WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIV No. 17 December 16-31, 2014

Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/12-14Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepaymentfor India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/12-14

Rs. 5 per copy(Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-)

CMYK

Publication: 15th & 28th of every month

CMYKCMYK

INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Crowd-funding support

• Sowing the seeds of freedom

• The Laurence Hope mystery

• The Red Hills Railway

Are we waiting fortheir collapse?

(By The Editor)

Who is to blame when aheritage building col-

lapses? The Government wouldhave it that the building is re-sponsible in every way for it.Common sense would say thatyears of negligence, irrespon-sible additions and alterations,and sheer administrative apathywould be the principal causes.This debate has been revivedwith renewed vigour followingthe collapse of the historic and144-year-old Mairie building inPondicherry. That is a losswhich the Union Territoryneighbouring our State willhave to now live with, but thereare several similarly endangeredbuildings in Chennai aboutwhich our administration seemsto be in no hurry to take steps.

The fall of the Mairie hasfollowed a predictable pattern.Years of protests from heritageenthusiasts about its poor main-tenance and lack of routineconservation were followed byvague promises by the Govern-ment. Official sanction for res-toration came in 2010 but noactual work was taken up, theprocess of tenders taking itsown time. In the meantime, theIndian Institute of Technologywas asked to assess the struc-tural stability of the building,which it did and certified someportions to be stronger thanothers. Conservation work be-gan earlier this year, but it wastoo late, for, following torrentialrains in November, a major por-tion of the edifice collapsed.The Union Territory Govern-ment immediately authorisedthe demolition of the edifice,citing risk to people in the vi-cinity. But after heritage activ-ists protested and submitted pe-titions, the shell of the groundfloor has been allowed to re-

main while what is to be done isbeing discussed as advised bythe Lieutenant Governor.

Bringing down a heritagebuilding is usually executedvery quickly at a speed rarely

matched by restoration activi-ties. That is a script played outeverywhere in our country,more so in our State. TamilNadu and Chennai, in particu-lar, have scores of such in-stances. Poor maintenance isusually the first indicator thatthe administration is not inter-ested in protecting a heritagestructure. Take the example ofthe stand-off between the Gov-ernment and conservationistsin the 1980s over Bentinck’sBuilding. It was only by empty-ing the structure and stoppingall maintenance that the casefor demolition was strength-ened. The same holds good forseveral others – Chepauk Palace,Bharat Insurance Building,Gokhale Hall, the National ArtGallery – the list is endless.

And it is not as though wehave had no collapses either.Capper House in the QueenMary’s College campus was aninstance of that. The oldest pri-vate building on the beach-front, it fell after being lockedup and neglected. ArthurWellesley’s house inside Fort St.George now consists mainly ofdebris and has remained thatway for over thirty years! Morerecently, the Madrasa e Azamon Mount Road has lost a wingwhile everyone quibbles as towhat ought to be done.

There are several moreinstances when it comes todelay in the start of conserva-tion activities. Everyone knowsthat the dome surmounting theNational Art Gallery in Egmorehas developed a crack that isever widening. But apart fromemptying the building andputting up a warning that it isin an enfeebled state, the

� One of the oldest organisations connected with the automobile in the country,the Automobile Association of Southern India (AASI) traces its roots to 1906when six vehicle owners in the Nilgiris banded together to form a self-help groupnamed the Nilgiris Automobile Association. A couple of months later, the SouthIndia Motor Union (SIMU) was formed in Madras with the same objectives. Inthe same year, the Nilgiris body merged with the Madras one, the two by thenhaving a combined membership of 67. The SIMU became affiliated to the RoyalAutomobile Club of England in 1910, by which time its membership had grownto 181.

In 1921, with labour trouble spreading to the hills, car owners there gottogether to form a body that could decisively deal with the demand by chauffeursfor increased wages. This was the New Nilgiris Motor Owners’ Association.This later became the Nilgiris Automobile Association, federated with the Auto-mobile Association of Great Britain. This body later merged with the SIMU.

In 1930, the SIMU, in keeping with similar organisations across the world,changed its name to the Automobile Association of Southern India. Its offices inthe city appear to have been on Mount Road ever since inception. The Directoryof Madras and South India of 1934 gives the address as 1-18, Mount Road. Itlists Sir Archibald Campbell, ICS, as the President, C. Gopala Menon as theVice-President and Major F. Church as Secretary. The Governor of Madrasand the Maharajah of Mysore were its patrons. Later, the Maharajahs ofTravancore and Jodhpur also became patrons. The annual subscription wasRs. 15 for car owners and Rs. 5 for motorcyclists. The Association’s generalobjectives are listed as follows: “Encourage and develop the automobile move-ment in the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore and Cochinand other Native States of Southern India and to watch, protect and extend therights and privileges of members and automobile owners generally by all possiblemeans.”

The AASI was one of the pioneers in printing detailed route maps of SouthIndia. It was also for several years responsible for furnishing statistics on motorvehicles to the Government. It has since added services such as the issue ofinternational driving licences, assisting in obtaining of local licences, providinghelp in transfer of ownership of vehicles, releasing vehicles from hypothecationand providing travel information. It also provides assistance in towing vehicles ofmembers, besides liaising with the Regional Transport Authority. Mostimportantly, it campaigns for road safety.

Madras Musings wishes all its readers a very happy and prosperous New Year.

(Continued on page 8)

Khalsa Mahal.

Bharat Insurance Building.

Gokhale Hall.

National Art Gallery.

(Continued on page 5)

Madras Landmarks

– 50 years ago

2 MADRAS MUSINGS December 16-31, 2014

Crowd-fundingto supportsocial causes?

� by Abhishek Sinha

Mary Kom successfully raised money through crowd fundingfor her boxing training institute.

“Groups, and even crowds, can be wiser than most and some-times even all of their members; if they aggregate information,”James Surowiecki says in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds.

This quote aptly describes what India is witnessing. We are inthe midst of a social revolution facilitated by digital networking.The digital network impacts the political, social and economicfabric of the country by influencing the crowd. It provides aplatform for like-minded people to discuss their passions andcontribute to the cause. The effect is more pronounced in the caseof politics. This should percolate to the other spheres of society. Alot of projects could be supported by crowd-funding, withoutwaiting for government money.

Anyone who has taken part in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (CleanIndia campaign) knows about the paucity of dustbins in his localityand its impact on cleanliness. However, expecting the local au-thorities to increase the number of dustbins overnight is expectingtoo much. Hence, it would be helpful if the locals independentlyfund this need. The cost of dustbins would not be more than Rs. 20per individual if there are around 200 interested donors. That iscrowd-funding for you.

Crowd-funding, which came into existence, post the 2008liquidity crunch, has gained popularity among start-ups, smallbusinesses and voluntary organisations raising money in the UnitedStates.

Community crowd-funding is a boon for ideas which are notcommercially viable but are important for the group of interested,passionate people. This is relevant as socially productive ideas faildue to lack of funding for being unprofitable. The implementationof these projects would have a multiplier effect on the growth ofthe economy.

Hypothetically, if Just Dial asks willing individuals to contri-bute Rupee 1 for every enquiry they make, so as to raise funds fordustbins in their areas, the problem of dustbins could soon besolved.

Community crowd-funding is not all about money, it is alsoabout getting the masses hooked on to new ideas.

Traditionally, the film industry has been able to use crowd-fund-ing. Shyam Benegal in the late 1970s funded his first movieManthan through Rupee 1 invested by members of Gujarat MilkCooperatives. For movie producers it also makes marketing senseto engage targeted viewers to finance production of the movie.

Geet Sethi, the promoter of Olympic Gold Quest, believes thereis a need to bridge the gap between the funding provided bygovernment and the funding required for training. Organisationssuch as India for Sports are acting as mediums for raising crowd-funds. With sports leagues becoming popular in almost all sports,funds flow would increase for these games.

There are also some business ideas with social benefits such asBiosense Technologies, a developer of urine analysis application.This Mumbai-based company was able to raise approximately halfa million dollars through crowd-funding. There are around 150projects that have already been funded in India.

Projects, which have social relevance, can also be fundedthrough this source. Case in point is local literacy programmes,which raise the standard of living of the people of a particularcommunity. With increase in employment in the service sectoramong the rural masses, funding would be relatively easier fordevelopment work in rural areas too.

The demographic changes in India are heavily loaded in favourof crowd-funding. The working population is young, and hencedisposable incomes for projects that are viewed gainful by the wisecrowd are higher. According to the 2012-13 annual report ofInfosys, the average age of its employees is approximately 27.5years, which is ten years younger than the average Microsoftemployee in the US.

The social revolution is meaningless without community crowd-funding. A movement, which does not have funding capabilities, islike a toothless tiger. Hence, individuals should join handsto become groups and groups become a crowd to fund ideas forthe greater interest of society in India. (Courtesy: IndustrialEconomist)

Sweet December is here andso is the Music Season. The

Man from Madras Musingsdons a musical hat during thistime much to the distress ofthe Chief who, rather likeAurangzeb, prefers music to beburied deep. But as this is thetime when the Chief lets theYuletide spirit take over, heoverlooks this minor transgres-sion of MMM and forgives andforgets. Come January, Chiefand MMM are back to brood-ing on matters of pith andmoment. Ebenezer Scroogeand Bob Cratchit would aboutsum it up.

An integral part of theMusic Season is, of course, thelecture demonstration, whenthe theoretical aspects of theperforming art are discussedwith vigour and animation.MMM usually enjoys these asmuch as he does the actualconcerts. But of late he finds acertain pattern emerging inthese ‘lecdems’ as they arecalled. It is only now thatMMM understands what aneditor-in-chief-cum-founder ofa musical magazine meantwhen he labelled thosewho speak on music as ‘lec-demons’.

into song. Most of these lec-demons have a lingering feelingthat they would have blos-somed as concert stars if onlythe audiences had had sometrue appreciation of worth. Sothey make use of this opportu-nity to give their singing voicesan airing. This takes a goodtwenty minutes. And thencomes the time when they lookat their watches and exclaim ina shocked fashion, “Oh, is thatthe time? I got carried awayand never noticed. This topicis an ocean and you can neverdo justice to it in 50 minutes.”It always makes MMM wonderas to why the speaker thenaccepted the lecdem invitationif he/she was of the view thatthe time given was inadequate.

But to get back to thelecdem. The shock about thepassage of time is followed by abeseeching request to thechairperson for ten minutesmore. No doubt the oceanrequires an hour and not fiftyminutes to speak on. Therequest for extra time is usuallydenied, chiefly because there isanother lecdemon waiting inthe wings. That means it is timefor the vote of thanks which isbasically a repeat of all that was

said at the start. Then it is timeto sidle into the wings, to thesounds of some sporadicapplause.

Swachh sabhas

It is, of course, the era ofSwachh Bharat. It has be-

come fashionable for volun-teers all over the country toturn out in their Sunday bestand wield brooms. One placewhere this is yet to make itselfmanifest is the sabha. Beforeyou run away with the idea thatpeople are littering or commit-ting public nuisance in sabhaslet The Man from MadrasMusings disabuse you of thatnotion. What he means is thatthe sabhas themselves have setsuch low standards for their toi-lets that Swachh Bharat withintheir premises can only be apipe dream.

Based on his considerableexperience of sabha toilets,MMM shares with you a fewclassifications:

THE OCEAN OFWORLDLY EXISTENCE –This is the wettest place onearth, beating even Cherra-punji hollow. The taps leak, theoverhead water tanks and cis-terns drip and, as for the floor,it is a vast lake of a milky liq-uid. That last named is not tobe confused with the oceanwhere the Preserver is said torecline on a serpent. This white

Lecture Demonsfluid is phenol which is doledout in kilolitres to keep theplace clean.

THE WATER CONSER-VATIONIST – Deserts couldtake lessons from this place, itbeing so dry. There is not adrop of water – in the taps, orthe cisterns, or anywhere else.That does not deter our popu-lace from using the toilets andso the entire scatological his-tory of the sabha is available atone glance or one whiff.

THE ALIMENTARY CA-NAL – This is structured onthe same principle. The can-teen is in close proximity towhere the toilet is. The idea isthat what goes in has to comeout anyway. Those who eat doso with a full view of thosewho have eaten and are goingabout the post-prandial activi-ties. That does not in any wayaffect either – the eaters andthe defecators carry on mer-rily.

THE HERITAGE SITE –This is truly ancient. The uri-nal is a longish trough, ratherlike the kind where horsesfeed when in stables. Commu-nal activity is chiefly encour-aged in these places. As for the

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

As is well known, thegolden age of this art was inthe 2nd Century BC as isvouched for by some of itsaudience, who were clearlyaround even then. MMM,who like everyone else is notgrowing any younger, certainlyagrees when it comes to thelecdems. Most of them keeprepeating the same stuff thatwas churned out for years.Some are one-topic lec-demons – they did a Ph D onit, say, sometime in the 1940sand then dine out on it forever after.

As for the actual lecdem –it is quite easily done. After all,when you have been speakingon the same stuff for years, itshould flow out. It is, however,in content that most of theselecdems suffer terribly from.Almost all speakers wastetheir time on inanities –thanking the organiser, thank-ing the committee of expertswho sit in the front row,thanking the audiences that sitin the rear rows, thanking thesound man, thanking theperson who is operating thelaptop, and so on. This takesaround ten minutes of theallotted fifty.

Then follows a longishpaean to their Guru who isdead and, therefore, is canoni-sed as a saint and an all-know-ing expert. This takes up afurther 15 minutes. This isgenerally the cue to launch

WC, it was probably importedin the years before Indian in-dependence. There is an ur-gent need for repairs, but no-body is bothered, for everyoneis occupied with the box of-fice.

THE OPEN AIR – This isin reality a toilet in absentia.You are expected to make dowith whatever facilities thatexist, which are none. So thenearest compound wall beck-ons most regulars.

It never fails to surpriseMMM that most sabhas whooffer a lavish spread in termsof canteen facilities do notbother so much with the back-end of things. There are some,of course, who offer the verybest in this aspect also, butthese can be counted on onefinger.

Tailpiece

That Carnatic music hasgone to the dogs has been

an oft-repeated lament. TheMan from Madras Musings wasgreatly surprised to note thatthis was a sentiment in the17th Century as well. Doesthat mean that the best musicwas in the 2nd Century BC?That is a point to ponder over.

Meanwhile, here is MMMwishing you all the very bestin 2015.

– MMM

December 16-31, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Must TV serials be so crude?Deja vu!

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are not a new concept, but thescale, speed and socioeconomic ambience with which these are

being created are entirely new. Since enactment of the SEZ Act2005, 300 SEZs have become functional and 560 more approved.While reading about the foundation of Madras (now Chennai) in1639, and the manner in which the British received a firman fromthe local ruler for grant of land and trading concessions, thesimilarity with the creation of SEZs raised a feeling of deja vu.

Government’s proposal for SEZs aims to accelerate economicdevelopment by promoting export of goods and services, attractingforeign direct investment (Rs. 1,000 crore was expected by end-2007) and creating employment (500,000 jobs) through providinginvestors preferential treatment in terms of facilities and taxes.SEZs are deregulated areas within which special concessions areprovided to industrial or commercial corporates so that they mayflourish unhindered by the laws, rules and regulations that apply inthe rest of the country, which are obviously construed as limitingcorporate profits. The concessions are provided by the Special Eco-nomic Zones Act, 2005. Presumably corporates have had a handin suggesting and drafting the legislation.

Exemptions from 21 Central Acts dealing with cesses, taxes andduties for products like rubber, oil, tobacco, sugar, tea, salt, mica,coffee, and modifications to the Income Tax Act, and amendmentsto the Insurance, Banking Regulation and Stamp Acts within SEZsprovide concessions and simplify procedures to enhance competi-

Uncanny similarities between SEZ Act 2005and concessions granted to John Company

for Madras in 1639

� by

Maj. General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM (RETD.)

tiveness and create the necessary ‘climate’ for profits. The conces-sions concerning land, labour and rates of taxes, customs duties,etc. may be reduced or exempted altogether.

SEZs are favoured with water and electric power at subsidisedrates. Workers cannot form trade unions for collective bargainingfor fair wages and better working conditions, and are open toexploitation in ‘sweet shops’, the corporates thereby maximisingprofits. Also, the inapplicability of environmental laws within SEZsfurther enhance corporate profits by ‘saving’ expenditure onenvironmental protection.

* * *Government acquires land for SEZs to the extent required by

the corporates that come up with a proposal for investment. Landis acquired (under Land Acquisition Act, 1894) from private own-ers and compensation is paid at rates determined by Government.Government may provide the land to the corporate at a rate higherthan cost of acquisition, and gain revenue at the cost of the farmer.Or it may be sold at a subsidised rate (as in the case of the chemicalSEZ at Nandigram in West Bengal), in which case the exchequerpays the difference. Whichever method is adopted, the corporategains and the farmer or the public loses.

* * *From ancient times, high authority in any society (chieftain,

king, emperor) promulgated edicts favouring particular powerfulpersons by bestowing property and/or power on them at the plea-sure of the ruler, with the quid pro quo of that beneficiary payingtributes to the ruler by extracting taxes from the peasantry. InMoghul times, this was called a firman. In a modern democracy,governments pass laws empowering the administrative machineryto execute tasks and projects.

The Constitution of India mandates separation of powers of theexecutive, legislature and judiciary so that checks and balances arepossible, and no one arm of the Constitution can gain undemo-cratic dominance. But contrarily, the SEZ Act actually integratesthe powers of the executive, the elected institutions and the judi-ciary, in a government-appointed Development Commissioner,who is a bureaucrat, and/or the Developer, who is a business per-son (a corporate body is also a “person”) providing the investment.Being exempted from the burden of laws that apply elsewhere inIndia, an SEZ is effectively separate from the Indian State in theform of a corporate colony. In this sense, the SEZ Act is not unlikea firman on the Government of India, providing corporateeconomic independence.

* * *On August 22, 1639, Francis Day of the British East India Com-

pany secured a piece of land near the fishing village of

(Continued on page 6)

As usual MMM has hit the nail on the headwith his Short ‘N’ Snappy take on TV

serials (MM, November 16th). Fully agreeing with him on the ridiculous

and wholly farcical ICU scenes, I also would liketo comment on the crass and vulgar aspects ofalmost all serials aired on various channels.

The crudest aspect is the undignified por-trayal of women. I am amazed that no women’sgroups have taken this up and protested;probably they enjoy these scenes themselves.

Scenes where women are kicked, beaten,dragged by the hair and abused profanely arecommon. Equally common is women being por-trayed as cunning, scheming, wicked and evil...be she a mother-in-law or a daughter-in-law ora sister-in-law. There also seems to be no suchcreature as a slim and svelte mother-in-law inthese serials.

The background music is a torture to theears ... there is scarcely a single dialogue be-tween characters without an insane drummerbanging away and screeching violins (key-boards?). Also the yodelling voices in the topkeys of the human vocal cord are another tor-ture.

I can’t imagine scenes where the householdaffairs and vociferous arguments between itsmembers are required to be accompanied byjarring background music.

All this mayhem is watched in households in

flats and small houses across the State wherethe TV is generally the centrepiece of the com-mon living area and hence watched by all thefamily members, including young susceptiblechildren whose minds will definitely be affectedby such crude scenes and dialogues.

With a misguided objective of appealing towomen viewers in particular, all women char-ters are made to weep and sob at the drop of ahat and beat their breasts in sorrow... most rep-rehensible to watch in the evening when all onewants is a little relaxation after the cares of theday.

I regularly watch an English serial about aDoctor in a hospital called House M D. I am nofanatic of English serials, but this must bewatched for the sheer professional and authen-tic manner in which this has been shot… aes-thetically probably the best serial so far seen byme.

The role of Dr. Gregory, House M.D., isplayed by Hugh Laurie perfectly... he also hasportrayed Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster earlier.

It is a puzzle to me that such an advancedsociety as ours seems to enjoy the bizarre scenesin our local language serials. Do we really likeall this crudity?

S.Rajaram62/1, Tamarai Flats, M E S Road

East Tambaram, Chennai 600 059

Dear Readers,As letters from readers increase, we are receivingmore and more hand written letters, many of themin a hand so small and illegible or large andscrawled as to be unreadable. Often this leads toour discarding a letter, particularly if some part of itis unreadable. If you wish us to consider your letterfor publication, please type it with enough space

between lines or write it using a medium hand,clearly dotting the ‘i-s’ and crossing the ‘t-s’.Many readers also try to fill every square centimetreof a postcard space, making reading or editingimpossible. Please help us to consider your lettersmore favourably by making them more legible forus.

– THE EDITOR

READABILITY PLEASE

Mongoose encounters

I read with interest AhanaLakshmi’s article on mon-

goose (MM, October 16th) be-cause of my own encounterswith this interesting animal.

When my wife and I wereliving in a colony of bungalowsin Mehsana, Gujarat, there wasfairly good vegetation in thecolony although it was certainlyan urban setting. We oftenfound the milk in the vessel dis-appearing, without even a dropleft in it. In time, we discoveredit was the work of a mongooseand not a cat!

Our second enounter – itwas a real encounter – was inthe house of the French Con-sul-General in Pondichery inthe late 1960s. When we visitedthem once, two or three mon-goose appeared in the drawingroom and rolled over much toour consternation. The Consul-General and his wife assured usthey were pets and not to worry!

As the pet-dogs do, they alsosmelled us and disappeared. Butthat was the first time I realised

that mongoose could also bepets. The French couple alsotold us that they were afraid ofsnakes and had been keepingthe mongoose. But I told themthat at the place they were liv-ing in by the beach, there wereno real snakes, but only a lot ofhuman snakes!

Dr. G. Sundaram (IAS, RTD)Keshav Perumal Puram

Greenways RoadChennai 600 028

Fantabulus

The reference to Enfield In-dia (MM, October 1st) re-

minded me of the Company’sscooter ‘Fantabulus’ which waspopular in the late 1960s inBhilai Steel township. Manyowners were enamoured withthe unique features of the two-wheeler: a sturdy design (118kg), with a self-starter mecha-nism (a forerunner of allpresent-day scooties), a fourgear leg-operated system,instead of normal threegears, and clutch handle bardesign.

However, due to lowfuel efficiency and high opera-tional and maintenancecosts, the vehicle went intooblivion within a decade ofintrodution.

It was a sad failure of an in-house design by a renownedcompany.

Bhilai Gopalan1/6, Sankara Flats

1, 6th Cross StreetShasthri Nagar, Adyar

Chennai 600 020

The printer’s devil

A printer’s devil (MM,November 16th) is really

an apprentice in a printingshop.

In England, in the good olddays, when he had to performall sorts of jobs in the shop,there was a superstitious pro-fessional belief in the printingindustry that an evil devil inter-fered with good printing workand created slips in spelling justfor fun. To rationalise this, theassistant was blamed and vili-fied as a printer’s devil!

N. DharmeshwaranPlot 21

Kumaran NagarGuduvancherry 603 202

Editor’s Note: As we havestated before, such slips shouldnot be called ‘printer’s devils’but should be indicated as thework of a printer’s devil.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS December 16-31, 2014 December 16-31, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Sowing the seedsof freedom

Laurence Hope – A lifeof mystery

� K.V.S. KRISHNA writes: “The International

Headquarters of The Theosophical Society has

been functioning from Adyar from December 19,1882.

“A study of Col. H.S. Olcott’s Old Diary Leaves(6 volumes, 2500 pages) was undertaken by

K. Ravi Menon and me for our book South of theAdyar River, brought out for the centenary year ofOlcott’s passing away (2007). ‘Sowing Seeds of

Freedom’ is an article based on that 140-pagestudy.”

In 1857/58, after the GreatRevolt, the British Crown took

over the governing of India, acountry then of 200 millionpeople, scores of languages,seven different religions, a castesystem, child marriage and some500 mini-kingdoms ruled byRajahs and Nawabs. It was tothis country that Helena Petrov-na Blavatsky, a Russian aristo-crat, and Colonel H.S. Olcottfrom the US came in 1879 to setup the world headquarters of theInternational TheosophicalSociety.

In 1851, 20-year-old HelenaPetrovna Blavatsky met Ma-hatma Morya. Her life was neverto be the same again. Her latertravels took her to Canada,U.S.A., Mexico, India, Java, Ti-bet and South America (1851-58). Blavatsky by the time shecame to India had been widelyexposed to various cultures andin Tibet her occult powersgreatly improved. She wroteseveral spiritual books (SecretDoctrine, etc.) and, in July 1878,was the first Russian to getAmerican citizenship.

Col. Olcott was 23 years oldwhen he gained international re-nown for a model scientific agri-culture farm he had developed in1855. He was co-founder of theWestchester Farm School, NewYork. At 26, he travelled to Eu-rope on an agricultural assign-ment. Subsequently, he becameCorrespondent of Mark Lane Ex-press (London), Agriculture Edi-tor of the New York Tribune, andpublished his second and thirdbooks on agriculture.

As a reporter in 1859 he waspresent at the hanging of JohnBrown, the campaigner againstslavery. Olcott joined the North-ern Army. After the AmericanCivil War, Olcott was appointedmember of a commission to as-sist in the investigation of thistragedy. Later he was drafted asSpecial Commissioner by theWar and Navy Departments toinvestigate corruption in thearmed services.

In 1868, Olcott was admittedto the Bar and practised till 1878.

In 1874 he met Blavatskywhile both were visiting the Eddyfarm in Vermont. His interest inthe spiritualist movement andhis budding relationship withBlavatsky helped to foster his de-velopment of spiritual philoso-phy.

Blavatsky and Olcott foundedthe Theosophical Society and hewas elected founding Presidentof the Society on November 17,1875.

The two of them arrived inBombay in February 1879. The

first thing he did upon disem-barking from their ship was tostoop down to kiss the granitestep in an instinctive act of de-votion. Then, both went on atour of North India.

One of the first persons theymet on that tour was AllanOctavian Hume of the BengalCivil Service who had arrived inIndia in 1849 as a 20-year-old.He was to serve as Secretary tothe Government of India in1870-79. The Great Revolt of1857 made a strong impressionon him. Hume authored Awak-ening. He feared yet another andmore terrible uprising andwanted to ensure that Indiagained self-government withoutviolence and bloodshed. Hume

told the newly arrived ViceroyNorthbrook in 1872 that theBritish were not loved in Indiaand warned, “A studied andinvariable disregard, if notactually contempt, for the opin-ions and feelings of our subjectsis at present the leading charac-teristic of our government inevery branch of the administra-tion.”

Hume, impressed by Blavat-sky and Olcott, was more thanwilling to assist the Theosophi-cal movement to spread its mes-sage. Olcott lectured to a hugecrowd in December 1879 on‘Theosophy and its relations toIndia’, followed by an address byHume. A.P. Sinnett, anotherearly friend of Blavatsky andOlcott, was the editor of The Pio-neer, Allahabad, and several con-tributions from Olcott and Bla-vatsky were published in it untilThe Theosophist magazine wasstarted on October 1, 1879. Sin-nett became a Theosophist thatyear.

Over the years the BritishGovernment did not appreciateHume, resulting in him being de-moted by the time he was 50years old. This coincided withthe emergence of the Theosophi-cal movement in India. Hume,after having met Olcott andBlavatsky at Sinnett’s residence,was most attracted by Theoso-phy’s tenets which propagated

and stated the essential unity ofall religions and the universalbrotherhood of man. He becamea Theosophist. This set him freeto devote his time and energy tothe cause of Indian nationalism.

In 1880, over a period of 60days, Olcott and Blavatsky wenton their first tour of Ceylon andduring that trip they took Pansilat the Ramanya Nikaya to for-mally accept the Buddhist faith.

One night during their sec-ond tour of North India,Blavatsky and Olcott were in-vited by the Humes to dinner.When Blavatsky asked if anyonewanted something, Mrs. Humesaid that she would like to havean old family jewel that she hadnot seen for a “long time”. This,

to everyone’s astonishment, wasfound. The dinner resulted inseveral influential Europeansjoining the Theosophical Societyafter witnessing the occult pow-ers of Blavatsky. The sameevening, Lord Ripon invitedOlcott for a ball at GovernmentHouse, a significant move indi-cating improved relations withthe Government, a far cry fromthe earlier days when it was spy-ing on Olcott and Blavatsky!

Hume, who had by then es-caped political isolation, servedas an intermediary between theViceroy and the Indians to ascer-tain and organise Indian opinionin favour of Lord Ripon’s liberalpolicies. Educated Indians calledhim ‘Ripon the Righteous’.

Right from the start, bothOlcott and Blavatsky were pre-paring Indians and Ceylonese forholding positions of higher re-sponsibility. Olcott assisted thisby starting schools in India andCeylon. Olcott felt Madras to be“the most enlightened of theindian Presidencies as to SanskritLiterature and Aryan Philoso-phy. There are more learnedPundits in villages, and the edu-cated class, as a whole, has beenless spoilt by Western educationand Adyar is a sort of paradise.”They saw the site calledHuddleston Gardens on the southbank of the Adyar River on May31, 1882. Their very first viewing

told them that “their futurehome was found” and theysettled there in December thatyear.

In Madras, Olcott started sev-eral schools for Harijans and in1884 he formed the AryanLeague of Honour for teenageboys, as well as a number of boys’clubs and societies. EducationistDr. Kewal Motwani writes in abiographical sketch of Olcott,“As a result of his fervent appealto the patriotic instincts of thepeople, seventeen of those del-egates were present at the annualConvention of the TheosophicalSociety. In 1884, the Indian Na-tional Union was formed whichchanged to the Indian NationalCongress the following year ‘toserve the motherland’.” Strictlyspeaking, Olcott was the fatherof the Indian National Congress,though that title has been givento A.O. Hume.

Certainly, in this historicalmovement, Hume provided per-fect leadership. He had the timeand tremendous energy to ex-ecute his duties, and he had thenecessary contacts as well asorganisational skills and the sup-port of Indian leaders. With thetacit support of the new Viceroy,Lord Dufferin, Hume made a po-litical pilgrimage covering thewhole of India, enlisted 70 del-egates who, till then, had not meteach other and inaugurated thefirst Indian National Congress(INC) on December 28-30,1885. Hume did not occupy thehighest position at the INC butcontinued till 1901 to be theGeneral Secretary of the Party.Lord Dufferin soon sensed thatHume was helping the INC tobecome a national party whichintended India to become a freecountry.

The Congress decided to holdits annual conference in Madrason December 27, 1894. TheTheosophical Convention tradi-tionally took place from Decem-ber 27th. However, knowingthat all its members were alsomembers of the INC, the Theo-sophical Convention was heldfour days earlier so that itsmembers could attend both theconferences. This is furtherevidence of how closely theSociety was related to the free-dom movement.

(To be concluded)

A.O. Hume.

� Virginia Jealous was recentlyin Madras on the trail first blazedby her father John Jealous in1989, when he was in search ofthe story of a woman who was tobecome the obsession of his lifeas he pieced together her storyduring several subsequent visitsto Madras and other parts ofIndia for a book that didn’t getwritten; he passed away beforehe got to it. Now his daughterVirginia, a poet and a travelwriter, hopes to write a book onher father’s journey as well as onthe woman who was the secondgreat love of his life, LaurenceHope. Here in brief is the storyof Adela Florence Nicolsonwhom the world knew asLaurence Hope.

Adela ‘Violet’ FlorenceNicolson’s story starts with

her father Arthur Cory, an armyman who arrived in India inJanuary 1849. He married Fanny

Griffin and Isabel was their eldestdaughter. Even though they li-ved in Lahore, Adela Florencewas born in England in 1865,near Bristol. Annie Sophie, theyounger daughter, was born in1868. After retirement in 1877,Cory joined the Civil and MilitaryGazette in Lahore and in time be-came its Editor. When he return-ed to London, Rudyard Kiplingsucceeded him. Just before herfather’s retirement from the Civiland Military Gazette around1882, the 16-year-old Adela re-turned to Lahore after complet-ing her education in England.

Adela married ColonelMalcolm Hassels Nicolson inApril 1889 in Karachi. He was 46years old, she was 24, virtuallyhalf his age! Was ‘Violet’, as shewas called by friends, destined tofollow the traditional path of theBritish Army wife, horses, par-ties, ayahs and so on? No. In1897, when Violet was in a pres-tigious position as the General'swife, a fellow officer’s wife in

Mhow wrote, “A tiny fair verystrange woman, vilely and impossi-bly clothed. I always found herrather interesting, though of courseeveryone mocks at her, and I can'thelp doing it myself... sometimes atthe really absurd figure she makes.”Another writer wrote in 1909,“Mrs. Nicolson loved to dispensehospitality to her chosen friends.She was of a peculiar, unconven-tional nature, which is reflected inher poetry, and only those who wereof the same mind appealed to her.She loved the world of books, occultscience, and strongly sympathisedwith the Mohammedans. Thosefriends chosen for their brilliancy ofmind more than for their materialwealth found in her a warm, ar-dent, generous friend, extremely un-conventional in her views, and awoman not at all fond of social gai-ety in the usual acceptation of theterm.”

Adela took to wearing Indianclothes and writing poetry with astyle reminiscent of the Sufi po-ets from the NW Province (shewas fluent in Urdu), and decidedto get them published. It is saidthat while the substance of thepoems was not drawn from iden-tifiable Indian sources, the exoticsettings emphasised a passionateintensity which was seen as Ori-ental. Her first volumes of po-etry, The Garden of Kama andIndian Love Lyrics, were pub-lished in 1901, but were notsomething Victorian and Edwar-dian England could accept froma lady and that was why theywere published under the mascu-line pseudonym ‘LaurenceHope’. The works were well re-ceived, though the somewhatexplicit nature of the contentswas hotly discussed. Generallyreviewed as the work of a man,her poems attracted enormousattention at a time when D.H.Lawrence was still to become thebuzz name, and were repeatedly

republished every year for manyyears.

After retirement, the couplebriefly visited North Africa andthen London, where they weredrawn into literary circles. ButLondon and Africa were not tothe liking of the two people whohad spent their entire life in In-dia and, so, soon enough, in1904, the couple left London (af-ter leaving their son in London)in order to settle in the thensleepy Calicut. They found abungalow on the hilltop over-looking the river at Feroke, a fewmiles out of town.

The Nicolsons lived very hap-pily for six months in a place theystated was paradise. Adela’s po-etry writing continued. Sheloved Malabar and wrote a lotabout the land and its people.But as most people agree, herpoetry was a reflection of those

tional’ biography of her wrote,“His widow was taken in by friends,the Stewarts, and for two monthsshe stayed with them at DunmoreHouse (a property they were rent-ing from Eardley Norton, the notedbarrister and champion of the In-dian right to self-determination).On October 4, 1904, when her fi-nal book of poetry was completed,Laurence Hope confided to a friendin London her intention of exercis-ing her own ‘right’ to follow her hus-band, entrusted the letter to SirNorman Stewart whose return toEngland was imminent, retired toher room and took poison. It wasan English equivalent of sati, andfittingly her last poems were pub-lished posthumously, under the titleIndian Love. Finally, and after herdeath, the poems were published inher own name.” Some say thatAdela did this following a boutof acute depression. She was bur-ied, like her husband, in St.Mary’s cemetery. Her only son,Malcolm Josceline Nicolson,subsequently edited her poems.

In her book Indian Love, shestarted with a poem dedicated toher departed husband. In thepoem she said,Small joy was I to thee; before we

metSorrow had left thee all too sad to

save.Useless my love – as vain as this re-

gretThat pours my hopeless life across

thy grave.This controversial poem ad-

dressed to her husband and anumber of swirling rumours keptHope in the limelight even afterher death. While one of therumours was based on her rela-tionship with an Indian prince,the second was about her pur-ported lesbian relationship withAmy Finden, a composer, andthird, without any real basis,about her numerous affairs withall kinds of people. Let’s take acursory look at them.

Somerset Maugham’s shortstory The Colonel’s lady is looselybased on Adela Nicolson. In fact,it is a story where the Coloneldiscovers all of a sudden that hiswife has become a successfulwriter and hears of a much talkedabout story about an affair with ayounger man. Eventually, aftermuch soul searching and discus-sions with his solicitor, he con-cludes that he should do nothingand should ignore it as, after all,he himself had had an affair inLondon.

E.C. Keissling writing for theMilwaukee Journal in 1968 statedthat Adela was in love with a lo-cal prince and as that would up-set the English, they used to meet

in secret with him dressed as acommoner and she as a dancinggirl. One day, he was caught andthreatened by his father the Raja.So he broke off the relationship.Nicolson heard about this while“recovering from malaria” andthe news hastened his death!

Others said that after Adelareturned to India the poems ex-pressed Adela’s lesbian love for

letter from Nilambur dated May1904. She writes: We came heretwenty-two miles through thejungle. The jungle was the jungle,but the hill climate was chilly, andthere was a lot of grey in the sky,but here it is hot, it is India again.Do you know the name ofClogstoun? The tomb of Lt. SamuelRobert Clogstoun (actually of 23rdRegiment), who was drowned in1843 in the river here at nineteen,‘generous, high-spirited, and full ofpromise,’ as the officers of his regi-ment (the 21st Madras Infantry)have it, is here. The tomb was in ascrub jungle and almost covered. Iwashed the stone clean last eveningand wondered if there were any ofhis people anywhere.

This place is perfect. I only wishone had a thousand years to live, asthere are so many things one willhave to leave undone.

At the age of 39, it was atragic decision to swallow ahorrible chemical that burnsyour mouth, lips, gullet andinnards as it hastens your depar-ture from this world. Why thetorturous decision? Was it guiltor a sacrifice to her husband, orfor her lover prince or Amy or,for that matter, the boatman? It’sa question that will never beanswered.

interesting but difficult timeswhere there was a definite pas-sion and obsession with forbid-den love in the minds of the lit-erate. For example, a bit from thepoem Song of the Parao:These are my people, and this my

land,I hear the pulse of her secret soul.This is the life that I understand,Savage and simple and sane and

whole.These are my people, lithe-limbed

and tall,the maiden's bosom they scorn to

cover.Her breasts, which shall call and

enthrall her lover,Things of beauty, are free to all.

Recurring health issues re-quired a move to Madras for theGeneral’s medical treatment. Aroutine prostate operation wentwrong and the general died onAugust 7, 1904 at Mackay’s Gar-dens Nursing Home and was bur-ied in St. Mary’s (on the Island)cemetery.

Mary Talbot Cross in a ‘fac-

Government did nothing foryears. Funds for restoration werepromised two years ago andreleased a year back. And yet noaction has taken place. ChepaukPalace has remained a burnt shellfor over three years now, with noactivity on the premises.

Do all these instances point toa sincere effort in restoration?Most emphatically not. Theunexplained tardiness in thepassage of a Heritage Act and thesetting up of a toothless HeritageConservation Committee alsoshow that protection of our pastis not considered a seriousmatter. Unless that awarenesscomes about, we will continuelosing out on heritage.

(Continued from page 1)

Are wewaiting fortheir collapse?

From

‘Maddy’s Ramblings’

– a blog by

Manmadhan Ullattil

Amy Woodforde-Finden. It ap-pears Amy wrote to Laurencestating that she had been tryingout some of the songs andwanted approval. Laurenceagreed and asked if they couldmeet – the rumour is that theydid meet and they fell instantlyand passionately in love, and em-barked on a brief, intense affairbefore returning to their respec-tive husbands as propriety de-manded. Amy was known as aprolific composer of ‘eastern dit-ties’, which effectively capturedthe mood and morals of the pe-riod. But many believe that thetwo never met. Before thisrumour heated up, Adela shiftedto Madras and that effectivelykilled the rumour.

And now we come to Madha-vi Kutty’s comment about theboatman. If you read this poemSurface rights written by Adelawhile in Calicut, you can see theintensity and the passion in thepoetry which Kamala Das would,of course, have analysed throughher writer’s eyes. Adela writes inSurface rights:Drifting, drifting along the River,Under the light of a wan low moon,Steady, the paddles; Boatman,

steady ...Why should we reach the sea so

soon?Sweet are thy ways and thy strange

caresses,That sear as flame, and exult as

wine.But I care only for that wild

momentWhen my soul arises and reaches

thine.Perhaps she met him while

going to or travelling in Malabarin a boat. A clue comes from a

Malcolm Nicolson and Adela Florence Nicolson.

Was this Dunmore House?

6 MADRAS MUSINGS December 16-31, 2014

The Red HillsRailway

(Continued from page 3)

– India’s first railroad

SEZs 2005 & Madras 1639

The Indian Railways historysite says ‘railways were first

introduced to India in the year1853 from Bombay to Thane’.This site should read: the firstpassenger rail line was intro-duced in 1853. But gladly, andpleasantly surprisingly, thewebsite ‘Transport in Chennai’refers to the Red Hills RailRoad, about which I write here.

I read the details about theRed Hills Rail Road in a blog bySimon Darvill who emphati-cally indicates that Madras hadthe earliest rail road in India:the ‘Red Hills Rail Road’ (‘RedHills Railway’), introduced in1836. Darvill writes:

“Like many early railways itwas built for the carriage of miner-als, in this case granite for roadbuilding work in Madras. In all thereferences found to the line, thereis no mention of the gauge of theline, but it can probably be con-cluded that given that railwaysthemselves were in their infancyand the majority that had beenbuilt at that point were standardgauge (1435mm), the line wasstandard gauge. The line was al-ways intended to be operated byanimal power but... at least twobut possibly three locomotiveswere used on the line on anexperimental basis. Equally

unknown is what was used as roll-ing stock, possibly road carts onrail wheels.”

This rail line did not trans-port humans, but minerals androcks. The starting point wasChintadripet, which Darvill re-fers to quoting a news item inThe Conservative, (May 6,1836), which was requoted inthe Asiatic Journal (November1836). This effort, Darvill indi-cates, was an ‘experiment’ inMadras. To supplement this, hefurther quotes from the MadrasGazette (May 4, 1836):

“A small piece of railway hasbeen laid down near theChintadrapettah Bridge, which isworth the inspection of the goodpeople of Madras who have notvisited England since railwayshave been common. To show howlittle labour is required on a roadof this description, a cart is placed

upon the rails, loaded with stones,which is easily moved up a slightlyinclined plane by one hand fromwhere it returns by its own weightfrom the place it was firstpropelled.”

The line was built andopened by 1837. The AsiaticJournal (August 1837) reported:

on somewhat further. The tempo-rary railroad has cost the Govern-ment 50,000 rupees. It extendsfrom the Red Hills to the canal, adistance of about three miles anda half, and is qualified only to beara weight of about a ton and a half.To be made a permanent struc-ture, that is by exchanging thewooden for iron-stone or lateritesupports, it will cost 14 or 15 lakhsrupees more.”

Independent of Darvill’s an-notations on the Red Hills RailRoad – the pioneering effort ofrailway in India – I found an-other notation in the CalcuttaMonthly Journal & General Reg-ister of Occurrences (1837) iden-tical to the above quoted re-mark.

S. Srinivasachari in hisHistory of the City of Madras(1939) provides some addi-tional details on this ignored in-

“The temporary Red Hills Rail-road has already been completedthough for a time rendered use-less in consequence of a portionof the embankment of the canalhaving given way where the rail-road joins on it, requiring in con-sequence the former to be carried

formation. The following hasbeen paraphrased from Sriniva-sachari: On July 8, 1845, a Ma-dras Railway Company wasformed in London to constructa rail line from Madras to Arcot(technically Wallajahnagar, to-day referred to as Wallajahpet).This company succeeeded anolder one of the same nameestablished in 1749 but whichnever got down to business. Itsuccessfully ran its first trainfrom Royapuram to Arcot onJuly 1, 1856. Major ThomasPears had earlier surveyed theland and offered a proposal in1851 for a trunk railway fromMadras to Minnal, after whichthe course of the line was to beguided by the nature of thecountry. Pears suggested thatthe railway should be routedfrom Arcot and Vellore throughMinnal and Sholinghur to Pal-manair and then onwards viaBangalore to Bellary and Bom-bay, with a branch to Amburand Vaniyambadi. It was de-cided that the line from Madrasto Minnal was to be constructedas an experiment. The first sodwas turned on June 9, 1853.

I wish that the Indian Rail-ways immediately corrects thenotation in its history page.

Madraspatam (that was later called Madras) through a firmangranted by Damerla Venkatadri, a Nayak of the Vijayanagar King-dom. The land was used to construct Fort St. George that becamea seat of power for expansion of British trade, the political powerarising from which resulted in India becoming a British colony.

From the choice of words in the firman that gave trading rightsand concessions to the English, it appears that Day drafted thedocument. It appears that, besides wanting commerce to flourishin his territory, the Nayak wanted to utilise English ships to importhorses from Persia, and also have a place of refuge from hostileneighbours in a contingency. It was the Nayak’s firman that led toconstruction of Fort St. George for the purpose of “peaceful pros-ecution of commerce from a place of safety”. It is further statedthat in order to encourage the English to conduct their trade, “theywere given the privilege of bringing the goods and sending them

out customs-free, and of providing themselves with supplies forthemselves and their sea-going ships duty-free from the country.

The Nayak granted land and permission to build the fort ac-cording to the needs and design of the British based upon Day’s“great hopes by reason of our promises often made unto him”,thereby indicating that Day already had considerable influenceover the Nayak because of favours that the British had done, orsome gold that was paid to the Nayak. The Nayak goes on to agreeto advance the cost of construction on the understanding that theBritish would repay the cost when they took possession of the fort.Later, “to make more full expression of our affection to the Englishnation”, the Nayak sanctions to the British “full power and au-thority to govern and dispose of the Government of Madraspatamfor the term and space of two years”, and goes on to offer themtrade concessions.

Out-doing himself in his generosity, the Nayak grants that“whatsoever provisions the English shall buy in my Country, eitherfor their fort or ships, they shall not be liable to pay any custom orduties for the same”, and that “whatsoever goods or merchandisethe English Company shall either import or export ...”, shall “... forever after, be custom free.” In relation to other traders, the Englishobtain most-favoured-nation status in the firman when he grantsthat for any goods which the English may bring to or through theNayak’s country, the English “shall pay half the duties that othermerchants pay, whether they buy or sell the said commodities ei-ther in my Dominions or in those of any other Nague whatsoever.”The Nayak gives even further scope to the British to set up theirown economic system, saying, “the said English Company shallperpetually enjoy the privileges of mintage without paying any duesor duties whatsoever.”

The Nayak guaranteed the quality and honesty of the mer-chants or craftsmen whom the English might employ, and in theevent that such persons “fail in their performance”, the Nayakwould “make good to the English all such sums of money as shallremain on their accounts, or else deliver them their persons, if theyshall be found in any part of my territories”. Thus, the Nayak un-derwrites losses that the English may incur due to his citizens’ non-performance and, abjectly surrendering his right to rule over hisown subjects, even hands over defaulters to the English.

There is an uncanny similiarity between the SEZ Act 2005 ingranting land, concessions and privileges to corporates for SEZs,with the firman granted by the local ruler to the British on August22, 1639 for land and concessions to establish a trading post inMadras.

� ‘Pages from History’by DR. A. RAMAN

Charles Sturt UniversityOrange, New South Wales,

Australia,ARaman@csu.edu.au

CHENNAI HERITAGENo. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road

Royapettah, Chennai 600 014

I am already on your mailing list (Mailing List No....................) /I have just seen Madras Musings and would like to receive ithereafter.� I/We enclose cheque/demand draft/money order for Rs. 100(Rupees One hundred) payable to CHENNAI HERITAGE,MADRAS, as subscription to Madras Musings for the year2014-15.� As token of my support for the causes of heritage, environ-ment and a better city that Madras Musings espouses, I sendChennai Heritage an additional Rs............................................(Rupees .......................................................) Please keep/putme on your mailing list.

Name : ....................................................................................Address: ................................................................................................................................................................................

All cheques to ‘Chennai Heritage’. DD/Cheque should be sentby Speed Post only.

MADRAS MUSINGSON THE WEB

To reach out to as many read-ers as possible who share ourkeen interest in Madras that isChennai, and in response torequests from many well-wish-ers – especially from outsideChennai and abroad whoreceive their postal copies verylate – for an online edition.Madras Musings is now on theweb at www. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

OUR ADDRESSESFor matters regarding subscriptions,donations, non-receipt of receiptsetc.: CHENNAI HERITAGE, 5,Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 14.Madras Musings now has its ownemail ID. Letters to the editor can besent via email to editor@madrasmusings.com. Those whowish to intimate change of addresscan also do so provided thesubscription number is quoted. Fornon-receipt of copies, change ofaddress, and all other circulationmatters: Madras Musings, C/oLokavani Southern Printers Pvt.Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai600 006. On editorial matters: TheEditor, Madras Musings, No. 5,Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road,Royapettah, Chennai 600 014.No personal visits or telephone calls,please. Letters received will be sentfrom these addresses every coupleof days to the persons concernedand you will get an answer from themto your queries reasonably quickly.Strange as it may seem, if you adoptthe ‘snail mail’ approach, we will beable to help you faster anddisappoint you less.

– THE EDITOR

December 16-31, 2014 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

A 2500-year-old‘industrial estate’

� by A Special Correspondent

It is a long, tiring journey toKodumanal, a tiny village in

western Tamil Nadu a placevirtually unheard of untilarchaeologists recently un-earthed a 2500-year-old indus-trial estate there.

The trip from Chennai tothis inland village is in threestages: eight-hour bus ride toErode (district headquarters),two-hour bus ride to Kangeyam(small town in the textiledistrict of Tirupur), and a finalbus ride to Kodumanal.

The last leg is the mostinteresting. At first the ricketybus passes farmland and prettyhouses but then the surround-ings grow barren. There is onlythe occasional coconut tree. Itis hard to believe that this areaonce held a thriving town.Modern Kodumanal has justaround 1000 people making aliving breeding cattle andworking in the nearby textiletown of Tirupur.

At the archaeological sitenear Kodumanal, even at 8 amthe sun is merciless. Approach-ing the arid excavation area,you hear the sounds of diggingand of instructions being yelledto the scores of archaeologystudents busy at the siteexcavation.

K. Rajan, professor and headof the Department of History ofPondicherry University, leadsthe team. Rajan is in his early50s. He stands in the heattalking to the students gatheredaround. Today is the last day ofthis dig at Kodumanal.

Kodumanal, Rajan explains,was a manufacturing and trad-ing centre in the 4th CenturyBCE. It is mentioned as such inthe Sangam literature of classi-cal Tamil (circa 300 BCE-300CE). The settlement, whichwould have accommodatedseveral thousand people in itsheyday, appears to have beenabandoned after the 3rd CenturyCE.

Archaeologists arrived inKodumanal in 1961, when V.N.Srinivasa Desikan of theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) led the first dig.

In 1980, a second trial exca-vation was carried out by theTamil Nadu State ArchaeologyDepartment.

More digs were executed in1985, 1989 and 1990 by theDepartments of Epigraphy andArchaeology of Tamil Univer-sity, along with the Departmentof Ancient History and Archae-ology of Madras University, andthe State Archaeology Depart-ment.

However, not much wasfound. Between 1985 and 1990,

the archaeologists laid 40trenches but collected only 170inscribed potsherds (potteryfragments).

In 2012, the pattern wasbroken, and Rajan’s teamstruck gold. They laid fourtrenches and collected as manyas 130 inscribed potsherds.

V.P. Yatheesh Kumar, aPh.D student of archaeologyfrom Pondicherry Universityworked at Kodumanal for twomonths. He said, “I haveworked in four different sitessince 2005. In those areas, find-ing one script itself was a bigthing. Here, in one site, wefound 130.”

Kumar and another studentfound two large pots, one ofwhich bore a Tamil-Brahmiinscription in tall letters reading“Samban Sumanan” – a name.The pot was 4 feet tall, saysKumar, and was used to storewater. Nearly all the newlyunearthed inscriptions, in fact,were personal names; a few alsoreferred to the trade done bythe individuals named.

The words on the pots are inPrakrit, a north Indian language

of the time. This tells us, saysRajan, that Kodumanal hadcultural and trade connectswith the North.

Hard, slow work led to theseexciting discoveries. Rajan hasbeen involved in excavatingthis site since 1984. The lastexcavation was in 1990. For thisyear’s dig, the professor man-aged to raise Rs.3.5 lakh fromthe ASI and the CentralInstitute of Classical Tamil.

From the trenches haveemerged fascinating andbeautiful artifacts. Among themore decorative items are semi-finished bangles and braceletsmade from beryl, a crystallinemineral. Some of these stones

are so pure that they werecolourless. One find is a tiger-shaped object made of copper,about 15cm long. It wasstudded with carnelians, sap-phires and diamonds. Oldquartz stones and broken beadsof sapphire, beryl, agate, carne-lian, amethyst, lapis lazuli,garnet, soapstone and quartzare strewn across the village.

In one memorable case, thearchaeologists found 2220 car-nelian beads in a single grave.This may be the first instance ofits kind in India, Rajan says.

There are sources ofsapphire, beryl and quartz nearKodumanal, but carnelian, ag-ate and lapis lazuli came fromdifferent sources as far away asGujarat, Sri Lanka and Afgha-nistan. The ancient economywas global.

The finds show that work-shops for cutting and shapingprecious gems, for making semi-precious stone beads and also,incidentally, for shell-cutting,were there in Kodumanal morethan 2300 years ago.

But the workers’ technicalskills did not begin and end withgem-making. They also workedwith iron and steel. In fact,ancient sources of iron ore havebeen found in and aroundChennimalai hill, 15 km to theeast.

There was, the archaeolo-gists say, “constant movementof foreign traders betweenChennimalai, where there wereiron ore deposits, and Koduma-nal where the ore was pro-cessed” and from where finisheditems were exported. In Kodu-manal itself, Rajan’s team foundpieces of a crucible furnace.Such furnaces can withstandheat up to 1300oC, well over themelting point of cast iron. Thisfind has been confirmed, Rajansays, by Sharada Srinivasan of

the Indian Institute of Sciencein Bangalore, who has exam-ined the crucible.

Kodumanal was one of theearliest wootz steel centres ofthe world. Wootz steel, a formof carbon steel, was a prized,highly durable speciality ofancient India, and muchsought-after in the West.

In Roman literature, thereare references to the import ofsteel from the Chera country, orSouth India. References towootz steel in Sangam literatureindicate that Roman Egyptimported its finest steel fromhere. The rust-free ancient ironpillar still standing near theQutub Minar in Delhi is said tobe made of iron from thisregion.

Kodumanal is not far fromTirupur, the textile hub ofmodern India. Ancient Kodu-manal also manufactured tex-tiles. A number of terracottacotton spindles, piercedthrough the centre with an ironrod, have been unearthed here.Incredibly, a well-preservedpiece of actual cotton has beenfound. It is believed to be 2200years old.

More proof of Kodumanal’strade links comes in the form ofRoman coins, dug up in hoardsas well as single pieces. Thetown lay on a trade route fre-quented by Roman merchants,who came to buy beryl, quartzand other stones.

Goods to be exported to theWest were carried by road tothe Chera port of Muziris(Pattinam) on the west coastnear Thrissur, and then went byship. Goods for Southeast Asiawere carried east to Karur, capi-tal of the Chera kingdom, thento Poompuhar near the mouthof the Kaveri, and then over-seas.

Judging by the trade pattern,and as is suggested by finds ofberyl jewellery in easternEurope and elsewhere, Kodu-manal’s exports went a longway.

Although Kodumanal is onthe Noyyal, a tributory of theKaveri, the river was not usedfor shipping. The Noyyal is shal-low, rocky and has strongcurrents, so the trade routefollowed its banks.

Rajan’s findings suggest thatonly about half of the Kodu-manal site, which is about 40

acres in all, was inhabited inancient times. The other half isa huge burial ground. Thearchaeologists have openedover 180 graves.

There are three types ofgraves: pot, urn and chamberstone burials. The last is forpeople of high status, and inthese graves the archaeologistshave found gold and otheritems.

A few of the big tombs aresurmounted by stone megaliths(though some 300 megalithictombs in different grades havebeen found in the region). Thearchaeologists have alsorecovered three skeletons, twofemale and one male.

One that may be typical is ofa person buried with legscrossed, a large stone under oneknee and a gold ring in thehand. As Rajan explains, thistells us about the dead person’sprofession. It was jewelleryworkers who sat in this positionwith a stone under a knee, towork the precious stones.

The cists, or chamberburials, come in three varietiesdepending on orientation, thenumber of connected chambersand layout. The cists arecovered by individual caps-tones.

The number and variety ofthe tombs and graves tell uswhat the rest of the site alreadymakes clear: at its peak this wasa prosperous place, with manyresidents, whose pride in theirwork, which was organised onan industrial scale, reflected thestrong worldwide demand for it.

There is still a large histori-cal treasure trove of material tobe unearthed. According toRajan, it will take another tenyears to complete the excava-tion.

Not only does this excava-tion bring to light the richindustrial and cultural past ofthis region, and reveal to us animportant chapter in India’seconomic history, it also offersthe people of Kodumanal abetter future.

Roads are being laid, drink-ing water and electricity arebeing provided. The young fromKodumanal have started goingto school and college and somehave been inspired to learnhistory. (Courtesy: TamilChamber of Commerce Digest).

K. Rajan (right), Professor, Department of History, Pondicherry University,cleaning the grooved stone in one of the trenches at Kodumanal in Erode District.

Excavations at Kodumanal.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS December 16-31, 2014

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

Madras Musings is supported as a public service by the following organisations

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014, printed by Anu Varghese at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006, and edited by S. Muthiah.

Bata India LimitedAmalgamations Group

F.L. Smidth LimitedThe Hindu

Group of Publications

Rane Group

Hotels Resortsand Palaces

Sundram FastenersLimited

Since 1856,patently leaders

— A WELLWISHERUCAL AUTO

PRIVATE LIMITEDTVS MOTOR COMPANY

December 20: Andal Charitharamby Kalakshetra Foundation (6p.m. at Rukmini Arangam,Kalakshetra).

December 21: Bharata Natyam byUrmila Sathyanarayanan (6 p.m.at Rukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra).

December 22: Bharata Natyam byKalakshetra Foundation (6 p.m.at Rukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra).

December 23: Black White andGrey: Shades of the FeminineDivine. A special mythology andmusic presentation by DevduttPattanaik, author and mytholo-gist, with Anil Srinivasan,classical pianist (10.30 a.m.at Rukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra)

Harikatha by Vishaka Hari(6 p.m. at Rukmini Arangam).

December 24: Carnatic vocal byDr. Panthula Rama (6 p.m. atRukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra).

December 25: Buddha Avatharam,by Kalakshetra Foundation(6 p.m. at Rukmini Arangam,Kalakshetra).

December 26: Sattriya dance by

Dr. Menaka P.P. Bora and IndiraP.P. Bora (5 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

Stories in a Song, a musicalcollage of theatre, literature andhistory conceived by ShubhaMudgal and directed by SunilShanbag (6.30 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

December 27: Mohiniattam byGopika Varma (6 p.m. atRukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra).

Hindustani vocal by MadhupMudgal (7.30 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

December 28: Chitra Veena byRavi Kiran (6 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

Bharata Natyam by Mavin

62nd Annual Kalakshetra Art FestivalDecember 29-31, 2014

Khoo (7.30 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

December 29: Sabari Moksham byKalakshetra Foundation (6 p.m.at Rukmini Arangam, Kalak-shetra).

December 30: ChoodamaniPradanam by Kalakshetra Foun-dation (6 p.m. at RukminiArangam, Kalakshetra).

December 31: Maha Pattabhi-shekam by Kalakshetra Founda-tion (6 p.m. at Rukmini Aran-gam, Kalakshetra).

December 20-31: Kalakshetraoffers its exclusive guidedHeritage Walk, Pradakshina, at8.30 a.m. on all days. Priorbooking required. Call 24524546or 24521169.

DakshinaChitra Children’sworkshop:

December 20: Pyrography – Woodpainting, 8-14 years.

December 27: Decoupage, 7-14years.

December 28: Activity Camp,8-14 years.

December 24-29: Folk perfor-mance by John Peter and troupeas part of the Marghazhi festivalwill feature Thappattam, Kolat-tam, Kummi and Oyilattam. Adisplay of crafts from TamilNadu (at DakshinaChitra).

December 28: Theatre perfor-mance by Snuffs Puppet-Australia (at DakshinaChitra,3.00 p.m)

December 20-January 20: Exhibi-tion by Arts Managementstudents on Temples of South In-dia (at DakshinaChitra).

Till December 31: Photo exhibi-tion by Rekha Vijayashankar onArt and Culture of Tamil Nadu(at DakshinmaChitra).

Till December 21: Himachal Fest.The festival aims to bringtogether the rich and diverse tra-ditions of Himachal culture,highlighting the dance forms and

crafts of the State. Highlights:Colourful folk performances in-cluding Mahasu Nati, Gaddi Natiand Churahi dance (11 am to1 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm) and saleof Himachal crafts, includinghandmade textiles and jewellery(at Dakshinachitra).

Till December 30: Group showtitled Scaffold by Shinod Akka-raparambil, Vijay Pichumani,and Sujeeth Kumar Sreekandan(at DakshinaChitra).

The AASI’s office on Mount Road, the number changing to 38A in the1950s, was a small art-deco building in a fairly large compound. A petrol bunkoccupied the front and this was a landmark of the city for long. It was here thatthe concept of motor sports in South India originated – a race between RexStrong and K. Varugis, from Chesney Hall on Commander In Chief Road toCatholic Centre, Armenian Street being the catalyst. M.A. Chidambaram,who was then Chairman of the AASI, felt that it would be better if motor sportshad a body of its own and, thus, was born the Madras Motor Sports Club in1954.

Chidambaram was to have a long stint as Chairman of the AASI. In the1980s, he felt that the organisation’s land on Mount Road could be put to goodcommercial use. The AASI shifted temporarily to Rayala Towers while its ownbuilding was pulled down to make way for a well designed commercial structure– the AASI Complex, with P.T. Krishnan as the architect. The AmericanExpress Bank funded most of the construction and thereby came to lease a largepart of the building. The AASI retains a floor for its own use, but passers-bymostly identified the building with the Bank. The AASI today has 14 branchesall over South India and over 20,000 members.

Madras Landmarks(Continued from page 1)

Asian waterbird count 2015 – January 4-25, 2015Briefing Session and Field Training for Volunteers forthe Count will be held at 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, Decem-ber 28, 2014 at Perumbakkam Tank, enroute toSholinganallur from the Medavakkam Junction.

Like last year, there will be 3 Zones:Zone 1: Chennai South – covering Sholinganallur/

Perumbakkam Marsh, Muttukaud Backwaters,Kelambakkam Backwaters, Thayyur Lake,Siruthavur Lake, Manamathy Lake, Mudaliar-kuppam & Cheyyur Backwaters and PallikaranaiMarsh.

Zone 2: Chennai West – covering ChembarambakkamLake, Amarambedu Lake, Manimangalam Lake,Pillaipakkam Lake, Sriperumbudur Tank,

Forthcoming bird count events

Thenneri Tank, Nayapakkam & VallarpuramLakes, Gudapakkam Lake and KaveripakkamLake.

Zone 3: Chennai Southwest & North – coveringAdyar Estuary, IIT Campus, Poondi Lake,Pazhaverkadu & Annamalaichery Backwaters,Chengalpattu Lake, Mamandur Lake andVedanthangal & Karikkili Bird Sanctuaries.

Pongal Bird Count 2015 – January 15 to 18, 2015On any or all of these dates, birds from anywhere, any

number of times in a day, but for a minimum of 15minutes each time.

Chennai Bird Race 2015 – Sunday, January 25, 2015The 8th Edition of the Chennai Bird Race will take

place on Sunday, January 25, 2015.

The Madras Naturalists’ Society announces the following events for early 2015: