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Vol. XXVIII No. 15 November 16-30, 2018

WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

INSIDE

Short ‘N’ Snappy Millennium bat retires� �A doctor to remember� India: SO hot & dirty� A matter of language�

ShabbyworkmanshipdespoilsCity’s pride

The malligai poo is lessthan sweet-smelling

Let us make it quite clear at the outset – we are delighted thatthe city has a metro rail service in operation, albeit a mere

fraction of what ought to have been running by now. Those whouse the facility profess to be quite happy with it – it saves time, thestations are clean and Chennai Metro Rail Limited has alsoorganised some kind of last-mile connectivity by pressing into ser-vice local auto-rickshaws and taxicabs. But what is of worry, apartfrom the high fares, is the shoddy workmanship of the stations andthe numerous technical glitches that the actual operation itselfsuffers from. True, the latter can be teething troubles, but not theformer. There is really no excuse for poor quality construction.

A correspondent who specialises in civil projects has actuallytaken the pains to go around the stations and photographicallydocument some of what has gone wrong. These range from majorto minor lapses. Among the former you would include unfinishedconcrete cladding, thereby exposing the mild-steel handrails. Alsoin this category would be water-logging due to improper finishingof the surfaces of the stations. The ceilings are already disfiguredeven though the monsoon has not arrived. Exposed metal bars thatform the actual skeleton of the station structures pose a bigger

� by A SpecialCorrespondent

� by The Editor

threat in the long term – these can corrode, thereby weakening thebuildings themselves. Of more immediate concern are the fallingroof tiles and cracking window panes, both of which have becomeroutine occurrences. These have injured a few commuters as well.No less an authority than IIT Madras has been moved to commentthat all of these are indications of poor workmanship. CMRL re-sponded with patchwork – removing fifty tiles that were identifiedas likely to fall and covering all the exposed spaces with cementand paint. The idea of replacing with new tiles was given up. If thatbe the case, why was tiling done in the first place at an addedexpense? There are several minor issues as well – improperlyfinished junction boxes and switches, crooked signboards andgaping holes in station display panels. Not many are likely to no-tice these, but those who do are left unimpressed.

There have been operation glitches as well. The signalling sys-tems failed three days running in one week of October, resulting intrains being delayed. Irate commuters had no choice but to take tobus transport, thereby negating the very purpose of the Metro. Thelevel of air-conditioning has also come in for complaint. The sta-tions are invariably hot, leaving commuters enervated. As for thestaff, who have to spend the whole day underground, their plightcan only be imagined. CMRL has responded to this complaint bystating that the air-conditioning system is only partially

(Continued on page 6)

Take the case of MalligaiPoo Nagar on the banks of

the Adyar River nearMeenambakkam. Residentshave been complaining aboutdumping of garbage along thebank. The settlement does nothave the luxury of municipalgarbage collection service. Thespot has become a dump yardand breeding ground fordiseases. Their community toi-let was “razed by the civic bodythree years ago” and a new oneis yet to come up. They have notoilets and are forced into opendefecation.

As part of the integratedEco-Restoration Project, theriver had to be fenced to pre-vent encroachment on itsbanks, to keep them clear forperiodical dredging and to con-trol flooding in times of heavyrain. As there is encroachment,eviction is necessary, say offi-cials. Although this Project wasannounced 15 months ago,there is no resettlement plannor are Malligai Poo Nagar resi-dents seeing any sign of gettingthe elementary necessities tolive life with dignity.

Closer analysis of this case,which is probably one of many

hundreds in the City, showssigns of the lackadaisical ap-proach to governance. Whenthe whole country is talkingabout swachhta and funds arereleased to build crores of toi-lets in the country why is anexisting community toilet razedbefore providing a new one?

completion dates are at timesgiven. Making a list of suchprojects and trying to get thelatest information on progressof each from government web-sites and related sources is afutile exercise. Citizens have noway of knowing how or whetherpromises and plans are being orhave been executed.

There are many ‘MalligaiPoos’. Velachery Lake is an eco-logical tragedy. This lake whichcovered 256 acres at one time,has now shrunk to 50 acres. Acosmetic attempt was made in2010 when the then Mayor saidthat at a cost of Rs. 7 crore thelake would have boating facili-ties and attractive walkways. In2017, a more ambitious schemecosting Rs. 25 crore wasannounced to restore the lakeby clearing the overgrownhyacinth and the huge garbagedumps. Apart from a poorlykept walkway nothing substan-tial has taken place so far.Estimates are under active con-sideration, as the saying goes.Most projects confront thesame set of hurdles – multi-de-partmental involvement, land

The residents of this place needa resettlement plan that doesnot deny them their employ-ment and social moorings. Youwould expect the local Council-lor to have noticed the travailsof these poor people and takenup their cause with the civicbody officials. In the event, hehas done it, the residents haveno easy way of knowing thestatus of the restorationprogramme in specific terms.

Announcements of projectsare made periodically as part ofthe annual Budget speech. Alsooutside of it on political andother platforms. Broad indica-tions of project costs and likely

Chennai Meto Rail, the City’s pride, has railway stations far from perfect. (See pages 4-5.)

(Continued on page 2)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS November 16-30, 2018

The Man from MadrasMusings is perpetually

looking up at the sky, ratherlike one of those cultivators infamine films that the 1950s sospecialised in. And not a cloudcan he see. The weatherdepartment, whose words no-body can trust, had promisedmonsoons as early as October10th and then retracted thatstatement. It had then gone onto predict downpours fromOctober 20th and when thatfailed they said the cloudswould be here by November1st. That date too came andwent and now it appears thatMMM’s weather predictionsystem is as good as the meteo-rological department’s. And sohe confidently states that byNovember 20th we will besubject to heavy rains.

How is MMM so sure youmay well ask. Actually he isnot sure at all. He is just specu-lating and if he does turn outto be correct, he may have aliving, as a rain diviner. TheRed Indians, if you recollect,held such men in high regard.What if it does not rain, youmay wonder. MMM has ananswer to that too – his fatecannot be worse than that of

Century and over the piping ofwhich we dithered for almost acentury. And then we havewater tankers that drivethrough the city at breakneckspeeds demanding exorbitantrates for supply of water ofdoubtful quantity and quality.And finally we also have ourcollection of plastic pots thatphotographers never appear totire of. At least one five-starhotel in the city has made a dis-play out of them. Who said wehave run out of alternatives?

But be of good cheer. MMMpredicts rain by the 20th and asfor the Met Department, theyhave said a cyclone will blow uscross-eyed by November 14th.And may the best man win.

Tragedy that’sTranquebar

The Man from MadrasMusings was in Tranque-

bar last week. And he felt ex-actly like the unnamed centralcharacter in Daphne duMaurier’s novel Rebecca, whenshe dreams of having gone backto the family home only to findit a mouldering ruin.

Bring on the plastic potssecond shrine as it were, towhich the deities have beenshifted and where a priest in-tones hymns in the most atro-cious Sanskrit. If at all any ofthe edifices are doing well, it isthe two churches and theretoo, it appears that the congre-gation is small.

Now what took MMMthere you may ask. Well, hehad sung the glories ofTranquebar to a couple of hisfriends from up north and theyhad seen pictures of it as well.They decided that it was aplace they had to visit. A weekbefore they arrived, MMM waswarned by other friends thatthe hotel in Tranquebar wasnot really an option to stay.And so MMM booked himselfand friends into a resort fromwhere Tranquebar was a back-breaking two hours journey bycar.

Arriving at the place ratherexpectantly, MMM found hisheart sinking into his boots.But he made a brave show ofit. He shepherded his friendsinto the fort museum only tohave the man at the ticketcounter asking MMM if heand his friends really wantedto go in. There was nothing

Time was when Tranquebarmeant hope for the heritageactivists of our State. Therewas a smart hotel, run by achain that specialised in trans-forming old edifices intohostelries. A foundation fromDenmark was spending moneyon restoring some of the oldhouses and had made a show-piece out of at least one streetwhere it hoped it could enticetourists and scholars from itshome country. The Danish forthad been given a makeover andhad a museum of sorts, whichwas better than nothing. Thetwo churches were gleaming.The sea lapped the coast. Apleasanter spot you couldnever espy.

But all that is a fadingmemory now. The State Gov-ernment, after a high profilelaunch of Tranquebar as atourist destination a decade orso ago, has done nothing topromote the place. The num-ber of visitors has dwindled.The smart heritage hotel is rundown now and, having given upthe lease on one of its two prop-erties, operates with only halfthe original number of rooms ithad. The Governor’s Bunga-low, which was to function asan immersion centre is per-petually locked. The old Shivatemple, which wasperennially threat-ened with erosionby the sea, wasgiven a most unsci-entific restorationand has lost its heri-tage feel. What isworse, it has nowsprung a twin, a

worthwhile in the museum heassured us. From the there on,the rest of the visit wentsteadily downhill. The show-case street of restored houseswas the biggest shocker ofthem all. It appeared that theplace, devoid of usage, hadrapidly disintegrated. True,the houses still stood. But thatwas the most you could say intheir favour.

If at all there was a savinggrace, it was the sea. As MMMgazed at it, he realised that ithad seen several phases inTranquebar’s history. Perhapsbetter times will return. Butwith our State TourismDepartment being in charge,all that appeared a distantpossibility.

Tailpiece

It has been a fortnight of dis-appointments for The Man

from Madras Musings, at leastas far as heritage locations areconcerned. Driving up toAlamparai, he was turnedaway by the police who saidthat the place was out ofbounds owing to murders hav-ing taken place among thefishermen there. It was thenthat MMM saw this signboard.

–MMM

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

the officials of the Met Depart-ment or the average astrolo-ger. But what is going to hap-pen if the rains fail is yetanother matter altogether.The newspapers are full ofreassurances. The city getsaround 140cm of rain in a yearthey say and we apparentlyhave already got around 60 percent of it. Did you notice thatrain? No? MMM too did not.And yet it appears that we didhave that rain. Now all weneed is the balance 40 percent. Let us hope thathappens.

Our State Government hasnot gotten around to beingaware of this looming crisis asyet. It is currently more inter-ested in taking umbrage overcertain sections that it deemsobjectionable in certain filmsand demanding cuts. Andwhen that crisis is over, it willget back to praying to MotherGoddess and erecting archesto commemorate variouscentenaries and other suchhappenings. It also appears tobe unaware that water fromthe Krishna River, which wasmade available several decadesago by the very leader whosecentenary is being observed,has been turned off at themain as the State of Andhrahas declared that it needs theprecious fluid and has none tospare.

And so where does it leaveus all? Well, we do have waterin long-abandoned quarriesand that should see us throughfor some time. And then wehave the lake that a famedprince dug for us in the 9th

acquisition and related litiga-tion delays, and sister depart-ments/organisations not easilyparting with bits of land/struc-tures that unavoidably fallwithin the project area. Historykeeps repeating itself and wekeep re-living the same oldproblems and frustrations. Nolegislative and organisationalsolutions are found for theseimpediments.

A project for Rs. 1,442 crorewas announced 15 months agoto shut down the dump yards inKodungaiyur and Perungudi.Remediation of the existingdumps, revamping the conser-vancy process, and setting uptwo plants to convert waste intoenergy were part of the project.Overall, it is an excellentproject awaiting implementa-tion. The second project was tocommission a study to formu-late a plan for solid wastemanagement in the city on apublic-private partnershipbasis. The third was, of course,the Cooum restoration of thelast 32 km of the 72 km. Thescheme visualised de-silting,marking and defending bound-aries, resettlement of 55 slumsalong the river bed, solid wasteremoval, laying interceptors, in-stallation of sewage treatmentplants, expanding undergroundsewage system and providingcycle tracks and walkways.These projects would benefitthe City substantially. After 15months we are not expectingcompletion but, at the least,enough signs that they are notforgotten. Where do we look forthese signs? For example, wewant to know if money has beensanctioned, which is a sign ofseriousness and a reassurance toanxious citizens. There is noway for citizens to know if theGovernment or the civic bodyis making real or hollow prom-ises.

When we are kept happywith announcements and nofurther information on progress,governance becomes a myth.Citizen watchdog organisationsare a way of keeping the Gov-ernment and civic bodies ontheir toes. For such organi-sations to be effective, anofficial communication linemust be established. How wewish we had a State PromisesMonitoring Commission withstatutory powers to call uponany public agency in charge ofprojects to record periodicprogress in an easily accessiblepublic domain. Routine upkeepand service deliveries need notbe covered by this system. Arecent study elsewhere in theworld found that many govern-ment websites tend to be text

heavy and off-putting to theuser and, some governmentwebsites are complex tounderstand and navigate andinformation is often hard to findamongst large amounts of policymaterial that are irrelevant.

This responsibility to reportprogress must go down todistrict and civic body levels inrespect of projects under theirjurisdiction. MLAs/Councillorsof the Project location must bemade responsible for chasingimplementation and acting as alink between citizen’s bodiesand public authorities.

Any announcement of a newproject must be accompaniedby objective, main features,cost, duration for completion,expected date/s of sanctions ofmoney for different phases inthe case of larger projects, andthe officer of department oragency responsible for postingthe progress at a minimumfrequency of, say, once a month– and the name and contactparticulars of the people’s rep-resentative of that area. Anidentification number for eachproject is necessary for quickaccess. The Promises Websiteshould be maintained andmonitored by the Commission.The Commissioner must havepowers to demand these detailswhenever a project isannounced. The AuditorGeneral and the ComptrollerGeneral focus on evaluatingpast actions. Citizens needinformation on implementationof on-going projects.

A reporting mechanism is anaspect of participative democ-racy and has benefits for politi-cians, public servants and civilsociety. Councillors and MLAsare the representatives of spe-cific geographic areas and areideally placed to be the linkbetween the people and thepublic agencies of government.Sadly, they are not performingthis function. Providing accessto information on progress ofpublic facilities is the opera-tional aspect of the Citizen’sCharter. The latter is a missionstatement and the former iscommitment to performanceeffectiveness and is a Perfor-mance Charter. We quote RickStapenhurst and MitchellO’Brien, World Bank Institute:“Social accountability relies oncivic engagement, whereby or-dinary citizens and/or civil soci-ety organisations participate inexacting accountability.Mechanisms of social account-ability are very often demand-driven and operate from thebottom-up.” It is time we, ascitizens, demanded socialaccountability.

Less thansweet-smelling(Continued from page 1)

November 16-30, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

A doctor to rememberIf you happen to pass by the General Hospital in

Park Town, you cannot resist the temptationto halt for a while to study an imposing statuenear the main entrance. The engraved marblebelow reads:

Dr. S. RANGACHARI M.B. & C.S.

Surgeon and Physician

In memory of his

rare medical skill

and boundless humanity

erected by a grateful public.

The statue of Dr. Rangachari is a fitting trib-ute to his invaluable contribution to the medicalprofession and was the first in the city to be in-stalled for this reason with funding by a gratefulpublic. In a short span of time he rose to dizzyheights and came to be recognised as one of thegreatest doctors in India.

Rangachari was compared with GautamaBuddha for his unlimited compassion. For him apatient needed solace and healing, no matterwhether he was rich or poor. He did not care formoney, but it came pouring in. Rangachari’ssuccess was phenomenal because he surpassed inall the three branches his contemporaries whowere undisputed leaders: Dr. A. Lakshmana-swamy Mudaliar in Gynaecology, Col. (Dr.)Pandalai in Surgery and Dr. Guruswamy Mudaliarin General Medicine. This fact can never beoverlooked and this makes him an all-time great.

Rangachari was born in Sarukkai village inApril 1882. His father, Krishnamachari, who wasin government service named his son RajaSrinivasa Iyengar, after his grandfather, but hepreferred to call himself Sarukkai Rangachari, aname destined to become legendary.

After graduation from Madras ChristianCollege in science, Rangachari decided to joinmedical college. His parents were from an ortho-dox vaishnavite family deeply rooted in traditions

Disillusioned by the persistent harassment,Rangachari put in his papers as Professor ofSurgery and Medicine in M.M.C. and startedprivate practice, scaling heights unknown be-fore. He set up his own clinic on PoonamalleeHigh road and christened it “Kingston”. Hewould begin his work at 4 a.m. When he wasin one O.T., the next patient would get readyin the other. He would do as many operationsas possible from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then goround the wards.

After 1 p.m., he would visit houses to treatpatients who had requested him. He would havehis lunch in his car itself. Apart from him, onlyone other person possessed a Rolls Royce in thecity. He silenced critics saying that as he spentthe most part of his day in the car, it served as hishome.To treat patients in other cities, he had anaircraft of his own. Though he had a pilot’slicence, the government insisted he engaged apilot.

The glorious saga of this great doctor came toa tragic end. Like so many incidents in his life,his death was incredible and sensational. At acomparatively young age of 52, he had an attackof typhoid. Due to excessive loss of blood, hesuccumbed to the disease, from which he hadsaved hundreds of patients. You are tempted towonder what he would have done had fate sparedfor a few more years.

Take another look at the statue. A sculptor’sdelight, the towering personality stands with hishands locked behind holding a steth and his headbowed down as though he were looking at a pa-tient with profound compassion. The statueepitomises the sterling qualities of a rare human.

– S. Lakshminarayan30, Second Street, Parathasarathy Nagar

AdambakkamChennai 600 088

opposed the very idea because as a doctor hewould have to touch dead bodies for postmortems. How dearly it would have cost themedical world, had he succumbed to their “pres-sure”. He remained steadfast in his decision forthe following reasons: First, he had been an eyewitness to the suffering experienced by his grand-father for want of proper medical care, secondly,he was shaken by a heart-rending scene in thegovernment hospital of a mother who had losther child crying out her soul, thirdly, his class-mate and namesake opted for the course.

After passing out from the medical college,Rangachari joined government service. Verysoon, he became extremely popular on accountof his exceptional acumen to diagnose maladyand heal patients in incredible fashion. Thou-sands of doctors have passed out of M.M.C. butnone possessed what Rangachari had – the heal-ing touch; patients believed that once he touchedthem they were sure to be cured. The meteoricrise of Rangachari in public opinion earned himthe wrath of the British hierarchy. Instead ofcreating more opportunities for him to blossomand expand his activities, they tried their best tocontain him. They manoeuvered to get himtransferred to various smaller stations in theMadras Presidency.

A curious incident occurred when Rangachariwas Assistant Surgeon in G.H. A British womanwas admitted with labour pains. Her ego wouldnot allow an Indian to touch her. The surgeon, aBritish national, was well aware of his limitationsand Rangachari’s efficiency. Deciding not to takea risk, he played a trick; he asked Rangachari toenter the labour ward as anaesthesist and oncethe woman became unconscious, he allowed himto take full charge of the delivery also. He sprayeddrops of blood on his apron and barged out of theward as though he had attended the case.

� Pavithra Srinivasan is a writer, journalist, artist, translator,

columnist and an editor and is fascinated with History.

� Pavithra’s Perspective

My first ever introduction to the famed Stella Maris College wassometime during my childhood – mostly as a result of my mother being aformer student. My fascination for this college, established on 15 August1947 and managed by the Society of the Franciscan missionaries ofMary, remained with me all through my adolescence. The college’sorigins were in San Thomé, and they moved to their current location onCathedral Road in 1960 – and although I lived so far away so as to bealmost in a different town, I took every chance to travel along the road,first to gaze at the buildings but later, for another reason altogether –their art.

In recent years, their compound wall has undergone severaltransformations, all of them colourful and message-oriented, a fittingwindow to their own vision, I think. It made, and still makes for a breathof fresh air, a sight for sore eyes in the concrete jungle – this splash ofcolour amidst shades of grey, white and black. So here’s one particularwork of theirs (sadly, now gone), that has found way into my miniaturecollection.

Details about the miniature: Black/White and Colour; Pen andInk.Dimensions: Approximately: 3.5” X 5”.

Painting Walls

Pillboxes and litter

Apropos pillboxes/bunkers,(MM, November 1st)

although I am not an Armyman, I agree with the Editorthat these are mainly for coastaldefence. I had seen some ofthem on the Belgian coast inEurope. We see them also inWWII films like The LongestDay.

I had seen the ARP (AirRaid Precautions) shelters andthe wardens in Madras during

WWII. You were expected togo in with them when the sirenwas sounded and remain theretill the ‘all-clear’ was given.

Regarding the litter aroundthe restored pillbox, forgetabout Singapore or Switzerland,Colombo, which is comparableto Chennai, including placeslike Chindatripet, is remarkablyclean. I believe that they haveachieved this by fines, educa-tion and contract cleaning. Ithink it is also a state of mind ofthe citizens.

Dr. G. Sundaram, IAS(R)A-601, “DUGAR Apartments”

Kesava Perumal PuramGreenways RoadChennai 600 028

4 MADRAS MUSINGS November 16-30, 2018 November 16-30, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

What happened toPachaiyappa’s house?

LOST LANDMARKS OF CHENNAI– SRIRAM V

CPM Street is one of themain thoroughfares that branch off

Harris Road/Adithanar Salai atKomaleesaranpet. Contrary to what itseems, the name does not commemoratea political party but ConjeevaramPachaiyappa Mudaliar (1754-1794), thewell-known dubash who is today remem-bered for his philanthropy. The street wasso named because it ran close to wherehe built his house.

In Pachaiyappa’s time, Harris Roaddid not exist. A thoroughfare ran parallelto the Cooum and this was known as Pa-goda Street, for its southern end was atthe temple of Komaleeswara, which evennow stands at the same place, on thebank of the river. The northern end ofPagoda Street was the aristocratic quar-ter of Komaleeswaranpet. The Cooum,

known then as Vrddha Kshira Nadi (OldPalar or the Old River of Milk), suddenlytakes a northward turn here, a geographicphenomenon that is considered auspi-cious in any river. In the bend formed bythis turn lies the locality of Chintadripetand in it lived Kuzhandai Perumal Pillai,a wealthy personage who was a closefriend of Pachaiyappa’s. The latter, wish-ing to reside near him, chose the oppositebank of the river and built his house atKomaleeswaranpet. The property wasnumbered 26, Pagoda Street. Aneighbour, at 25, was Swami Naick,Chief Dresser of the East India Companyand who has an obelisk commemoratinghim just outside his property.

As is evident, Pachaiyappa had be-come a successful dubash by the time hebuilt his house. He is said to have spent afortune on the construction and the edi-fice, when built, resembled a temple. Itextended all the way from Pagoda Streetto Chandrabhanu Street and made up indepth what it perhaps lacked in width. Itwas here that Pachaiyappa indulged inhis favourite pastimes – enjoying theverses Thevaram, Thiruvachakam andother Saivite works, sung and performedon the veena by artistes even as he con-ducted his poojas, listening at night to thetales of Siva and His devotees, celebrat-ing the birth asterisms of the 63Nayanmars, feeding many monks whocame to call on him from Saivite mutts,planning his numerous acts of charity andfeeding people on a lavish scale. The foodserved, incidentally, was never differentfrom what he ate. The place naturally be-came one of the landmarks of the city, towhich every needy person beat a path.Keeping the dubash company here werethree formidable women – his sister andmother-in-law, Subbammal, his niece and

first wife Ayyalammal, and his second wifePalaniayi. The first two, being mother anddaughter naturally ganged up against thelast named who incidentally had the up-per hand because she had bornePachaiyappa a child, a daughter. To-gether the three made life hell forPachaiyappa. He appears to have preferredhis first wife over his second.

It would appear that Pachaiyappa didnot reside for long in this house. Within acouple of years of its construction he shiftedmore or less permanently to the Thanjavurarea at the behest of the East India Com-pany. This was in 1792 or thereabouts, whenhe had to oversee British interests there. Hewas also loaning money at a personal level tothe regent Maharajah of Thanjavur,Amarsimha. Keeping an eye over the nowempty house on Pagoda Street and ensur-ing that charities there went on undisturbedwas Pachaiyappa’s mentor and guide,‘Powney’ Narayana Pillai.

Pachaiyappa fell ill in 1794 and died inThiruvaiyyaru. His mother-in-law and firstwife came back to Pagoda Street to con-duct the obsequies, all of which were per-formed under Narayana Pillai’s manage-ment. Subbammal and Ayyalammal didnot remain in Madras for long, preferringtemple towns down South. Pachaiyappahad left the administration of his vast es-tate to Narayana Pillai who was to act inconsultation with the duumvirate ofSubbammal and Ayyalammal. This wasnaturally not to the liking of Palaniyayiand also a nephew of Pachaiyappa,Muthiah Mudali by name, whom thedubash had described as an idiot. Thesetwo disgruntled elements challenged thewill of Pachaiyappa and it was to remainthe subject of litigation for almost 50 years,during which time, almost all the principalprotagonists passed away.

The house on Pagoda Street came tobe occupied by some of the second gen-eration of litigants – Muthiah Mudali’sdaughter Kamu, Ayyalammal’s avari-cious agent Panchanada Aiyah, and heradopted son Sivachidambaram and hiswife. Among these it was Kamu whomanaged to stay on here, long after theothers left. It was rumoured that she man-aged to break open the rooms sealed bythe Courts during the process of the liti-gation and laid her hands on consider-able jewellery that was heaped in them.Forgotten in all this was the desire ofPachaiyappa that the house be convertedinto a public choultry where the poorcould be fed in perpetuity.

Eventually, the matter ofPachaiyappa’s will came to the attentionof successive Advocates General SirHerbert Compton and George BruceNorton and the famed Pachaiyappa’sTrust was set up with the PachaiyappaCentral Institution being formed in 1842.The subsequent history of the Trust andthe educational institutions that itspawned is well known.

What remains a mystery is the fate ofPachaiyappa’s erstwhile residence. Wasit sold by the Trust to fund other chari-ties? Or did it remain with the family ofNarayana Pillai whose descendants kepta tight hold on Pachaiyappa’s wealth dur-ing the years of litigation and ensured thatit was not frittered away? There are noanswers. It is stated by descendants ofSwami Naick’s family, who still own theneighbouring property, that the housewas sold and altered beyond recognitionby later buyers. There is no trace of it now.This is a real pity for a man likePachaiyappa, given the amount of socialgood that his wealth has brought about,deserves at least a marker.

Why is India SOhot and SO dirty?The most thrilling part of an

NRI relative returning homeare the phoren gifts – Jus’ Heat nEat Palak Paneer from the JerseyIndian store and the three-minute noisy beetroot cold-pressjuicer that takes about 30 min-utes to clean.

The annual invasion of myrelatives from the US has begun.They arrive – always around 3a.m. – in September in my city,Chennai. Either because thereare four weddings and a funeralto attend, or else it’s time for an-other root canal. So we set ouralarm for 2 a.m., and off we goexcitedly to welcome our NRIcousins home.

We smile and wave from thearrival lounge much like thepenguins from Madagascar, aswe spot Sriram Anna and KokilaAkka wheeling in eight suitcases– four of which have about athousand Pampers for their BabyKathyayini. (Of course, how canthey trust the desi Pampers soldat our local shops?) Anna andAkka are flanked byKathyayini’s scowling brothers,Agastya and Vishwamitra, andeven from a distance we can lip-read what they’re saying: “Whyis Chennai SO hot, Mom?”

They enter our house after aspecial aarti at the doorstep, forwhich even the maid miracu-lously turns up at 5 a.m. to makecoloured rangolis. Unfortu-nately, it doesn’t take the ganglyboys more than a minute to messit up with their crocs. The samemaid grumpily cleans up themess, and we rush in to make idli-sambar and filter coffee to com-plete the grand Indian welcomehome.

Now comes the thrilling partof an NRI returning home:phoren gifts. Cousin Kokilaproudly demonstrates the noisybeetroot cold-press juicer. “Ittakes only three minutes tojuice,” she excitedly tells us,

even though it takes about 30minutes to clean up later. Unfor-tunately even the noise of thejuicer fails to drown out nephewAgastya yelling from the bed-room, “Why are the bathroomsin India SO wet, Mom?”

Now here come some reallythoughtful “superfoods” they’vebought us. Uh oh… someone runto the fridge and hide that un-opened Trader Joe’s ThousandIsland Dressing, because she’sbought yet another giganticbottle of the same thing. And look,there’s also Jus’ Heat n Eat PalakPaneer all the way from the NewJersey Indian store. (Of course,how’d we Southies ever get theauthentic North Indian taste?). Ijust accept the gifts and thankAkka for being so thoughtful.And that’s just when our kids end

Meanwhile Baby Kathyayini,or Katy back home, is happilygulping down handfuls ofmashed dal-ghee-rice that themaid feeds her, singing Tamilrhymes. Her stock of 200 tinybottles of Gerber’s stew lie unat-tended.

Fed up with their unpro-nounceable, unspellable Indiannames, we hear the boys haveofficially changed their names toAggy and Vishy from Agastyaand Vishwamitra – the greatsaints they were named after.How do they so easily spell“koinonia” and “stichomythia”which helped them reach the fi-nals of the Spelling Bee Contestlast year, we wonder.

And then arrives the big oc-casion – the reason this trip hasbeen planned – the root-canal

years, but the stubborn boysrefuse to wear the red kurtas andgolden dupattas just for the oc-casion. “Why did you get usGIRLS’ clothes, Mom,” theywhine and instead put on theiroversized Avengers tees, sneak-ers, and a cap worn backward.

In no time the holiday is overand now it’s time for us to giveour carefully chosen gifts fromour own culture as they leave.We eagerly hand over Aggy andVishy The Children’sMahabharata and My LittleAutorickshaw, only to hear theboys complain once again, “Butthis is exactly what they gave uslast year, Mom!” And back theygo to playing ‘Skull Smasher Re-turns’ on their iPhones, all theway to the airport.

Our cousins are so happy theygot to meet about 900 immedi-ate relatives and friends, and weare so happy that the baby haslearnt her first words in Tamil –

up exclaiming, “But we get allthese at Mummy-Daddy Storedown our road,” leading to a bit oftension in the air.

But we know exactly how todefuse that, don’t we? Nothinglike a traditional Tamilianbreakfast. We change the con-versation by asking the boys ifthey’d like some idlis and chut-ney. They stare at us as if we’vespoken in Punjabi, but it’senough to make us realise thatwe need to talk to them in theirlanguage. So now we go, “Sorry,I meant rice cakes with coconutsauce. Or some savoury, crispycrepes?” Their eyes light up andthey nod their heads. We put ona smile and tell the maid to makehot dosas instead. She’s still alittle miffed about the rangoliand that Akka has not got heranything from Amreeka eventhis year.

appointment. (“So awesome andcheap in India!”) There’s sometime before the appointment.What a fine idea to pay a visit tosome relatives. We can guess ex-actly what the boys are going tochant the moment we’re onMount Road: “Why is there SOmuch traffic on Indian roads,mom?” We arrive, and the boysfall headlong at the feet ofVenkatesh Periappa andAmbujam Periamma, after theirmother hisses “Do namas-karams!” The grumpy boys knowthe 100-rupee note they receiveas blessings is barely about adollar and 30 cents.

Dentist appointment, check.Family visits, check. Now comesthe series of weddings for our USguests to dress up for in Nalli silks.Anna and Akka wear all thejewellery they’ve safely kept inthe State Bank locker for 20

ta ta bye bye po-lama, but the hap-piest of all are the boys as they’vespotted a juicy burger in theMcDonald’s at the lounge.

Then we shout our goodbyesat the crowded airport in relief –and also remind them to comeback for the boys’ thread cer-emony here in Chennai. Howcute they will look dressed in tra-ditional veshtis and angavasth-rams, no? Until next year, then.We’ll remember to hide the twobottles of Traders Joe ThousandIsland dressing by then.

Indu Balachandran turned toa career in advertising when itbecame clear that world marketswould collapse if she ever be-came an economist. She nowtravels and writes for a living andduring flight delays, dreams ofdoing stand-up comedy someday, at staid Tam Brahm wed-dings.

Illustration: Ahmed Sikander.

The shabby finish at Metro Stations

Pachaiyappa’s statue in Pachaiyappa College.

Thank you, DonorsWe today, publish donations received with thanks for

the period upto June 1st.– The Editor

Rs. 50: N. Venkataraman

Rs. 100: K.A. Narayanan

Rs. 200: Deenadayalan

Rs. 300: K. Umamahesh

Rs. 400: M.CT.Pethachi, S. Rangarajan, N. Jatesan

Rs. 500: Sanjay Chandrasekar

Rs. 900: Valli Alagappan, G.V.Raman, R. Ramachandran

Rs. 1000: Dr. Prem C. John

Rs. 1950: N.S. Parthasarathy

Rs. 2000: S.S. Rajagopalan

Rs. 3000: A.R. Dharma Raja

Komaleeswaranpet Temple.

(Pictures by Ramesh Reddy.)

Improper door sides finish.

Saidapet Metro Station

Thirumangalam

Metro Station

Unaligned

sign board.Stair case side

concreting is

unfinished and

MS Hand rail

side plates are

exposed.

Guindy Metro Station

Guindy Metro Station

Water logging due to

improper surface

finish damaging

MS pillars.

Guindy Metro StationExposed rebars.

� by

Indu Balachandran

6 MADRAS MUSINGS November 16-30, 2018

(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’squestions are from October 16thto 31st. Questions 11 to 20 relateto Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)1. On October 30th, the founda-tion for India’s largest dry dockwas laid in which southern portcity?

2. In which Eurasian Capital wasthe world’s largest airport termi-nal under one roof, with a capac-ity to serve 90 million passengers,opened recently?

3. Which country is planning tolaunch the world’s first ‘artificialmoon’ into orbit by 2020 to illu-minate city streets after dark?

4. Which famous UNESCO WHSstructure in Barcelona recently re-ceived a building permit to com-plete construction, 136 years afterbeginning construction?

5. Whose record did LewisHamilton emulate by clinching hisfifth Formula One drivers’ title?

6. Which spacecraft recently be-came the closest ever sent to theSun, by passing 42.7 million kmfrom the star’s surface?

7. Simple. What is the height ofthe tallest statue in the world,Sardar Vallabhai Patel, inaugu-rated on October 31st?

8. In which affluent Asian coun-try did PayTM launch PayPay, aQR-based smartphone paymentservice?

9. After which freedom fighter isthe new annual award to honourthe police and paramilitarypersonnel, involved in disasterresponse operations, named?

10. Which is the only Indian firmin the top 25 of Forbes magazine’s‘Global 2000 Best Employers’ list?

* * *11. What first is ascribed toSeshadri ‘Nague’ of Porto Novoin the context of the history ofEnglish Madras?

12. The country’ first organisedtrade union was formed inMadras at a meeting on April 27,1918. What was it called?

13. The first auctioneers in Ma-dras, concentrating on railwayscrap, are synonymous with a fa-mous stationery brand from thispart of the world. Name the family.

14. Which structure in the Parry’sarea serves as the Standard BenchMark for Madras?

15. Which Chief Minister of Ma-dras Presidency went on to be-come the first Chief Minister ofthe new Andhra State?

16. Name the association startedin Pachaiyappa’s Hall in 1883 withthe aim of getting Europeans toappreciate Carnatic music.

17. Name the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of the Madras Uni-versity whose statue can be foundwith its back to the Senate House.

18. Where is the Dr. A.L.Mudaliar Post Graduate Instituteof Basic Medical Sciences locatedin Chennai?

19. What ‘public’ service startedfunctioning from Little Nook onMarshall’s Road in Egmore inJune 1938?

20. Which palatial building inTriplicane amalgamated Indo-Saracenic features with the de-sign of Osborne House, QueenVictoria’s villa on the Isle ofWight?

(Answers on page 8)

Vishnu, Pallava era.

Of Pallavaand ChalukyasculptureAmong the numerous

monuments and sculp-tures found in various parts ofTamil Nadu, those belonging tothe Pallava dynasty are perhaps

the best known to those livingin Chennai. This is because ofthe close proximity to the ma-jor centres of Pallava powersuch as Kancheepuram andMamallapuram, apart fromseveral less-known locations.The stone sculpture gallery ofthe Government Museum,Chennai, has a fairly goodcollection of carvings from thisera, the most eye-catchingbeing a large image of Vishnu.

Seated with His left leg on atall pedestal and the other rest-

ing on the ground, Vishnu’s tall,somewhat cylindrical crown istypical of the Pallava times.Vishnu, as is normally seen,holds the discus (chakra) in theupper right hand and the conch(sankha) in the upper left hand.However, the chakra seen here,as in many other sculptures ofVishnu from Pallava times, is

not in the usual position withthe flat side facing the on-

looker; instead, the rim ofthe discus pointing out-ward. The technicalterm for this position isprayoga or ‘in use’ asVishnu is said to beready to hurl thechakra at enemies.

Another interest-ing sculpture from thePallava section of thisgallery is one which isdescribed in theplaque accompany-ing it as a ‘horneddvarapalaka’ fromK a v e r i p a k k a m .Obviously this door-keeper (dvarapalaka)once guarded an an-cient temple inK a v e r i p a k k a m .

Though the name sounds asthough this very historic placeis located somewhere nearRiver Kaveri, it is in fact inVellore District, about 30 kmfrom Kancheepuram. This im-age of the ‘horned dvarapalaka’is badly damaged, with only theupper part of the body still in-tact. He is in a slanting pose be-cause he originally would havebeen leaning on his heavy stonemace. Having a fierce expres-sion on his face, with bulgingeyes and protruding teeth, the

horns on his head are perhapsthe feature that most visitorswould see first and wonder whythey are there. Art historianshave identified dvarapalakaswith such ‘horns’ as the personi-fication of Nandi, the guardianof Siva’s abode, but there areothers who say that the twopointed ‘horns’ with a centralsharp spike seen in some of thedvarapalakas would representthe trident (trishula) of Siva.

In the Pallava gallery is alsoseen a graceful figure of a wor-shipper kneeling with a flowerin his hand; Dakshinamurti(Siva as the bestower of wis-dom) in a yoga pose, also fromKaveripakkam; a wornoutsculpture of Durga as Mahi-shasura Mardini and others.

Directly opposite the Pallavasection are sculptures from theera of the Eastern Chalukyas. Itis indeed unfortunate that mostschool and college students areunaware of this important dy-nasty which ruled in theAndhra area. Their contempo-raries, the Western Chalukyaswho ruled from ancient Vatapi(present-day Badami inKarnataka), are better known.It was in the reign of the emi-nent Chalukyan king PulakesinII in the 7th Century C.E. thatone of his brothers, KhubjaVishnu Vardhana, was a vice-roy in the Satara area and laterin Vengi (covering theGodavari and Krishna Districtsin Andhra Pradesh). He laterwent on to establish the East-ern Chalukyan dynasty whichlasted till approximately thefirst half of the 12th CenturyC.E. The art of this time re-sembles that of the WesternChalukyas. The sculptures in

this section of the Madras Mu-seum are from various placesruled by the Eastern Chalukyasand mostly belong to the 7thCentury C.E. The most promi-nent one, displayed right in themiddle, is a large sandstoneGanesha. Seen with a longtrunk holding a bowl of thisdeity’s favourite sweet, modaka,and wearing a serpent as agirdle, this sculpture is muchweather-worn.

Next to Ganesha is aNataraja from a place calledBiccavolu, now in EastGodavari District. Stylisticallydifferent from those seen in theTamil land of the same period,this Nataraja is seen with thematted hair (jata), third eye onthe forehead (trinetra), two dif-ferent earrings (kundala), and atrident with a long handle inthe right hand. The other at-tributes of this much damagedfigure are not clear. Also fromBiccavolu, is a sculpture of Sivawith a back slab and Nandistanding behind. Again badlybroken, this carving of Sivastanding absolutely straight, hasthe lower right hand in the ges-ture of blessing (abhaya hasta).The upper left hand holds asnake and the lower left handhangs down with the palm closeto the horns of Nandi. Even inits damaged state, it is a splen-did piece of art.

These two sections, Pallavaand Eastern Chalukya, situatedopposite each other in thestone sculpture gal lery goto show the regional variationsin art in South India, thoughthese dynast ies were con-tempora r i e s f o r about acoup le o f centu r i e s .

Shabby workmanship(Continued from page 1)

operational. Many of its units are turned off to save power as thecommuter traffic still remains low. The question then arises that ifthis be the quality of cooling with low patronage, how will it bewhen the Metro runs to full capacity?

A second reason for the warmth in the stations once againpoints to shoddy design – the hot air in the tunnels apparentlyseeps through gaps in the station doors, thereby heating up thepublic areas. In a hot city like Chennai, surely this ought to havebeen thought through even at the design stage? It is too late nowto do anything about it.

CMRL has to seriously do some rethinking and set right lapsesat least in the forthcoming stations. We really do not need yetanother poorly designed public facility.

Our Museum’s wealth –

by Chithra Madhavan

Ganesa, Eastern Chalukya dynasty.

November 16-30, 2018 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

What will English be100 years hence?

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This article by Simon

Horobin, Professor of

English Language

and Literature at

Oxford University,

was written three

years ago, but it’s

about English a hun-

dred years from now,

so the piece is still

valid!

– S.R. Madhu

A matter of language

One way of predicting thefuture is to look back at thepast. The global role Englishplays today as a lingua franca –used as a means of communica-tion by speakers of different lan-guages – has parallels in theLatin of pre-modern Europe.

Having been spread by thesuccess of the Roman Empire,Classical Latin was kept alive asa standard written mediumthroughout Europe long afterthe fall of Rome. But the VulgarLatin used in speech continuedto change, forming new dia-lects, which in time gave rise tothe modern Romance lan-guages: French, Spanish, Portu-guese, Romanian and Italian.

Similar developments maybe traced today in the use ofEnglish around the globe, espe-cially in countries where it func-tions as a second language. New“interlanguages” are emerging,in which features of English aremingled with those of other na-tive tongues and their pronun-ciations.

Despite the SingaporeGovernment’s attempts to pro-mote the use of Standard Brit-ish English through the SpeakGood English Movement, themixed language known as“Singlish” remains the varietyspoken on the street and in thehome.

Spanglish, a mixture of En-glish and Spanish, is the nativetongue of millions of speakers inthe United States, suggesting

that this variety is emerging as alanguage in its own right.

Meanwhile, the develop-ment of automatic translationsoftware, such as Google Trans-late, will come to replace En-glish as the preferred means ofcommunication employed inthe boardrooms of internationalcorporations and governmentagencies.

So the future for English isone of multiple Englishes.

Looking back to the early20th Century, it was the Stan-dard English used in England,spoken with the accent knownas “Received Pronunciation”,that carried prestige.

But today the largest con-centration of native speakers isin the US, and the influence ofUS English can be heardthroughout the world: can I geta cookie, I’m good, did you eat, themovies, “skedule” rather than“shedule”. In the future, tospeak English will be to speakUS English.

US spellings such as disk andprogram are already preferred toBritish equivalents disc andprogramme in computing. Thedominance of US usage in thedigital world will lead to thewider acceptance of furtherAmerican preferences, such asfavorite, donut, dialog, center.

What is being lost?

In the 20th Century, it wasfeared that English dialectswere dying out with their speak-ers. Projects such as the ‘Surveyof English Dialects (1950-61)’were launched at the time tocollect and preserve endan-gered words before they werelost forever. A similar study un-dertaken by the BBC’s ‘VoicesProject’ in 2004 turned up arich range of local accents andregional terms which are avail-able online, demonstrating thevibrancy and longevity of dia-lect vocabulary.

But while numerous dialectwords were collected for “youngperson in cheap trendy clothesand jewellery” – pikey, charva,ned, scally – the word chav wasfound throughout England,demonstrating how features ofthe Estuary English spoken inthe Greater London area aredisplacing local dialects, espe-cially among younger genera-tions.

The turn of the 20th Cen-tury was a period of regulationand fixity – the rules of Stan-dard English were establishedand codified in grammar booksand in the New (Oxford) EnglishDictionary on Historical Prin-ciples, published as a series ofvolumes from 1884-1928. To-day we are witnessing a processof de-standardisation, and theemergence of competing normsof usage.

In the online world, atti-tudes to consistency and cor-rectness are considerably morerelaxed: variant spellings areaccepted and punctuationmarks omitted, or repurposed toconvey a range of attitudes. Re-search has shown that in elec-tronic discourse, exclamationmarks can carry a range of ex-clamatory functions, includingapologising, challenging, thank-ing, agreeing, and showing soli-darity.

Capital letters are used toshow anger, misspellings conveyhumour and establish groupidentity, and smiley-faces oremoticons express a range ofreactions.

(Continued on page 8)

Earlier this year, a short New York Times article declared,“Tiffins are the stacked boxes with a carrying handle used

in India mostly for delivered lunches or snacks, though theword can also mean the food itself.” That is not how wedefine the word “tiffin” in southern India, do we? The flat,or stacked box, used to deliver food is the ‘tiffin box’ or ‘tiffincarrier’. And any old meal sent in this utensil doesn’t auto-matically earn the name ‘tiffin’. What is the definition of‘tiffin’ anyway?

I decided to dust up the old ‘Hobson-Jobson’ A glossary ofcolloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindredterms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive toget to the bottom of this. Tiffing, it said, was slang Englishfor eating or drinking out of meal-times. It used to be theAnglo-Indian word for a light luncheon. Dinner was theheaviest meal of the day, and a light snack was served aslunch apparently. So, ‘tiffin’ refers to a variety of snacks andfoods, except for anything stodgy or substantial like rice-based dishes.

Stodgy reminded me of ‘congee’, the starch theisthrikaaran, our roadside “iron man,” uses to stiffen cottonclothes. Essentially, ‘congee’ is water in which rice has beenboiled. But to some, it is also a breakfast beverage. It is whatmatinee idol MGR ate with great gusto, right out of anearthen pot, when he played a rustic hero. ‘Congee’ is Tamilfood, I was certain, till I chanced upon this item on upscalebreakfast menus in Hong Kong and Singapore. Wait aminute, I thought. Surely, those rice-eating Chinese didn’tneed to borrow a name for such a basic dish from us rice-eating Tamil? Do we just have same-sounding names for thisfood? Or, horror of horrors, did we get the word from Man-darin? To my relief, Hobson-Jobson reassured me that theword does indeed come from the Tamil kanji, “boilings”,adding that the word is in use all over India especially by thelaundrymen. So, it is likely that Anglophile Chineseborrowed the word for this breakfast item from the British.

As far “curry”, that ubiquitous term applied to severalIndian dishes the world over, even in India, ‘curry’ can meandifferent things to different people. My family use the term‘curry’ for all mildly-spiced dry vegetable dishes. A friend’sfamily uses the word ‘curry’ as a synonym for meat. Yet an-other family uses the word for both veggie and meat dishes,but they must involve gravy. Good old ‘Hobson-Jobson’comes to the rescue again with this definition: “...it consistsof meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity ofbruised spices and turmeric; and a little of this gives a flavorto a large mess of rice.” It is from Tam. kari, i.e. ‘sauce’;[kari, v. ‘to eat by biting’], it says. This sauce has bitableingredients in it, is that what they mean?

Speaking of liquid foods with bite, there is little confusionabout “Mulligatawny” which ‘Hobson-Jobson’ says is a cor-ruption of the Tamil milagu-tanneer, “pepper-water,” a termused for a fiery soup. Members of the armed services belong-ing to the Madras Presidency must have liked the soup quitea bit because it earned them the nickname “Mulls.”

Before going down this rabbit hole some more, I scurriedback to look up the ‘tiffin box’. Hobson-Jobson has no entryfor this, probably because such a box did not even exist twocenturies ago. Best to go to a contemporary source. I hit‘Samosapedia’, “the definitive guide to South Asian lingo.”The tiffin box, ‘Samosapedia’ says, is a small flat box in stain-less steel, aluminium, or even plastic for carrying packedsnacks and a small meal to school and work. Much moremodest than the ‘lunch box’ of the well-to-do, lacking as itdoes handles, hinges, and divided sections, not to mentiondecals of cartoon characters in vibrant colours. Not to forgetthe insulation that keeps your food hot for you till you areready to eat.

What matters ultimately is the food in the box, the ‘tiffin’itself, we can all agree. I leave you with an instance of theword’s usage from ‘Hobson-Jobson’, which puts the spotlightright back on this excellent in-between meal. “Reader! I, aswell as Pliny, had an uncle, an East Indian Uncle . . . every-body has an Indian Uncle. . . He is not always so orientallyrich as he is reputed; but he is always orientally munificent.Call upon him at any hour from two till five, he insists onyour taking tiffin; and such a tiffin! The English correspond-ing term is luncheon: but how meagre a shadow is the Euro-pean meal to its glowing Asiatic cousin.”

– Vijaysree Venkatraman

Tiffin, curry,congee...

8 MADRAS MUSINGS November 16-30, 2018

Published by S. Muthiah for ëChennai Heritageí, 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. 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086, printed by Anu Varghese at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai 600 006, edited by S. Muthiah, 2-F, 1st

Cross Street, Vijayaraghava Road, T’Nagar, Chennai 600 017, and owned by Chennai Heritage, Regd. Office No. 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086.

Amalgamations Group

Hotels Resortsand Palaces

Sundram FastenersLimited

Since 1856,patently leaders

— A WELLWISHERTVS MOTOR COMPANY

F.L. Smidth LimitedThe Hindu

Group of Publications

Bata India Limited

Rane Group RAYALA GROUP

Answers to Quiz 1. Kochi, 2. Istanbul, 3. China, 4. Sagrada Família, 5. The great Juan

Manuel Fangio, 6. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, 7. 182 metres, 8. Japan,9. Subhash Chandra Bose, 10. L&T.

* * *11. He is considered the Company’s first Merchant at Madraspatam,

12. Madras Labour Union, 13. V. Perumal Chetty, 14. The 160 feet tallDoric column, that served as lighthouse, in the High Court campus,15. T. Prakasam, 16. Madras (later, Jubilee) Gayana Samaj,17. S. Subramania Aiyar, 18. Taramani, 19. The Madras station of AllIndia Radio, 20. Amir Mahal.

English, 100 years hence(Continued from page 7)

A new millennium batsman

retires

Getting shorter

Some have questionedwhether the increasing devel-opment and adoption of emojipictograms, which allow speak-ers to communicate without theneed for language, mean thatwe will cease to communicate inEnglish at all?

The fast-changing world ofsocial media is also responsiblefor the coining and spreading ofneologisms, or “new words”. Re-cent updates to Oxford Dictio-

naries give a flavour:mansplaining, awesomesauce,rly, bants, TL;DR (too long;didn’t read).

Clipped forms, acronyms,blends and abbreviations havelong been productive methodsof word formation in English(think of bus, smog and scuba)but the huge increase in suchcoinages means that they will befar more prominent in the En-glish of 2115.

Whether you like or hatesuch words, they are undoubt-edly here to stay.

He was certainly a batsmanof the new millennium. He

was blessed with immense tal-ent and he put that to effectivescoring runs in tons for his state,Tamil Nadu. Yet, he did not getmore than a decadeoportunities to play for thecountry.

Subramaniam Badrinath wasone of the most elegant middle-order batsmen that Tamil Naduwas blessed with and was oftenthe fulcrum of the State team’sbatting. A day after his 38thbirthday, former India batsmanand former Tamil Nadu cap-tain, Badrinath announced hisretirement from all forms ofcricket with immediate effect,ending a domestic career thatstarted in 2000.

Actually, Badrinath was agood enough off-spinner and ifhe had taken that seriously, hewould’ve been ideal for a middleorder slot in the Indian team forlimited overs cricket. Strangely,he did not make of this talent asmuch as many of us well-wish-ers could have liked.

After becoming the 47th In-dian to 10,000 first-class runs inNovember 2016 – whilecaptaining Hyderabad as a pro-

fessional – he opted out of theentire 2017-18 first-class seasonin order to spend time with hisfamily.

Badrinath did contemplateretirement from then on, moreso after taking up a coachingrole with Karaikudi Kaalai inthe Tamil Nadu PremierLeague (TNPL) this year. Twoweeks after the end of theTNPL, Badrinath confirmed hewas hanging up his boots.

“Thirty out of 38 years of mylife were in cricket and it hasgone ever so fast, and now I’mretiring from playing cricket inany form” he said. “This cer-tainly hasn’t been an easy deci-sion to be honest and I’ve beenpondering over it ([for awhile)… Somehow my handdidn’t go into penning the [re-tirement] letter over the lastyear. It was very difficult for me,but having turned 38 yesterday,I’ve decided that, it’s the righttime to make the call. I’veplayed 17 years as a professionaland god has been very, verykind.”

Badrinath finished as thesixth-highest scorer in the RanjiTrophy, with 7850 runs, a bigchunk of which came in a 14-season association with TamilNadu that began in 2000-01.He was the mainstay of theTamil Nadu sides that reachedthe Ranji Trophy finals in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2011-12. Hiscareer-best 250 against Mumbaiat Bandra Kurla Complex led astellar turnaround for TamilNadu in 2009. After Tamil

V.V.S. Laxman in the middleorder, Badrinath said: “I haveno regrets and I couldn’t havedone anything differently. Youcan only play Test cricket andbecome a better batsman. Youcan never face that kind of aquality attack in India — DaleSteyn, Morne Morkel or JamesAnderson. Only when you get adecent run in Test cricket, youknow what you can work on.But, no regrets at all.”

Badrinath found successwith Chennai Super Kings in.IPL 2011, making 396 runs in13 innings as a floater, includ-ing five fifties and six not-outs,at an average of 56.57 andstrike-rate of 127. All in all, heplayed 114 games for CSK be-tween 2008. and 2013, scoring1667 runs and winning back-to-back IPL titles with them in2010 and 2011.

“People never even thoughtI could play T20 cricket,” hesaid. “To play the amount ofgames I played for CSK wasphenomenal and I went on toplay T-20 cricket for India aswell. If you had asked me if Iwould have played T20s for In-dia in 2004-05, I would nothave dreamt of it at all.”

After moving out of TamilNadu in 2014, he mentoredyoungVidarbha andHyderabad, and led both teamsto the Ranji knockouts —(Courtesy: Straight Bat.)

� by

Bhaskeran

Thomas

Nadu had been reduced to 50for 5 before lunch on day one,Badrinath took them to 501and they subsequently tookfirst-innings lead.

An elbow injury to SachinTendulkar had opened up aspot for an One-day Interna-tional debut for Badrinathagainst Sri Lanka in 2008 inDambulla, where he impressedimmediately, guiding Indiahome with an unbeaten 27 in alow-scoring match. However,he made only nine internationalappearances across formats af-ter that, the last being an ODIagainst West Indies in NorthSound in 2011.

When asked if he wouldhave got a longer run with thenational team in an era thatdidn’t have Tendulkar, RahulDravid, Sourav Ganguly and

S. Badrinath.