Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Will the gates of Madras Port open?

Hopefully they will!

I had mentioned in my weekly column (www.vincentsjottings.blogspot.com) the rather discouraging response of some government departments when it came to sharing info, pictures and access to celebrate the city.

We were keen to organise a walk inside Madras Port, a city landmark and have been at it for almost a year. . .

Now, a well wisher has got back to say that he will even talk to Union Minister of Shipping, G K Vasan, who is also a Chennai resident, to help us organise a walking tour.

The Indian Navy conducts a walking tour of the Mumbai Port once a month. Madras should follow that example.

1 comment:

mehulkamdar said...

The Madras Port used to allow visitors in the old days on payment of Rs 0.25 (yes, that's right - twenty five paise) on weekdays. You had to buy a ticket in the morning before 12:00 and go in. When I was a boy and my family lived on Broadway, my friends at St Mary's and I would save money and go to the port sometimes. It was fun to watch the large ships discharge their cargo onto the docks and there was a passwnger ship, the SS Chidambaram which would ply to Singapore once a month that we most enjoyed visiting. On several occasions my friends and I went on board Chidambaram at the invitation of the staff who would sometimes give us imported candies and chocolates and take us to see the swimming pool, as a special treat. If I remember right, ths ship caught fire in the early 1980s and the only passenger liners that have stopped at the Madras Port since then have been ships that sail to the Andamans.