WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIII No. 16 December 1-15, 2013

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Is pre-1947 architectureentirely British?

Living in fearof heritage

INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• The Tamil Film

• Passengers on the Canal

• The trees of Chennai

• Chuckle with Ranjitha

(By A Special Correspondent)

one that bore a plaquecommemorating the fact, and itwas from here that he set out toEngland. And so the plaque wasparticularly significant. Con-versely, from the owner’s pointof view, this is what put hisprecious real estate at risk.

This is not the only instanceof such a thought process. Sev-eral years ago, a marble plaquethat commemorated a Myla-pore house where the IndianNational Congress was found-ed, was broken as soon as theproperty changed hands, thenew owners being apprehensiveof a Government take-over. Arestaurant in Triplicane thathad a slab recording Gandhi’svisit to the building got rid ofthe stone a couple of years ago.The foundation stone of therear wing of P Orr & Sons wassmashed to pieces by Metro Rail

This is the centenary year of the mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan’s journey to the UnitedKingdom. This journey marked the beginning of the world sitting up and recognising his extraor-

dinary abilities in his field and is surely a matter of pride and celebration for our city, from where hehad set out. And yet, one of the commemorative plaques for him in this city has vanished. Thereason? The owners of the property where it stood were afraid that this would lead to the house beingtaken over by the Government on the grounds that it was a heritage property!

There are, of course, plenty of other memorials to Ramanujan and, indeed, at least three otherhouses that he lived in in Triplicane. But this property, in Hanumantharayar Koil Street, was the only

The last week of Novembersaw Ripon Building com-

pleting a century. The coveragein the electronic media had atleast one channel claiming thatit was built “by the British fortheir administration”. Consid-ering that it was constructed in1913 and therefore it was only34 years old when the countrybecame independent, surelythat is somewhat of an over-statement! After all, the major-ity of its 100 years saw RiponBuilding as the administrative

headquarters of a civic bodyfor a city in an independentIndia. So how British is RiponBuilding?

For that matter, how Britishare such buildings that havebeen built in the colonial era?Let us first of all concede thattheir designs, largely Gothic,Neo Classical and Art Deco, areforeign in origin. But then so areall the modern glass, steel andconcrete structures that webuild now! It is a well-knownfact that very, very few archi-tects in the country haveevolved an indigenous style andeven fewer clients want suchdesigns to be implemented. Sohow does that make modernhighrises Indian?

Yes, it is true that the archi-tects who designed the oldbuildings and their severalclients who commissioned them(most often Government de-partments) were British. Butdoes that not make a post-Inde-pendence construction for theIndian arm of a multinational,with design by an overseasarchitect, also an alien? How dowe consider that an Indianstructure? The TCS building in

Siruseri was designed by aUruguayan firm. To whichcountry does it belong? Andwhile on the same point, whatabout the German-designedAssembly building now turnedmulti-speciality hospital? Is itIndian or German? From itsappearance it definitely looksalien as does the Siruseri officeof TCS.

The colonial buildings mayhave been designed by Britisharchitects, but the executionwas entirely in the hands of In-dians. The contractors were allIndian (you can’t get more lo-cal than T NamberumalChetty, Nemali PattabhiramaRao and P Loganatha Mudaliar– the three men involved in theconstruction of Ripon Building)as were the workmen. And itwas this group that really helpedin ensuring that the British-de-signs were translated into real-ity. After all, where would StAndrews Kirk, Central Station

and Ripon Building be withoutthe terracotta well foundations,which were very much aproduct of local expertise?The British did not even knowof this till Major Thomas Fiottde Havilland made a study ofthe technique in the early1800s.

Next let us look at the mate-rial used. Old buildings had amix of native and importedcomponents. The steel wasoften from England (and, later,increasingly from local sources),the fittings were imported aswell (as they often still are) aswas the stained glass. Thetimber was largely indigenous(as opposed to the now increas-ing habit of importing exoticand unsuitable varieties fromother parts of the world). Floortiles were imported by thosewho could afford them, the restmade do with indigenous stone.This still continues. In short,components then were a mixedbag and they still are. Stonecarving has remained indig-enous. Gone, however, is the

(Continued on page 7)

(Continued on page 8)

Ramanujan’s house – as it is today, converted into an apartment block!(Photo courtesy: Sreemathy Mohan.)

� by

The Editor

Their SMS language now is influenced by the World ChessChampionship!

2 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2013

Portia (unless The Man fromMadras Musings is thinking

of someone else) said some-thing about music being in theheavens, which clearly indi-cates that she never came tothis, our city, in December.For, as we all know, comeDecember, there is music onearth and quite a bit of it. Itaffects different people differ-ently. MMM, given to singingfreely (and allowed to do so byhis good lady, also known asShe Who Must Be Obeyed) inhis bath, becomes a sabhafiend, hopping from venue tovenue, here savouring themusic, there devouring a snackin the canteen and still furtheraway trading some juicy gossip.In short, MMM becomes theMusical Mylapore Maama.The Chief, who usually reactsto music as Aurangzeb did, al-lows MMM quite a bit of lee-way and looks on the proceed-ings with a benevolent eye. In

Chest of Music and theModern Day Muse from theCarnatic Music Lovers’ Asso-ciation of Outer Mongolia(regd.), etc. Many claim thatthe profiled artiste has only oneaim in life – to seek Godthrough music. But as the say-ing goes, God is in the details;it is in the facts that such CVsare usually most lacking.

And, boy, are they vagueabout their own life details!This is where they differ fromSolomon Grundy whose life, ifyou recollect, was an openbook. The women do not liketo reveal their year of birth.That is somewhat understand-able. But what is unforgiveableis the way most profiles sent inby artistes overlook their moth-ers’ names. Most often thebiodata will carry just thefather’s name as though he didit all by himself. Perhaps this iswhat they mean when they saythat all music is divine. Pressed

for the mother’s name, mostartistes will say that she was/isa ‘simple’ housewife and socould we please leave her out.Whereupon MMM usually seesred and then, having countedtill ten, explains that it is mostessential that a good citationcarries the names of both par-ents, place of birth and date ofbirth. This is received withsome shock and surprise.Then, after days of cajoling andwheedling, and following it upwith a threat that the deadlinefor the citation is long over, theinformation is coughed up withreluctance. All this takes a tollon MMM who by December1st becomes wan and hascircles under the eyes. Onlycanteen coffee can revive him.

‘Pits’burgh

The rains are poor and weare told that there is a 70

per cent deficit. But while TheMan from Madras Musings andthe rest of you are looking atthe skies with hope and prayer,the roads below us have clearlyhad enough of the rains. Thereis not a single patch of smoothmacadam anywhere in the city.Driving along Kotturpuramroads the other day, MMMwondered if it ought to benamed Craterpuram. And thisis supposed to be an upmarketlocality! What of the rest of thecity? And when these roads fillwith water, it is impossible todistinguish between land andlake. There is really nothingthat can be done other than togrin and bear it. After all, ourcity is Chennapore only.

Many years ago, whenMMM was a Child of Calcutta

Musing onthe Music Season

City, that second city of theBritish Empire had similarproblems. Huge trenches, pot-holes and craters greeted youwherever you went. The citi-zens sorted it all out by nam-ing each pothole after a politi-cal personality. That way ev-eryone had a good laugh andsaw the brighter side of life.The roads remained the same,but at least negotiating thembecame easier because youcould smile as you did so. Tak-ing a leaf out of that, MMMrecommends that our city (thefirst in the British Empire) re-name its areas based on thecondition of their roads.

Craterpuram is alreadytaken. We can have ‘Mau-led’apore, Roya’pit’ah, Pe-ram’bore’, Mound Road, ‘Allworn’pet, Gorge Down,T(errible) Nagar, Mound’-a’valley, Go Fall Puram,Ravine’n’malai Puram, NowGone Pakkam, God damn

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

this he is one with She WhoMust Be Obeyed.

But the Music Season isnot all joy and jollility (is theresuch a word?). MMM puts inquite a bit of hard work aswell. For, he is then CCC – theCarnatic Citation Chap.Rightly or wrongly, and morelikely the latter, there are cer-tain quarters that believe thatMMM can spin out a niftycitation and command him todo it each year. The wearywork begins sometime inOctober and continues tillearly December, almost till themorning of the awards night.Now what is so difficult inwriting out a citation of 250words, you may wonder. Afterall, is not Solomon Grundy’slife story a good example tofollow, you may ask. Ah, butthat is where you make yourbloomin’ error.

The problems begin withgetting the facts correctly fromthe musicians before writingthe citations. Artistes usuallyrespond by sending in dossiersabout themselves, most ofwhich run into several pages.These are usually filled withpurple prose – the divine deitythat has descended only todance, or the celestial sagethat sings, etc. These will befollowed with quotes fromwhat seniors in the field havesaid about the artiste in ques-tion – “If you don’t believe inGod, come and hear this one’smusic” attributed to a muchdecorated North Indian in-strumentalist being a commonone that is freely used acrossthe board. Then follow a listof outlandish awards and titles– recognised as the Treasure

pock’em, Slide-a-pet, Knoll-and-Bore, Vile Scary and NoGo Nallur, to name a few. Go-ing into the vernacular youcould come up with manymore – ‘PaLLAvaram’ beingthe first that MMM can thinkof. Now MMM invites contri-butions from his faithful con-gregation. The one area thatneed not change is ‘Rut’landGate. Once the list is ready, allwe need to do is to pass it onto the city’s civic body, whichwill take care of the rest. Andas for the city itself, what bet-ter name than something in-spired by the US of A? Wewanted to be Manhattan. Wecan at least be ‘Pits’burgh can’twe?

Tied into knots?

Our city’s civic body mayhave given the centenary

of its headquarters the go by,but the media went to town onit, quoting statistics of length,breadth, height, size etc. Sodid at least one TV Channelwhich going by its name be-longs to the people while inreality it is backed by a politi-cal party that once claimed tobe a friend of trees before itcut several of them down forits annual conference.

But that is not germane tothis issue. What The Man fromMadras Musings had to saywas that the newscaster keptannouncing that ‘Ribbon’Buildings, named after Lord‘Ribbon’, was celebrating itscentenary. This, MMM re-flected, was perhaps becausethe place is eternally tied up inred tape.

– MMM

DiscoveringMylaporeOver a year ago, a small group of us floated two ventures. Both

had to do with Mylapore.The first had to do with cycle rickshaws. The second, with

home-based accommodation for travellers or visitors.While we were hosting Heritage Walks around Mylapore, a

related idea began to roll in our minds.To use cycle rickshaws on local tours.There are still a dozen or more that linger in the area and a few

were keen to join us in the experiment.That is how the Cycle Rickshaw Tour got started and it survives

today because of two rickshawwallahs who are ever so keen to un-dertake a trip at short notice.

The Tour is kept simple. Guests are given a simple brochurelisting a dozen sights that they get to enjoy visually as the rickshawtrundles along the streets and lanes. They can get off and walk abit only at one point where a few old houses survive.

The sights vary – a procession headed to the MundakanniAmman Temple, heated arguments between street hawkers, a golisoda vendor shuffling the bottles, and a greying aasari at work in ahole in the wall.

The second idea did not work. It was hard to convince even afew households to offer simple accommodation to people who werepassing through the city and were looking for an ‘experience’.

So we now suggest an alternative to those who seek theMylapore experience – book yourself into Hotel Karpagam. Thatquiet, clean nook off South Mada Street.

MADRAS MUSINGSON THE WEB

To reach out to as many readers as possible who shareour keen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in re-sponse to requests from many well-wishers – especiallyfrom outside Chennai and abroad who receive their postalcopies very late – for an online edition. Madras Musingsis now on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

A big ‘Thank You’ to 7 of youWe publish below the list of donors who have, between 16.10.13and 15.11.14, added to the support Chennai Heritage and its voice,Madras Musings, have already received. We thank all of them fortheir support for the causes Chennai Heritage espouses.

– Chennai HeritageRs. 1900: Beatrix D SouzaRs. 401: R. T. NamasivayamRs. 200: P. K. RamakrishnanRs. 100: M. S. Jayaraj; H.J.Pavamani; T. PremkumarRs. 50: C. Sasikala

� by Vincent D’Souza

Several guests have enjoyed the experience. They have chosento walk down the mada veedhis at dawn and after dusk, they hadrambling chats with the priests on Tank Street, they have sat forkutcheris at the Navarathri Mantapam inside Sri Kapali Temple,and made friends with families in the Chitrakulam zone, some evenlearning to draw the kolam during the margazhi season.

Many ‘seasons’ ago our team at KucheriBuzz floated the idea ofasking people who could offer accommodation to visiting rasikas toadvertise their spices.

We did this because there were people who travelled to this cityfor the famed December Season of Carnatic music and classicaldance who sought places to stay in houses or apartments inside oron the fringe of the sabha zone.

A dozen plus house owners come forward to offer their spaceson the KutcheriBuzz website (www. Kutcheribuzz.com) but I feelmany more can get entrepreneurial at this time of the year.

A colourful neighbourhood with its unique character can offeran experience that visitors would enjoy and remember. (Courtesy:Mylapore Times.)

December 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

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Dangerous expansions

A dangerous trend is emerg-ing in T’Nagar, where

commercial complex owners, ina bid to expand their area ofoperation and quench theirinsatiable thirst to earn further,are targeting the nearbyresidential dwellings. Themodus operandi is that they lurethe owners of the flats to selltheir property by offering themhefty amounts. Once they areable to trap a few flat owners todo so, they pressure those whoare hard nuts to crack.

Though the constitutionalprovision enjoins upon the resi-dents the ‘right to live’, thetrend is clearly in violation ofequality of that right. Govern-ment must view this seriouslyand help the residents who havebeen living in T’Nagar fordecades. A suitable legislationmust be brought in so as to puta ‘cap’ on any kind of develop-ment by commercial complexowners in and around T’Nagar.

The shopping hub has al-ready grown beyond its size andany further tinkering at the costof its primary stakeholders, theresidents, will only help itsdeterioration. This shouldmean that the commercialcomplex owners should playonly within their present areaand no new complexes/exten-sions/activities be allowed tocome up in T’Nagar.

This must be treated as anSOS from the hapless residentsof T’Nagar who are already indire straits due to excess com-mercialisation leading to poorsanitation, pollution of variouskinds and a host of other civicissues.

K. Harihar20, Venkatesan Street

T’Nagar, Chennai 600 017

The Anglo-Indians

The Indianised Anglo-Indian community was

well perceived by Venkateshalongside in the book by S.Muthiah (MM, November 1st).Anglo-Indian community doeslive not only in urban areas butin rural interior too. As I per-ceive, the identity itself, i.e.‘Anglo-Indian’ derives from thefact that these people speakEnglish. In other words, itmeans English speaking Indi-ans. However, though hundredyears passed, they retain theirown lifestyle.

Their women still maintainwearing gowns. Still I rememberone family which lived at ourremote village in Tiruchydistrict. I am told, Anglo-Indianmen mostly work in Railways.They do not seem to haveinvolved in any quarrelsin society as other communi-ties do. Two Anglo-Indian agedsisters use to visit our Bankonce in a week. They smile atme on entering and enquireabout my health. It shows theirbehaviour in public even today.Though we change our lifestyle,I see no change in Anglo-Indi-ans. They love gardeningaround their dwellings. Theyextend help to poor people.Let their lives go on in ourIndian soil for many decades tocome.

S.R. Rajagopal7/12, Peters Colony

RoyapettahChennai 600 014.

Some resemblance?

I have not known of the Ma-dras scuptor Murugesan nor

of his impressive creations. I amashamed of myself on thatscore.

The photograph featured inMM last fortnight brought tomind our (me and my family)visit to the sculpture park cre-ated by Gustav Viegland inFrogner, near Oslo (Norway),while living in Germany in theearly 2000s. There seems a rea-sonable resemblance in thework of Murugesan and theNorwegian creator GustavViegland.

Both have created artworkout of wood, stone, and bronze.More importantly, both havethemed human sentiments intheir creations. Murugesan whowas born much later was influ-enced by Viegland, who died in1943.

The sprawling open-airdisplay of nearly 200 lifesizepieces of artwork of humanemotions and behaviours byViegland attracts even adummy like me, who has no in-nate flair for any work of art,

having been trained in hardcorescience and only equipped tosee either the black or thewhite.

My short visit to the‘Viegland Park’ (as it is known)in Frogner made me feel a softvibration in myself, awakeningthe subtleties of life.

As I strolled in the VieglandPark, holding the tiny palms ofmy daughter, my lips wereinvoluntarily murmuring thesong starting Nirpatuve, nadap-patuve... by SubramaniaBharati. I cannot explain why Iwas muttering that song.

Am I thinking correctly intelling myself that ‘thoughtevolution’ can occur concur-rently and parallely?

A RamanNew South Wales

AustraliaARaman@csu.edu.au

Having spent my academic years in GoodShepherd Convent, Christ Church Anglo-

Indian High School and Loyola College, I en-joyed the benefits of a close interaction with theAnglo-Indian community. And MadrasMusings’ recent feature (MM, November 1st)made me recall my experience in those institu-tions.

The standard of education in South Indiawould not have reached such high levels overthe years but for such institutions.

The Anglo-Indian schools worked accordingto an agenda of grooming an individual to servesociety at every stage. Discipline, proper study,prayer, physical activities, sports and games andmusic formed the matrix of a good social back-ground if you were a product of such schools –and it showed!

To narrow the focus to my own individualexperience, I still remember the days when thelegendary Father Murphy visited Good Shep-herd Convent on certain days of the week. Itwas sheer excitement to be in the presence ofthe aged Reverend Father who always sported asmile on his cherubic face even as he taught ushow to lead a good life. (At the other end of thespectrum, he wrote book reviews for The Hinduon a regular basis.)

John Asirvatham, Headmaster of ChristChurch, was a stickler for discipline and hardwork as far as studies were concerned. (At therisk of being immodest, I will have to add thatone day he called me to his room and said in hisusual authoritarian voice that he had identifiedme for a State Rank; the next year I managed tocome in second to his moderate satisfaction!).His Prayer Sessions at the beginning of the daywere a great source of inspiration for all of us.

The Assistant Headmaster, Samuel, taughtus the nuances of Wren and Martin. He se-lected a handful of us and made us visit hishome on Sunday afternoons in order to put usthrough a course of appreciation of Shake-speare’s works while his hospitable wife plied uswith snacks and soft drinks! Gently persuadedby us, he would roll out a couple of songs on hisstately piano. (He used to play both the piano

Growing up withAnglo-Indians

and the organ at Christ Church on special dayswhen we attended Church for prayers.)

Christ Church prided itself on hockey andwas a bitter rival to St Bede’s on San ThoméRoad. If hockey flourished in Madras it waslargely due to the Anglo-Indians. Police officersfrom the community, even if they were ofDeputy Commissioner’s rank, used to playhockey with great enthusiasm.

A couple of names, such as Eugene Edmondsand Maurice Timms whose father was in Ma-dras Police, come to mind when I recall playinghockey with the Anglo-Indians. With their exo-dus to Australia, Canada and New Zealand,hockey lost its sheen in the city. Crowds throng-ing the stadiums also at athletics meets began todwindle thereafter.

Apart from studies and sports, music anddance marked every social occasion and theclubs used to swing to the rock and roll of ElvisPresley and others of his ilk. Young carol sing-ers during pre-Christmas weeks were welcomedby the elders as they gave them cakes and puffswhile they strummed their guitars. The Star ofDavid shining from the roof-top made a prettypicture. That some of us were not Christians didnot matter at that memorable moment!

At school, we not only picked up themellifluent sounds of hymns and carols but werealso exposed to Mozart and Beethoven.

Occasionally, in order to take a nostalgic tripdown the Anglo-Indian route, my wizened oldclassmates from Christ Church, comprising a re-tired Army Colonel, the retired Chairman of aBank, a fashion designer who now chooses tolive with Uncle Sam, and I would meet and rel-ish our sundowners in the musical company ofFrank Sinatra (Ol’ Blue Eyes), Bing Crosby(White Christmas), Elvis Presley (Angel), CliffRichards (On the Evergreen Tree), etc.

I will for ever remember the Anglo-Indiancommunity; may their tribe increase whereverthey are!

V. Kalidasvkalidas@gmail.com

The centre piece at Viegland’spark.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2013 December 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

The Tamil Film in 100 yearsof Indian Cinema

The canal is gradually approaching to a com-plete and efficient condition. A large estimate, oversome 30 lacs of rupees, is now being worked out,which provides for completing the canal thor-oughly and for making it a safe means of naviga-tion. The estimate provides for abandoning allbackwaters; for providing means (flood gates) atall river and large drainage crossings to shut offfloods and for giving the canal a proper section, bywhich 3 feet depth, below the lowest tide levelknown, will be secured. The canal will thus haveabout 4 feet water at least except during the peri-ods of the lowest tides of the year.

The total estimated cost of the project isRs.63,87,100 including expenditure from its com-mencement.

The different descriptions of boats plying oncanal are, the Madras top boat; the Madras opencargo boat, principally employed in the shell andfirewood traffic; the Northern cargo boat, calledDinghees; the Northern Rahadaree boat, which arepassenger boats, but carry cargo as well, and are ofvery large carrying capacity, and well protected.The great drawback on the canal is the want ofsuitable cabin boats for European travellers: thereare a few budgrows so called, but these boats wereoriginally built for short passages only, so offer noconvenience for long journeys.

The Steam Company endeavouring to do busi-ness on the canal, has gone into liquidation. Thetime has not arrived for introducing steam trafficon the canal.

The following are the towns and other places ofsome consequence on the northern canal: Ennore,Pulicat, Coromandel, Doorgaraipatam, Kristna-patam (where the Nellore traffic is shipped andunshipped, Nellore distant 16 miles), Eskapally,Ramapatam (station of the American Baptist Mis-sion), Kotapatnam, which is 2 miles from canal oneast side while Ongole is 8 miles off on west side byroad. The junction of the canal, with that of theKristna Canal, is at Peddaganjam, on 196th mile ofthe canal.

The present toll stations of canal areat Shadeyancoopum Lock (8 mile), Kristnapatam(92), Kottapatam (178), on north canal. Onthe south canal, the only toll station is atAdyar.

On the southern canal, the most importantplaces are Covelong (15), Mahabalypuram orSeven Pagodas (28½), Sadras (36).

There are bungalows on the canal at Sadras,Ennore, Coromandel, Kistnapatam, Eskapally,Ramapatam, Kanaparty, belonging to the canal.

Annual licence fees:– Cargo boats 2½ Rs. perton of 50 cubic feet, which entitles the vessel touse all the canals, without any further payment.Passenger boats, 1st Class, Rahadaree, 5 Rs.per ton.

Do do. 2nd Class, do. 3 “ “Do do. Budgrows 5 “ “Do do. Top boats 3 “ “1st Class Rahadaree and budgrows, paying 5

Rs. per ton can charge any rate. 2nd ClassRahadaree and Top boats, 2 pice per mile perpassenger, in the general cabin or roof, or 3 pice inthe separate cabins. The space per passenger is7½ square feet, a cooly head-load of baggage isallowed each.

Passenger boats are allowed to carry cargo aswell as passengers.

There is no fixed tariff for cargo.* * *

FOOTNOTE: The Buckingham Canal Projectnecessitated the Ferries Act to be introduced inMadras Presidency.

The Northern India Ferries Act came into forcein 1878 (Act 17 of 1878). The Bengal Ferries Actcame into force in 1885, only after the BuckinghamCanal Project became fully operational The Canalsand Public Ferries Act (Act ll of 1890) of Madrascame into force in 1890. There was some resistancefrom some quarters in the Presidency against theimplementation of the Act. In 1928, when the Ma-dras Government intended to ban the SteamBoats, citing an order of the High Court of Madras,between Narasapur and Razole in Godavari Distunder rule 29, which was framed in 1895, thepeople of Narsapur sent a memoire to the MadrasGovernment requesting it not to implement theorder as they would be deprived of cheap transportfacility.

In the year 1920 Madras Government issued anotice saying that due to the repairs and develop-ment works to be underatken at PententiaryBridge(Central Prison Bridge), the boats plying inthe Cooum River are stopped till further notice.The boats going towards Periamet andChintadripet from North Buckingham Canal wereadvised to take Northern Branch Canal of Cooumtill further notice. It is further informed the boatoperators to maintain less than 20 tons of goods inthe boat, while going under the Walaja Bridge,since the vertical clearance under the Bridge wontallow the boats with more luggage.

Government officials went by the boats toinspect the Canal during the early days.

� Recently, S. Satyanidhi, formerly of the Salt Department and now of 44/3, SatyamurthyStreet, Devaraj Nagar, Saligramam, Chennai 600 093, sent us these three pictures of boatsthat plied in the Buckingham Canal. And reader Ramineni Bhaskarendra Rao sent us thisentry on the Canal in the Asylum Press Almanac 1888 together with translations of excerpts(footnoted) from a few Telugu newspapers of the time.

– The EditorBUCKINGHAM CANAL, P.W. ESTABLISHMENT

C. Vincent, Esq., A.M.I.C.E. ... Executive Engineer – Office Pulicat.M.R. Ry. N. Ratnasabapathy Assistant Engineer,Pillay, Rai Sahib. B.A., B.C.E ... 1st Grade – Sub-Divisional Office, Ramapatam.Conductor J. Power ... Sub-Engineer, Madras Sub-Division Officer – Office,

Madras Basin.Mr. H.M. Bond ... Sub-Engineer, Eskapilly Sub-Division Officer – Office, Eskapilly.Conductor J. Lalor ... Sub-Engineer, in charge Pulicat Sub-Division, Pulicat.Mr. J.R.D. Hendrick ... Supervisor, Kartoor.Mr. C.H.R. Morton ... Overseer, Covelong.C. Vartharaju Mudily ... Temporary Overseer, Ennore.Mr. R. Enright ... Supervisor, DugarazapatnamD. Venkataswamy Naidu ... Overseer, Kotapatam.P. Narayanaswamy Naidu ... Do. Sadras.

This canal is a salt water tidal channnel; runs nearly parallel to the Coastline, and very close to it. Itextends from Madras northward, 196 miles, where it joins the fresh water high level Kistna system ofcanals, the junction being effected by a two-chambered lock, the Kistna system being 7 feet higher: theKistna system of canals being connected with that of the Godavari, through communication is thereforeavailable to Coconada and elsewhere northward in the Godavari District, Southward of Madras, thecanal is cut as far as Alambarai, where it is joined with the Mercanum backwaters, and by this backwater,which is some 12 miles in extent, there is water communication up to Mercanum in the South ArcotDistrict. The total distance of navigable waterway is over 460 miles.

In the Buckingham Canal are absorbed the old Cochrane’s Canal and the East Coast Canal. Theextension of these canals during the famine of 1876-78 was one of the most important works executedduring that period, when the northern and southern canals were also planned by means of the junctioncanal, the whole now forming one system of some 256 miles.

Passengers on the Buckingham Canal

� The South Indian film industry comprises four distinct filmcultures, the Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu filmindustries. Although developed independently for a longperiod of time, exchanges of film performers and techniciansas well as globalisation have helped to shape this new singleidentity.

The first South Indian talking film was released onSeptember 15, 1931. H.M. Reddy produced and directedBhakta Prahlada (Telugu). This was followed by Kalidas

(Tamil) on October 3, 1931. Kalidas was produced by ArdeshirIrani and directed by H.M. Reddy. These two films wereSouth India’s first talking movies to have a theatre release.

Tamil Cinema has grown tremendously since thosebeginnings. Most of its films are produced in Chennai inKodambakkam and, so, the industry is often referred tojocularly as Kollywood. Here are some highlights of the Tamilfilm industry story:

� The first-ever moviescreened in South India was atVictoria Memorial Hall in 1897by an Englishman, M. Edwards.

� Electric Theatre was thefirst purpose-built theatre. It wasbuilt in 1900 for movie screeningon Mount Road by an English-man called Warwick Major.

� Keechaka Vadam – the firstSouth Indian silent movie wasreleased in 1918, and marked thebirth of South Indian cinema. Itwas the first Madras production.

� Kalava (1932)was the firstfull-length talkie made entirelyin Tamil.

� Tamil cinema’s first super-star was Thyagaraja Bagavathar,who was a producer, singingsensation, and great actor.He made has film debut inPavalakkodi (1934)

� Nandanar, released in 1935and directed by M.L. Tandon,featured K.B. Sundarambal, thefirst actor to receive Rs. 1 lakh ascompensation for acting.

� T.P. Rajalakshmi was thefirst woman producer-cum-director in Tamil cinema whenshe made Miss Kamala in 1936.

� M.G.R. – Maruthur Gopa-lan Ramachandran – debuted inthe movie Sathi Leelavathi (1936)directed by Ellis R. Dungan, anAmerican whose first film in In-dia this was. Both were to provebox office draws from hereon in.

� Balayogini, released in 1937,was the first children’s film madein South India.

� Chintamani (1937) becamethe first Tamil film to run formore than one year in a singletheatre.

� D.K. Pattammal sang thefirst playback song for the docu-mentary Mahatma Gandhidirected by A.K. Chettiar in1940.

� AV. Meiyappan started atrend when he dubbed theKannada film Harischandra inTamil in 1943. Dubbing becamea popular practice thereafter.

� The Madras Film Institute(1945) was the first film schoolin South India.

� AVM Studios (1948) inChennai is the oldest survivingstudio in India.

� Chandralekha, released in1948, was the highest budgetmovie (Rs. 30 lakh). Its cost atpresent value will be $30 million.Chandralekha was the first Tamilfilm to be nationally distributed.

� Marmayogi (1951) starringM.G. Ramachandran was thefirst Tamil film to receive an“Adult” certificate from the filmcensor board.

� Ek tha Raja released in 1951was the only Hindi film in whichMGR acted.

� Sivaji Ganesan’s debut film,Parasakthi (1952), scripted byM. Karunanidhi, was the begin-ning of dialogue dominating inTamil films.

� Jenova, released in 1953, wasthe only Malayalam film inwhich MGR acted.

� Koondukkili (1954) was theonly Tamil film in which MGRand Sivaji acted together.

� Alibabavum 40 Thiru-dargalum, released in 1956, wasthe first full-length colour film inTamil.

� Anandha Jyothi (1963) is theonly movie in which MGR andKamal Haasan acted together.

� Kathalikka Neramillai (1964)was the first Eastman colourmovie in Tamil.

� Rajaraja Cholan (1973) wasthe first Cinemascope filmreleased in Tamil.

� The first 3D film in Tamil,Annai Bhoomi, was released in1985.

� The first 70mm film releasedin Tamil was Rajinikanth’sMaaveeran in 1986.

� Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan(1987) was included inTime magazine’s 100 bestmovies’ list.

� Swayamvaram was the firstTamil film shot within 24 hours.It was released in 1988.

� Muthu (1995) was thesecond dubbed movie in Japa-nese.

� It is estimated by the Mano-rama Yearbook 2000 (a popularalmanac) that over 5,000 Tamilfilms were produced in the 20thCentury.

� A.R. Rahman is the onlyIndian music composer to win anOscar (2012).

� Unakkum Enakkum, releasedin 2006, was the first film toadopt a pure Tamil title in orderto enjoy the entertainment taxbenefit

� Actress Padmini is theonly Tamil actress to behonoured by the RussianGovernment. It released a stampwith her face.

� Rajinikanth’s Enthiran(2010) is the highest budget filmin India till now.

� Kamal Haasan has beenassociated with seven films thathave been India’s official entriesfor the Oscars (one Hindi, oneTelugu and five Tamil).

� Eight Tamil films have beenIndia’s official entries for theOscar.

� Illayaraja and A.R. Rahmanhave both won the maximumnumber of national awards formusic directors in India (four).(Based of on an article in TCCDigest).

Madras Basin, an 1898 view. Iron girder bridge and wharf at Kottapatam, in 1898.

An 1898 view of a passenger boat in the inlet at 143rd mile (near Tummamalapenta, Kavali, Nellore District).

Nataraja Mudaliar. S.S. Vasan.

K.P. Sundarambal.

Ellis R. Dungan. AV. Meiyappan.

M.G. Ramachandran

6 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2013

The trees of

Chennai

Mahogany tree

Mango tree

� By A Special

Correspondent

In the service of mankind

The neem tree, Azadirachtaindica, is found in most com-pounds of Chennai homes. Ac-cording to Brihat Samhita,neem is an “indicator plant” forthe presence of undergroundwater. Obvioulsy, artificialwatering is unnecessary. Therains meet its water require-ments.

The neem has a special placein the hearts of Chennaivasisbecause it flowers just beforethe Tamil New Year. The flow-ers form part of the New Yearpachadi lending it a bitter tasteand a philosophical message.The neem flower, though bitterto taste, is salutary in effect, be-cause it is vermifugal and killsworms in the intestines.

The various palms

Stand anywhere in Chennai,and look around, you are sureto see coconut trees. Such is thevisibility of coconut in Chennaiand, indeed, all along thecoastal belt of the country.Other palm tree commonlyseen in Chennai are: Fish tailpalm (Caryota urens), Royalpalm (Oreodoxa regia) andPalmyrah plan (Borassusflabelifer).

The last of these is com-monly seen on the outskirts ofthe city, but is not very commonin the city itself.

The leguminous trees

The legumonosae is a familyof flowering plants that exhibitsa great diversity of habit and flo-ral organisation. The Gliricidiais a medium-sized tree and itsleaves make excellent, richgreen manure. ‘Gliiricidia’means ‘rat-destroying’ and theseeds seem to possess thispower.

This is a tree commonly seenin all parts of Chennai, but youare likely to notice it only whenit is in flower. But far the mostgorgeous of the papilionaceoustrees seen in Chennai are thecoral tree, botanically chris-tened Erythrina inidica.

Agati Maram, botanically

� This feature on the trees of Chennai is based onthe book Trees and Tree Tales by Prof K.N. Rao, arenowned botanist, published by Oxygen Books,Chennai. It speaks of the biodiversity of the city in theform of trees that have survived continuous humanefforts to decimate them. Though the city has more ofthe showy, colourfully flowered exotic trees than theless ornamental native trees, the latter yield a varietyof utilitarian products. Examples abound of the multi-purpose coconut, neem, tamarind and palmyrah, allvaluable in medicine, food, construction and other ar-eas of human use. Here is a sample of some of thetrees common to Chennai, with brief descriptions.

known as Sesbania grandiflora,was, till a few years ago, a verycommonly grown tree in thebackyards of many a Chennaihome.

Delonix regia is a native ofMadagascar. It reached Indiavia Mauritius. The tree is foundeverywhere in Chennai. Gul-mohur, a close relative ofDelonix (which, incidentally, iscalled by this generic name bysome authors), is the small-sizedCaesalpinia pulcherrima often

seen in the compounds of manyhouses in Chennai.

Ringworm cassia is seen inmany home gardens in Chen-nai.

The tamarind tree, Tamarin-dus indica, is an evergreen treeof great economic importance.It yields puli, much-flavouredingredient in South India’ssambar. It lives for well over ahundred years and is, therefore,a favourite of the Road andBuildings wing of the PublicWorks Department.

The rain tree, which is easilythe most common avenue treein Chennai, is botanically calledSamanea saman. Albizzia leb-beck, the Siris tree mentionedearlier, is a tall tree, reaching upto 15 m in height.

Sacred treesCallophyllum inophgyllum,

called punnai in Tamil, Punnagain Sanskrit and the Alexan-

drian laurel in English, is amuch-venerated tree as it isconsidered the favorite of LordKrishna.

It is a small-sized tree oftengrown in many a home gardenin Chennai.

A fast-growing tree, calledKattumalli in Tamil, the corktree with the botanical name ofMillingtonia hortensis, gets itsname from its fissured bark,which is used as an inferior sub-stitute for cork.

Unfortunately, the peepul isa calciphile (a plant that growsin lime-rich conditions) and isoften seen growing on old walls,inviting the punishment of be-ing uprooted. The Senate Houseof Madras University has beena victim of this tree and due topast negligence, permitting itsgrowth cost a tidy sum to re-store that beautiful heritagebuilding.

Ala maram in Tamil, thescientific name of the banyan isFicus benghalensis. For a Chen-naiite, the banyan tree in thegardens of the TheosophycalSociety at Adyar is a landmark.Sometime in the 1980s, it fellvictim to a cloudburst and allefforts at revitalising its maintrunk proved futile.

Called Pavazhamalligai inTamil, Parijatam in Sanskrt andTelugu and Coral Jasmine inEnglish, it has a tell-tale botani-cal name – Nyctanthes arbor-ristis: ‘Nyctanthes’ means thatwhich blossoms at nightfall.

The flower is very attractive,with a red corolla tube bearingunequally lobed petals at its top.The petals are snowy white andare usually dotted with dew-drops, for flowering occurs inDecember when the early hoursof the morning are heavy withdew.

Trees with showy flowers

Quite a few of the city’s treesbear large and showy flowerswhich, for some inexplicablereason, do not feature in localcustoms and traditions. Manyof them are excellent shade-giv-ing trees.

First among them is theTrumper flower, botanicallynamed Stenolobium stans. It is acommon tree growing in manyhome gardens. Tabebuia rosea,another tree of Mexican origin,bears pale mauve flowers alsosomewhat trumpet-shaped. Theflowers are so lightly colouredthat they are more noticeableon ground rather than on thetree.

The most common species isPlumeria alba, the white frangi-pani that often grows in thebackyards of many homes inChennai. Thespesia populnea is a

common roadside tree inChennai. Called Poovarasu inTamil and Portia tree in En-glish, this salt-tolerant tree ismore commonly seen in thecoastal belt.

Attractive-leaved trees

Quite a few trees growing inChennai are conspicuous bytheir foilage. It is the leaves andnot the flowers that hold yourattention.

Called Asoka Maram orNettlingam in Tamil, the Masttree is botanically known asPolyalthia longifolia. This tree is

distinguished by its lofty cen-tral column, which grows deadstraight with branches thatgrow in acropetal succession(the youngest branch is near thetop and the oldest near thebase).

The Indian almond is knownas Narvadom in Tamil and bo-tanically as Terminalia catappa.It is a favourite backyard tree inChennai homes. It is a large de-ciduous tree with dark greenleaves, narrow near the baseand broad in the middle.

More commonly known asKaruveppilai or Curry leaf tree,Murraya Koengi belongs to thevirus family and as such hasleaves studded with oil glands,which are the source of theleaves’ pleasant aroma.

The not-so-common trees

A tree around which a gooddeal of folklore abounds isTerminalia Arjuna, more com-monly known as the Arjun orMarutu in Tamil. The Arjun isa large, evergreen tree with but-tressed trunk and a spreadingcrown from which branchesdroop downwards. Its bark issmooth, grey on the outside,flesh-coloured inside and flakesoff in large, flat pieces. Theleaves are simple-somewhatsub-opposite, oblong, dull greenabove and pale brown beneath.You have quite a few of thesetrees on the Harrington Road-Spur Tank Road stretch inChetput.

The White silk cotton tree,or Illavampanju as it is known inTamil, is far more common inChennai than the red silk cot-ton tree. Many a garden sports

this tree and Jeeva Park in GNChetty Road, T Nagar, hasquite a few.

The Mahagony tree is amember of the neem family,Meliaceae. Naturally, it sharesseveral features with the neem.For instance, its leaves arefeather-like, with the leafletsborne on either side of a centralrachis with an unpaired termi-nal leaflet. However, the leaf-lets of mahagony are muchsmaller and have a smooth mar-gin though, of course, a largevein divides them into two un-equal portions, as in neem.

This is the rich biodiversityof the city – similarities and dis-similarities growing togetherwithin the same family. Teaktrees are seen in many parts ofChennai. A few trees grown inthe compound of the AG’s Of-fice on Anna Salai have beenthere for over a half-centurynow.

There is a full-grown wild al-mond tree in Chennai on thecampus of St George’s (orphan-age) on Poonamalle High Road(now called EVR Salai) oppo-site Pachaiyappa’s College.

Uncommon trees

The baobab, a tree intro-duced from Africa, by the Ar-abs, also called the African cala-bash, is Adansonia Digitata. ItsTamil name is Annaipulli. Acouple of baobab trees can befound in the Chepauk cricketgrounds, at the eastern end ofWallajah Road where it meetsthe Buckingham Canal.

Fruit-bearing trees

Called koyya in Tamil, thisundertree, botanically known asPsidium guavava, is widelygrown throughout India. It isfound in many backyards ofChennai homes, receiving noparticular care.

Second in popularity to themango in Chennai is the jack. Itis tasty and has medicinal andritualistic value. The jack tree,botanically called Artocarpusheterophyllusor, Arto carpusintegrifolia and palaphazham inTamil, is native to India

The jack is a large evergreentree growing up to about 12-14m. Often seen growing in thebackyards of Chennai homes,the jack exhibits a variety of pe-culiar features. – (Courtesy:Matrix, the house journal of theSanmar Group)

December 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Empty nestsre-visitedLook, you want to be a good

Mom...

Okay, fine, at least a fair-to-middling one – no one’s lookingfor medals here.

But sometimes that role canget a bit much, causing you toleap nervously at shadows, andcollapse in bitter tears if some-one drops a steel tumbler.

Remember those words“...and some have greatnessthrust upon them...”?

Might have been writtenwith Mothers in mind.

So there you are, totteringunsteadily on that vast pedestalcreated for the Spirit of Mother-hood...hoping no one, least ofall your children, will ever findout how hopelessly lost – andclueless – you really are.

But you do it. You work ondeveloping that all-knowingaura, and train your mind andheart to offer unconditionallove – which can wear a littlethin every now and then, espe-cially when a generous portionof something eminently stain-making is tossed carelessly intoyour brand-new-outfit lap....butyou plod on, smiling bravely,knowing one day, the wings willsprout; the house will empty,and Life – and that last piece ofchocolate – will be yours andyours alone.

Yes, the heart aches a bit;tears are shed, especially whenfavourite meals are cooked but,given connectivity these days,the twinge, always there, ofcourse, is getting more manage-able.

And then ....they come back.

Mostly in short spurts ofvisits.....but....

They. Come. Back.

Now, let’s make sure there isno misunderstanding here.

Of course, you are thrilled tosee them; your maternal heartoverflows with love, blahblah.....

But...

Well, it starts with the clean-ing.

At what point did you be-come this uber-paranoid crea-ture who longs for a magic all-purpose cleanser that cansanitise everything – from everyelement in your house to thestreets outside, all manner ofbuildings and transport, thepavements, food everywhere(not just in your kitchen), allwater sources, the plants, esca-lators, theatre seats – the veryair we breathe?

Near-psychotic?

Yeah – just a bit.

Then – the menus.

These kids, who once com-plained that the avakkai picklewasn’t spicy enough, nowblanch at the sight of a single,tiny green chilli, and have es-chewed coconut, root veg-etables, sugar, rice, flour, wheat,and all things fried – so you’restumped for variety.

This is particularly tough onthose who have reached the ‘re-tired cooking’ stage and nowhave to start getting innovativeall over again.

Then there’s the noise level.

Did you even know thatyou....uhm...like, reelly, reellytalk loud?

After having been “Shh-ed”for the hundredth time from,ironically, the source that wasat the receiving end of‘shushing” not all that long ago,you, now reduced to a timorousshell of your former self, arescared to even open yourmouth.

That goes for TV volumetoo....apparently we ‘listen tooloud’. What does that evenmean? For a minute, you aretempted to point out that yourlife too has suddenly become alot noisier than what you’vegrown accustomed to – but de-cide against it.

You can’t add hurt feelingsto your list of must-take-care of-s... it’s too exhausting.

Speaking of TV, at whatpoint did you start feeling alittle foolish and apologeticabout watching your favourite‘regional mega-serial’ (yes, youread that right) in the presenceof those whose own channelchoices weren’t exactly intensesoul food back in the day whenthey lounged all over yourhouse?

By the way, did you knowyour done-for-years ‘isthri’ guy

has always ironed clothes allwrong?

Makes you wonder whatkind of image you’ve cut all overthe city all these years.

This strange re-positioningfrom ‘kid-about-the-house’ to‘revered guest’.

When did that happen, youwonder, succumbing to thispromising dramatic poignancyfor a second, just before real lifeintrudes. Your ‘guests’ havesprung interesting red splotchesall over thanks to the mosqui-toes, and need solutions.

Of course, typically, yourhouse decides to extract re-venge right about now.

Internet breaks down; some-thing goes wrong with theplumbing; the electricity getscute and whimsical; the gas cyl-inder is late...and the kids knifeyou by being sweet andunderstanding...or, worse, offeryou good advice on handlingdomestic dust-ups (“...seriouslyneed to get less dependent onhousehold help...”), while youseek out a quiet corner whereyou can succumb to a fit of why-are-you-doing-this-to-me-I-am-trying-so-hard-to-make-things-perfect.

The ‘Happy Holidays’ are

soon over – and your heartcrumbles again. You regretthose moments of slighttouchiness....and admit you’lldesperately miss everything thatrecently stretched your nerves.

You run into a friend.

She’s just had an ‘event’ inher family. All her kids from allover were down .... she seems tohave lost weight, the luckything.

You ask her how things are.

“Fine....they all left lastnight...”, her eyes light up as shebreaks into a trembling smile.Then she sees the look on yourface, and quickly re-arrangesher own to register sorrow.

Too late.

You know.

You know you’ve just spot-ted yet another member of thatvery secret, slightly ashamed-of-themselves Club called: ‘HowMothers Really Feel Sometimes(And Must Be Allowed to DoSo)’.

You nod gravely, silently ex-pressing sympathy, and shenods back in understanding.

You both slink away, return-ing to your respective, now-too-quiet, depressing homes, tryingto make some sense of your all-too-human contrariness.

LIVING IN FEAR OF HERITAGE(Continued from page 1)

as soon as it began demolitionwork after obtaining thepermission of the High Court ofMadras.

Should the owners of suchproperties live in such fear? Notnecessarily so. There are othercities in India such as Pune andKolkata where blue plaqueshave been placed outside build-ings where historic personalitiesonce lived or where historicevents took place. Theresidents continue living un-disturbed in the premises andfor several of them it is a matterof pride that their residence is

of historic importance. In for-eign countries, where blueplaques and commemorationstones are commonplace, prop-erties with heritage tags aremore valuable than those ofmodern provenance. Why thenis the situation different inChennai?

Firstly, there is ignorance.Most owners do not know any-thing of the building’s past andare perhaps even less aware ofwhat history the property had.But more to blame are Govern-ment policies concerningheritage that are vague at bestand intimidating at worst. TheHeritage Conservation Com-mittee of the CMDA sent a

letter to owners of the proper-ties in the High Court’s list. Theletter was more of a threat thanan encouragement to them. Itforbade them from making anychanges to their premises,including renovations, alter-ations and repairs. It is no won-der that those whose propertiesare not listed consider them-selves blessed and are activelytaking steps to destroy anytraces that are left of their heri-tage importance.

That such fears are not wellfounded will be evident if theseowners reflect on the Govern-ment’s track record of takingover properties. In the past

many years, just two premises –those of K Kamaraj andSubramania Bharati – havebeen taken over. All the rest,were handed over voluntarily.The Government has had tostep in only on the rarest of oc-casions and even in such cases,has paid compensation, thoughit must be admitted that thevaluation is always according toGovernment norms and notbased on market rates. In anycase, Governments have anumber of other things to focuson and, as is well known,heritage is one of its last priori-ties.

There have, however, been afew stories with happier end-

ings. The monument dedicatedto Satyagraha that stands out-side the Chola Sheraton contin-ues to be preserved. A moreheart-warming story is the pres-ervation of the memorials toDr. Muthulakshmi Reddy andDr. Sundara Reddy. These werepart of the property owned bythe couple and when it changedhands, it was on the conditionthat the memorials would notbe disturbed by the developer.The chronicler K R A Narasiahplayed a role in this, byexplaining the importance ofthe stones to the buyer. Theyhave been allowed to remainand are cared for. May the trendincrease.

� Chuckle with Ranjitha

He’s come back after a year... I have actually forgotten the technology needed to clean up his room!

8 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2013

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.

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— A WELLWISHER

� The sixteenth in a series of profiles by V. RAMNARAYAN of cricketers who may have made an all-time Madras* squad.

Making captaincya winning habit

*Madras Province/State/Tamil Nadu.

completely indigenous tech-nique of lime mortar andplaster. What we now have isreinforced cement concrete,which is not entirely suited forthe local climatic conditionsbut then there are no alterna-tives.

Architecture and construc-tion were always a combinationof several influences and styles.It never was hundred per centindigenous or foreign and neverwill be. Let us learn to appreci-ate whatever buildings areavailable and worth preservingas part of our continuedheritage without searching forclassification tags.

Pre-1947architecture(Continued from page 1)

and left-arm spinner, and finallyzoomed in on a left-arm spin-ner. Three players with thisspecialisation came to mind: MK Murugesh, S Vasudevan andSunil Subramaniam. The firsttwo played stellar roles in TamilNadu’s two Ranji Trophy tri-umphs, while Sunil was perhapsthe best left-arm spinner of hisera, very unlucky not to be se-lected for India. (Had I insteadchosen an off-spinner, Ashwinwould have been an automaticselection. His rise in interna-tional cricket has been nothingshort of phenomenal, butVenkataraghavan and all-rounder A G Kripal Singh, bothformer Tamil Nadu captains,keep him out, for the moment.Ashwin may soon become themost successful internationalcricketer from Tamil Nadu, ifhe is not already so.)

Both Vasudevan and SunilSubramaniam had longer runsfor Tamil Nadu and won manymatches for the State, whichmeant that Murugesh, withonly 20 first class appearances,had to be left out. Of the three,Vasudevan came closest to be-ing a genuine all-rounder,though the other two could bata bit, with Murugesh playing amatch-winning role in the1954-55 final of the Ranji Tro-phy with 8 wickets in the matchand 30 and 36 as a No. 11 bats-man. Vasudevan took 214 firstclass wickets to Sunil Subrama-niam’s 285, but was a better

As I come to the 16th andlast Tamil Nadu cricketer

in this list of probables of the all-time State squad, I am acutelyaware of the many splendidplayers I have had to omit. If oldtimers object to the absence ofMilkha Singh and his youngerbrother Satvinder Singh, othersmay find baffling the omissionof such stars as K R Rajagopal,B R Mohan Rai, U PrabhakarRao, B Kalyanasundaram, T ASekar and K Bharath Kumar,while I have also had to jettisonso many brilliant cricketers ofmore recent origin, such asSunil Subramaniam, D Vasu,Sadagopan Ramesh, L Balaji,Murali Vijay, R Ashwin andAbhinav Mukund.

To fill the 16th spot, I lookedat an off-spinner, medium pacer

batsman. He too played a majorpart in a Ranji Trophy final – in1987, when he led Tamil Naduto victory over Railways, hisown contribution 30 runs andnine wickets in the match,including 7/59 in the secondinnings. It is Vasudevan’s calm,easy-going manner and peopleskills (that obviously helpedhim in captaining the side tothe Ranji triumph) that, to myeye, tilted the scales in hisfavour.

A more laidback cricketermay belong only to the world offiction, but for over a decadeVasudevan was an outstandingperformer for Tamil Nadu,partnering S Venkataraghavan,his captain and senior by severalyears. From the moment hecame into the side in 1976-1977to the time he retired from firstclass cricket a year after leadingTamil Nadu to its second Ranji

Trophy title, he was a thorn inthe flesh of Karnataka andHyderabad, the two strongopponents in the zone. Bats-men like Brijesh Patel,Sudhakar Rao and G RViswanath repeatedly falteredagainst Vasu’s accurate, sharpspin. On the best of wickets, hemade the ball hurry on afterpitching, and on a bad one, hewas well nigh unplayable. Hehad a decent arm ball, too.

Vasu was a delightful bats-man too, though he often gavethe impression that he was notinterested in batting. Perhaps,it came too easily for him totake too much trouble over it,or he possessed a bowler’s mind,like so many others before andafter him, but whatever the rea-son, the upshot of it all was thathe never fulfilled his batting po-tential. Two first class hun-dreds, one in the Ranji Trophyand another in the GopalanTrophy, do not reflect his truebatting ability. The centuryagainst UP was made when thefrontline batsmen fell in a heap,and he rescued the team fromdisaster.

Vasu gave notice of his ex-ceptional ability in universitycricket. He was slightly over-shadowed by fellow left-armspinner and teammate S K Patelwho broke the record for mostwickets in a single RohintonBaria season (1975-1976), butsoon Vasu left his own imprinton university cricket. Succeed-

ing Patel in the State team, justafter V V Kumar quit the scene,Vasu established himself firmlyin the side. He was unfortunateto belong to the South Zone,when the zone had an embar-rassment of spin bowling riches,and therefore did not get to playDuleep Trophy cricket. Whenhe was at his best, India was wellserved in his department, theyounger Maninder Singh re-placing his senior Dilip Doshi.With Ravi Shastri too contrib-uting with the ball, Vasu wasnever a serious contender for aplace in the Indian team,though, quality-wise, he was in-ferior to none.

Vasudevan’s greatest mo-ment was when he led TamilNadu to the title triumph in1987-1988.

In the league, Vasudevanwas the lead spinner forAlwarpet Cricket Club for a fewyears, before he switched alle-giance to SPIC, which team heserved for over a decade withdistinction. For a while, with itspowerful batting line-up thatincluded V Sivaramakrishnan,P Ramesh, P C Prakash andRavi Mishra and an all-roundattack that at different timesconsisted of N Bharathan, T ASekar, K Arun Kumar, RaviMishra, Vasudevan and SunilSubramaniam, SPIC dominatedthe league scene. I have enjoyedseveral moments of friendshipand good-natured competitionwith him on the field.

A software professional,Vasudevan belonged to a gen-eration of cricketers who oftenhad an alternative career to fallback upon after their playingdays. He made a successfultransition from cricket to a re-warding professional career.

S Vasudevan