WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXVI No. 24 April 1-15, 2017

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• The Begum’s 6 gardens

• The Madras Helix

• Two Scripophilists

• Yamaraja’s brother

... But it’s a sorry state, seen below,we keep this landmark in

A financial

& intellectual

deficit

(Continued on page 4)

The annual Budget for Tamil Nadu was passed amidst what canonly be termed as Masonic secrecy. It made it to the news only

after the passage of the Finance Bill and, when it became public, itdid not make for good reading. Tamil Nadu, often held up as amodel state, not only showed a record deficit, it would appear thatthe Government does not have a clue as to what needs to be doneto stem the rot either.

The State’s finances were termed by experts to be in a shambleseven before the Budget was presented and the final figures whenrevealed did not provide for any comfort either. The fiscal deficitstood at 4.58 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product(GSDP). This was in clear violation of the 3 per cent norm stipu-lated by the Fiscal Responsibility Management Act. The StateGovernment has of course, blamed it on several factors –demonetisation, sluggishness of the world(!), and Indian economy,and most laughably, fall in revenue owing to the ban imposed bythe High Court on the registration of property in unauthorisedlayouts. The last would almost appear to indicate a frank admis-sion that the political establishment would love the status quo tocontinue on rampant construction in areas such as wetlands. TheGovernment, on the other hand, is refusing to look at how its con-sistent fixing of guideline values for sale of properties at unreason-ably high levels has brought down the volume of transaction and,thereby, revenue as well.

The State Government has taken comfort in the fact that asignificant part of its deficit can be attributed to its taking over the

Picture perfect...

Valluvar Kottam as seen by Dr. Vijay Sriram’s camera.

Whether you like it or not,Valluvar Kottam, a mo-

nument dedicated to the an-cient Tamil poet, saint and phi-

(By a Special Correspondent)

losopher is a landmark in Ma-dras, a reflection of the stonesculptors’ skills. Sadly, more of-ten than that, their striking edi-

fice looks shabby as a result oftotal lack of maintenance.

Clothes to dry, refuse everywhere, battered showcases, peeling walls, faded and frayed danglers, indifference to maintenance, andgraffiti, the showpieces in today’s Valluvar Kottam.

(Continued on page 8)

(By The Editor)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2017

The Man from MadrasMusings has been flooded

with queries from readerswanting to know if he, MMM,did attend the Governmentsponsored event in which hewas asked to address bureau-crats on heritage. For thosewho did not read it, a quicklook at the previous issue ofMadras Musings, either inpaper or electronic form,should fill you in. And talkingof electronic form, yes, thegood olde webbe site was downfor a good fifteen days andgave the Chief an opportunityto rail at all these new fanglednotions. After all, youdon’t see a paper copy of amagazine becoming unavail-able, do you, he appeared toimply. But anyway, the website is up and running oncemore.

But to get back to the storyof the Government Saar’s heri-tage event. MMM kept mull-ing over whether he ought togo or not. He looked at the pa-per invite and its e-cousin andfinally decided against it. Thehotel where it was supposed tobe held was somewhere in theboondocks and even thoughthe voice on the telephone hadrather tantalisingly held out a

gret email. He did not expectany acknowledgment and nordid he get any. But a day beforethe scheduled event he got acall asking if it was indeedSaar at the other end of thewire. MMM assured the voicethat it indeed was. Whereuponthe voice said in a tone ofbarely suppressed glee that itwas sorry but the event was off.The transfer of Saars hadresulted in a new Saar takingover from the old Saar and newSaar, on the first day in his newposting did not want to be partof an event planned by oldSaar. It was clearly a case ofSaar gripes. MMM repliedthat he was not planning toattend anyway and had sentan email to that effect. To thatthe voice retorted that nobodyread emails in its departmentand MMM, if he needed tocommunicate, was best offsending his letters by registeredpost with acknowledgmentdue.

MMM must here tell youthat no matter how backwardthese Saars are in their officialcorrespondence, they arepretty much up to date in theirprivate emails. After all that ishow they fix their post-retire-ment directorships and inter-

Communicating with Saars

national assignments. But oldhabits die hard, as MMMrealised, when he began receiv-ing emails from a retiredpoobah. They were all neatlynumbered and the latest re-joiced in SCIV-GF-MFD17032013270! Can you beatthat for gobbledegook?

Rail etiquette

What is it that makes theaverage Indian a cell-

phone using monster each timehe/she embarks on a rail jour-ney? The Man from MadrasMusings had ample time toponder over this issue as hetravelled by train from Banga-lore to Madras recently. Theprevailing atmosphere was ex-traordinarily like the charge ofthe Light Brigade, with phonesto the left and right of MMMvolleying and thundering.Clearly in booking himself onthe train, MMM, like someonein the poem, had blunder’d(though why Alfred LordTennyson could not have speltblundered like everyone else isa puzzle to MMM) and had tosuffer the rest of the journey,which seemed to stretch end-lessly, the train taking its timeto cover even half a league,something that even the LightBrigade would have made lightof.

Having all the time in theworld, MMM was able to makea list of the common kinds ofcalls people make:

1. Announcing to severalfriends and relatives the

achievement of boarding thetrain, with supplementarynotes on the difficulties faceden route to station, and thequarrel with the porter.

2. A short while later, call-ing up friends and relatives yetagain to tell them that tea andsnacks had been served, com-plete with a detailed analysis ofthe samosa, the sweet and thepacket of fried nuts.

3. Contacting friends andrelatives each time a station ispassed to announce with un-bounded glee that that particu-lar station had indeed beenpassed.

4. With the serving of din-ner, a call to all friends andrelatives to describe the bill offare along with how distant thepreparation was from the waymother made it.

5. There is a lull thereafterbarring a few sounds to indi-cate that digestion is well un-der way. As the journey nearsits end, the calling picks up infrequency and volume as eachtries to outdo the other in giv-ing instructions to chauffeurs,call taxi drivers, and bookingservices as to where and howthey, the passengers, are to bepicked up.

6. In the intervals between

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

lunch invitation, MMM de-cided against it. Talking aboutlunch invitations, has MMMever told you about the timehe was invited by one of theSaars of I Am Superior cadrefor breakfast at a five star ho-tel? This was an old schoolchum of MMM’s who is nowholding a fairly senior positionin a neighbouring state. Backin the old days he had been afairly simple human being, butbecoming a Government Saarhad given him ideas of immor-tality. In short, he had becomethe kind of stuffed shirt thatgets so liked in the service.Anyway, MMM drove all theway to the five star hotel onlyto be met by His Highnesswho shook hands and said thathe was glad to have met MMMbut he was going to havebreakfast with his ministerand so that was that. Not anapology, mind you! MMMdrove back home to a ratheramused She Who Must BeObeyed also known as hisGood Lady and had breakfastwith her.

It was a recall of experi-ences such as these that ledMMM to the conclusion thatthe present heritage event wasbetter off without him. Hewould in all likelihood not bemissed anyway. What the pan-jandrums needed was a recordfor the files of an event havingbeen held and what did it mat-ter if MMM was there or not?And so MMM fished out theemail ID to which a reply hadto be sent and typed out a re-

the above calls, there areplenty of other calls to discussthe most intimate of details invoices like foghorns – wherethe house and locker keys arekept, how so and so and suchand such are trying hard for ababy and are now undergoingspecial treatment, how theholiday from which the pas-senger is returning was spoiltby the shoddy hospitality ofthe hostess, whose name isloudly bandied about.

7. As the train nears BasinBridge there are calls onceagain with the hope that thereshould not be a halt there andwhen there is, yet another callto curse the railways for delay-ing arrival.

8. Lastly –a call to allfriends and relatives on arrivalto indicate arrival.

MMM could not help re-flecting that the cell-phone isjust around 15 years old. Hewonders as to how people be-fore its arrival managed per-fectly well without it.

Tailpiece

And so, Mater Dei’s partyis now officially split into

two, one with a hat and theother with an electric pole, thetwo leaves now being refriger-ated. The Man from MadrasMusings could not help recallhow Mater Dei herself oncecontested the elections with arooster as her symbol. That ledto several jokes, but let us notgo there.

– MMM

INTACH seeksmoreinformationBuilding Crafts

The Heritage Craft & Com-munity Division [HCCD]

of the Indian National Trust forArt and Culture Heritage iscompiling a Directory of BuildingCrafts to serve as a documenta-tion of the crafts that have beentraditionally used in India’s ar-chitecture, including the vari-ous techniques and materials.The Directory will contain ex-amples and illustrations ofbuildings and structures usingthese crafts; and will also docu-ment artisans and craftsmenstill engaged in these craftforms.

The listing and documenta-tion of traditional and vernacu-lar building crafts of theSaurashtra region in Gujaratand the Chettinad region inTamil Nadu has been com-pleted.

The documentation reportof the Saurasthra region covershistory and culture, buildingcraft communities, resourcemapping and the building craftof the region such as Patu-Pidiyaroof, stone masonry, carving,metal casting, adobe brick con-struction, structural woodwork,wood carving, oxide flooringand terrazzo flooring technique.

Similarly, documentation onthe Chettinad region covers thehistory of the Chettinad com-munity, urban planning, archi-tecture and building crafts inChettinad which are Athanguditiles, Chettinad lime plaster,wood and stone craft, and clayroof tiles.

The Chettinad region, asmall area in Tamil Nadu, isknown for its rich architecturalheritage and the crafts applied,during the 18th-20th centuries.It flourished due to the interna-tional trade of some of the localfamilies.

The Building Craft Heritageof Chettinad is both diverse anddifficult to keep alive due to thepressures of modern mass pro-duction. There are some dis-tinctive and unique crafts thatmakes Chettinad unique. Theapplication of these crafts to thepalatial houses of local wealthyfamilies has turned this smallregion into a museum of archi-tectural jewels.

There are different architec-tural elements, local and im-

ported, that are characteristic ofChettinad mansions: the floor-ing tiles made in Athangudiarea; the terracotta roof tiles tosend rainwater to the court-yards; the exclusive lime plaster(made out of sea shell, nutmeg,egg white, etc.) for covering thewalls; the wood and granite col-umns; door frames, bracketsand beams with rich and el-egant carving; the stucco andstone figures on the facade ofhouses; the rich ornamentedbalustrades, cornices and fres-coes resembling Thanjavurpaintings.

Industrial Heritage

The Architecture Heritageof INTACH embarked on

identification of IndustrialHeritage in India, for which sec-ondary data collection fromvarious sources has been initi-ated:

The typologies of buildingsand including Railway Station /Power Station/ Ports/ Aque-ducts, Bridges. Mills: Placeswhere raw materials are groundfor making different substancese.g. food products/ chemicals/textiles/ wind & water mills/paper/ cotton. Factories: Placeswith big machines or plants forproducing machinery or goods,e.g. printing/ manufacturingfirecrackers/ matchboxes/shipbuilding/ electronic goods.Mines: Iron ore/ Coal/ Gold/Diamond/ etc. Warehousesand Stores: For apparels/ foot-wear/ accessories/ cold storage,etc.

State of Built Heritage

The State of Built Heritageof India is collating infor-

mation on cases of ‘unpro-tected’ buildings. This com-prises information on the plightand issues concerning builtheritage, collated State-wise aswell as under ten thematic sec-tions. It is being processed forpublication.

The initiative from the rec-ommendations of this project,Mission Municipalika, i.e. com-munication with MunicipalCommissioners and INTACHConvenors, has commenced inselected cities. The objective isto set out the notification pro-cess for built heritage in thecities. (Courtesy: Virasat, theINTACT Journal)

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEB

To reach out to as many readers as possible who share our keeninterest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response to requests frommany well-wishers – especially from outside Chennai and abroadwho receive their postal copies very late – for an online edition,Madras Musings is now on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

– THE EDITOR

March 16-31, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

LOST LANDMARKS

OF CHENNAI

The sixgardens ofthe Begum

– SRIRAM V

There is an erroneous storyfloating around that Che-

pauk is actually Cheh Baugh, orsix gardens that once stoodwere, all belonging to theNawab of Arcot. However, it iscoincidental to note that theBegum of Arcot did own sixgardens in Madras! The detailsof the properties and theirlocations are given in one of theearly cases of the High Court ofMadras, in which Her HighnessAzim Un Nissa Begum, “nikahwife of the late Nawab of theCarnatic” sued for restorationof her ownership over the sixgardens, all of which had beentaken over by the OfficialReceiver of the CarnaticProperty following the East In-dian Company’s decisions in1855. The Nawab in question isnever mentioned by name butit would be reasonable to sur-

mise that he was GhulamGhouse Khan, the last of thetitular Nawabs, who died in1855.

The Begum’s plea had it thatshe was the absolute owner of“Rushkairam or Woods Gardenon the Mount Road, Madras,Umdah Bagh or MacLean’s Gar-den on the Mount Road,Mahbub Bagh or Turnbull’s Gar-den in the village of Adyar, in-cluding a parcel of land inMowbray’s Road, Ghaus Bagh inNungumbakkam, Farah Bagh orDare’s House in Ennore andAhmed Bagh or Farren’s Housein Red Hills.” The claims andcounterclaims are long and con-tentious, with the Nawab in hislifetime having mortgaged allthese properties in exchange forready cash. The principal credi-tor, however, appears to havebeen Richardson & Co., one of

Paranjothi’s son came andsaw me years later when I wasin the Ministry of Commerce.By then, both his pen and the-atre were very popular.

Dr. G. Sundaram, IAS RetdA 601, “Dugar Apartments”

Keshav Perumal PuramGreenways RoadChennai 600 028

Waterfowl Count

Referring to the captionaccompanying the pictures

from Vedanthangal last fort-night, The Madras Naturalists’Society writes that they weretaken as part of the Asian Wa-terfowl Count (AWC), 2017.Three teams counted waterfowlat Sholinganallur (Perumbak-kam Tank), Vedanthangal,Karikkili, Siruthavur, Manam-pathy, Thaiyur, Adyar Estuary,Cheyyur, Kelambakkam, Kat-rambakkam, Manimangalam,Amarambedu, Chembaram-bakkam, Tenneri and Kaveri-pakkam.

The total count was 25,124waterfowl, of which 5,073 werein Vedanthangal. There were24 species sighted in Vedan-thangal, the most numerousbeing Egrets (2,500) followedby Spoon-billed Pelicans(1,100) and Black-headed Ibis(520).

Remembering PKS

The remarkable museum(MM, March 16th) that

commemorates SrinivasaRamanujam is entirely due tothe selfless dedication P.K.Srinivasan whose two passionswere Ramanujan and makingMaths interesting. He workedin Muthialpet High School, oneof his students being Bose whooffered his space for the mu-seum. It is sad that the Govern-ment of Tamil Nadu had takenno interest in remembering itsgeniuses.

PKS’s old students helpedhim to bring out two volumeson Ramanujan, which continueto serve as references. PKS be-came a Fulbright scholar whenJohn Kennedy wanted reform ofMaths and science education inschools to match with the So-viet Union. PKS acted as a trail-blazer in that movement. Hewas one of the founder membersalong with me of the Associa-tion of Mathematics Teachersof India. He conducted numer-ous workshops in associationwith NCERT. He brought a

whiff of fresh air to any activityhe was involved in.

Taskmaster that he was, hewould not accept slipshod work.He had immense faith in youngstudents and they never failedhim.

My association with PKSwas six decades old and weworked together in modernisingMaths curricula and textbooks.

S.S. Rajagopalan30, Kamarajar Street

Chennai 600 093

Pilot negotiations

The office of ParanjothiSanjivi (MM, March 16th)

was in a building just oppositeChristian College High Schoolon Linghi Chetty Street, whereI was a student in 1948-49. Itwas mostly lawyers occupyingthe building. My grand-father’soffice was just next toParanjothi Sanjivi’s and he wasworking on this collaborationwith the Pilot Company of Ja-pan at that time itself. I used togo to my grand-father’s office-cum-residence daily for lunch.There was a young womanworking for Paranjothi, perhapsa relation or employee, whoused to get her astrologicalchart examined by my grandfa-ther!

the many firms that then ex-isted in Madras for the sole pur-pose of loaning money to theNawabs at usurious rates of in-terest.

* * *The first three of these prop-

erties are easily identifiableeven today. Rushkairam waswhere Taj Club House nowstands, its gardens covering thespace now occupied by Agur-chund Mansions. Originally agarden bungalow, Rushkairam isbelieved to have been built byCol. Patrick Ross, the man whogave much of Fort St. George itspresent contours. The Begumherself never lived in it, leasingit repeatedly to several of theCompany’s servants. It wasknown as Wood’s Garden(Wood’s Road runs alongside)

after Edward Wood, who in1811 was Registrar of theSudder Court and later ChiefSecretary. In the late 1800s,Rushkairam became the CastleHotel. It was later bought by thebuilder Khaleel Shirazi whobuilt on the Mount Road sideKhaleeli Mansions, which afterIndependence was auctionedand came to be named after itsbuyer – Sah Agurchund Man-mull. Rushkairam remained withthe Khaleeli family till the1990s when it was bought anddemolished to make way for thehotel, now managed by theTaj.

* * *Umda Baugh is now the

Quaid e Milleth GovernmentArts College and stands exactlyopposite Agurchund Mansions.In 1816, Colah SingannaChetty, a dubash, owned it. Itwas later acquired by the Arme-nian millionaire Edward SamuelMoorat. In the second half ofthe 19th Century, though it wasowned by Azim Un NissaBegum, the house was rented bythe principal wife of the Nawab,Khair Un Nissa Begum, and be-came the social epicentre of theMuslim aristocracy in Madras.This was where luminaries suchas Sir Syed Ahmed Khan,founder of the Aligarh MuslimUniversity, and His ExaltedHighness Mir Mahbub AliKhan Bahadur, the Nizam ofHyderabad, stayed when theyvisited Madras.

In the late 19th Century, theBegum, or her descendants,sold the property to theGujarati business family of LoddKrishnadoss Balamukunddoss.In 1901, the All India MuslimEducational Conference washeld in Madras and a requestwas made that the Madrasa-i-Azam, founded in 1849 andfunctioning till then inChepauk, be given the property.The Government acquiredUmda Bagh from the Lodd fam-ily, who were kind enough tosell it at less than market rateson coming to know that it wasto be used for an educationalinstitution. The Madrasa-i-Azam came to be housed in the

original Umda Bagh palace,which is now in a serious stateof disrepair. The Diwan Khanaof Firuz Hussain Khan Bahadur,principal agent to the Begum,became the residence of thePrincipal of the school. Amosque was built in the campusin 1909. In the same compoundwas set up the GovernmentMohammedan College in 1919,which acquired its handsomeset of buildings within the com-pound in 1934. The institutionbecame the GovernmentWomen’s College after Inde-pendence and subsequentlycame to include Quaid eMilleth in its name, in honourof Muhammad Ismail Sahib,leader of the Indian UnionMuslim League. It is not clearas to who the Maclean waswhose name is referred to in thelegal papers in connection withthis property.

* * *From the fact that there still

is a Turnbull’s Road in thevicinity we can deduce thatMahbub Bagh, or Turnbull’sGarden, was somewhere in theChamiers Road area though itcannot be traced now.There are at least three Turn-bulls of prominence in Madrashistory, but the one most likelyassociated with this propertywas probably S R Turnbull whoin 1875 became the firstCaptain of the Madras BoatClub. Completely untraceableis the Begum’s fourth garden,Ghaus Bagh in Nungambak-kam.

* * *Farah Bagh is more easily

traced though it is now impos-sible to pinpoint its precise lo-cation. From the fact that it isreferred to as Dare’s Garden, wecan deduce that it was occupiedby J W Dare, junior partner andlater Director of Parry & Co.,after whom the Company’sheadquarters in Parry’s Corneris still named. A dashing bach-elor who cut a fine figure inMadras society, Dare was “aprime mover among the ‘partyof gentlemen’ who resorted to

Agurchund Mansions in Rushkairam Gardens.

(Continued on page 6)

started paying attention to thework of the ‘Madras Group’.Among themselves, theystarted referring to the triplehelical model as the MadrasHelix.

So, how did GNR hit uponthis triple helical structure?The scientist has said that as-tronomy gave him inspirationfor the ‘coiled-coil’ model.Think of the night sky: the ro-tating Moon, which also re-volves around Earth, alwayspresents the same side toEarth. Similarly, in collagen, achain of molecules (the aminoacid called glycine) alwaysfaces the centre of the triplehelix.

More simply: the collagenhas three helices, “braided inthe manner of the pigtail of along-haired maiden from Ma-dras,” as The Hindu’s sciencecolumnist D. Balasubramanian

4 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2017 April 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Rambling in our museums (2) ... with N.S. Parthasarathy

A ‘period’ museum– A glimpse of a historical era

The Madras Helix

The double helix is, perhaps, one of the most iconic structures from the world of science. The DNA, with itsintertwined spiral shape, is the molecule of heredity. Decoding its structure and understanding its function inthe cell was a big scientific breakthrough in the 1950s.

Not far from the banks of the River Cooum, in the heart of a national research institute, there is an auditoriumcalled Triple Helix. Does this name have a basis in fact? Or it a case of taking poetic license with a well-known symbol?Not at all, as it turns out.

The name Triple Helix points to a David and Goliath story from the rarified realms of research. The plot involvesa puzzle in molecular biology; the cast spans continents. A scientist in Triplicane is pitted against celebrated research-

put it. Perhaps, GNR was sub-liminally inspired by his belovedwife Rajam’s everyday coiffurejust as much as he was inspiredby distant celestial bodies.

For a variety of reasons,GNR did not get immediaterecognition for his insight intothe structure of collagen. Un-deterred, he took the criticismaimed at the Madras Helix andworked to find the underlyingprinciples which determinewhat shapes protein chains canand cannot take.

By doing this, he came upwith the very grammar of pro-tein folding. To this day, theRamachandran Plot (or map),is used to validate protein struc-tures of ever-increasing com-plexity.

Like the Raman Effect,Heisenberg’s UncertaintyPrinciple, or Einstein’s Theoryof Relativity, the Rama-chandran Plot has made thescientist behind it memorable.Applying laws of physics to bio-logical phenomena is now anew field called biophysics.

GNR is not a mere footnotein the literature of collagenstructure.

During his tenure, hemade the University of Ma-dras a place of interest toleading structural biologists.Back in the 1960s, heorganised two internationalsymposia in Madras, one inthe winter of 1963 and theother in the winter of 1967.Nobel laureates were amongthe attendees.

After close to two decadesin Madras, GNR returned toIISc in Bangalore to set up theMolecular Biophysics Unit.The division he headed atTriplicane is now the Depart-ment of Crystallography andBiophysics. As a living legacy,GNR (1932-2001) has spawneda dynasty of scientists whowork in India and abroad ad-dressing biological questions instructural terms.

In a tribute to a pioneeringbiophysicist’s original insight,and as a token of their collabo-ration, CLRI has named its lec-ture theatre the Triple HelixAuditorium. That name is alsoa reminder of the time when afledgling ‘Madras Group’ tookon a vexing problem in molecu-lar biology, competed with thebest brains in the world, andcame out well on top.

The Fort Museum estab-lished in 1948 in the Ex-

change Building, a historic pro-tected building in Fort St.George, seems to draw visitorseven on a working day after-noon. It was a pleasant surpriseto see well over 150 visitors goinground the exhibition rooms.They had to jostle and try forenough time to appreciate thevalue and significance of eachexhibit.

The museum is a period mu-seum distinct from, say, history,art or cultural museums, itstheme being the colonial period;it exhibits only artefacts relatingto that period. The museum be-gan with a small collection ofobjects of the East India Com-pany and subsequent colonialitems donated by the then Ma-dras Presidency Government,the St. Mary’s Church authori-ties, the disbanded army unitsand others. With subsequent ac-quisitions, over the years, thereare now 3,661 registered antiq-uities in the collection.

The antiquities are displayedin ten galleries spread over threefloors. An imposing marblestatue of Lord Cornwallis (1738-1805) dominates the entrance tothe museum. The base of thestatue depicts the scene of sur-render of two sons of Tippu Sul-tan to the British as hostages.

In the Porcelain Gallery whatstrikes the visitor is the porcelaintableware of the 17th Centuryused by the top officials of theEast India Company and thoseof the Arcot Nawab. They arestriking for their designs – thetwo distinctly different in motif– their enormous size, and theirdurability over the years.

In the Portrait Gallery, the oilpaintings include those ofGeorge III and his consort,Queen Victoria, and RobertClive. Another noteworthypainting is the earliest depictionof Fort St. George (1738).

In the Miscellany Gallery, ondisplay is the silverware donatedby Elihu Yale. Also of interest are

the enormous locks for the gatesof the Fort – apparently implyinga belief that assurance of secu-rity was in direct proportion tothe size of the locks – and apalanquin of the Arcot Nawabs.

In the Prints and DocumentGallery, there is a fine display ofdrawings by the famous ThomasDaniell and his nephew Will-iam. Important among the docu-ments are some original letters ofRobert Clive and other historicfigures. An 8 cm x 12 cm Book ofCommon Prayer printed in 1746and The Bible printed in 1660and used by Streynsham Master,Governor of Fort St. George,who was responsible for thebuilding of the oldest AnglicanChurch east of Suez, St. Mary’sin the Fort. Handwritten, largesize Church Registers of Bap-tisms, Marriages and Burials(1680-1786) are well preserved.

The Indo-French Gallerycontains exhibits like fine, deco-rated porcelain, clocks, stampsand coins issued by the French inIndia, as well as furniture,lampshades and clocks. Artefactsfrom the Wodeyars, of Mysore,such as portraits, paintings of theMysore School, coins, flags andappreciation letters are on displayin the Wodeyar Gallery.

which are sensitive to tempera-ture and exposure to light, con-trolled lighting is now adoptedand monitored with meters tomeasure the glare and adjustedmanually according to the pre-vailing natural light and conser-vational norms. Direct contactwith nails or metal objects isavoided for all exhibits, especiallymetallic exhibits like weaponsand shields, by placing or prop-ping them on acrylic supports.Guide notes in Braille are placedat all displays. Above all, the pre-cincts are maintained in an ex-cellent state of tidiness.

To enliven their experience,children and students are pro-vided attractions in the form of a

“talking” cannon and a rotatingcannon. The young visitors arefree to handle and manipulatethese devices to learn more aboutthem. Admission is free for thisclass of visitors. Entry fee for el-ders has been kept very low toencourage attendance. I was toldthat this was unlike the practicein museums in developed coun-tries which recover a good part ofupkeep expenses through sub-stantial admission fees, and stillattract a large audience. Enqui-ries showed that fund availabilityis not a problem for routine main-tenance and replacements norfor major improvements.

To enlarge its collection,however, the museum dependson contributors who possess olddocuments or souvenirs relatingto that period. Response frompotential contributors has beenfeeble and, as such, much ofwhat is exhibited tends to be verymuch unchanged, making re-peat visits superfluous. One wayto attract original and repeat vis-its could be through supplementslike documentaries, interestinglectures, special events andprogrammes of re-enactment of

historical episodes that centre onthe Fort.

The museum is managed bythe Archaeological Survey of In-dia, Museum Branch, SouthernRegion. The present Curator hasbeen in office for ten years or so,saving this museum from theusual problem of frequentchanges and consequent lack ofcommitment characteristic of bu-reaucracy-managed institutions.

� by V. Vijaysree

GNR, his wife Rajam and Dorothy Hodgkin.

Group photo of 1955 with GNR seen with a tie.

gives strength and form tothese creatures, humans in-cluded. Understanding thethree-dimensional shape of thisprotein was important.

GNR had, at last, found di-rection.

First things first, GNR hadto find a source of collagen.The shark fin collagen from thebiochemistry lab next door oncampus didn’t yield very goodX Ray images. Good qualitypictures, however, would be es-sential to unravelling the col-lagen structure.

It occurred to him: leathertoo is largely collagen. Not farfrom Triplicane, a new re-search institute had takenshape in Adyar — the CentralLeather Research Institute(CLRI). He would pay it avisit.

Kangaroo Tail Tendon andBeef Achilles Tendon — thesewere choices in GNR’s mind ashe made his way to Adyar. TheDirector of CLRI, Y.Nayudamma, turned out to bea kindred soul, happy to help afellow scientist. The beefsample was easy to obtain lo-cally, of course. But if kanga-

GNR got purified marsupialcollagen to work with.

Within two years, GNR andhis group published the struc-ture of collagen in the August7, 1954 issue of the journal Na-ture. The authors suggestedthat the protein has the form ofa triple helix — three distinctchains coiling upon them-selves. This was a highly origi-nal insight.

Suddenly, top-notch mo-lecular biologists in Cambridge,California, and elsewhere

ers – from labs at the Univer-sity of Cambridge, the King’sCollege in London, andCaltech among others. Thiselite group of Goliaths includesthe discoverers of the DNAstructure.

The David in the story isGopalasamudram NarayanaRamachandran, or, simplyGNR.

The year is 1952. GNR, whois barely thirty, had just beentapped to head the Departmentof Physics at the University ofMadras. As a graduate stu-dent, he had worked in thefield of optics under C.V.Raman at the Indian Instituteof Science (IISc). In England,he had worked for two years inthe laboratory of Sir LawrenceBragg, discoverer of X-Ray dif-fraction. This was the tech-nique used to decipher thestructures of biomolecules likethe DNA and proteins.

Now GNR had a lab of hisown. He was looking for a wor-thy problem to solve. Theyoung scientist had decidedthat studying biomoleculeswould be the theme for the lab,but he didn’t know where tobegin.

Right around then, a formercolleague from England, the re-nowned crystallographer J.D.Bernal, was visiting Madras.During a casual conversation,he tells GNR that various re-search groups have proposedthe structure of collagen — themost abundant protein in ani-mals — but no one has hit the

mark yet. Structure-wise, itseemed knottier than theDNA.

Collagen, present in theconnective tissue of severalspecies in the animal kingdom,

roo collagen was going to yieldthe best diffraction images —as was reported in literature —then, why, he would getsamples from Australia, the Di-rector promised. Before long

Cornwallis and the hostage taking.

Nobility’s Porcelain

The Gun Garden.

In the Weapons Gallery, youcan see the progress inweaponisation, starting withbattle axes, daggers and swordsfor direct engagement to distantengagement weapons, progress-ing from pistols, rifles and mor-tars, to cannons and shells firedfrom ships, to bombs droppedfrom the air. The fragment of ashell fired by the German cruiserEmden on 22-9-1914 and thoseof a bomb dropped on Madras bya Japanese aircraft in 1943 dur-ing World War II are particularlypopular with the senior citizensof today. Uniforms and regimen-tal colours displayed are strikingfor their colour combinations andelaborate designs, all meant toinspire in the citizens a sense ofsecurity, of being well protected,besides awe and pride.

There is evidence of manyimprovements to the technologyand style of display since thewriter’s last visit several yearsago, taking round an Englishguest. There is a vast improve-ment in lighting effects consis-tent with conservational needs.To ensure the needs of certainobjects, like original paintings

State-run power utilityTANGEDCO’s debts of aroundRs 22,815 crore. This was man-datory as part of the CentralGovernment’s Ujwal DISCOMAssurance Yojana (UDAY) interms of which the State Gov-ernment had to take over a partof the loans of the distributioncompany and issue bonds in lieuof it. The point is that while it isconvenient to shift the blame tothe Centre, there is no denyingthat TANGEDCO remains oneof the worst-run distributioncompanies in the country andthat is the State Government’sresponsibility. By stubbornly re-

A financial & intellectual deficit(Continued from page 1)

fusing to reform the distributionutility, the State is only addingto its woes. It is, in fact, sitting ona 2010 report of the Tamil NaduElectricity Regulatory Commis-sion that recommended splittingTANGEDCO into a power gen-eration and four regional distri-bution companies on the lines ofthe State Transport Corporation.This is already in practice inother States and is a scheme thatTamil Nadu could do well toemulate.

One of the reasons why this isnot being considered is theamount of free power being ex-tended to farmers – around 20.6

lakh farm pump sets now oper-ate gratis in the State.

Besides the above, there is ayawning gap between the ex-pected tax collection (Rs109,850 crore) and the actual(Rs 87, 287 crore) – a 25 per centshortfall. This too has plenty ofscope for improvement. TheState Government rarely both-ers with the observations eachyear by the Comptroller andAuditor General on loopholes incommercial tax collections inthe State and the way they canbe improved. The TN Com-mercial Tax Department doesnot carry out inspections, and an

overall sluggishness in adminis-tration has meant that the pres-sure has ceased on revenue col-lection.

Come July, the Central Gov-ernment will roll out the GSTscheme. That will mean furtherreduction in the State’smanoeuvrability on taxes. Addto this the fact that the State isfacing one of the worst droughtsin recent times, which can havea further adverse impact on rev-enue. And then you have a Gov-ernment that is not very se-curely in the saddle. The futureit would appear, is not verybright.

Memories of the Emden and theWorld War II’s lone bomber overMadras.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2017

Writing with a smile(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’squestions are from March 1stto 15th. Questions 11 to 20relate to Chennai and TamilNadu.)

1. What is special about the polkadot tree frog (Hypsiboas puncta-tus) discovered recently in Argen-tina?

2. Name the world’s longest serv-ing warship that was decommis-sioned on March 6th after nearlysix decades of service.

3. Who were awarded the cov-eted C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achi-evement Award at the BCCI’sannual awards function recently?

4. How did Nongthomban BirenSingh make news on March 15th?

5. Which Indian stepped down asthe chairman of the InternationalCricket Council, the governingbody for the sport?

6. Where, close to Pakistan, wasIndia’s largest flag, on the tallestflag post, hoisted recently?

7. After whom have the Vija-yawada and Tirupati airportsbeen renamed?

8. Which online giant has re-cently launched the initiative‘SheLeadsTech’ to supportwomen-founded or co-foundedstart-ups in India?

9. Across which river is India’slongest ‘extradosed’ cable-stayedbridge that was dedicated to thenation recently?

10. Who retained the IndianOpen golf title, the country’s pre-mier golf tournament?

* * *

11. Who recently took over asChennai’s Police Commissioner?

12. Brick by Brick by V. Sriramand Karthik Bhatt chronicles thehistory of which Chennai school?

13. M.V.S. Subba Naidu ofVadakkampatti started whichpopular hotel chain synonymouswith non-vegetarian fares?

14. Which once-popular cinematheatre in Chennai, that wasbrought down recently, startedoperations in November 1968with the screening of The Balladof Cable Hogue?

15. Name the bank founded byGovernor Gifford in Fort St.George in 1682/3 that is consid-ered as the first bank in India aswe know banking.

16. Name the artefact, a symbolof office, which was adapted bythe Law Courts in Madras, whichprecedes the Mayor always.

17. The HQ of which companyin Chennai is the first commercialbuilding in India to win a GreenGold rating?

18. What came into being onMarch 10th, 1948 at a nationalMuslim leaders’ convention atRajaji Hall in Chennai?

19. Which film personality is theBJP candidate for the forthcom-ing bypoll to the R.K. Nagar con-stituency in Chennai?

20. The shortest classified river,about 72 km in length, draininginto the Bay of Bengal, is the…?

(Answers on page 10)

It was in 1968 that I first metAshokamitran, along with my

writer-friend Vadhoolan, in hisDamodara Reddy Street resi-dence in Theagaroyanagar. Iwas back from Ahmedabad ontransfer to Madras, and hadseen on the SwadesamitranDeepavali Malar, a short story byhim, titled ‘Prayaanam’. It wasset in hilly surroundings, towhich four disciples of a guruhad dragged him in a small cart.Wolves attack them and theyleave their guru to his fate. Wewondered whether a short storycould be so dramatically writtenwithout a hero or heroine! Wewanted to meet the writer – andoff we went to his house.

The first question Ashoka-mitran asked us was, “What isyour age?” We said, “We arethirty” to which he quicklyreplied, “That is why you haverushed to see me. If only youhad crossed forty, you wouldnot have come here!”

That was typical of Ashoka-mitran.

When Kalki Rajendran oneyear asked both of us, regularcontributors of short stories, togather material for a Readers’Special issue, we submitted aroadmap for the entire issue, inwhich only contributions fromreaders would be given space.He suggested that the writerswho were chosen to contributeshort stories be given a clue ofthree words, around which thestory should be woven. One ofthe writers chosen was Ashoka-mitran and we gave him fivesets of postcards from readers,each with three words.

Although Ashokamitran ini-tially said that there should beno choices in the world, aschoices confuse a human beingfrom taking a firm decision, hepicked the postcard of the rea-der suggesting ‘Ganga, Boat,Mother’. It was a poignant shortstory that Ashokamitran gaveus.

The next year, when Kalki

� Charukesi remembering

Ashokamitran

was preparing for the DecemberMusic Special, we needed ashort story based on music, aswas customary for inclusion inthe issue. We suggested to theEditor several names of writers.He approved none of them. Hesaid, “Ask Ashokamitran togive us a story.”

It was the usual practice ofthe weekly that if an author wasgiven a chance to write in a spe-cial issue or Deepavali Malar, hewould not be chosen the nextyear. We were, therefore, sur-prised when the Editor said in afirm voice. “No, I am making anexception this time. I wastouched by his Readers’ Issueshort story and read it withmoist eyes throughout.” Wewere only too happy to ap-proach Ashokamitran again.That was the story behind the

story of ‘Indiravukku VeenaiKatrukkolla Vendum’ that ap-peared in the December specialissue on music.

Many do not know thatAshokamitran was a connois-seur of Carnatic music, besideshaving been a fan of the oldBollywood melodies of Lata,Rafi, Mukesh and Talat. Hewrote several articles on the lat-ter subject in different maga-zines. When Narada GanaSabha, Chennai, honoured theCarnatic vocalist Anantha-lakshmi Satagopan (mother ofSujatha Vijayaraghavan) oneDecember Season, with a Se-nior Musician Award, Ashoka-mitran volunteered to give mean article on her music for theSabha’s souvenir that I wasediting that year!

Although he said that he didnot like Thanneer, one of hisnovels, it was a brilliant por-

trayal of the water crisis in thecity. Among his novellas, thebest are Innum Sila Naatkal,Viduthalai and Manal. The bestof his novels is, of course,Pathinettavadu Atchak Kodu.(When a short version of this

novel was released as a supple-ment with a Deepavali specialissue of Kumudam, Ra. Ki. Ran-garajan, the Associate Editor,another equally brilliant writer,who was assigned to do the con-densation, lamented, “How canI shrink this wonderful piece ofwriting into 20-30 pages! It issuch a fascinating work!”)

For Ashokamitran, an essayhad also to be written in the for-mat of a short story. It shouldhave a definite beginning, aconvincing middle, and a kindof twist at the end. His obit onthe death of the great Tamilwriter Thi. Janakiraman is oneexample. All his articlesserialised in the Tamil weeklyKungumam were full of anec-dotal nuggets and informationand have recently come out inbook form titled Nadai VeliPayanam. These are slices of lifeand each one grabs your atten-

tion. When I met him a fewweeks ago, he said, “I have acopy reserved for you. Whenyou meet me next, you can pickit up!”

When his book on Madraswas reviewed by his friend K.S.Subramanian at a Madras BookClub event, permanent emceeMuthiah picked me from theaudience to propose the vote ofthanks. I was taken by surprise,but then, as an ardent fan,mumbled a few words aboutAshokamitran’s writings. I wasafraid of facing Ashokamitranafter that, but “You spoke natu-rally. That is enough!” he said,when we descended from thestage.

Just a few weeks beforeAshokamitran passed away, Imet him for an interview forThe Hindu’s Friday Reviewpage. He was very cordial, butfirmly told me, “Do not add asingle word to what I have said.Readers may think I am brag-ging.” I promised him I wouldnot. His answers to my querieswere simple and straightfor-ward. He did not want to trum-pet his own achievements as awriter/novelist, but whenever Imentioned his short stories thatI much enjoyed, like ‘Amma-vukkaga Oru Naal’, there was aglow in his face, reflectingapproval of my taste. Since hecould not lay his hands on thebook he had promised earlier,he gave me Mounathin Punna-gai, a collection of essaysthat appeared in THE Indhu(Tamil).

The last I met him was at awedding function in his family,a couple of weeks ago. He wasin a happy mood.

Did I say, last? No, I saw himlast on March, the 24th morn-ing. He was lying in a closedfreezer box, eyes closed, butwith a kind of smile on his lips,as if subtly enjoying the scenearound him. Was it MounathinPunnagai? Smile in Silence? Iwould think so.

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THE SIX GARDENSOF THE BEGUM

the Union Club at Ennore andhe seems to have been the Sec-retary of a sort of the syndicatewho were responsible for theupkeep and even the construc-tion of the roads to Ennore andRed Hills. At Ennore and RedHills he built stabling for hishorses.” That leads us to theconclusion that Dare probablyrented property in Ennore fromthe Begum for use as a weekendretreat.

Ahmed Bagh in Red Hills is

also not traceable, but itsother name Farren’s Housegives us a clue. General CharlesFarran, entered the MadrasArmy in 1788 and was a MajorGeneral by 1837. He ownedproperties near the BinnyMills in Pulianthope whereFarran’s Road was. When themills expanded, they took overthe road and built a newthoroughfare outside theirpremises, which came to becalled New Farran’s Road and isstill considered new after a good100 years if you believe thesignboards there.

(Continued from page 3)

Ashokamitran.

April 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Pradipto Mohapatra, whopassed away recently, was a

true polymath. Ram Mohan, ina tribute to him, says, “He wasthe rarest among Indian execu-tives, a man with much widerand deeper interests thanmerely making money or run-ning businesses efficiently.Many people knew him as aconnoisseur of watches, an-tique and contemporary, fromhis articles in several luxurywatch supplements; he was aregular invitee to internationalhorology fairs besides. Moreimportantly, he was alwaysready to share his views and of-fer help to those lucky enoughto possess one or two valuabletime-pieces on how to takebetter care of them.

“He was an early and enthu-siastic collector of art by manyfamous Indian artists, long be-fore they were discovered bythe regular art world. Pradiptowas always surrounded, be it inhis office or home, by his over-flowing collection of paintings,sketches and water-colours.

“He was a pioneering Indianscripophilist, a collector of rarebond and share certificates,and an authority on recordedmusic, having worked with theGramophone Company of In-dia (HMV). He was a passion-ate history buff.

“As a business executive, hereinvented himself from being aproper boxwallah in Dunlop toa trusted member of a tradi-tional Indian group, RPG.Upon retirement he servedmany well-known companies,both in India and Sri Lanka(which he loved) on theirBoards. In yet another facet ofhis personality, he providedcritical advice to internationalclients in consulting roles. Hewas an entrepreneur too, hav-ing invested in a couple of start-

Madras Presidency Khallikote Raj Sterling loan. This very large document,pertaining to a loan taken by a Maharaja from Orissa, comes with attachedcoupons for payment of interest periodically.

The Empress Spinning and Weaving Company Limited. This is the very firstTata Group company to have gone public. This also was probably the first millto have been set up in Nagpur which was in the cotton-growing belt. (Bombaywas the preferred location in those days.)

This Nuddea Mills Company Limited share certificate was issued to G.D.Birla.

India £5 per cent stock issued in 1864. This has a very unusual way ofmentioning the date, referencing it to the year of the reign of Her Majesty QueenVictoria.

A document signed at Fort St. George in 1818, guaranteeing payment of interest on a portion of the Bengal Loan.

He inspiredanother to getinto scripophily

“He was always a speakeron demand and a storytellerpar excellence, who enjoyedhaving an audience; no lunchor dinner with him would becomplete without Pradiptoholding forth with some anec-dotal evidence about the top-ics being discussed. Like a truethinking man that he was,Pradipto always ended his sto-ries with some amount of per-spective – and what a gloriousperspective it always was.While you are going homechuckling away at his humour,you would have to agree thathe made you see things in a dif-ferent light.”

A rare, multi-dimensionalman, one of those Mohapatrainspired was Sayeed Cassim,who recently held an exhibi-tion of his collection of histori-cal coins and shares. He writes“it was a privilege to haveknown him,” and adds:

“I have since my schooldaysbeen interested in anythingunusual. Stamps etc. did not

Pradipto MohapatraEarly in 1978 Ross Davies,editor of The Times

Business Diary, London,suggested in his column thename bondaphily for thenew hobby (of collecting his-toric bonds and share certifi-cates) then causing so muchexcitement in the City ofLondon. Founder-to-beDonald Ross seized this op-portunity for publicity, writ-ing to The Times that“bondaphily smacks ofCheese”. He proposed acompetition to choose aname and offered an Aus-trian Red Cross bond as aprize. Colin Narbeth ofStanley Gibbons offered afurther collection of piecesworth £100, and a lunch.The Times of May 9, 1978announced that the winnerwas Arthur Howel withscripophily – from “scrip”,short for “subscription re-ceipt” (and sometimesloosely used for “shares”)and the Greek “philos”,“loving”.

(Continued on page 8)

The Madras Railway Company. One of the early railway companies to havebeen set up. Date is mentioned in a very beautiful way: “On the first day ofOctober in the year of our Lord 1852”.

ups in business coaching andbusiness education, teachingand education another passionof his.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2017

More from a scripophilist’s collection

(Continued from page 7)

Imperial Bank of India. Certificate issued in 1922 is a very high value one of Rs. 30,000. Had a similar amount been invested in land at the same time it would be worth about Rs. 10,000 crore today.The certificate also has the who’s who (see names on reverse) of the Parsi community of that time, as joint owners. There are four knights of the Garter as co-owners at any given point of time. Highlyunusual.

Dividend warrant of the Reserve Bank of India. Not manyare aware that the Reserve Bank was privately held in thosedays.

Valluvar Kottam, sited in ap-proximately six acres of land ina prime location, was completedin 1976 during the firstKarunanidhi administration, inmemory of Thiruvalluvar whowrote the Thirukkural some2,000 years ago. The complexhosts a majestic, sculpturallyenriched 133 feet tall chariotand a much squatter rectangu-lar building right in front of it,the latter blocking a third of theformer’s height, spoiling a spec-tacular full frontal view. Youhave to see the chariot inhalves, the bottom half fromground level and the shrinethat’s the top half from the ter-race.

A larger-than-life-size statueof Thiruvalluvar is enshrined inthe chariot. As it is positionedat a height, to have a darshan,you need to climb three flightsof steps to reach the bland openterrace of the rectangular build-ing that houses the hall.

At the Kottam, theThirukkural’s 133 chapters and

1,330 verses are immortalisedby being inscribed in the 133pillars in the second-level corri-dor surrounding and overlook-ing the first level hall that’s ca-pable of seating about 4,000people at a time.

The pillars with the inscrip-tions are on the left side of thecorridor; the right side is fur-nished with crudely designedglass display cases, which are allnow empty and in shambles.The provision must have beenmeant for displaying portraitsand paintings. The focus lightsfor highlighting the inscriptionsare not in working conditionand the wires hanging every-where indicate that they havebeen so for quite some time.Shattered glass, broken framesand peeling linings add to thegloom.

The magnificent chariot doesnot need major upkeep as it is al-ways viewed from outside, free ofspectator interference, and has,therefore, survived the shoddymaintenance. But the decora-tive tubular cloth hangers coulddo with replacement or hosing

down daily if made of longer last-ing material like plastic.

The rest of the complex is insad shape with signs of neglecteverywhere. The masonrystructures, electrical installa-tions and other furnishingsseem to be badly in need of ex-tensive repair or replacement.Broken statues, peeling plaster,broken glass panes, wire dan-gling all over, missing lightpoints and missing bulbs are in-dicative of inadequate every-day maintenance and the needfor a major renovationprogramme.

Little groups can be seen us-ing the site as a convenientspot for gossiping, romancingor picnicking. Plastic bags,empty beverage bottles, brokenfurniture, broomsticks andclothes hung out to dry, card-board plates and banana leavesthrown away after use by suchevents and others combine toform a depressing scene aroundthe structure. Is there no stafffor cleaning out the precinct?

The entrance fee is only Rs.3. The average footfall is about

400-500 a day with a surge dur-ing festival holidays. The rev-enue from entrance and hallrental, by themselves, would beinadequate to meet normal up-keep. Rental is mainly fromholding saree, clothes andhandicrafts exhibitions in thehall, activities totally incongru-ous with the original objectivesof the monument. It seems sadthat the Kottam has had to re-sort to unrelated use of the hallto eke out any kind of revenue.

Apart from the shrine andthe inscriptions there is nothingin terms of activities or informa-tion availability that chargesthe atmosphere at the complexwith memories of the saint andhis renowned work – no library,bookshop for related literature,symposiums, or cultural festi-vals.

The complex is managed byan official of the Department ofInformation and Public Rela-tions. The civil maintenanceand repairs are said to be theresponsibility of the PWD. It issad that a monument of highpotential tourist value has been

relegated to the status of anypublic drain or road by beingput under the care of the PWD.It is a responsibility that shouldhave been entrusted to the De-partment of Cultural Affairs orTourism.

The state of Valluvar Kottamgives rise to several questions. Isthe neglect due to want offunds? Is it losing out on the pri-ority accorded for use of rev-enue for issue of freebies? Couldit be due to one government as-signing low importance to theupkeep of a project because itwas conceived by another gov-ernment? Why don’t those ow-ing allegiance to the govern-ment that built it with so muchfanfare volunteer to keep itspick and span? Why can’t gov-ernments rise above parochialpolitics?

Answers would provide ex-planations but would be no jus-tification for the neglect.Valluvar Kottam challenges oursense of commitment to pre-serve symbols of our ancientheritage and culture.

THE SORRY STATE OF VALLUVAR KOTTAM(Continued from page 1)

Tricumlal Bhogilal & Co. Ltd., Re. 1 share. Theentire capital of the company was only Rs. 384.Could probably be the company with the lowestauthorised capital in the world.

interest me, because they wereso very common and you couldlose track of what you had. The

same applied to coins, which Icollected for quite some time.

“A friend of mine intro-duced me to PradiptoMohapatra at a talk he gave on

scripophily a few years ago. Iguess it was love at first sight. Ihad been an investor in thestock markets for over 30 yearsthen. The beauty of share cer-

tificates is that, unlike anyother collectible, they could al-most speak for themselves. Youcould see for yourself the nameof the company, which periodit was issued in, where it wasbased, what business or indus-try it was involved in, who thepromoters were, who ownedthe share and also who hadpurchased the share after that.Also these certificates wereprinted in the hundreds ormaybe a few thousand as com-pared to a few million or evena few billion of stamps, coinsand notes.

“These certificates also donot indulge in attention-seek-ing behaviour like other hob-bies like, say, vintage cars nordo they take up too muchspace. They are particularlysuitable as our homes are onlygetting smaller by the day.”

The Bengal Printing Company’svery beautiful certificate on vellum (asheet of animal skin scraped thin). Thecertificate was printed by the Com-pany itself. This may just qualify as theworld’s first ‘selfie’.

Editor’s Note: We publishon page 7 and here, some of themore striking certificates inCassim’s collection.

March 16-31, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 9

Yamaraja’s brother– Mani

Yamaraja’s Brother – An Auto-biography of Dr. M.K. Mani.

I don’t usually like readingbooks penned by practitio-

ners of medicine. They scare thehell out of me. All right, I readA.J. Cronin when I was a teen-ager, but then his were roman-tic novels. Besides, I was of anage when I thought I was im-mortal. Now, however, I gener-ally prefer to skip books, how-ever well-written, by cardiolo-gists, cancer specialists and thelike.

The autobiography ofDr. M.K. Mani, well-knownChennai nephrologist, is a wel-come exception. First publishedin 1989, it was reprinted and re-leased recently, along with anewer book, Letters fromChennai. The latter is a collec-tion of Dr. Mani’s opinions on avariety of subjects. The autobi-ography spans the six decades ofthe doctor’s career, from thetime he entered medical collegein Chennai, moved to Austra-lia, returned to India to work inMumbai and then back again toChennai where he now prac-tises. This book is not just aboutsickness and healing but aboutthe various environments inwhich Dr. Mani studied andworked and his acute observa-tions on the ways of the worldaround him. What shinesthrough the writing is a preciseand very sharp intellect and anengaging and wry sense ofhumour.

Dr. Mani’s book does not ex-actly have a welcoming title:Yamaraja’s Brother. Nor doesthe little Sanskrit verse he haschosen to introduce the readerto the book.

“Hail to thee, Oh physician,Brother of Yamaraja,Elder brother, for Yama takes lifeWhile you take life and money

too.”However cynical the senti-

ment of this little piece of po-etry, it is one doubtless sharedby many patients visiting hospi-tals today.

Dr. Mani was seven or eightyears old when he decided tobecome Yamaraja’s brother. Atan age when boys aspire to moreoutlandish careers, such as ac-robatics or space travel, youngMuthukrishnan (as he wasnamed by his parents), chosemedicine. The immediate rea-son for this decision was the in-fluence of a young doctor, Dr.Purushottaman, who was aguest for some time in hisfather’s Tughlak Road resi-dence in Delhi. Muthukrishnanhero-worshipped him to suchan extent that he decided tostudy medicine himself. And henever once swerved from that

� by Janaki Venkataraman

decision, though the elders inhis family never approved of it.

Dr. Mani comes from a well-known family of Mylapore law-yers, judges and civil servants.Mani’s grandfather liked to callthe place ‘My-law-pore’, as itwas so full of lawyers, wholooked down on every otherprofession and on lawyers wholived elsewhere. Mani’s inten-tion to join medical college wastherefore met with strong oppo-sition. His grand uncle, K.Balasubramania Iyer “was con-vinced that the medical collegewas a den of inequity and... myentry into it indicated that I wasdepraved,” recalls Dr. Mani. Hisonly ally in this matter was hisfather, T.M.S. Mani, who had,when young, nursed a secret de-sire to study medicine, but hadgiven in to his father’s wish forhim to enter the Civil Services.(T.M.S. Mani was Health Sec-retary in the Tamil Nadu Gov-ernment and is also creditedwith founding Neyveli LigniteCorporation).

In talking about his child-hood, Dr. Mani fondly recallshis grandmother, K. Saraswathy

Ammal, who authored severalnovels and short stories inTamil and told her grandsonstories about her own father,V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, who rosefrom advocate to High CourtJudge to a member of theGovernor’s Executive Council.He was also a Congressmanwho organised the Madras ses-sion of the Congress in 1908;founded the Indian Bank, theMylapore Club, the MadrasSanskrit College, the AyurvedicCollege and the VenkatarmanaAyurvedic Dispensary – everywell-known Mylapore land-mark, in fact! GrandmotherSaraswathy also told Muthu-krishnan about the famous doc-tor of her times, S. Rangachari,whose patient list included thewho’s-who of Madras. His treat-ment was equally available tothe needy as well. When hisRolls Royce glided down LuzChurch Road, people couldstop him to request him to see apatient. If the house was bigenough, the Rolls Royce wouldstop in the driveway. If thehouse was in a lane, Dr. Ranga-chari, would get out and walkthe distance to the patient’shouse. He was generally be-lieved to have a healing touch,apart from being hugely knowl-edgeable, never demanded a feebut accepted whatever wasgiven to him. If, however, a pa-tient asked him what his feewas, then he would mention the

full, rather forbidding amount.There was one thing he wouldnever tolerate in a patient –lack of faith.“Woe betide thepatient ...who sought a secondopinion. He had made an en-emy for life.” Perhaps the storiesabout Dr. Rangachari also fu-elled young Muthukrishnan’sdesire to study medicine.

In 1953, M.K. Mani enteredMadras Medical College. Dr.Mani’s thoughts on the efficacyof the selection process for ad-mitting students, the unfortu-nate tendency of parents whoare doctors to persuade theiroffspring to take up medicalstudies, even when the lattermay have no real wish to, andthe system of reservation quo-tas in college admissions, are in-teresting to read. “Is it fair totake a candidate who is aca-demically inferior and put himin a course of study whichwould strain the best of stu-dents?” he asks. “How will thisstudent ever master the subject,clear the examinations andgraduate? There is only oneway, and that is to lower thestandard of the examination.

There was a time when a gradu-ate of a prestigious Indian uni-versity like Madras or Bombaywas recognised with respect allover the world. Today our de-grees are discredited.” Dr. Manialso offers a somewhat drastic,though tongue-in-cheek solu-tion to this problem. “The solu-tion will come only when thepublic learns enough to insistthat each politician or officialwho produced a mediocre doc-tor by using personal influenceor following the wrong policy,should be treated only by thatdoctor. He should not be al-lowed to seek the best doctor inthe country or the world, whenhe has condemned his constitu-ents to be ministered to by thesecond-rate”.

Dr. Mani describes his firstday in the Madras Medical Col-lege thus: “We went first to amedieval looking red buildingwhich housed the Departmentof Physiology downstairs andAnatomy upstairs. Studentscalled it the ‘Red Fort’, becauselike the historic redoubt, it washard to enter, and once in, everso much harder to get out of.The dissection hall was vastwith rows upon rows of marbletopped tables, each with itsdried up occupant who hadonce been a human being. Itwas an inauspicious start to acareer in which love for human-ity is so important.” Love forhumanity was the last thought

in their minds as the studentscut and explored the cadavers,memorised the details of humaninnards, mugged their waythrough the study volumes andlecture notes without thinking,their only purpose being to passthe examinations. In hindsightDr. Mani observes that this wasa wasteful way of studying basicmedicine. “Now, if you want toteach a man to ride a bicycle,you would not begin with lec-tures on the internal combus-tion engine, followed by a ridein a Standard 2000, with finallya chance to steer the car whilethe teacher cautiously keeps ahand on the controls. This iswhat we are doing, for all oureducation deals with compli-cated heart, lung and brain dis-orders. I spent two years in gen-eral practice, and saw three pa-tients of the type who wouldhave come to me in my MBBSexamination. I referred all ofthem to the hospital for furtherinvestigation and treatment. Isaw hundreds of people with di-arrhoeas and fevers, aches andpains, little injuries. No oneever taught me how to tacklethese problems.” Unfortunatelythere is no reason to thinkmedical education has becomemore enlightened in the yearssince Dr. Mani studied.

He did, however, get to meetand learn from a number ofexceptional doctors and wasable to study their brilliance andeccentricities at close quarters –Dr. Govinda Menon, Dr. SubbaReddy, Dr. U. Mohan Rau,Dr. K.S. Sanjivi, Dr. KrishnanKutty... the list reads like aroster of brilliance in medicine.

After passing his MBBS in1959, and after completing histraining as an intern and housesurgeon, Dr. Mani returned toMadras Medical College for hispostgraduate studies and alsomanaged a small private prac-tice at home every evening. Af-ter getting his M.D. degree in1962, Dr. Mani married. It wasa marriage arranged by his par-ents. Rama, his wife, was alsostudying medicine. She laterspecialised in pathology and is awell-known pathologist inChennai today.

While many of his class

mates went to England for fur-ther study, Dr. Mani chose tojoin the Madras GovernmentMedical Service, as an AssistantProfessor and Assistant to Phy-sician in the Government Gen-eral Hospital. Then, as now, thehospital was impossibly over-crowded and dirty, and therewas corruption everywhere.Food meant for the patients wasbeing pilfered by the kitchenstaff, the toilets stank beyondendurance, and drugs were of-ten mysteriously in short supply.Sounds familiar?

Dr. Mani then joined Gov-ernment Stanley Hospital to dohis Ph.D. Stanley Hospital isunique among all hospitals inTamil Nadu... A part of the hos-pital was once a jail, and the oldwall still stands, a fortress withits ramparts. The blood bankoccupied part of this old fortifi-cation. A large part had been achoultry and in years gone by,during times of famine, gruelhad been distributed to the poorfrom here, hence its popularname of Kanji Thotti Hospital– Gruel Depot Hospital... themain hospital was a goodenough building, airy and solid,but new constructions had risenhaphazardly in the gaps be-tween the old, and it was impos-sible to walk in a straight linebetween one ward and anyother.... And the isolation ward,known as the Grey Ward, hadcome to be known as the grave-yard. It was so far removed fromthe rest of the hospital thatmedical staff hardly went there,and a patient consigned thereoften languished unattended tillthe end came, and he wasshifted to the mortuary nearby,recalls Dr. Mani.

Dr. Mani soon discoveredthat completing his Ph. D wasgoing to be a Herculean taskgiven the red tape that sur-rounded research work and hedecided instead to specialise inNephrology, a new medical fieldat the time. He applied for andgot a placement as Senior Reg-istrar in the Department ofNephrology in Sydney Hospital,Australia. In April 1968, he leftwith his wife and son forAustralia.

(To be concluded)

Dr. M.K. Mani.

10 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2017

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He put India on theworld tennis map

Answers to Quiz1. It is the world’s first fluorescent frog; 2. INS Viraat; 3. Padmakar

Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel; 4. He is the new Chief Minister of Manipur;5. Shashank Manohar; 6. Indo-Pak Attari border; 7. N.T. Rama Rao andLord Venkateswara; 8. Facebook; 9. Narmada; 10. S.S.P. Chawrasia.

* * *

11. Karan Singha; 12. Vidya Mandir; 13. Madurai Muniyandi Vilas;14. Pilot; 15. Madras Bank; 16. A silver mace; 17. Grundfos; 18. IndianUnion Muslim League; 19. Gangai Amaran; 20. Cooum.

� Partab Ramchand remembering

Ramanathan Krishnan at 80

Ramanathan Krishnan,India’s tennis great, turns

80 on April 11th and I hope thisarticle helps us to recall his out-standing feats in the 1950s and’60s that have still not beenmatched.

Indian tennis had a briefmoment of glory internationallybefore the advent of Krishnan,when Ghaus Mohammed en-tered the men’s singles quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1939before losing to the ultimatechampion Bobby Riggs of theUSA. But it was Krishnan’s ar-rival that made the tennis worldreally familiar with India.

The first feat that made himnationally known was winningthe Stanley Cup at the Bertramtournaments conducted byLoyola College. It was an eventfor college boys and Krishnanbecame the first schoolboy towin it at the age of 13 in 1950.Under the tutelage of his fatherT.K. Ramanathan, himself aplayer of national repute,Krishnan made giant stridesand the next step towards great-ness was becoming the firstAsian to win the JuniorWimbledon title in 1954, a feathis son Ramesh repeated in1979.

Krishnan’s upset victoryover Jaroslov Drobny, the 1954champion, in the very firstround of the 1956 Wimbledonmade the tennis world really situp and take notice of a poten-tially world class player from In-dia. And for the next decade hecarried Indian hopes at bothWimbledon and in the DavisCup. At Queen’s Club in 1959he won the title beating Alex

Olmedo of the USA in whatwas a curtain raiser for Wimble-don – in which the Americanwas the top seed. Later thatyear, Krishnan got the better ofWimbledon runner-up Rod La-ver in the Davis Cup inter-zonefinal against Australia. By thenhe was ranked among theworld’s leading players.

Indeed, around this time,Jack Kramer offered Krishnanbig money to turn pro and joinhis pro circuit. Krishnan how-ever turned down this offer, forto him, playing Wimbledon andDavis Cup were sacred andjoining Kramer’s group would

have prevented him from play-ing in these tournaments. Theoffer remained open for threeyears and his refusal surprisedKramer, but Krishnan never re-gretted his decision.

A historic moment cameabout in 1960 when Krishnanbecame the first Indian to enterthe men’s singles semi-finals atWimbledon. He went down tothe ultimate champion, Neale

Fraser of Australia. The follow-ing year, Krishnan again madeit to the last four, only to lose toanother ultimate champion La-ver. In 1962, Krishnan wasseeded No. 4 behind the threeAustralians, Laver, Fraser andRoy Emerson, but had to con-cede his third round match toJohn Fraser, brother of Neale,because of an ankle injury. Thefollowing year he made it to thefourth round before losing toEmerson.

Krishnan was never again aforce to reckon with atWimbledon, but continued tobe a feared opponent in theDavis Cup where he regularlymade sure that India made it tothe inter-zone final and finally,in 1966, most memorably, tothe Challenge Round againstAustralia. It was Krishnan whomade this historic moment pos-sible. The inter-zone finalagainst Brazil at Calcutta wastied at 2-2 when Krishnanscored a brilliant comeback winover Brazil’s leading player

Tomas Koch to ensure India’svictory. Koch was leading bytwo sets to one and 5-2 in thefourth only for Krishnan to reeloff nine games on his way totaking the last two sets 7-5 and6-2.

It was not just the resultsthat made the tennis world situp and take notice of Krishnan.It was his style of “touch tennis”that attracted considerable at-tention. Lance Tingay, the wellknown British tennis writer, de-scribed Krishnan’s game as“pure Oriental charm” and“Eastern magic”. More recently,Robert Philip wrote that “eachand every Krishnan rally was athing of rare beauty.” Krish-nan’s serve was never a power-ful weapon, but measuredground strokes, a backhandthat was a joy to watch, andangled volleys made him an op-ponent to be feared. His gamewas most eloquently describedby Duncan Macaulay who wit-nessed Krishnan’s defeat ofEmerson in the Wimbledonquarter-finals in 1961. “Most

surprisingly Krishnan beatEmerson with absolute ease.This was one of the bestmatches that Krishnan everplayed at Wimbledon. Heturned Emerson’s speed to hisown advantage and directed hisshots with a magical caress tothose points of the court whereEmerson wasn’t.”

A recipient of the ArjunaAward in 1961, the Padma Shriin 1962 and the PadmaBhushan in 1967, Krishnan, af-ter his playing days were over,was non-playing captain of theDavis Cup squad for severalyears and now with son Rameshruns the Krishnan TennisAcademy in Kottivakkam. Butit is his feats as a pioneering andinspiring tennis great for whichhe will be most fondly remem-bered, paving the way for thelikes of, first, Premjit Lal andJaideep Mukherjea and thenthe Amritraj brothers, Vijayand Anand, son Ramesh andLeander Paes, to keep India’schallenge going at internationalevents.

Ramanathan Krishnan.