WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXVI No. 13 October 16-31, 2016

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Cauvery water dispute

• The surfing champion

• Besant to Vasantha

• Madras in indigenous history

Mylaporefor WorldHeritagestatus?

Lessons to learn from Kolkata

(Continued on page 8)

A beautiful picture by Dr. VIJAY SRIRAM of sunset over the Adyar River – NOT seen from the aircraft above butfrom the north bank.

� by A Special Correspondent

(By A Special Correspondent)

that not qualify better? Or, forthat matter, Srirangam? Both ofthese shrines have created anecosystem around them thatdepend on the central attrac-tions for survival. There is, con-sequently, a lot of effort onmaintaining tradition. Even thecommercial establishmentsaround have realised this andare doing what little they can toparticipate, something thatcannot be said of Mylapore.True, the temple does form afocus here as well. But there islot more to the place than justthat. There are multiple reli-gions that claim a share in itsantiquity. That again is an at-tribute that towns such asNagapattinam and Trichy canlay claim to. Can Mylaporestand up to be counted?

The next question is, whatexactly of its heritage hasMylapore retained? In terms ofits antiquity, there is not much.Not even the presentKapaliswarar shrine or for thatmatter the San Thomé basilica,can claim a physical connect toa very ancient past. This ispartly due to historical reasonsbut also in part due to rampantmodernisation that has takenplace within the shrines.Among the older but less-

The last month saw print and social media report on a city-based think tank demanding that Mylapore be given world

heritage status. While this is not a tag that is given out for theasking and, so, is not likely to happen any time soon, the questionis does Mylapore deserve such a status and, more importantly, canit live up to the discipline that such an accreditation demands?

If, indeed, it is the dominant presence of the temple at the heartof the locality that has spurred this suggestion, then there are sev-eral others that can compete for this even within Tamil Nadu. Takefor instance the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai. Would

The Durga Puja festival inKolkata has just come to

an end. The city witnessedaround 36,000 different pandalsbeing put up, for the durationof five days, all in public places– street corners, parks and side-walks.

These temporary structuresand their contents, chiefly iconsand friezes, cost a whopping Rs600 crore in a rough estimate,making it one of the biggest re-ligious events celebrated inpublic. The five-day extrava-ganza witnessed a huge degreeof public-private partnership inmaking it a success and ensur-ing it passed off peacefully.There is much that a city likeChennai can learn from thisexperience.

One of the big advantagesthat Durga Puja has over any-thing even remotely like it inChennai is that it is a publicevent, celebrated all acrossKolkata. It, therefore, becomesa time when shops, establish-ments and schools close,thereby bringing down regulartraffic by a significant percent-age. However, there are severalregulations that still need to be

in place to ensure that thepeople are not put to much in-convenience on the roads. Thatis where the Governmentcomes in. It ensures that publictransport operates in full rightthrough the nights on the im-portant days of the festival. Italso cordons off entire streets,making them accessible only byfoot. There are certain hotspots

idea and helped people plantheir visit itineraries.

These lessons were notlearnt in a day. Just last year aparticularly sensational pandalmade a huge section of the cityout of bounds owing to thenumbers that visited it. Therehave been fire accidents andstampedes. But with a vigilantadministration taking care of

the December Music Festivalor the Mylapore Festival. Itcould begin with special publictransport arrangements. Thiswas a feature for years duringthe December festival of the1970s when buses would plyfrom point to point till late atnight. This can be easily re-vived. Another aspect is tomake certain areas accessibleonly on foot. After all, whenwe can cordon off entire areasfor VIP movement, why canthe same not be done in thename of culture? The fourMada Streets during Navaratrior Arupathu Moovar wouldmake for a great attraction.There will be an increase inbusiness for the commercialestablishments all around. Forcelebrations such as MadrasWeek or the December festivalwe could have printed mapsand guides to help people getaround.

With Tamil Nadu toppingthe nation in terms of touristinflow and Chennai taking thelead within the State, even suchsmall steps could make a bigimpact. Is anyone in the admin-istration thinking about this?

– some well known locationswhere some star pandals comeup year after year that thou-sands of people go to see. Theseareas have queue systems inplace, by means of enclosedwalkways and an ample policepresence to make sure peopleuse only these routes and notthe main roads.

The private aspect comes inthe organisations of thesepandals and also the provisionof amenities – first aid, accessfor the disabled and the feedingof the public. The publication ofa map, giving the locations ofprominent pandals was a great

such pain points, even the driv-ing rain this year could notcause much dislocation. Thebenefits are evident to all –there has been a marked rise intourist attendance. The restau-rants and hotels have seen goodpatronage. The heritage spotsin the city have seen a markedincrease in visitors.

It is true that Chennai doesnot have a citywide festival,barring perhaps, on a limitedscale, Madras Week. But thereis much that the Governmentcan do to make an impact withevents such as the ArupathuMoovar festival at Mylapore,

2 MADRAS MUSINGS October 16-31, 2016

Some oilon CauverywatersThe Cauvery Water dispute has a long and chequered history.

Tamil Nadu lacks a perennial river and, until 1974, the Statehad a lion’s share of the Cauvery waters. This was reduced whenKarnataka expanded its consumption of water by constructing anumber of dams and expanding its canal system. When the 50-year-long earlier agreement ended in 1974, the issue heated up.Chauvinistic attitudes of political parties in both the States and anindifferent Centre contributed to the issue smouldering for overfour decades. In the absence of agreement on the part of the politi-cal leadership, the only course left was to take recourse to a judicialremedy.

Tamil Nadu’s former Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran,maintained cordial relations with the leaders of the Centre and theneighbouring States. Remember the huge success of his efforts toget Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra to agree toproviding 15 tmcft of water from the Krishna river to quench thethirst of Chennai metro? It was a rare and unique occasion towitness the Prime Minister of the country, Indira Gandhi, presidingover a meeting addressed by Chief Ministers of five States and theUnion Territory of Puducherry!

The DMK was represented in the three coalition governmentsof the 1990s. DMK supremo Karunanidhi did enjoy clout with theNDA I government. Under the UPA I, Tamil Nadu had 13ministers in the Central cabinet handling vital portfolios includingFinance. Sadly, this clout was not used effectively to get over theCauvery issue.

The Man from MadrasMusings is a sucker for

these things – invite him tospeak and he will accept atonce. His good lady, alsoknown as She Who Must BeObeyed, believes that this issome kind of an addiction, acomplete dependence on themicrophone and a large-ishaudience looking up at the po-dium. In all her years of play-ing Simon Legree to MMM’sUncle Tom, the good lady hascured him of many things.Making strange noises whileeating, not blocking the mouthwhile yawning, and resistingthe urge to sing at all odd hoursbeing are just a few (MMM iscertain that the good lady canadd several more to the list).But this tendency to acceptinvitations to speak is one thateven she, despite her iron handin the velvet glove, has beenunable to rid MMM of. And sowe have MMM hurrying fromspeech to speech, rather likepoliticians at election time.

What is the point of thisextensive preamble you won-der. MMM can also see theChief gritting his teeth as he,green pen in hand, proceeds toread the above tract. “Get onwith it,” is probably what the

of the marble regulation penstand that he had clutched as aweapon of defence, was notimpressed. Why had MMMcome, he asked. Did MMM notknow that he the Dean did notmeet anyone without an ap-pointment? And if MMM wasseeking admission for his wardthen he, the Dean, would liketo inform him, MMM, that itwas rather too late. By then,what MMM in the dim lighttook to be a potted palm be-came animated and revealed it-self as a peon. MMM turned tohim and asked for the profes-sor who had called him to thecollege in the first place. Thepeon left to find the person andin the meanwhile, peace ofsome kind having been re-stored, MMM explained to theDean that he was the chiefguest for the prize distribution.The man, who clearly had noidea as to who had been in-vited, immediately turned on asmile that revealed severalmore teeth than the usualnumber. He asked MMM totake a seat. Would MMM liketo have coffee or tea or coco-nut water, he enquired. MMMopted for the last named.

In the meanwhile, the invit-ing professor came rushing in

When MMM goes to college

and, in a highly flustered voice,did the formal introductions.Surely the Dean had read whatMMM wrote about, said theprofessor to the Dean, accom-panying it with a winning smileand an arch look that indicatedthat the Dean had better say‘yes’. The Dean got the cue andnodded his head vigorously,adding that it was a great plea-sure to have finally met up withthe great LLL.

The long wait“MMM,” corrected theprof.The dean apologised to TheMan from Madras Musings andthereafter referred to him asNNN right through. Thepower, he said, had just beenturned off owing to some tech-nical glitch. It was a good thing,he added, that the prize-givingwas fixed at the open courtyardand not inside the auditorium.MMM baulked at this, for whatwith the temperature beingwhat it was and the fact that hewas getting thirstier than theThanjavur region, this lookedlike torture of the first water.Anyway, MMM, Dean andprofessor trooped into the opencourtyard. The head table wason a platform and down below,in the well of the open space,the students sat at the far end,no doubt keeping as much dis-tance as possible betweenthemselves and the speakers.The coconut water had notcome as yet.

The meeting got to orderwith the singing of the obliga-tory song on the glory of thelocal language. As though

reminded by that, the Deanleaned across to MMM andsaid that it would be best if he,MMM spoke in Tamil as thatis what the students would un-derstand better. MMM agreed.There was still no sign of thecoconut water.

The professor’s speech ofwelcome was in English. Thencame the Dean’s turn. Hewould be brief, he said, for hewas certain that everyone hadgathered to hear the greatOOO who had come to speakat the college despite his busyschedule. The moment MMMheard that, his heart sank intohis shoes. Experience hasshown MMM that any speakerwho says he/she will be briefmeans exactly the opposite.This was entirely true of theDean as well. Speaking atlength (in English), he em-barked on a long description ofthe happenings at the institu-tion in the past one year. Hespoke of honourable ministers,MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats andothers who had paid visits tothe institution. He paid theusual encomiums to the powerthat is, failing which no doubt,as MMM reflected, he thedean, ran the risk of his powerbeing turned off at the main,

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

Chief mutters on such occa-sions, and so MMM will get onwith it. The reason why MMMbrought all this up is a prize-giving event at a college thatspecialises in architecture andplanning, that he was invitedto. The professor who calledMMM was an acquaintance oflongstanding and MMM couldnot refuse. On the appointedday, MMM drove up at the ap-pointed hour and after, as isusual in such places, havingexplained the reason why hehad come to a most scepticalsecurity officer who had neverbeen kept informed of MMM’svisit, he entered the augustportals of the institution.

Staggered into the placewould be more appropriate.For one, the steps were not ofuniform rise and tread, whichwas rather surprising for a col-lege that specialises in archi-tecture. MMM, having liftedhis foot to the extent that theearlier steps had risen, foundhimself stubbed on the lastone which was much taller,and so shot forward as if froma cannon. Having clutched ata potted plant he found that hehad fast-forwarded into theDean’s office where every-thing was shrouded in dark-ness. It was as though a solareclipse was in progress. Thegood officer was at his desk,thinking dark thoughts nodoubt and on seeing MMMbound in with what appearedto be murderous intent he wasnaturally startled.

MMM introduced himself.The Dean, who had stoppedpalpitating by then and let go

rather like the college’s elec-tricity. The coconut water wasyet to make its appearance.

MMM found his thoughtswandering. He realisedvaguely that the Dean wassinging his (the Dean’s) gloriesin the third person. The stu-dents were also in a stupor-like state. After several moreminutes of the Dean’s speech,the man finally sat down,stating that the college studentunion leader would read outthe bio-data of Mr QQQ, whoactually needs no introduc-tion. And, by the way, youguessed it, no sign of the coco-nut water.

If you are still awake at thisstage, MMM will let you geton with it by stating briefly(and he means that in the full-est sense), that MMM spokein Tamil and was wellreceived. Just as he began, amiracle took place – a micro-phone working on battery wasdelivered to MMM and so hewas heard. The coconutwater, however, never came.

TailpieceThe speech concluded, it wastime for The Man from MadrasMusings to flee. But not beforewanting to use the toilet. Thisseemingly innocuous requesthad the Dean disturbed. Withmuch hesitation he informedMMM that the toilets of thebuilding were pitch dark whenthe power fails, as they wereprovided with no windows.Would MMM mind taking acandle along?

– MMM

� S. Viswanathan

The AIADMK has not maintained cordial relation with theNDA and UPA I & II, due to its arch rival DMK being part ofthese governments. The relationship was adversarial.

There was the other political factor of Karnataka electingCongress or BJP governments. Both the parties are non-entities inTamil Nadu. BJP has no base in the Sate. In the present Modicabinet, there is just a Minister of State from Tamil Nadu. Congresshas been riding piggy back on the DMK or the AIADMK and hasalso been riven with intense rivalry among its different leaders. Thissituation made for the Centre being more zealous in wooing itsvote bank in Karnataka.

The original award given in 1991 was not acceptable to boththe Sates. In the absence of any political clout with the Centre,time and again, Tamil Nadu has in recent years resorted to seekinga judicial remedy.

After 16 long years the final award was given by the CauveryWater Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) in 2007. This provided 419tmcft for Tamil Nadu, 270 tmcft for Karnataka, 30 tmcft for Keralaand 7 tmcft for Puducherry.

The Centre, for reasons mentioned above, did not bother tonotify the award in the Gazette till 2013 and constitute the CauveryManagement Board. This is manifestly a serious dereliction ofresponsibility on the part of the Centre and its failure to resolvethe decade-long issue.

We cite the experience of smooth resolution of such inter-Statewater disputes earlier through the constitution of statutory authori-ties. The Bhakra-Beas Management Board (BBMB) was formed toensure fair allocation of water from the Beas, Sutlej and Ravi riversto the States of Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,Delhi and Chandigarh UT. BBMB supplies 28 million acre ft ofwater for irrigation and drinking, including 12.50 million acre ftfor agricultural land in the four States. It has 28 power generationunits with an installed capacity of 2865 MW. These plants gener-ate 10,000 million units to 14,000 million units of cheap powerand supply it at just 20 paise per unit.

Likewise, after the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT)was constituted by the Government of India, there has been agree-ment over sharing of water by the riparian States. Against thisbackground, the direction of the Supreme Court to the Govern-ment to set up the Cauvery Management Board within four weeksshould leave the management to experts who would allocate wateras per the judgment of Supreme Court. Hopefully this would ensurea lasting solution to this dispute.

Farmers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka continue to raise water-guzzling crops like rice and sugarcane and insist on multiple crop-ping. In the context of much higher demand for pulses, oilseeds,corn and vegetables, which demand much less water, a systematiccampaign to move away from paddy and sugarcane should be at-tempted. Wisdom demands making the best use of available water– (Courtesy: Industrial Economist).

October 16-31, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

The Jesuit seekers of knowledgeIn my article published in Madras Musings on September 16th

and October 1st, I have mentioned only some of the Jesuitswho lived and worked in Madras and in Tamil Nadu. But thenthese individuals are not to be seen in isolation. They belong to acorporate body, The Society of Jesus. So, some general commentson their work in India are in order.

Today the secular historians are highly critical about themissionaries in general and the Jesuits in particular. One histo-rian calls them simply the “Jesuit travellers” and groups them asthose who traveled in Asia for inspiring Asia and those whotraveled in Asia for discovering Asia.

By ‘inspiring’ is meant to preach the Gospel values, studyinglocal languages, making Christian literature available in theselanguages, while appreciating local cultures and religions. By ‘dis-covering’ is understood the traveling to the hitherto unexploredgeographical regions of Asia, noting down the astronomicallocations of various cities and towns, jotting down the happen-ings of their surroundings, contributing to the body of scientificknowledge of Asia.

This type of transference of knowledge and method of studywas a part of the larger process of discovering and constructingIndia in a colonial setting, in which the role of the Jesuits wassignificant. But after the colonial experience of the subjugatednations, the term “discovery” becomes a loaded one. Theso-called ‘discovery’ led to a particular way of constructing theimage of the ‘discovered’ people. Through their scholarlyresearches and ethnographic writings a new India emerged in theminds of the Europeans and also created a new self-understand-ing among the Indians themselves.

Though the categories of Jesuit ‘inspirers’ and ‘discoverers’overlap in the case of many Jesuits, their contribution to litera-ture and science has been substantial and significant. Thesubstantial number of Jesuit literary contributors include HenryHenriques (1520-1600), Thomas Stephens (1549-1619),Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656), Joseph Beschi (1680-1747),Ernest Hanxleden (1689-1732), Heinrich Roth (1620-1668),Jean Francois Pons (1698-1752), Gaston Coeurdoux (1691-1779), Jean Calmette (1693-1739) and Joseph Tieffenthaler(1710-1785).

During the period between the 16th and 19th Centuries,priority was given to practical astronomy, due to the increasingnavigational needs of those in search of new territories for comm-erce and colonisation. Navigation required accurate maps ofharbours, coasts and islands, which in turn necessitated accurateobservations of the position of certain stars and planets and thedetermination of longitudes and latitudes of locations. Manymissionaries were cartographers and had the necessary equipmentin their hands. There were over 25 Jesuits in expeditions tovarious parts of India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and China duringthe 17th and 18th Centuries. Notable among them were Bento

de Goes (1562-1607), Francis de Azevedo (1578-1660), Antoniode Andrada (1580-1634), Johann Grueber (1623-1680), AlbertD’Orville (1621-1662) and Ippolito Desideri (1684-1733). Theyhave left valuable sources for an ethnographical and geographicalstudy of India.

Jean-Venant Bouchet (1655-1732) was responsible for thefirst dependable map of the interior of the southern peninsula.Bouchet, who arrived in India in February 1689, covered theCoromandel coast on foot, made astronomical observations atPondicherry and prepared maps and sketches. His map of thesouthern peninsula was published in 1737 and was followed byhis famous Carte de l’ Inde in 1752.

Bouchet, a French Jesuit, was known as Sanjvi Nathar inTamil. Four of his works in Tamil are still available. Jnana Sanjiviwas one of them.

In Madras and the Tamil regions, where they worked, theJesuits played a great role at a particular time of history. Theyhave left a large amount of writings in Tamil, which form part ofthe Tamil literary heritage, which is acknowledged by the schol-ars.

They may not remain in the “communicative memory” of theTamil people which goes back perhaps to some 80 years or so atthe most, but in the “cultural memory” which goes back to severalcenturies. They have found a place in Tamil tradition.

– Dr. Anand AmaladssDhyana Ashram

Tannery effects

Prof. M.S. Swaminathan hasstated (MM, October 1st)

“The conflict between environ-ment and development can beended only if we can stop eco-nomic greed.”

In an Award passed by theLoss of Ecology (Prevention ofpollution and Payments ofCompensation) Authorityconstituted by the Central gov-ernment on the orders of theSupreme Court in the WritPetition filed by Vellore Citi-zens’ Welfare Forum, it was re-vealed that hundreds of dyeingunits had polluted the Noyyalriver, a tributary of the Cauvery,and had damaged 28,49,816hectares of fertile farm lands inseven taluks of Coimbatore,Erode and Karur Districts. AnAward was also passed by theEcology Authority against 547tannery owners for having dam-aged thousands of hectares offertile lands which becameunproductive, affecting the live-lihood of 29,193 individualfarmers.

The affected farmers and in-dividuals were awarded com-pensation for the damage oftheir land, but it was very mea-gre when compared to the ac-tual loss suffered by them.

I wrote to Prof.M.S. Swaminathan pointingout the heavy loss of crops dueto the pollution caused bytannery effluents and in a letterdated 17-11-1989 he stated,

“My dear Subrahmanian, Ithank you for your letter of No-vember 14th. I am grateful to youfor the papers you have sent. Iagree with you that we mustfind methods of preventingdamage to agricultural landsfrom tannery effluents. I shall dowhatever I can in this matter.”

On 6-3-1992 the TamilNadu Agricultural University,

Coimbatore, released a reportstating 35,000 to 40,000 hect-ares of fertile farmland were de-stroyed by tannery effluents.Not much has changed.

P.S. Subrahmanian“Ranga Villa”

No 8, Second Main RoadC.I.T. Colony

Chennai 600 004

Candidates needed

Even though the High Courthas cancelled the civic polls,

what MM said in its October 1stissue remains valied.

What do voters expect fromcandidates, be it from civic bod-ies, state legislatures or parlia-ment?

A political party must ensurethat its candidate has a passionto serve the public withoutexpectations and a hiddenagenda.

The candidate’s track recordof public service must be closelyexamined before putting up thecandidate for election.

If the candidate is seekingelection for a second or moretimes, his or her performance inthe previous periods must beclosely audited

The candidate must becapable and reliable and under-stand his/her role and theimportance of public service.

The candidate must have anadequate knowledge and feelfor the voters’ problems andissues and attempt to solvethem during the period of his/her tenure.

The candidate must neverpromise while campaigningwhat he/she cannot fulfill.

All the election promises ofthe candidates must be welldocumented/recorded and pub-lished and tested after theirelection/selection, periodically,and published for the benefit ofthe public/voter. Target vsactual performance must bevisible in a transparent/quanti-fiable manner

The Marketing principle,“Never promise what you can-not deliver and always delivermore than what was promisedand more than customer expec-tations”, must be adopted bythe candidate.

The candidate’s capability/ability to serve voters must bequantified and be data-based,not opinion-based.

The candidate’s moneypower must be minimised andthe hunger for popularity/powermust be diminished.

The candidate must under-stand that voters keep watchinghis/her performances through-out.

There must be appropriateremedial course of action fordefaulting councillors and thismust be made known to thecandidate when seekingelection.

OUR ADDRESSES

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For non-receipt of copies, change of address, and all other

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ern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai 600

006. On editorial matters: The Editor, Madras Musings, No.

5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai

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No personal visits or telephone calls, please. Letters

received will be sent from these addresses every couple of

days to the persons concerned and you will get an answer

from them to your queries reasonably quickly. Strange as it

may seem, if you adopt the ‘snail mail’ approach, we will be

able to help you faster and disappoint appoint you less.

– THE EDITOR

Candidates when electedmust have adequate time andinterest to meet and listen tovoters’ problems and issues.They must have time for votersand share their contact detailswith voters through newspapersand should visit voters once ina fortnight and inform themwhat good they have done thusfar and what they would dobefore their next visit

The candidate must be freefrom vested interests and hun-ger for popularity and power

Dr. H.K. Lakshman Rao33, Krishnapuri

Chennai 600 028

Jumble resolved

In the last issue of MadrasMusings the Printer’s Devil

had scrambled the first para-graph of Partab Ramchand’s‘September memory’. This ishow it should have read. Weregret the error.

–The EditorThirty years ago, on September22, 1986, at M.A. Chidam-baram Stadium in Chepauk,Maninder Singh is given outlbw at 5.18 p.m. and the Testbetween India and Australiaends in a tie – only the secondsuch result in 1052 matches.

Bouchet’s Map.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS October 16-31, 2016

Making the ugly wallsof Madras...

Murthy – the surfing championOctober 16-31, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Murthy holds a surf board with Arun Vasu and Jhonty Rhodes on his right and T.M. Krishna on his left.

Murthy Megavan.

� by Uma Muthuraaman

From an undistinguished boywho surfed the waves using

flotsam and styrofoam boards, tobecoming a champion surf-boarder, Murthy Megavan hascome a long way. He is at thecentre of an upcoming surfschool serving as a source of in-spiration for aspiring surfers,trainers, community builders andhumanity – lifting the lives ofmany, like a rising tide does.

India has a long coastline andplenty of beaches. Citizens of thecountry, and visitors too, havedaily access to many parts of thecoast along the Arabian Sea andthe Bay of Bengal. Yet, it is rareto hear about water-sports en-thusiasts in this cricket-frenziedcountry. This is exactly why thestory of Murthy Megavan is soremarkable.

Born in the late 1970s into apoor fishing family living in asmall settlement on Kovalam(Covelong) beach near Chennai(not to be confused withKovalam beach, Kerala), Murthydropped out of school in order toprovide for his family. His fatherleft the family due to a feud andMurthy had to shoulder the re-sponsibility of providing for hisgrandmother, mother and sister.This was not unusual then.Many youth in his place and withhis background would have donethe same.

But it was unusual that theyoung son of a fisherman didn’tlimit himself to catching fish. Hewanted to ride the waves.

Kovalam is essentially a fish-ing village although it is knownfor its beach culture as well. Thedaily catch Murthy brought inwas just about enough to feed hisfamily. He had nothing in excessto equip himself with in order toindulge his passion for surfing.So, wooden planks and flotsamserved as his first surfboards. Hetaught himself to surf by tryingand trying again.

In the beginning, he didn’tknow any surfing techniques.Nor did he have a trainer. Hesimply aligned his body with theplank to ride a wave.

He would practice for hoursand observe different types ofwaves. He says he made mentalnotes to correct his own mistakesand perfected the art of surfingthrough sheer hours spent in thesea. He’s not sure if it was his pas-sion for catching waves or his in-nate ability to ride them thatbrought improvement.

The person accredited withstarting the surf movement inIndia is Jack Hebner, an Ameri-can who was drawn to India’sspiritual side. At a time whensurfing was unheard of in India,he realised that different parts ofthe country’s coastline lentthemselves well to surfing in dif-ferent seasons.

Hebner set up a surf schoolthat combined spirituality withsurfing, consequently winninghimself the nickname ‘SurfingSwami.’

The surf school Hebnerstarted in 2004 in Mangalore wasa key milestone in India’s surfmovement. Cleverly combiningspirituality with surfing, the SurfSwami brought a significantnumber of surfers from the worldover to India. The surf move-ment has been growing since, al-though slowly. The best places tosurf in India are Mangalore,Kovalam in Kerala, Goa,Chennai, Pondicherry, and theislands of the Andamans. India’stop surf schools are in theseplaces. Every school offers train-ing and accommodation. Thetrend these days is to combineyoga on the beach before and af-ter surfing to enhance mind-body coordination.

Murthy had the chance tomeet the Surfing Swami atKovalam beach, Chennai, in2001. He borrowed the Swami’ssurf board and took only a fewminutes to adapt to it. In just ashort time he rode every swelllike a pro, showing no traces ofhaving used wooden planks untilthen to pursue the sport. TheSwami was instantly impressed.He left his phone number, urg-ing Murthy to get in touch withhim. But a not-so-literateMurthy didn’t know the citycodes and dial-in format to usethat number. So, for a few moreyears, he continued to remainundiscovered by the rest of theworld. But the few minutes spenton a real surfboard inspiredMurthy, against his family’swishes, to use all the family’smeagre savings to buy one.

Fishing and surfing were thedual aspects of his life until

Kovalam beach, like the rest ofthe Coramandel coast on the In-dian Ocean, was hit by a tsunamiin 2004. Having lived through(or perhaps, surfed through) thatnatural disaster right at his door-step, Murthy devoted much ofhis time towards communitybuilding. He enrolled at a localNGO and offered his time to im-prove the lives of the not-so-privileged around his home.

His family had very little buthe says there were many aroundhim who had even less — thismotivated him to be a giver.

In the years that followedMurthy’s tryst with the SurfingSwami, more and more peoplediscovered Chennai’s surf spots— some well-to-do locals, somevisiting Australians, a few Israe-lis, Americans, and Europeans.Every single surfer who came toKovalam beach noticed Murthyfor two reasons: he was a remark-ably dexterous surfer and he wasa devoted social worker. He hada genuine concern for people andwas helping build a self-reliantcommunity despite his own pooreconomic background.

Naturally, with this ability tomake such a fantastic first im-pression, Murthy struck up greatrelationships and friendshipswith people from around theworld. Some surfers shared theirsurf techniques with him, someshared fancy chocolates fromtheir home countries, somegifted him their old surfboards,and some went on to use theirown professions and talents tospotlight Murthy’s talent.

One of the first surfers to dis-cover Murthy was TobiasHartmann, a German expat inIndia. Tobias says, “I met Murthyin the summer of 2007 atCovelong Point, which was un-known at the time. I had started

to surf there with our sons Jakoband Viktor. I remember the sec-ond visit, when this young Indianvillager (Murthy) ran towards uswith an old surfboard under hisarm. He was an incredible surfenthusiast. Mind set on surfing,we shared a lot of waves withMurthy and an increasing num-

ber of young village boys whowere surfing with anything theycould find to catch a wave – tim-ber boards, styrofoam boards –anything that would float. Thesetalented youth were missing afew decent boards. Fortunately,we met Yotam Agam at thatsame time. Yotam organised aproper surfboard as a present forMurthy. That was the start ofMurthy and the Covelong Pointsurf saga…”

Like a true sportsman, for ev-ery new surfboard he received asa gift, Murthy passed on his oldsurfboard to an aspiring surfer inhis village. There were manyyoungsters in the village wholiked the sport but just couldn’tafford surfboards.

This was a boon for the boysat Kovalam fishing village —learning to surf and being able toinstruct others opened up en-tirely new opportunities to sup-port their erratic fishing liveli-hoods.

Yotam Agam, a well knownIsraeli entrepreneur in Chennai,took an immense liking toMurthy. He liked the boy’s atti-tude. He found him ingenious,optimistic and also consideratetowards others. Murthy neverapproached visiting surfers for

help or a loan, which he couldhave, given the excellent rapporthe had with most of them. In-stead, he just enjoyed surfing andhanging out with them withoutany strings attached.

An impressed Yotam Agamoffered to make a video aboutMurthy to share on YouTube —a video that went on to win theyoung fisherman a lot of fans,both online and on the shore.

Soon, the print media fol-lowed with their own articlesabout this gem of a sportsmanand the benefactor hidden onChennai’s shores. These articlesin the local dailies got the atten-tion of many locals who wantedto give the sport a try. Kovalambeach, which is about 40kilometres from Chennai, gradu-ally saw an increase in their num-bers on the weekends.

Visiting surfers came toKovalam beach looking forMurthy. They loved surfing withhim and sharing their stories.More importantly, they loved hisstory.

A prominent businessmanand sports aficionado inChennai, Arun Vasu, also tooknotice of Murthy’s talent.Murthy was already on a winningspree then. He had won coveted

places in many Asian surfingcompetitions in Sri Lanka, Indiaand Indonesia, which were hotlycontested by people from aroundthe world. He had a growing net-work of international fans.

Arun Vasu decided to investin Murthy. This was a huge turn-ing point for the surfer. The pa-tron generously offered to builda surf school around Murthy’stalent and to support it until theschool was able to generate itsown running costs.

So, Covelong Point SurfSchool opened its doors in No-vember 2012 (Covelong is anEnglish interpretation ofKovalam).

The surf season in Chennaistarts in the pre-monsoon monthof April and continues until theend of the monsoon season inSeptember. Covelong Point is anexposed beach and reef breakthat has pretty reliable surf. Off-shore winds are from the westnorthwest.

The ideal swell direction isfrom the east southeast. Typi-cally, this coast inherits the waveconditions in Bali two or threedays later. Waves at the beachbreak both left and right andthere is a right hand reef breaktoo. Surfing here means negoti-

ating dangerous rips but it alsomeans that a surfer can surf arelatively uncrowded peak.

Built with modern facilities,the Covelong Point SurfingSchool stands testimony to thesaying: “Follow your passion andpeople follow you.” The schooloffers a lovely view of the sea, aclean and promising restaurantthat serves up daily catches indelectable dishes, and a fewrooms to accommodate surferscoming from far and wide. In lessthan three years, Covelong Pointhas had over 300 students. Theschool has full-time staff to teachkayaking, kite surfing, and windsurfing, besides surfing itself.

Every single teacher in theschool is a local fisherman, hand-picked and trained by Murthy.These boys – Murthy’s boys –now excel at national competi-tions!

What sets Murthy’s teamapart from other surf schools inthe country is its service to thecommunity. Murthy intends toattract sports-minded (as op-posed to money-minded) people

with a sense of social service tothe community. The teachers atCovelong Point regularly leadbeach clean-ups. In the recentpast, they also organised healthcamps and eye check-ups for thelocals who have no access to reli-able health care. They have a nosmoking, no drugs, no alcoholpolicy to propagate clean andhealthy sporting habits. Theyhost a spectacular three-dayeclectic music and yoga festivalthat brings budding musicians,artists and sportspeople togetheragainst the backdrop of theocean, sun and sand.

The school sees a stream ofsurfers from Germany, Japan, Is-rael, France, and the US to keepit busy throughout the year. Surfschools like Covelong Point alterthe city’s (and even the nation’s)beach culture in significantways.

In this growing surf culturethere are many who ride a waveand some more who can turn thetide in their favour, but very fewlike Murthy who lift the lives ofothers.

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... look better –with streetscape ideas

We are in the 21st Century. There are manygadgets, whatsapps and several other

modes to communicate messages. Yet, painting onthe walls by political parties and pasting of postersby politicians, film-makers and individualscontinue as an eyesore in Chennai. Thesecommunicaters are yet to come out of these primi-tive ways of conveying messages. Why do themovie-makers indulge in pasting large posters onthe walls, electricity junction boxes, telephonejunction boxes and even road signboards, as ifpeople go to films only after looking at theseposters?

Magazines have now followed the trend.Instead of displaying their weekly or monthlymagazine posters in the newsmarts, they blatantlypaste them on the walls of houses of unknownpeople, making the walls ugly.

There are posters to announce the marriageor death of someone in some unknown colony.The huge pillars below the flyovers are also notleft free. Posters of all political parties dominatethem. At one of the flyovers, the beams bear thepolitical leader’s name and face prominently andthe local area leaders’ names are painted incolours that hit you in the face.

Do political parties think that the public isadmiring this artwork, or the huge banners thatblock the pavements, while standing on the road?

One Traffic Ramasamy is not enough forChennai to fight against this menace of targetting

public walls, pillars and beams. Swachh Bharatalso means clean walls and pillars.

We, the general public, do not know whetherthe Corporation has any control over this menacethat makes the city look ugly. No other country, Ibelieve, has allowed the use of walls of privateindividuals to such abuse.

If the throwing of household wastes in thecorner of the street is one kind of attack on thecleanliness of the city, these posters and paintingsare another kind of ‘acid attack’.

Another menace is fixing of ‘No Parking’boards with the advertisers’ names on the gates ofprivate apartments and buildings. There are aminimum five to six boards of various shapes andsizes hung on each gate. Other than advertisingwithout permission the services or products, theseboards serve no purpose. The irony is morevehicles are parked in front of the gates thanbefore!

The Chennai Corporation authorities shoulddo something to eliminate this ugly use of publicspaces. A clean city is what local residents andvisitors look for.

Some years ago, there was an ad by the Corpo-ration of Madras, saying ‘Be Proud of Madras’.The editor of The Mail then wrote: ‘We are proud,in spite of the Corporation!’.

Charukesicharukesiviswanathan@yahoo.co.in

The grandly-planned streetscape for LuzChurch Road – wide pavements, central

pavement median, displays of heritage spots ofLuz and Mylapore, special lighting and streetfurniture – is now history.

Some Mylaporeans challenged the idea,especially the central median plan and ChennaiCorporation dropped the plan the next day,leaving no space for other people to debate thewhole project.

Today, the wide pavements on either side ofthe road are being hijacked by hawkers. Somespots remain. And one such spot on the northpavement, opposite Amrutanjan and next toNalli’s, is being designed. It will host aneighbourhood map and photos of local heritageand have street furniture. Work by contractors ofthe civic body has begun.

Architect Kavitha Selvaraj who designed theLuz Church Road re-design project hopes localresidents can further enrich this spot. “People canline the wall with potted plants, for example,” shesuggests.

As an extension of this streetscape spot on thisroad, Kavitha hopes to re-design the walls thatwrap the local TANGEDCO and BSNL tele-phone exchange offices that flank Nageswara RaoPark and the street leading to Our Lady of LightChurch, Luz.

Just now, one corner is a open urinal and someparts of the rear wall has BSNL’s promos paintedon it.

“Can we use simple murals to showcase localheritage on these walls on both sides?" asksKavitha.

As an experiment, her colleagues havedesigned a mayil (peacock) mural image on thewall on the edge of the BSNL office fronting thePark’s main gate.

“If we convince BSNL and others who usethese walls and get Corporation to fund murals,

The rear wall of the BSNL Mylapore telephoneexchange office (top); a sample mural created on the wallon Luz Church Road, opposite Nageswara Rao Park(above).we can change the streetscape here,” saysKavitha.

– Mylapore Times reporter

6 MADRAS MUSINGS October 16-31, 2016

(Current Affairs questions are fromthe period September 16th to 30th.Questions 11 to 20 pertain toChennai and Tamil Nadu.)1. Which Indian airport hasbecome Asia-Pacific’s only airport,and one of the world’s few, toachieve a carbon neutral status?

2. Name the Nobel Laureate,former PM and President of Israel,who passed away recently.

3. What is the official name ofGurgaon today?

4. India will purchase 36 Rafalefighter jets from France. Whomakes the jets?

5. What honour has been accordedby the Union Government to 105-year-old Kunwar Bai fromChhattisgarh’s Dhamtari District?

6. Land Rover commissioned theworld’s largest Lego sculpture of aLondon monument, created with5,805,846 pieces, to launch its newvehicle ‘Discovery’. What is thisedifice?

7. Which Asian online giant isplanning to launch the world’s firste-commerce satellite next year toprovide people with the best veg-etables?

8. Who is to be the inaugural re-cipient of the annual Jesse OwensOlympic Spirit Award for a personwho has served as an inspiration insociety?

9. Lok Kalyan Marg is the new nameof which road in Lutyens’ Delhi?

10. Name Google’s new messagingapp, intented to rival WhatsAppand Facebook Messenger, that waslaunched recently.

* * *

11. Which Tamil film has been se-lected as India’s official entry forthe 89th Academy Awards forForeign Language Film category?

12. Where in RamanathapuramDistrict was the world’s largest so-lar power plant at a single location,with an installed capacity of648MW, commissioned recently?

13. The Asian Development Bankhas approved a $631 million loanfor building India’s first coastal in-dustrial corridor between Chennaiand which city?

14. Apart from Madurai andThanjavur, which other two TamilNadu cities have been shortlistedby the Union Ministry of UrbanDevelopment in the third batch ofSmart Cities Mission?

15. Which paddler from the Statebecame the second Indian to winan ITTF event (after A. SharathKamal) by clinching the men’ssingles title at the Belgium Open?

16. Name the famous Bengali poetwho took up a teaching assignmentat the Male Orphan Asylum inEgmore in 1848.

17. Which market in Chennai isnamed after the Telugu term for atiger’s cage?

18. Who wrote the detailed South-ern India: Its History, People, Com-merce and Industrial Resources, oneof the most popular reference bookson the history of Madras?

19. On which busy Chennai thor-oughfare is the Sri BalasubramaniaBhakta Jana Sabhai, synonymouswith Thiru Vi. Ka located?

20. Nimynbacka, Lingumbaucaand Moongumbaukum are some ofthe variants that occur in the SouthIndia Company records of whichbustling, present-day Chennailocality?

(Answers on page 7)

Besant to

Vasantha

� by K.V.S. Krishna

My book in abookstoreAnnie Besant.

Today I am on cloud nine! The journey skywards started lastSeptember when my book Seeing in the Dark, a translation

of R. Chudamani’s short stories, was released. If you have everseen a determined woman peering closely at airport bookshelvesin the months since then, it was me. The first anything is special,the first child, the first love, the first teacher, the first salary...make your choice. It is not that the next is less precious. Thefirst writes on a clean slate. This was my first book.

The circle of family and friends loyally attended the bookrelease function. The said circle also loyally asked for my signa-ture. One special member of the audience was my six year oldgrandson who sat patiently listening to the speeches just to seehis Paatti stand up. Then began the saga of ‘The Search of theBookshelves’. I really don’t know what I expected. I only knowI was sorely disappointed not to see a single copy of my bookanywhere. Then I told myself that perhaps the first edition hadsold out... completely. But as in the old black and white movieswhere two K.R. Vijayas or Saroja Devis appeared with flowinghair, one in black saree and one in white sari arguing with eachother, my black sari image appeared and dampeningly told me“Prabha, you’ve got a hope!”

Today I went to Star Mark at the Express Mall to buy booksfor my grandchildren in the US. Ruskin Bond seemed the rightchoice for my grand-daughter. I picked up two of his and thenwent around the store. I returned to Ruskin Bond. There... Icould not believe my eyes... were my books, Seeing in the Dark,nestling between Ruskin Bond and Amitav Ghosh. Not badcompany at all. I was thrilled. A slender sales girl was quietly re-arranging the books. I told her,” Do you know.. that is mine!”She didn’t know, it would seem, judging by the way she wasdropping her jaw. What was this grey haired lady in a grey cottonsaree trying to say?

“Ma’am , are you saying you are the writer?”“Yes, yes.”I picked up the book and showed the last page where I was

beaming from a picture.“Ma’am, shall I shift them all to the top shelf?”“ You will?” And I rushed away.I don’t think she had ever seen anything like this.Then I went up to the cashier.“You know what? You have my book!”“What, Ma’am?” Second jaw dropped.“The book I wrote... you have it there.” I took a deep breath.“Oh! Cash or card, Ma’am?”I will be more composed and dignified when my second book

hits the shelf!

– Justice Prabha Sridevan

“I was a student of Besant Theosophical School

during 1938-50, a school AnnieBesant had helped to establish.”She was greatly admired by thepeople of India for her contri-bution to the freedom move-ment as well as her devotion toeducation. She established theVasantha Press with her ownfunds, outside the TheosophicalSociety (TS) compound, topublish her political writings aswell as all the publications ofthe TS. She herself publishedsome 300 books.

Annie Besant became thePresident of The TheosophicalSociety in 1907 (till 1933). But,was Vasantha the real name ofthe press when it was started in1908? We do not know whogave the apt name, Vasantha.However, at the end of the day,Besant gifted it to the TS andthis acquisition was sold by theTS in 1973.

The Besant School’s prayersong was composed by Papa-

nasam Sivan with the wordsDevi Vasanthae and the BesantSchool magazine published an-nually, was named Vasantha,with students contributing to it.Similarly the School’s Scoutmovement was named ‘TheVasantha Boy Scouts andGuides’. Even the Krishna-murthi Foundation premises isnamed Vasantha Vihar. Thisbuilding came up on 6.5 acresoff Greenways Road. It was de-signed by an architect friend ofRabindranath Tagore and givenby Annie Besant in 1928 to J.Krishnamurthi, for his resi-dence. He used it for fivedecades.

N. Sriram was a devotedAssistant Editor of New Indiaand a right hand for AnnieBesant. His eldest son was bornon October 1, 1922, which isalso the birthday of AnnieBesant, So, he named his sonVasanth Nilakanta in herhonour. Similarly, a Theoso-phist devoted to Annie Besant,N. Swaminathan, named hisdaughter as Vasantha.

Papanasam Sivan was thefirst teacher of music when theBesant Memorial School wasfounded by G.S. Arundale withK. Sankara Menon as its Head-master and P.S. Krishnaswamyand K. Venkatala Sastry, theother two teachers. It was inau-gurated on June 27, 1934. G.Sundari writes in the bookSouth of the Adyar River, “I wasfive years old and was sitting onmy father’s lap. N.Sriram, theChairman of the School Com-

mittee, spoke first and he wasfollowed by an inspiring speechby Dr. G.S. Arundale, the thenPresident of the TS. PapanasamSivan, the music composer andmusician, known as the Thya-garaja of the 20th Century,composed Devi Vasanthe as atribute to Dr. Annie Besant atno one’s behest. His devotion toher had impelled him to do it.He has heard her soul-stirringlectures several times. Thoughhe did not know English, he un-derstood her, as she conveyedher message to the atman.” Thisprayer song could have beensung on the very first day of theschool.

When Papanasam Sivan firstarrived at Madras in 1929, itwas Rukmini Devi who was thefirst person to recognise his ge-nius. His association with hermatured to his becoming thecomposer and musician whenthe School started functioning.Kalakshetra was soon after-wards formed, in 1936.

About the first anniversaryof the School, G. Swaminathanwrites, “My proudest momentwas on the School Day in 1935,when I received – for profi-ciency in English, Mathematicsand Cricket – lotus petals fromthe Chief Guest, the ReveredRabindranath Tagore.” Thefirst SSLC batch had just ninestudents who appeared for theexams in 1937, but only twopassed the exams. The schoolnow has got more than 1000students, though the name hasbeen changed to The BesantTheosophical School.

Captain G. Swaminathan,the other student who passed inthe first batch in 1937, showedme some years back in 2007, hisScouts Scarf, which was a silksquare of violet with a border inyellow. Dr. G.S. Arundale wasthe Commissioner for Scouts inIndia in 1934 to 40.

Annie Besant’s last wishexpressed to Dr. Arundalebefore she passed away in 1933was to establish a school inAdyar, as the one she had ear-lier established was gifted to J.Krishnamurti at his request, sothat he could start The RishiValley School at Madanapalle,his native village. Dr. Arundalecarried out his promise to herand established the BesantMemorial School in 1934 inAdyar.

“I contacted my classmate(1950) Prof C.V. Chandra-sekhar and he translated theschool prayer song and sent itto me with his brief views”.

“Regarding the song com-posed by Bramhasri PapanasamSivan on Dr. Besant, it still con-tinues to be sung in all the insti-tutions under the KalakshetraFoundation on all special occa-sions of the institution. I hadthe good fortune of learningfrom him an Ashtapadi frompoet Jayadeva’s Geetagovindam,for which Rukmini Devi com-posed the dance for myarangetram in 1950.

The song on Dr. Besantwhich was written and tuned bySivan goes thus

Devi Vasanthe. Ragam:Vasantha, Talam: AdiTranslation

Pallavi: Oh Goddess Vasan-tha, Hail to you, Hail to your com-passion

Anupallavi: The queen ofspeech, you work tirelessly, youhave hoisted.

The standard (flag) in theworld, establishing the greatness oftruth, equality,

And wisdom through the rightpath, and celebrated by the rulersof the world.

Charanam: Condemning ego,you joined hands with the poor,helpless and downtrodden, you es-tablished the Religion of Truth asthe highest religion.

A fitting tribute to Dr.Annie Wood Besant. She neverelaborated on her maidenname, Annie Wood. However,the book South of the AdyarRiver has a picture of thicklywooded forest in its backcover!

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEB

To reach out to as many readers as possible who share

our keen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in

response to requests from many well-wishers –

especially from outside Chennai and abroad who

receive their postal copies very late – for an online

edition. Madras Musings is now on the web at www.

madrasmusings.com

– THE EDITOR

October 16-31, 2016 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

An indigenouslook atMadras history

Roberto de Nobili.

� by K.R.A. Narasiah

Vedachala Mudaliar* Devanayaga Mudaliar.Anandarangam Pillai.Vilasa, in 86 palm leaves storedin the Adyar Library and a moreimportant work on the socialconditions of 17th CenturyMadras.

A well-known Sanskrit poetof the late 17th Century, Venka-tadhvarin, living in Arasani-palai near Kanchipuram, com-posed the Visvagunadarsa Cam-pu, meaning ‘holding a mirror tothe universe’. A campu kavya isin prose and poetry form and inthis narration two semi-divinecharacters travel over India inan aerial vehicle observing theland below and offering a com-mentary on what they observe.Krisnau and Visvavasu are thetwo Gandharva-s, one a cynicand the other a positive thinker.After crossing North India, theyreach Tirupathi and then cometo Thiruvallur where the Vira-raghava temple engages theirattention. Then, after passingover Sriperumpudur, they cometo Thiruvallikkeni. In Sanskrit,the tank is called Kairavani,meaning ‘the pond of lilies’. Atthat point of time in history, thepond was south of where a tankexists today. (The old tank areais now a residential area namedVedavallipuram). Here there isan interesting discussion be-tween the two. Visvavasu, be-ing a positive thinker, speakswell of the temple, place andpeople while Krisnau faults ev-erything. He says that while thetemple and place may be good,the place is vitiated by the for-eigners (he refers to them ashunas) who “don’t even washthemselves after calls of na-ture.” But Visvavasu describesthe foreigners as having somevirtues. “They do not lie and arejust,” says he, probably takinginto account the judgementmeted out during Right-handand Left-hand caste disputes.He also notes the difference be-tween Muslim invaders and theEnglish in respect of temples.

The second treatise Dr.Raghavan mentions is the

Dr. V. Raghavan, while contributing to the Madras tercente-nary volume in 1939, could only quote two sources of Sanskrit

literature about Madras, though he knew about the existence ofyet another but which he could not lay his hands on at the time.The two that he quoted were Visagunadarsa Campu andAnandaranga Vijaya Campu, both notices of Madras in Sanskritworks. Much later, he discovered the manuscript of Sarva Deva

Anandaranga Vijaya Campucomposed in 1752 by poetSrinivasa to celebrate the livesof Thiruvengadam Pillai and hisson Anandarangam Pillai. Theoriginal palm leaf manuscript ofthis work was obtained by Pro-fessors K.A.N. Sastry and S.Vaiyapuri Pillai from the houseof Anandarangam Pillai inPuducherry. In this work,Srinivasa traces the family ofAnandarangam Pillai to one ofits very early members, Garbha-daraka (in Tamil Karuvendan),who lived in Ayanapura, today’sAyyanavaram. A generous

man, he was visited by poetsfrom Andhra Desa. It appearsfrom the manuscript thatGarbhadaraka was invited bythe King of Golconda. There isa corresponding work inTelugu, Anandarangarat Chan-damu, by one Kasturi Rangayya,which says that Ayyanavaramwas in Pattana Rajya, obviouslymeaning Madras. From boththese works, it is understoodthat the King of Golconda madeGarbhadaraka the lord ofVetrapura. Vetra in Sanskrit iscane (in Tamil pirambu) andtherefore Vetrapura is today’sPerambur.

The Anandaranga Campusays, Garbhadaraka had threesons named Solai, Uttara(Vadamalai) and Sridhara(Thirumalai). The family lin-eage is traced in the campu,which says Solai had a sonBommayya who in turn had twosons and a daughter. The sec-ond son was Thiruvenkata, whowas the father of Anandaranga.The Telugu work eulogisesThiruvenakata saying that hewas a linguist and had evenstudied Christianity, so that hecould argue with missionaries.

According to the campu,Anandaranga was born inSarvadhari year Phalgunamonth, corresponding to March1709.

The campu narrates the storyof Thiruvenkata living amongthe merchants and moving toChennapattina with his twosons and then on to Navapura.Obviously this means Pudu-cherry, nava meaning ‘new’ (inTamil pudu). Madras is men-tioned in this campu as Chenna-pattina and Chennake-savapura.

When Dr. Raghavan got theSanskrit manuscript of SarvaDeva Vilasa, he wrote a com-mentary on it. The narrativehere is more descriptive of theplace and persons and talksabout the social conditions ofthe then Madras. All the char-acters in the work are real and,therefore, historically this workis more important while study-ing 18th Century Madras and itssocial construct.

Sarva Deva Vilasa, meaning‘the dwelling place of all Gods’,that is, Madras to the anony-mous poet, talks of the impor-tant merchants of the city. Heretoo the structure of the text isin prose and poetry, but is notof classical Sanskrit. Using as itdoes in Sanskrit the transliter-ated Tamil idioms and phrases,show that the author was ofTamil origin but had learnedSanskrit. Once again the narra-tive is in the form of dialoguebetween two celestial figures,Vivekin and Ativivekin (wiseone and wiser one).

They follow the processionsof the great merchants who inthem ostentatiously show offtheir power, wealth and virility.At the start itself the poet de-clares the four merchants he isdealing with are greater thanBhojaraja – bhojadhik. The fourare called Kalingaraya, Sri-ranga, Vedachala and Deva-nayaka. They were all personswho actually lived in Madrasand find mention in the worksof colonial historians as well.

Dr. Raghavan has traced thefamily of Sriranga and says the

former Chief Minister of TamilNadu, Bakthavatsalam was adescendant of the family. Simi-larly, he has traced the family ofVedachala and got a portraitfrom one of the descendants, anAbhirama Mudaliar. VedachalaMudali was the son of KesavaMudali who is mentioned in co-lonial references. He appears tobe from Kalasai (now Thotti-kalai) and his grandfather isnoted in a poem of ThottikalaiSubramania Muni in his Kala-saikovai, a work in Tamil.

Devanayaka Mudali is alsomentioned in Company recordsas Dharmakartha of the Agas-teeswarar temple of Nungam-bakkam. His grandfather was adubash in Eyre Coote’s time.Though a staunch Vasihnavite,he supported other temples tooand a portrait of him was foundby Dr. Raghavan in a temple.Incidentally, there is a MadrasDistrict Record entry datedJune 6, 1820, where his signa-ture appears as S. DavyNaigum.

The colourful procession isdescribed and shows how thesemerchants vied with each otherto show off their wealth andpower. Their mistresses accom-panying them were talented intheir respective arts, like musicand dance, and were notewor-thy for their beauty. All thesemerchants, according to thepoet divine, bathed with theirmistresses in the pond so thatthe public could see them!

This narrative is importantto the present day historian asit reconstructs the social condi-tions existing then, and theequations between the Com-pany officials and the mer-chants. The Company was in-terested in having a loyal sub-servient class who would man-age the local population, a man-agement technique most suitedat that time. The English knewthat temples were the nodalpoints for society and the richmen wanted to have controlover them to show their su-premacy. In appointing thedharmakartha-s, the English en-sured that they had a set of loyalpeople who would carry out thewill of the governing authority.

The English are referred toas hunas and the wise one saysthat these foreigners are de-stroying the culture and the tra-ditions of the locals, while the

wiser one, here too, replies thatthe foreigners are just and havebetter modern equipment andarms. The foreigners are re-ferred to as Svethamukhis,white-faced ones, similar toAmerican Indians calling thewhite ‘paleface’.

While there is a certainamount of cynical remarksabout the English and theirbehaviour, the narrative alsomentions that certain mer-chants stood up to the English.

The topography of the townof Chennapuri is clear from thetext. There was a wall whichhas historic importance for a taxthat was never collected and isindicated as prakara. Otherplaces indicated in the text areViksaranya (Tiruvellore), Kala-sai (Tottikalai), Nungapuri(Nungambakkam), Toyadri(Tiruneermalai), Adhipuri(Tiruvottriyur), Pravalanagari(Coral Merchant Street) andNavasthala (Puduppakkam –new place). Persons mentionedin the text are Manali Venka-takrishna (son of Muthukrish-na) Mudaliar, Ravanappa, andColla Ravanappa Chetti, whobuilt the Kotwal Market andthe Kanyaka Parameswaritemple in 1803-4 from his ownfunds and owned a house in-side the Fort in 1822, in addi-tion to a property belonging tohim.

Other indigenous writing onthe English include several folksongs booklets of the eventsthat took place during the En-glish rule in Madras, while amuch better Tamil poem by oneVaradaraja Pillai was publishedin his India by Bharati on thecrash of the Arbuthnot Bank.Other folklore written in un-grammatical and colloquialTamil describe events like thefire in Peoples’ Park, the firstflight in Madras, and the Emdenshelling of the harbour. The in-formation found in them is reli-able in constructing the historyof Madras.

The best written record is, ofcourse, that of the diaristAnandarangam Pillai, which iswell known.

Answers to Quiz1. Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi; 2. Shimon Peres;3. Gurugram; 4. Dassault; 5. She has been chosen the ‘Swachh BharatAbhiyan’ mascot; 6. Tower Bridge; 7. Alibaba; 8. Muhammad Ali; 9.Race Course Road, where the PM’s residence is located; 10. Allo.

* * *

11. Visaranai; 12. Kamuthi; 13. Visakhapatnam; 14. Vellore and Sa-lem; 15. G. Sathiyan; 16. Michael Madhusudhan Dutt; 17. Puli bone(bonu) bazaar in Triplicane; 18. Somerset Playne; 19. TTK Road; 20.Nungambakkam.

* Dr. Raghavan obtained this picturefrom one Abhrama Mudaliar, adescendant.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS October 16-31, 2016

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Memories of films past

Mylapore for World Heritage status?(Continued from page 1)

known spots, it is perhaps LuzChurch that is really a survivorfrom the past in terms of itsstructure. There is, of course,much that is intangible inMylapore that forms a link tothe past, but that alone cannotmake for world heritage status.

The recent experience ofmaking out a case for Fort StGeorge to be declared a worldheritage monument, and onethat was unsuccessful, throwssome light on what exactly isneeded for a favourable hearing.The spot so chosen needs tohave some tradition or an archi-tectural feature or some impacton the world by way of historyor culture to merit preservation

in its entirety. Mylapore wouldnot stand up to much scrutiny.Yes, it does have temple proces-sions, a live shrine in worshipand is perceived as the home ofSouth Indian culture but, then,so do others. As for its architec-ture, there is not much of it thatis left. Most of the four MadaStreets are now filled with theugliest possible commercialstructures. What world heritagestatus are we talking about?

Lastly, even if such a statusis bestowed on Mylapore, it willbe accompanied by stringentguidelines that will have to beadhered to. Failing this, the ac-creditation can be withdrawn.Mylapore is now an example ofurban chaos. The four MadaStreets do not even have regu-lated traffic or parking arrange-

ments. The shops and commer-cial establishments have so farthwarted all attempts at enforc-ing discipline. When even suchbasic aspects of discipline areresisted, what price such UNstipulations as uniform signage,cleanliness and, above all, re-moval of all visual elements thatdistract from the heritage to bepreserved? Can any propertyowner in Mylapore counte-nance that?

It is best that Mylapore andthe rest of Chennai focus onpreserving what little of heri-tage that is left, and work to-wards improving the quality oflife. World heritage status is awild goose chase at this point oftime and at our levels of appre-ciation of our past.

� Some random reflections of a film buff turned film critic about the Englishand Hindi movie scene in the city over the last half century and more.

From a teenage film buff in the early 1960s to being a film criticfor a city newspaper for about 25 years, I have been a close

observer of the movie scene in Madras over the last half centuryand more, specialising in English and Hindi films. And what vividmemories they bring back for me even as I continue to watch oldclassics on YouTube.

One of my earliest recollections is seeing Ben Hur at Odeon(later Melody) in 1961. Movies then used to be shown in the citya year or two after their initial release abroad and this was not justconfined to English movies. Even Hindi movies were releasedsome months (or perhaps even a year) after their release inBombay and northern towns.

That same year I saw Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hain andGunga Jumna, both at Midland (later Jayaprada) and Hum Donoat Star Talkies. The three were prestige home releases of the threebiggest stars at the time, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and DevAnand. Naturally, they drew big crowds and had highly success-ful runs.

The most enduring memory of 1963 was seeing Taj Mahal atMidland and Mere Mehboob at Star. Both films in colour (a trendpicking up at a time, when most movies were still being shot inblack and white) and boasting super hit music by Roshan andNaushad. Predictably, they celebrated silver jubilee runs.

If there was one early phenomenon among movies that ran inthe city it would be Aradhana. It enjoyed a golden jubilee run in1969-70 at Little Anand. Rajesh Khanna was elevated to super-star status, Sharmila Tagore’s performance earned her a Filmfareaward and S.D. Burman’s foot-tapping music was being hummedall over town. It mattered little to moviegoers that ShakthiSamanta’s film was a remake of To Each his Own, a 1946 Holly-wood tearjerker that brought Olivia de Havilland the first of hertwo Oscars for best actress.

And can I forget the “friendly” competition between Bobbyand Yaadon Ki Baraat in 1973-74? Raj Kapoor’s blockbuster wasreleased at Midland and Nazir Hussain’s entertainer was on showat Star. Released about the same time, the two films celebratedtheir silver jubilees and then their golden jubilees. The dialogueand the music was played repeatedly on the juke boxes in restau-rants.

But perhaps the most enduring memory will be the serpentinequeues outside Sathyam theatre during the long run of Sholay in1975-76. The queues were seen day after day, week after week asthe popularity of Ramesh Sippy’s magnum opus never ceased.Amjad Khan’s dialogues, now part of filmy folklore, was oneveryone’s lips.

With the coming of television, which made its debut in thecity in August 1975, it was inevitable that there would be somesort of dip in the popularity of films. People preferred to sit andsee the news and entertainment programmes at home. These wereinsipid and limited to a few hours, but TV being a novelty quite afew people became addicted to it even in the early years. Sure, anAmitabh Bachchan starrer still drew crowds, but there was little

doubt that serpentine queues over an extended period as well assilver jubilee runs of films were going to be a thing of the past.The coming of cable TV in the 1990s ensured that.

The English movie scene was a bit different. Films sometimeswere shown in the city a year or so after their original release andif there were censorship problems then it could even result in alonger wait. So city film-goers who loved English films had to bepatient before they could see My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music,Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, The Graduate, Jaws, TheGodfather and so on. The most popular were the James Bondmovies which always drew crowds and had successful runswhether 007 was played by Sean Connery or Roger Moore. Andin the 1980s and 90s, moviegoers made a beeline for the actionfilms of Stallone and Schwarzenegger.

A phenomenon among English movies released in the city wasMacKenna’s Gold. Nothing matched the popularity of this Gre-gory Peck-Omar Sharif starrer and it demanded a return viewingfor countless moviegoers more than once. Released in 1970 atDevi it ran for some 40 weeks – something unheard of for anEnglish movie – and people talked about the action scenes, thestunts and the stunning photography for years afterwards. It cer-tainly struck a chord with the movie going public in the city likefew films before or since.

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Till October 30: Stellar Memories –an exhibition of abstract paint-ings by V. Hariram (at VarijaGallery, DakshinaChitra).

Till October 30: An exhibition ofartworks by Nupur Chatterjee onBengal Cats (at Kadambari Gal-lery, DakshinaChitra).

November 5-30: Traditions ofTamil Nadu – an exhibition ofportraits by Antony Raj andRamu (at Kadambari Gallery,DakshinaChitra).

November 5-30: I see what I pant –an exhibition of artworks byAnamika V. (at Varija Gallery,DakshinaChitra).

* * *WorkshopsFor ChildrenNovember 19: Bookmark making.

8-14 years (at DakshinaChitra).For AdultsNovember 12-13 & 19:

Terracotta jewellery (at Dak-shinaChitra, 10.30 a.m.-5.30p.m.).