Anglo-Indian cuisine in Madras seems to have not merely fused the best of two worlds, but also made it its own.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Madras 375 / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – August 10th, 2014

Madurai :

The city has not one but several streets called Mahal Theru numbered 1 to 8 named after Thirumalai Nayak Mahal. All the streets from Manajanakara Theru lead to Nayak Mahal, a standing testimony to the architectural mastery of the Madurai Nayaks.

An important landmark in the city, Nayak Mahal was constructed in 1636 by Nayak King Thirumalai Nayak who ruled Madurai between 1623 and 1659. It is an architectural wonder which attracts tourists from all over the globe. In its glorious days, Nayak Mahal was four times bigger from what is remaining at present and extended up to Manajanakara Theru in the city.

According to archaeologists Mahal Streets were once part of the Nayak Mahal which was left to ruin before the British took measures to conserve the remaining structure in 1866. C Santhalingam, a retired archaeologist from city said present day Mahal streets were once upon a time the western part of the Mahal. “The palace was huge and extended up to present day Manjanakara Theru. Nayak rulers moved their seat of power to Trichy after Thirumalai Nayak and demolished the major portion of the Mahal to construct a palace there. The remaining portion fell apart over the ages. Even today many houses on Mahal streets dilapidated pillars which were once part of the Mahal,” he said. Later British used some portions of the Mahal as government offices and Lord Napier played a crucial role in renovating and conserving the present day Nayak Mahal, he said.

K Mohan, 65, a resident in New Ramnad road and student of Thiruvallurvar Mahal High Sec School near Nayak Mahal recalled his student days in these streets. “In those days, the Mahal functioned as district court and there were not many restrictions to enter inside. As children we used to play around the palace during lunch break since drinking water was available inside. Some of us used to act as guide for visiting tourists and earn some pocket money,” he said. Mahal Streets was the hub of textile industry in those days since most of the residents were of Sourastran community who are generally expert weavers. They used to dry their yarns in these long lanes and there were also many paper and printing units functioning in Mahal streets”, said Mohan. Now the streets look different as many previous residents have shifted to other parts of the city and other industries and shops have cropped up.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / July 28th, 2014