Madras Rediscovered in Tamil

Bringing up the finale as it were on the last day of what was a hectic Madras Week was the Madras Book Club, with the launch at the Taj Connemara of the Tamil translation of S Muthiah’s Madras Rediscovered. There were some sterling speeches by Prof. V.C. Kulandaiswamy, chairman, Tamil Virtual University, who launched the book, and Dr V. Irai Anbu, secretary (tourism and culture), Govt of Tamil Nadu.

But the honours must go to Badri Seshadri, publisher, New Horizon Media, for bringing out the 600-page book at an economical price, C.V. Karthik Narayanan for translating the book and, of course, Muthiah himself for having taken the initiative, I’m sure, of making it all happen. With this offering, prospects of the city’s history being read by many more people are bright indeed.

Reminiscing about his entry into the world of writing, printing and publishing as an eight-year-old, Muthiah said it all had to do with his joining a new preparatory school, St Thomas’s, in Ceylon (where he grew up and which is still his first love) where a teacher named W.T. Keble proved to be the greatest influence on his life. Keble got the children to read, and told them the histories of Ceylon and England as interesting stories of countries, unlike what is done in most school classrooms today. Later, when Muthiah wrote Ceylon Beaten Track, he found Keble’s influence on almost every page.

Muthiah arrived in Madras in 1968, to take over T.T. Maps and Publications, a TTK Group company then, and it was while bringing out a booklet with a large map of Madras that he discovered a city and its history, and from then on there was no looking back…

City Documentaries; lets make more

When you have 40 people at a screening of docu-films on Madras, you are blessed!

And it also warms the hearts of the few who take the trouble to produce these films.

On August 23 afternoon, we screened five films including a short one made by a team of city school students.

The other films were on a woman who stands for election to the City Council, on the fate of people displaced from the seashore and canal banks in the city, on well known abstract artist Achuthan Kudallur, a short, warm one on the traditions at Heber Hall of Madras Christian College and one on the first Rainbow Parade organised by the LGBT community in the city and held on the Marina beach.

Alliance Francaise, Chennai was the gracious host and collaborator.

Very few people are passionate about working on docu-films. But this effort is a start. . .we need to make many films on Madras that is Chennai. If you are keen, e-mail us at madrasday@yahoo.com. Our intention is to screen one or two city-based docus once in 2/3 months and build a community.

Fascinating Exhibition in Mylapore

D. H. Rao and his band of heritage lovers did a fine job in holding yet another exhibition at P. S. School campus in Mylapore.

Rao sends out a call to his friends in the philately and numismatics world to lend a hand. Some do. And they present an exhibition.

On the face of it, this may appear to be a standard show. Not quite.

There are some fascinating exhibits.

One was a booklet issued by the Slum Clearance Board, perhaps in the 70s. The pictures of city slums - in Palakkuma Nagar and Nochi Nagar - record the pathetic conditions in which people lived in. Another was a set of photo copies of trams in our city. Another was a set of print ads issued by Amrutanjan.

Rao has the Special Cover that was released on the occasion of Madras Day 2009. Call him at 98408 70172 if you want to buy a cover. The theme is Old Bridges of Madras.

Schools present City Landmarks

This is now a Madras Day regular.

The contest for city schools to present less known heritage/landmarks of the city.

We began this contest many years ago as an event at which schools presented models of landmarks. We then moved on to ask school teams to go out and research on their themes, create Power Point presentations and present them at a day-long event.

20 schools signed up for this year's contest which was held at Srinivasa Sastri Hall. Luz. The judges were Dr. Balambal and Vincent D' Souza.

The top winner was the team from Kavi Bharathi Vidhyalaya from Thiruvottriyur. Its students presented the history of the Old Jail in our city, now the campus of Bharathi Womens College in north Madras.

The team from Sri Sankara Vidhyashram, Thiruvanmiyur bagged the second prize and that of Sri Sankara Senior in Adyar the third prize.

With films and food you can't go wrong

The finale to Madras Week celebrations at Hotel Green Park was a wonderful presentation by Mohan Raman, a familiar face on television. He has acted in more than 100 films and 5,000 episodes, he says. Mohan collects stamps that are related to films; he is also a corporate trainer who uses cinematic tools to communicate.

A word also about the food festival that Hotel Green Park hosted through the week. Most nights saw the tables packed, with more than 100 people visiting to taste the cuisines of the Madras Presidency. Rohit Jha, food and beverage manager, and Chef Amsa deserve kudos for planning and executing the festival in style. Krishna Kumar, general manager, who has been taking the initiative each year in getting Madras Week celebrations organised at Green Park, has plans for more authentic food fare next year.