Social History Projects; need for areas to start on them!

One of the grassroot level ideas that I have been sharing with community activists and creative people has been to build a Social History Project for each area.

It took root in a small way in Anna Nagar. A small group of architect and students made it possible with a collection of old pictures of the area, some contests and an evening where seniors here talked of the 'old days'.
I hear this project has got bigger this year and you will get to know more on the Madras Day site and on their own FB page and online.
Their collection of pictures are now close to 100.

I have asked people in St Thomas Mount and on Arcot Road, in San Thome, Little Mount and Royapuram to start similar projects. The start has been wobbly but the idea is still being driven.

You may want to start one for your area. Valuable step that goes beyond events and galas.

Grab souvenirs; Tees, caps, postal covers and postage stamp

The list of Madras souvenirs is growing and this is good news indeed. A City which is 375 years old deserves some great souvenirs ideated and made by its people.

Over a decade ago we started the Tee Design Contest and though they entries have been small in number - 30-40 - we have received some great ideas which have been used in the year's Tee for Madras.

This year, the design is a monochrome and the images will be in black and white - these are a collage of the city's landmarks and have been design by young Naveen. The Tee is getting ready in Tiruppur and will be on sale hopefully from August 17. At Rs.220.

There is also a Madras cap for the 375 years occasion. It has a legend that says - CHENNAI. My City is 375. The cap will be ready on Sunday and on sale too for Rs.80.

The Tee and cap will be on sale at the Mylapore Times office - 77, C P Ramaswamy Road, Alwarpet, Chennai 18 ( near the Alwarpet flyover). Phone; 2498 2244.

Another great souvenir due for release is a Postal Cover with a My Stamp on it. Designed and produced by D H Rao the cover theme is Transport as is the My Stamp. A collector's item it will be on sale at Clive House inside Fort St George from Aug 22 to 24 where an exhibition is being held.
Grab this! Limited edition.

Madras Day to Madras Week

Voluntarism does have its great pluses. It spreads if its catches the imagination of people.
And that is how the Madras Day celebration is now spread across a week and many events go beyond the week or start well before it.

Just now we have informally renamed Madras Day as Madras Week, though Madras Month may not be too far off to celebrate.

Madras Day is key; August 22. If people find their own time and space to host their events so be it.

There are a group of young people who encourage creative writing online at the Quill and as they quickly curated a writing contest they were anxious since the Week was about to begin. We got them to relax and do their best.

Madras in 375 Words - sounds and looks like a nice creative contest. Look for the details soon on the web site.

So even as the first blog post gets delayed this far and yet kicks off now, there is time to curate your own Madras event. Do go ahead.

Madras Week 2013: Stars who made a difference

As we have been seeing the past few years, Madras Week this year (August 18-25), too, soon became Madras Fortnight and eventually almost a Madras Month, with more than 100 programmes/ events/ across the city.

This year was particularly memorable for my good friend Harry MacLure, comic book illustrator, cartoonist and graphic designer. His film, Going Away, was screened to packed houses at the Press Institute of India and the Madras Club. The film is set in an Anglo-Indian milieu in the Madras of old. It’s about a fictional Anglo-Indian family coming to terms with the possibility of emigration to Australia and having to leave loved ones behind in India. The Anglo-Indians – A 500-Year History, a book that is a must-buy for all those with more than a passing interest in history, authored by S. Muthiah and Harry, was released at the Hotel President in front of more than 400 people.

One of the high points at the Press Institute (there wasn’t even space to squat on the floor) was when Nityanand Jayaraman made a brilliant presentation backed by a lot of perspective on Chennai’s vanishing wetlands, natural events and disasters. Development is all fine, he said, but not at the cost of destroying Nature or by upsetting its laws. His presentation was finely complemented by some magnificent pictures (mostly depressing in the second part) taken by Shaju John, freelance photojournalist who has worked with several reputable publications.

I finally breathed a huge sigh of relief when the final programme at the institute went off without a hitch. Moderating the catchy subject, Madras – the good, bad and ugly, was S. Muthiah. All the speakers did a fairly good job as the discussions weaved through (mainly through the prism of newspapers in Chennai) the various issues and aspects confronting journalism today - paid news, corporate ownership of newspapers, credibility, citizen journalism, advertising and the commercial, as well as the quality of the fare on offer.

However, for me, the star during the four days of programmes at the Press institute was Kadambari Badami, an active member of Transparent Chennai who spoke about envisioning a pedestrian-friendly and ‘walkable’ city, through participatory planning, public-government partnerships, citizen empowerment, and the Nanganallur and KK Nagar projects. She made an impassioned plea in the end to the youngsters in the audience and elsewhere to do their bit for the city and make it more livable, even going as far as admonishing them with, “Shame on all of you!” It was probably her frustration coming out in the end, finding little support for her initiative from people her age. More power to her.

But there was even a brighter star that lit the horizon during Madras Week around Thiruverkkadu Road, Seneerkuppam. The Pupil Saveetha Eco Schoolwas making a debut in the celebrations. And what a debut! The school organised weeklong programmes that it collectively styled Madras Memoirs. There were a series of inter-school and intra-school events and competitions that highlighted the transition of the city from Madrasapattinam to Chennai. Reflections showcased exhibits from a bygone era - a gramophone, telephones, a hand-woven sari, miniature brass items and vehicles, photographs, old coins, old documents  and postage stamps.

It was nostalgia for many visitors as they had a close look at the pictures that adorned the walls. Another hall had charts, models and photographs that the students had collected over a period. Overall, the event helped them learn more about the city and also gave them a sense of belonging, a sense of pride that they live in a city steeped in history. Madras is after all the first city of Modern India.

The person who made all this possible at The Pupil, almost single-handedly, was Dolly Mohan, who does not like the arc lights and is happy working quietly in the shadows. But it was from those shadows that the brightest spark this Madras Week emerged.  Not only did the school host the weeklong programmes, it also opened up the events to cluster and neighbourhood schools.

Dolly says she initially dreaded taking up the onerous task but as she got into the groove she began enjoying being a part of the old and the new. She’s been in Chennai for more than two decades but, like many, she was ignorant about how the city had evolved and grown. Now having been entrusted with the responsibility of organising the events at the school, she researched hard and found a magical path leading to the past. In the process she rediscovered a small part of the rich legacy of Madrasapattinam. She knew it all amounted to only scratching the surface but she had made a great start. “The quiz, the photographs, the relics – everything added on to my personal knowledge of Madrasapatinam. Wish we had a time machine that would take us back into those days when life was so peaceful compared to the frenetic one we lead today,” she says.

Being a lover of history, I can empathise with what Dolly feels and says. As a catalyst/ coordinator of Madras Day/Week celebrations, it’s people like Dolly who make you feel proud, who motivate you to ‘go for it’ one more time… More power to her, too.

The pictures, and there are many of them, can be seen at The Pupil Website (http://www.thepupil.in/).

A Sunday breakfast with Rotarians, and a slice of heritage

Sundays are usually lazy days, at least that is how you feel in the early part of the morning. So, you don’t expect a packed attendance at a Rotary breakfast meeting. There were hardly 15 Rotarians when I arrived in time for breakfast – idli, vada, pongal, sambar, coffee – about 8.30 am. But in the half hour following, the number doubled and by the time the hosts draped a ponnadai around my shoulders it was house-full.

The members were made up of a motley group comprising advocates, professors, builders, teachers, businessmen, students and others. I was introduced by an elderly member and I noticed she had taken pains to scribble two full pages, adding copiously to an email I had sent her about my background. In the event she made several errors, but on occasions such as it is best to let them pass.

A sumptuous breakfast is unlikely to keep you awake for long when you are seated comfortably and as it turned out there were a couple of heads suddenly dropping on shoulders and then springing back to attention. But these occurrences were momentary and by and large the audience was wide awake. That was enough motivation as I launched into the romance of old – of Andrew Cogan, Francis Day and Beri Thimmappa, of Madraspattnam, Chennapattnam and George Town, of St Mary’s Church in the Fort, the oldest British building in Madras, and of some of the early institutions established by governors like Elihu Yale.

And then, about how during the height of Queen Victoria’s reign, the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture was considered the form best suited to convey imperial majesty in the Indian empire, and about the genius of Robert Chisholm, Henry Irwin, and Paul Benfield before them.

About Senate Hall, its classic restoration and sad present state, about Bharat Insurance Buildingor Kardyl Building built for WE Smith, pharmacists, a classic example of neglect, and about the fate that awaits the Royapuram Railway Station, the oldest in India after the one at Bori Bunder was long gone. Even as Mumbai’s VT and the Niligiri Mountain Railway are preserved as heritage structures.

About the Metro Rail continuing to create a stir in the city on a regular basis – with CSI Wesley Church the latest, and earlier with a building in the Teachers Training College campus in Saidapet, with P. Orr & Sons before that, and many other smaller instances.

About the need for a comprehensive Heritage Act without which buildings will continue to be razed. Like a 164-year-old church in Coimbatore was, and how part of the Rangammal Palace in Maduraiwas.

I thought I’d get into the details about Khalas Mahal (the one bright spark now) and the ChepaukPalace when I noticed the elderly lady who introduced me nodding her head gently. My time was up and the Rotarians wanted to say their goodbyes and leave. They had given me an hour (much more than the allotted or usual time given to speakers) and now they wanted to catch up on fellowship. For a Sunday morning it wasn't so bad after all, I thought.