WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXIII No. 10 September 1-15, 2013

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• The labour movement

• The compassionate doctor

• Four pages on Madras Week

•A Test cap too far

Publication: 15th & 28th of every month

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MadrasWeek –a greatsuccess

The muddle that

is the ASI

� by A Special

Correspondent

It’s been a great success, the Coordinators of Madras Week tellus. There have been 40 per cent more programmes than last year,

they indicate, speaking of the programmes they were informedabout. “There were many more we were not told about,” they add.These programmes started from August 1st and are going on tillthe first week of September, the core week having been packedwith events and many more being organised during the week thatfollowed, making it virtually a Madras Fortnight with promise ofAugust-September developing into a Madras Month.

Studying the programme, attending the events, catching upwith the numerous reports, still more blogs and even more activi-ties described in person, we are delighted to find that some of theconcerns of the Coordinators in past years are being addressed posi-tively. The major success story has been the number of schoolsparticipating. Apart from individual schools and some whichteamed with a school or two in their neighbourhood, a significantcontribution was that by PSBB, KK Nagar, and Pupil SaveethaEco School, Poonamallee, who took it upon themselves to take thelead roles and act as nodal points for a cluster of a dozen and moreschools each. About a hundred schools participated in numerousactivities, some of the exhibitions they put up being, in particular,described as “excellent craftsmanship”. But the most significantcontribution of the lot was a travelling exhibition of the CPR Envi-ronmental Education Centre that visited nearly 200 schools andshowed the students a 14-panel presentation titled ‘Clean Adyar,Clean Coovum, Solve Madras’s Water Problem’. The message wasin English as well as in Tamil.

Another heartening feature has been the extended spread ofthe celebrations. North and West Madras have seen much pio-neering activity. Sri Theagararya College in Washermenpet, St.Joseph’s High School in Erukkenchery and Ambal Matric Schoolin Arumbakkam have all contributed to this in a significant way.

Then there have been those who have turned the spotlight onthe Chennai of today that was once Madras. Namma Chennai andthe Indian Press Institute have taken a lead in this. The BritishCouncil had several innovative programmes ranging from the pastto the present. And, two surprises, the Reserve Bank of India gotinto the spirit of the celebration and organised programmes for itsstaff, and the Hotel Ambassador Pallava introduced what we pre-sume will be annual awards to the ‘Doyens of Madras’.

There has also been more than a doubling of the number ofwalks, all of them well attended. Nizhal led the way with its TreeWalks, but local individuals have shown the way to go leading

(By The Editor)

(Continued on page 2)

The Comptroller and Audi-tor General recently filed a

report that 92 monumentsprotected by the Archaeologi-cal Survey of India have gonemissing over the years. The ASIhas since ‘redeemed’ itself by itsriposte that 47 out of the 92have since been traced and theothers had vanished years agoand the records were notupdated owing to oversight. Allthis fills us with no confidencein either the way the CAG didits survey or the methods thatthe ASI uses to protect its struc-tures. It is a miracle that morebuildings, icons and precinctshaven’t gone.

Listed among the missingmonuments were two Chennai-based monuments – Hynmer’sObelisk in the Law College pre-mises and the remnant of theold town wall on Old Jail Road.Both of them are very muchthere unless, of course, theCAG is looking for the rest ofthe town wall which, inciden-tally, was demolished in the1850s (in which case the ASItakes really long to update itsrecords). But what is interestingis that the monument that hasreally vanished, the Powney

Vault, which stood next toHynmer’s Obelisk, finds nomention. The enclosure inwhich several members of thePowney family were buried has,most likely, fallen victim to theMetro rail development. Thismust have been allowed by cit-ing that the Justice Padmana-bhan Committee list does notspecifically include the Vault byname.

Having said that, it must bepointed out that there is verylittle to rejoice about, for theASI has not really covered itselfin glory. Both the town wall andHynmer’s Obelisk have lostmuch of their sheen. The

former was ‘renovated’ in com-plete Kollywood style a fewyears ago. The rampart is now apark brought back to life but thearched entry and the steps areeyesores with several com-memoration plaques haphaz-ardly placed. This is hardly themanner in which a historicmonument is to be treated.

Hynmer’s Obelisk is now moreor less lost to view, entry beingthrough several barricades andtrenches and an unfriendlysecurity guard. Experience hastaught us that monuments thatare lost to sight vanish over aperiod of time.

Other Chennai-based mo-numents that are really pro-tected by the ASI (which inreality means nothing morethan a blue signboard thatthreatens vandals with direconsequences) have not faredbetter. A correspondent, asreaders of this publication areaware, discovered the Bulkleytomb after much difficulty. Thecondition of the sepulchre isbad and it has survived onlybecause it is a massive piece ofgranite. The Fort is no better.The ASI may take cover underthe plea that the precinctsuffers from multiple ownership,but it has done precious little totake care of what are indisput-ably its own properties withinthe Fort. Lack of funds andmanpower is the usual excusesgiven, but for how long?

(Continued on page 9)

Deepa Sekar conducted an extremely successful Kilpauk Heritage Walk on the first Sunday of Madras Week andTimeri Murari writes to her, enthused, “Last year half a dozen showed up; I was delighted to find 58 trailing you this time.What was even more encouraging was that most of them were young men and women who showed such an interest in theirneighbourhood. Next year – 100!” One of the places the group visited was Murari’s ancestral home, Devar Kottai. R.Revathi added, “I liked the way you obtained permission and involved the residents of old and heritage houses and madethem present their homes with pride.” (Also see Page 5)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

The Chief spoke, and therewas Madras Week. At

the end of it all, pronounced asuccess by the three wise menwho founded it, and theirsidekicks who joined later, TheMan from Madras Musings isfeeling quite weak. It is theconsidered view of MMMthat what with the MadrasWeek, the Music Festival,the Theatre Festival, theLiterary Festival, the AdiThallupadi, the Pongal Festi-val and other such events,Madras that is Chennai isbecoming a much too hecticplace to live in.

But leaving that aside, letMMM describe his ownexploits during Madras Week.The Chief had fixed him witha burning eye and commandedhim to do his bit and MMM

but was quite amazed at thecheer it exuded. No problem, itcaroled. It advised MMM totake his time. The programmewas for an hour and MMMcould walk in at any time. Asa filler, the voice said, aphoto of MMM had beendownloaded from the internetand put on screen even whilethe anchor was holding forthon various issues that facedChennai.

It was good 40 minuteslater that MMM reached thestudio building which was ahuge office complex. MMMcharged in, tripped over acouple of wires, had a glass ofwater pressed into his handand was pushed into a seat.Opposite him was a personablewench, speaking non-stop.This was the anchor and

when she paused to take abreath, which was seldom, areporter was holding forth onthe civic problems that Chen-nai faced.

We want to know ...

Gradually, MMM came togrips with what was being

said. The reporter ranted onabout water supply, pollutedrivers, bad roads, terrible slumsand the mosquito menace.After a while he paused forbreath and the anchor cleverlygot a sentence in edgeways, an-nouncing to the viewers thatMMM was with them in thestudios and would give them asolution for all their problems,namely, the poor roads, the er-ratic water supply, the pollutedrivers, the terrible slums andthe mosquito menace. The city,she said, wants to know. Shethen beamed expectantly atMMM.

“Er..,” began MMM.

Whereupon the anchor saidthat our reporter on the streethad some more to say andswitched over to him. He thenthundered about the horribletraffic, the cutting of trees,the unplanned colonies, theteeming slums and the badbuses. “Why?” he shouted,after having worked himselfinto a crescendo. It was thenthat the anchor said that well-known MMM who was in thestudio with answers would,well, spell out answers to thehorrible traffic, the cutting oftrees, the unplanned colonies,the teeming slums and the badbuses. The city needed toknow.

Madras Week – MMM style!“Ah..,” said MMM.

Once again the reporterhad something new. This timehe had members of the publicwith him. He then proceededto interview them. One mansaid he suffered because of thetraffic. A woman wept copi-ously at the water supply. Athird recited a jeremiad on thecutting of trees, while a fourthblamed everyone else for thepollution. Women then join-ing together screamed them-selves hoarse about the teem-ing slum, and the bad buses. Achild expressed her concernover trees. Then the anchorturned to MMM once again;no doubt the city needed toknow.

“Umm..,” whisperedMMM.

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

had proceeded, rather like theLight Brigade. Chief of thesewas a television interview onChennai, its historic begin-nings etc. And so came theday when MMM, having spenthalf the night studying theChief’s magnum opuses (or isit opi?), woke up early,performed all ablutions andhaving dressed suitably, leftfor the TV studios. Thesewere somewhere down southof the city and MMM wasinformed by the chap whofixed it up that it would takean hour to reach from MMM’splace.

It was after an hour of jour-neying that MMM realisedthat he had got nowhere.There were glass towers onboth sides and traffic volleyedand thundered to the left andright. MMM’s chauffeur be-longs to a class which believesthat asking for directions isinfra-dig and so the car wasbowling along at high speed. Itwas only after the route beganto look suspiciously rural thatMMM quelled the driver’sobjection with a burning eyeand asked him to enquire fromthe first villager as to where wewere in. And it was good thatwe asked too. Had MMM keptgoing he would have perhapshad to write like Corbett thatthe natives appeared to befriendly and so he spent thenight there.

The car turned round andsoon civilisation was sightedonce more, by which time theprogramme in which MMMwas to appear had already be-gun. MMM, therefore, calledthe producer and asked him ifhe could go back home. Hehalf expected a petulant voice

At which thoughtful ex-pression, the anchor thankedMMM for his participationand said that his views hadbeen most useful. Shealso hoped that she wouldmeet MMM again soon inthe studios. It all remindedMMM of day-to-day conversa-tions with his good lady, alsoknown as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. MMM since resolvedto learn to speak faster. Thefirst step would obviously beto get a word in edgewayswhile his good lady is holdingforth.

The three laws

Our beloved journal,representing Chennai

Heritage, organised its eightlecture programmes andmighty successful they were.The speakers and audienceswere unanimous in praise.The hotels did a magnificentjob too. The freeloaders had afield day as well, though theirnumbers have diminished.The Man from Madras Mus-ings has formulated three lawsbased on their behaviour:

Everybody remains in astate of rest until informedthat refreshments are served,whereupon it gets into a stateof motion in which it remainstill the refreshment counter isclosed.

The indelicacy of thegrasping claw is directlyproportional to the delicacy ofthe dish.

Every grabber has anequally powerful and opposinggrabber?

– MMM

Brindian or

Hindlish?

It could be said of the English that if you took away their Latin,Greek and French they would have to speak in sign language.

But although Purists have decried this allegation, this ease withwhich foreign words have been absorbed into the English languageis one of its great virtues.

In the 18th Century there were so many Hindi words in theEnglish language (as well as Tamil, Sanskrit and Urdu) that it couldhave been predicted that the English in India would eventuallyhave been speaking Hindi and calling it English.

Even Edmund Burke admitted that as much as he would like toavoid these “New Abominations”, he could not, when talking ofIndian affairs, be understood in Parliament if he did not use them.

First had come merchant words suggesting comfort and com-merce. The master/servant relationship being so important, hun-dreds of words for all the infinite variety of tasks, and the servantsto do them, were deemed, at that time, to be indispensable. Preoc-cupation with the social classes ensured the establishment of suchwords as Mogul, Nabob, Brahmin, Sahib (did the British, I wonder,ever know that it meant friend?), wallah, coolie, pariah, babu.

Then came the soldiers with their Army Ranks and their end-less military terms. Words like gymkhana, shikar, bungalow, ve-randa, cummerbund, jodhpuri reflected the continued sense ofprivilege, and thug, dacoit, jungle, loot added another dimensionto the heritage.

The foot-soldier, with his inadequate but poetic grasp of lan-guage, adopted khaki, cushy, dekko, baksheesh and the word phutwhich acquired an English onomatopoetic force most appropriateto its meaning. And, of course, there is blighty, the concept with-out which no British could think of leaving home.

Then the nostalgic words of the retired colonial who finds him-self in a land he loves but is not at home in: amah, ayah, toddy,cheroot, chai, curry, chutney and all the other culinary words.Words like pukkah and purdah, dinghy, bandanna, bangle, calico,catarmaran, dungaree replaced others previously quiteacceptable....Could a child put on this pajamas and crawl into hiscot with quite the same degree of warmth if he wore a nightshirtand slept in a bed? How did we ever wash out hair before we dis-covered shampoo? What could we do without the chit and with-out tiffin? And without that so Irish-sounding soup mulligatawny?

Yet although Indian words now flourishing in the English lan-guage are a mere fraction of the words that have been taken in andlater discarded, the golden age may still be ahead. For, with theinterest in Indian philosophy ever increasing, the Englishman nownot only knows words like yoga, sadhu, mandala, but he also un-derstands concepts like nirvana, dharma, ahimsa, mukti.

These concepts being indispensable if words for them did notexist, he would have to make them up from his Latin or from hisGreek. (Courtesy: Sri Aurobindo’s Action)

– Navoditte

Which brings us to the pointat issue. Is the ASI reallycapable of handling the protec-tion of monuments? Its charterand guidelines were draftedwhen Lord Curzon was Viceroyand at a time when most monu-ments were standing in vastopen spaces. Today withcongestion and encroachmentsbeing the chief threats, theorganisation has to reinventitself. It has to look at public-private partnerships, imagina-tively promote its monuments

in the manner in which it isdone abroad, and take steps togarner funds independently andnot merely through the sale oflow-priced entry tickets. Ithas to look at making itsmonuments visitor-friendly andensure that basic amenitiesare available for visitors.(When was the last time youneeded to visit the toilet at ahistoric monument?) And itneeds a properly trained anddedicated watch-and-wardforce, not the kind that merelyshoos away visitors andprevents the taking of photo-graphs.

The muddling ASI(Continued from page 1)

September 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

When a doctoral disserta-tion submitted in 1987

takes the form of a full-fledgedbook 26 years later, it is a reflec-tion on the historical relevanceof the contents. More so, whenthe book comes four years afterthe author, D. Veeraraghavan’sdeath in 2009 at 51.

In his introduction to the300-page book titled The Mak-ing of the Madras Working Class,Veeraraghavan, quoting histo-rian Sabayaschi Bhattacharya,says “the history of thehistoryless – the anonymouspeople who, in their collectiveacts, their work, daily lives andfellowship, have forged our so-ciety through the centuries” –was often neglected in socialhistory. That explains the ratio-nale for the author writing abook which falls under aspecialised head such as labourhistory or socioeconomic his-tory. The title of the book, ac-cording to A.R. Venkatachala-pathy, historian and professor atMadras Institute of Develop-ment Studies, pays homage toEnglish historian E.P. Thomp-son’s 1963 work The Making ofthe English Working Class. It was

Beginningsof the labourmovement

� by

T. Srinivasa Chari

Venkatachalpathy who over-saw the conversion of the the-sis, The Rise and Growth of theLabour Movement in the City ofMadras and its Environs, 1918-1939, into the book under men-tion.

While describing the labourconditions and industrial deve-lopment of Madras in the late19th century and beginning ofthe 20th century, labourstruggles and formation of thetrade unions, Veeraraghavandraws the attention of thereader to a common factorbetween the origin of the city ofMadras in 1639 – as a clothproducing centre – and theformation of the first organisedlabour union in India, theMadras Labour Union in 1918– emanating out of the harrow-ing experience of a textile millworker employed in the B andC Mills, Perambur. The triggerleading to the forming of theUnion was a worker beingforced to defecate in the openafter being denied permission toleave the shop floor to relievehimself. Not only that, he had

to clean up the mess which hurthis religious sentiments.G. Selvapathi Chettiar andG. Ramanujulu Naidu, twoyoung businessmen at nearbyD’Mello’s Road, Perambur Bar-racks, empathising with theworkers organised a meeting inMarch 1918 at Janga Ramaya-mmal Gardens on Statham’sRoad. Sudarsana Mudaliar,Honorary Magistrate, presidedand Thiru Vi Ka made a power-ful speech which was well re-ceived by the gathering of10,000 workers from the millsand elsewhere.

The first president of theMadras Labour Union (MLU)was B.P. Wadia, an associate ofAnnie Besant, and the Unionwas formally inaugurated onApril 13, 1918 at its weeklymeeting where Wadia address-ed the workers in English andThiru Vi Ka translated it intoTamil. The unionisation ofworkers was a natural outcomeof the humiliation in the work-place and the rigorous disciplineand racist attitude of the Brit-ish government and employers.

Earlier, individual workershad resorted to absenteeism,

high turnover, thievery, andeven riots and strikes. Onecase of rioting was betweenweavers and European officersof the Buckingham Mills inSeptember 1902 when workers’pay was cut after the manage-ment found flaws in the yarnand defects in the weavinglooms. Workers in the otherdepartments supported theweavers and rioted. Police andthe Army were used to evict theweavers.

Other workers to follow theMLU lead and set up unionswere those from the tramway,railway workshops, printingpresses, kerosene oil distribu-tion companies, and aluminiumvessel manufacturers. Contractworkers in the cigar factory ofMcDowell and Co. in GeorgeTown struck work during thelast week of June 1918. Evenrickshaw-pullers went on strikein the same period when theirowners hiked the rent from fourto five annas. They were ad-dressed by Besant of the HomeRule Movement and were giftedtwo rickshaws to be rented to

the members at four annas aday. About 225 workshopmen of the Madras Corpora-tion struck work on March 19,1919.

During the period of theemergence of the Left forces,between 1933 and 1937, onestrand of Communist ideologybelieved in opposing the Con-gress and Gandhi because theybelieved the Congress to havebecome a capitalist party in thestruggle against imperialism.Later, another school ofthought decided to work withinthe Congress as members of theSocialist Congress Party andbuild a broad united anti-impe-rialist people’s front. But it is tobe noted that the Tamil NaduCongress was so hostile to so-cialism that even a CongressWorking Committee (CWC)member, Achyut Patwardhan,was refused use of the Congressoffice during his visit to Madrasbecause he was a Congress So-cialist. Many CWC membersincluding Rajagoplachari sent aresignation letter to Nehru pro-testing against his advocacy ofSocialism. But not all national-ist Congress leaders were of thesame persuasion. V.O. Chidam-baram Pillia for one declared ata meeting in Negapatam (Naga-pattinam) on April 14, 1920:“Postal, Telegraph, Police andRailways are the four walls ofthe British Government and ofthese if one wall collapses, theBritish Government will at oncecollapse. You are like the foun-dation of the Government.” Atanother meeting in the Tirunel-

veli Provincial Conference, hesaid: “If the Government didnot act up to what people say,we must induce these unions tostrike work…If you have theseunions under your control, youwill have ‘Swaraj’ the momentyou desire for it.”

The period 1937-39, duringwhich the Congress was inpower in the Madras Presi-dency, saw an upsurge in tradeunionism. Labour saw in theCongress a representativeagainst their battle against im-perialist owners. The LabourMinister was V.V. Giri who waspresident of the Madras andSouthern Mahratta RailwaysEmployees’ Union from 1929 to1934. C. Rajagopalachar wasPrime Minister. Even backwardtrades and unorganised indus-tries workmen came under theinfluence of militant tradeunionism. For example, 80workers in 11 button factoriesin Royapuram, Washermenpetand Tondiarpet went on strikefrom July 24, 1937 when theydid not get the promised oneanna rise in wages. Because ofthe increased awareness of theirrights the workers, in many ofthe strikes, focussed more onvictimisation, rather than onthe issues for which the strikebegan.

On the government side,while there were compulsions tomeet the aspirations of thepeople – improve their eco-nomic conditions, reduce in-debtedness and unemployment,and break the continuing Brit-

ish stranglehold in the form ofthe hated new constitution –what prevailed was showing theBritish and the public at largethe government’s administra-tive capabilities. As manage-ments refused to implement thenon-mandatory recommenda-tions of the boards of concili-ation, agitated workers resortedto stay-in and wildcat strikesand action against strike-break-ers. In response the governmentbanned processions and meet-ings under the City Police Act.Giri justified his government’smeasures by saying it believed inthe maxim ‘Govern or get out’.He added that the ways andmethods of the Communistswent beyond constitutionalpropriety. The attempt of aLabour Congress MLAKrishnamurthy to move a billseeking to define and protectthe rights and privileges of reg-istered trade union membersand that of the government topass two bills in consultationwith employers and unionsfell through, as the Congressministry went out of office in1939.

Among the sources onwhich the book are based arehistorical documents of BritishIndia preserved in the TamilNadu archives and NationalArchives of India, including pri-vate papers of political andlabour leaders, back issues ofEnglish and local languagenewspapers like The Hindu,

Leftist scholar, the author, late Dilip Veeraraghavan,

lost his eyesight by the time ofhis school final days inKumbakonam due to retinitispigmentosa. He moved toMadras and studied B.A.(History) at VivekanandaCollege, M.A. at PresidencyCollege (1978-80) and M.Phil at Pachaiyappa’s College(1980-81). In 1982 he joinedIIT Madras for his Ph.D andsubmitted his thesis in 1987.The next year he joined thefaculty and taught there for 12years, until his death.

At IIT, Veeraraghavan wasan inspiring social sciencesand humanities teacher.Future technocrats weresensitised to social issues.Veeraraghavan was active inthe Students’ Federation ofIndia. He was close to the CPI(M) and maintained closerelationships in the party withleaders ranging from P.Ramamurthi to the youngerones. During later years, hemaintained a distance from

the party due to differenceson environmental issues.

The studious person thathe was, Veeraraghavan wasobiviously somewhat of aloner. Venkatachalpathyrecalls that even in thecampus of the Tamil NaduArchives, Veeraraghavanpreferred poring over fileswith a research assistant tochatting over tea in thecanteen. He was a regular at

the city’s music concerts,being an ardent Carnaticmusic rasika.

Among the Communists,he belonged to those who wereaustere in their ways, usingpublic transport in spite of thefact that he could afford a carand did not enjoy good health.Along with Venkatachalpa-thy, who prepared the manu-script of the book, anotherassociate of Veeraraghavan,V.R. Muraleedharan, initiatedthe forming of the DilipVeeraraghavan MemorialTrust. In his introduction inthe book, Venkatachalapathyalso recalls the contribution ofS.S. Kannan, founder of theKarl Marx Library, whonurtured Veeraraghavan fromhis student days and translatedinto Tamil Veeraraghavan’sdissertation with PuduvaiGnanam. The Tamil version iscalled Chennai PerunagaraThozhirchanga Varalaru.

– TSC

Overcoming handicapsto write history

(Continued on page 11)

Dilip Veeraraghavan.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

Goodness, mercy andtoughness

spanned music, cartooning andwriting.

William Mathuram Santo-sham faced difficult times as ayoung man. But he stayed un-daunted. He was sent toMadurai along with his broth-ers, Wilfred and Dharmaraj, byhis father, Abraham SantoshaNadar, a tahsildar, for studies.His zest for life, his boomingvoice and his captivating sing-ing won him popularity duringhis days at American Collegeand then at Madras MedicalCollege (MMC) where, as a stu-dent, he is best remembered forhis witty compositions and sing-ing at functions. His politicalactivity started at MMC whenhe founded the Madras StudentOrganisation, a student wing ofCongress, but his deeper faithinspired him to spend more timewith the Zion Church in Chin-tradipet, which was to remain aconstant companion for the restof his life. He aspired for a gen-eral medicine position aftercompleting his medical studiesas a 24-year-old in 1937, but,his political activities havingbeen noticed, he was asked tointern at the TB Institute. Thiswas to prove a blessing in dis-guise.

TB was then a dreaded dis-ease and was almost a death-feared disease. Dr. Santosham’s

Dr. M. Santosham was a gifted tuberculosis specialist when the disease was at itsworst, saving the lives of hundreds of people with his practical treatment and

accurate diagnosis. The demands of tuberculosis care led him to establish the firstprivate sanatorium in Madras, setting it up in the outskirts of Madras to supplementhis Lung Clinic at Egmore. He made a mark in the political scene as well, first as amember of Congress and then as a founder-member of the Swatantra Party. He wasa close confidant of the party’s founder, Rajaji, and was elected as the Party’s MPfrom Tiruchendur in 1967. Dr. Santosham was the voice of the Christian commu-nity in Madras for years, heading several of its organisations. His interests also Various facilities at the Sanatorium.

Dr. M. Santosham

combination of compassion andexpertise won him the hearts oftuberculosis patients and hissmall practice grew by leaps andbounds. In 1938, the front por-tion of a rented house onEgmore High Road became aLung Clinic, a small four-bedfacility. The poor patients weretreated for free and storiesabound about him givingmoney to patients to buy medi-cines. The clinic was later de-veloped into a full-fledged hos-pital and still functions as theSantosham Chest Hospital. Dr.Santosham, who was a memberof Indian Army Corps, servedthe civil defence’s Air Raid Pre-cautions (ARP) wing during theWar in 1942. He was up to anychallenge and never backed off,so much so that he operated ona goat first to learn surgery skillsand, in later life when thesuction pump failed during anoperation, he himself suckedout the fluid, little worriedabout contracting TB.

Another tussle with the ad-ministration forced him to quitgovernment service and starthis own private practice. Dr.Titus – a compounder fromTrivandrum who came toMMC to formally study medi-cine – found his colleague Dr.Santosham to be a suitablematch for his daughterSusheela, and the marriage wassolemnised in 1944. Susheelagot a hint of Dr. Santosham’scommitment to his professionwhen he rushed to attend to ableeding patient while shewaited for him to come backand take his marriage vows. Thecouple enjoyed a full life andgrew a happy family of threeboys – Rajan, Ravi and Roy –and two girls – Renuka andRanjani.

Offering further hope to TBpatients, Dr. Santosham decid-ed to treat tuberculosis patientsat a secluded facility that could

provide the recommended TBtreatment with fresh air andcomplete rest. He establishedthe first private TB sanatorium,named after his late father A.Santosha Nadar, in 1946,acquiring 10 acres of land atSelaiyur, near Tambaram. Thesanatorium took a life of its ownand developed into a full-fledged facility with a poultryfarm, kitchen, and gradedaccommodation for patients.Ten per cent of the patientswere treated for free and thesanatorium’s doors remainedopen to all patients sufferingfrom TB, irrespective ofwhether they could afford thecosts or not. A resident doctor,support staff, and administra-tion manager made it a self-suf-ficient TB care unit.

Dr. Santosham, with the ob-jective of spreading awareness,

� by

K. Venkatesh

wrote a book on TB. He thenenrolled for postgraduate stud-ies abroad to learn more sophis-ticated treatment methods andsurgery techniques. With TB’streatment advancing to thelevel of being treated at home,the sanatorium lost prominenceafter a 30-year life of enviablesuccess. The space was thentransferred for a nominal sum tohis friend Dr. G.D. Boaz to runa psychiatric centre.

The political fortunes of Dr.Santosham stood in contrast tohis medical practice, swingingfrom one extreme to another.He always remained staunch tohis principles and was never putoff by any setback. He believedin being clean and honest in

The political partners: Rajaji and Dr. Santosham.

politics, and his cheerful dispo-sition won him friends acrossthe political spectrum. Earlyelectoral forays in mayoral elec-tions in 1949 and Assemblyelections in Perambur in 1952ended in disaster. Dr. Santo-sham was then attracted toRajaji’s plank of politics in theCongress. His initial rapportwith Kamaraj became strainedas a result. The factional dividebetween Kamaraj and Rajaji de-nied him what should havebeen a cakewalk in the 1957mayoral elections. Kamaraj’schoice for mayor, Dr. TaraCherian, beat Dr. Santoshamby seven votes and the relation-ship with Kamaraj eroded fur-ther. When Rajaji broke fromCongress to form the SwatantraParty in 1958, Santosham wasto become one of the party’sstrongest pillars in Madras

State. He always had the ear ofRajaji and became his trustedcompanion. Intellectual com-patibility brought them evencloser. Mentor Rajaji thus be-came an integral part of Dr.Santosham’s political life till thevery end of Rajaji’s life.

The fight at the hustingsbore fruit for Dr. Santosham in1967 when the Swatantra Partyformed an alliance with theDMK in the parliamentary elec-tions. This alliance won himfriendships with M. Karunani-dhi, M.G. Ramachandran and ahost of Dravidian party leadersof the time. Riding on an anti-Congress wave, Dr. Santoshamdefeated Congress strongmanK.T. Kosalram, although by a

thin margin and much to thesurprise of political observers,and became an MP. He spokeeloquently on various issues inParliament, the most significantone being the necessity for gov-ernment to provide qualityhealth care throughout thecountry. Later, shifting politicalfortunes led to the SwatantraParty joining the coalition ledby Kamaraj’s Congress (O) inthe 1971 elections and Dr. San-tosham’s strained relationshipwith Kamaraj now turnedfriendly. But the alliance was nomatch for the rising popularitywave of the DMK. With thepassing away of Rajaji in 1972,it was also the death knell of theSwatantra Party, high on intel-lectual appeal and low on popu-lar attraction.

Dr. Santosham was closelyassociated with Christianorganisations such as the IndianChristian Association (ICA),Indian Missionary Society(IMS), and YMCA. He waspresident of the ICA threetimes and constantly appealedto parties forming governmentsto give a fair representation toChristians in their cabinets. Hisappeal to the DMK governmentin 1975 to treat Christian Hari-jans on par with Hindu Harijanswon the government’s consent.He is credited with invigoratingthe YMCA Family Club, a smallvibrant group consisting ofthirty Christian families, formedin 1956 to forge close relation-ships between them. As presi-dent of the Club, Dr. Santo-sham was the soul of the groupwhose members regularly met tosocialise. Music was in his soul,and he composed a Cantata(text composition set to music)titled ‘Redemption’.

He remained on the fringesof the political scene thereafter,aligning with the Lok Dal andJanata Dal as State unit presi-dent in the final phase of his life.He was also instrumental in get-ting the DMK into the NationalFront led by V.P. Singh, whichformed the government at theCentre in 1989. Prime MinisterV.P. Singh offered him the po-sition of a governor, but Dr.Santosham politely declinedciting his failing health. Thesame day, January 30, 1991, hepassed away. On the occasion ofhis birth centenary (June 21,2013), his biography Goodnessand Mercy: Life and Times of Dr.Mathuram Santosham, authoredby V. Sriram, was released.

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September 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Looking back on Madras WeekA four-page special feature

Searching for apast in Kilpauk

Nizhal took steps in a totally new direction... offering its very first

musical tree walk with Dr. Sowmya and her students at the verdant

Kalakshetra campus. Great music under magnificent trees... digging

deep into our heritage to discover the close connection between mu-

sic and nature.

Nizhal among the trees

Winning T-shirt designVincent D’Souza displays a prize-winning T-shirt design.

A

Tiruvottriyur

Walk

The teppakulam outside Sri Thyagarajaswamy temple,

Tiruvottriyur, gone dry...

... And the tank inside the temple.Sri Thyagarajaswamy temple

gopuram, Tiruvottriyur.

‘The past is a foreign coun- try: they do things differ-

ently there,’ is the opening lineof L.P. Hartley’s novel, The GoBetween. Every year in our Ma-dras Week/Month, we searchfor this country through exhibi-tions, lectures, books and walksbut all we see are the few ves-tiges of that distant land. Tomany, especially the youth wholive in Chennai, Madras is a for-eign country.

Madras was a calm city ofshaded roads and garden bun-galows. When my great-grand-

father moved from overcrowd-ed George Town (Black Town)around 1900 to Kilpauk, hisrelatives and friends believed hewas going to a jungle. He builthis house in 1911, and otherfamilies followed cautiously andKilpauk was embraced by Ma-dras. There was grand spacethen for the garden bungalowsthat sprawled next to eachother and, maybe, two or threefamilies lived on those newroads.

When Madras Week cel-ebrations began a few years ago,

a young woman, Deepa Sekar,organised the first KilpaukHeritage Walk. There werearound a dozen people, mostlymiddle-aged, who showed upand we wandered in search ofthe past – Our Lady’s VotiveShrine, the church on Hall’sRoad, Pachaiyappa’s College,one or two bungalows beyond itand then my great-grand-father’s house that still remainsas a memory of that foreigncountry. The following year, thenumbers dwindled.

This year, to my surprise,and hers, 58 explorers, most ofthem young, trailed Deepa.They were well armed withcameras and photographed thechurch, the Salesian Instituteand, finally, my house from allangles. Then they waited for mysister, Nalini, and me to conjureup the past that was now lay-ered with apartments on everyroad. It is hard to conjure upthis foreign country through

just words. Opposite the housewas the Reserve Bank quarters.How could they imagine thatonce there was only a massivebungalow and a garden thatstretched to Poonamallee HighRoad? The Salesian Institutehad been a movie studio; theMadras Telephone quarters onTaylor’s Road was a rice field inmy childhood. ‘No AnnaNagar?’ one asked? ‘Not even aNew Avadi Road,’ we toldthem. The city petered outaround those borders. Off VasuStreet was a large pond. Allgone, like those garden bunga-lows and their gardens withmango and coconut groves.

For those who lived in thatforeign country the deep rootsare still there but they have nowbeen chopped down like all

those great trees that linedevery road. Our roots lie in thebuildings that our ancestorsbuilt for their future and, oncelost, we too lose our identity.The cities and towns in Europeremain perfectly preserved, twoto three centuries old, beauti-fully maintained and thosecitizens know they can see theirpast in the present.

In Chennai, the history hasvanished and all we have arethe apartments, block afterblock, almost identical on theirstilts. We may walk and talk,but that foreign country, Ma-dras, is beyond the reach ofplanes, trains and automobiles.We abandoned it a long timeago.

– Timeri Murari

Our Lady’s Votive Shrine, Kilpauk.

A group explored the heri-

tage of Tiruvottriyur during

Madras Week.

The heritage walk was led

by Gokoulane Ravi with Jothi

Vel Moorthi.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

The Fort – in sketches,words & photographs

52 people did the Fort St.

George walk. The big group

got the attention of the Police

Intelligence, the Secretariat

Outer Security, Inner Security

and the Army folks. Was good

to have the Arch students and

the Madras Sketching Group!

It was a great session explor-

ing the Fort by foot. Vincent

D’Souza’s high energy time

travel was enjoyable.

Ganapathy Subramanian says it in words and pictures.

Another grand Fort building left to die.

King’s Barracks, said to be the largest barracks space in Asia.

On the ramparts of Fort St. George. (Photo: Muralidharan Alagar)

With the Chennai Weekend Artists

The Army’s Parade Ground flanked by many vintage buildings.

The first Fort House could have possibly stood here in the late 17th

Century.

The Grand Arsenal.

Near the Fort Exchange.

September 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

A date withAdyar’s past

The Pupil Saveetha EcoSchool, Poonamallee, or-

ganised a weeklong celebration,Madras Memoirs, from August19th-24th, with a series of inter-school and intra-school eventsand competitions that high-lighted the transition of thecity from Madraspattinam toChennai.

The exhibition Reflections,showcased exhibits from a by-gone era – a gramophone, tele-phones, a hand-woven saree,some miniature brass items andvehicles, photographs, oldcoins, old documents and post-age stamps. It was a nostalgicmoment for some as theyviewed the photos that adornedthe walls and walked downstreets and lanes of the past.

As part of the InternationalSchool Award activity, anotherhall had charts, models andphotographs that the studentshad collected over a period oftime. This event enhanced theirlearning potential and gavethem a sense of belonging – asense of pride that they live in acity steeped in history.

� by K. Venkatesh

Traditionally it always rainswhen Sriram V. conducts a

heritage walk and August 17thwas no different, when he gotMadras Week 98 to trekkingstart through Adyar. Notwith-standing the weather, 43 peoplehad gathered at Gandhi Nagarat the crack of dawn.

Sriram began with the storyof Gandhi Nagar – the placethat was once Bishop Gardens,belonging as it did to thediocese of Mylapore-Madras.The purchase was negotiated byC. Narasimham, Commissionerof the Corporation, and J.C.Ryan, Registrar of Societies,with the blessings of DanielThomas, Minister for LocalAdministration. The two offi-cials agreed to the Bishop’sprice of Rs. 17 lakh for 136

convenience and nuisance. Itspedestal carries the famedTemple Entry Proclamation of1936, an act for which the Ma-haraja received Gandhi’s appre-ciation.

We next came to the MadrasInstitute of Development Stu-dies, the brainchild of MalcolmAdiseshiah, who also donatedhis residence for it and which iswhere it functions from. Sriramdwelt at length on Dr. Adises-hiah’s illustrious career atUNESCO and as Vice-Chan-cellor, Madras University. Themany facets of Dr. Muthu-lakshmi Reddy came to life atour next stop, the Cancer Insti-tute. A woman of many firsts,she started the Cancer Insti-tute, which is now a world-re-nowned institution, in 1954.

acres, although their allocationwas only Rs. 15 lakh, an in-stance of the freedom officialsenjoyed in those days. The costof land and construction cameto Rs. 60,000 per house for thelarger plots, which were a thirdof an acre! The roaring successof Gandhi Nagar as a housingcolony saw the acquisition of140 grounds from the Bengalbrothers to create KasturbaNagar in 1949. Other coloniescame up thereafter.

The next stop was the SriAnanthapadmanabha SwamyTemple, where Sriram providedmany interesting anecdotes,chiefly involving the construc-tion of the shrine thanks to A.Narayana Rao and other earlyresidents of Gandhi Nagar withthe help of the last ruler of Tra-vancore, Chitra Tirunal Bala-rama Varma. His statue, whichonce stood at the TravancoreMaharaja’s Park in the Espla-nade, was shifted here in the1990s by his admirers, the parkhaving long gone and the statuehaving become a spot of public

Her dream was taken to greatheights by her successors – herson Dr. Krishnamoorthy andthe disciple, Dr. Shanta. Wethen moved on to a school thatstarted functioning in the 19thCentury. In 1875, three Patri-cian brothers, Bro. IgnatiusPrice, Bro. Paul Hughes andBro. Fintan Parkinson, startedSt. Patrick’s School here. St.Michael’s Academy, anotherpopular school, is an “offshootof St. Patrick’s,” explainedSriram V. This school beganfunctioning from 1953.

Elphinstone Bridge, con-necting Mylapore and Adyar,was constructed in 1840 but fellinto disuse after the Thiru ViKa bridge came up in 1973. Atits northern end, we remem-bered Durgabai Deshmukh,founder of the Andhra MahilaSabha. Sathya Studio opposite,another well-known landmark,was once Meenakshi Cinetone,later Neptune Studios and, fi-nally, property of MGR, thematinee idol and three-timeChief Minister of Tamil Nadu.Now, a women’s college func-tions in these premises.

The largest island on theAdyar was Quibble Island,which later merged with themainland. A cemetery here isthe last resting place for manyRoman Catholics as well asProtestants. Quibble Island alsowitnessed the Battle of Adyaron October 10, 1746, in whicha small but disciplined Frenchforce defeated the 10,000-strong army of the Nawab ofCarnatic commanded by Mah-fuz Khan. It decisively demon-strated the superior training ofthe European forces, paving theway for an Empire.

The present-day Greenway’s

Road was once lined with beau-tiful garden houses, each builtwith a different architecturalstyle. Thanks to well-knownmusician E. Gayatri, who is nowDirector, Tamil Nadu Govern-ment Colleges for Music, wewere allowed into Brodie’sCastle, one of the few to survive,which is where the GovernmentMusic College is situated. Evenas Sriram told us the story of theseveral occupants of this pala-tial residence since 1796, weexplored it with him.

From the verandah, we hada great view of the Theosophi-cal Society, and, standing there,Sriram told us of the history ofthat verdant campus from itsHuddlestone Garden days. Thegreat personalities who livedthere – Col. Olcott, Mme Bla-

vatsky, Annie Besant – and thefamed Adyar Alamaram, whichstill survives in part, werebrought to life. The Theosophi-cal Society was also the birth-place of Kalakshetra. The greencover prompted Sriram to alsotell us of how activists success-fully fought and saved theAdyar Creek, making it theAdyar Poonga now.

Our final stop was outsideRamalayam, the TravancoreMaharajah’s palace in the city.The Sishya School and severaleastern colonies of thisarea came up on its land. Di-agonally opposite stands theAvvai Home started byDr. Muthulakshmi Reddy fordestitute women. We wound upwith breakfast at (where else?)Adyar Ananda Bhavan.

The Cycling Yogis Heritage bicycle ride seen at National Poet

Subramania Bharathi’s house.

Did you know that Chennai has two sister cities in the United

States? The American Library at the U.S. Consulate-General,

Chennai, celebrated MadrasWeek with a poster display featuring

the two cities, Denver and San Antonio.

Celebrating

Madras in

Poonamallee

The participants seen with Sriram at Brodie’s Castle.

In the US Consulate-General

With the Cycling Yogis

8 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

The nawabs on

Mount Road

A short tour of the old churches of San Thomé was organised by

themadrasday.in. (Pictures by Arun Christopher.)

Old Churches of San Thomé

In the past few years, well-known photojournalist S.

Anwar has emerged as an engag-ing chronicler of the Islamic his-tory of South India. He pennedthe chapter on ‘Islam in Madras’for the Association of BritishScholars’ 3-volume project onthe history of the City. Since2011 he has also been roped inby Chennai Heritage to do heri-tage tours of the city with a focuson its Islamic history. Last yearhe took us on a tour of NawabiTriplicane and this year he fol-lowed it up with a tour of IslamicMount Road. It was a classic

Anwar tour – underplayed, fac-tual and engaging. MountRoad, now being a maze of oneways, Anwar took pains to goover the route several times,meticulously planning the des-tinations. A morning of greatfun, and learning, was theresult.

With the conquest of theSouth by the Mughals, Em-peror Aurangazeb appointedthe Nawab of Arcot to overseethe newly added territories.The decline of the Mughal Em-pire enabled the rise of the vari-ous powers who aspired to rule

over the Carnatic, including theMarathas, the Mysore rulers,the Nizam of Hyderabad, theBritish and the French. Thethen Nawab, Muhammad Ali,was beholden to the British.They offered him protectionwithin the walls of Fort St.George. Palace Street recallsplans for his residence. TheNawab, being the overlord ofthe Carnatic, preferred to buildhis own palace a little furtherfrom the Fort, at Chepauk. Aroad connecting the Fort andthe Chepauk Palace is namedafter Nawab Muhammad Ali,who was given the title Wal-lajah by the Mughal Emperor(Wallajah Road). He engagedPaul Benfield to build theChepauk Palace, which is con-sidered to be the beginning ofthe Indo-Saracenic style of ar-chitecture in India. The palaceextended upto the CooumRiver in the north and Presi-dency College towards thesouth. The site of the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium waspart of the Chepauk Palace,which extended till Bells Roadas the western boundary. Aclean Cooum River was wherethe Nawab bathed. One of theentry points to the Fort, whereit meets Mount Road, was usedby Wallajah when he visitedand is known as the WallajahGate.

After the death of Walla-jah’s successor Nawab Umdat-ul-Umrah, the Company tookover the entire administrationof the Carnatic and the subse-quent Nawabs were titular. Af-ter the1860s, they were movedto Amir Mahal, with the newtitle Prince of Arcot.

On August 18th, we as-sembled at May Day Park inChintadripet for the heritagetour. On our way to WallajahGate, we stopped opposite Gov-ernment Estate to learn aboutthe Governor’s BodyguardsMosque in which the Gover-nor’s Muslim bodyguards pray-ed. This is close to the Gover-nor’s Bodyguards’ MuneeswararTemple, now just known asBodyguard Muneeswarar Tem-ple (near Pallavan House).

Our next stop was the RajajiHall which, interestingly, holdspolitical significance for theMuslim community. AfterPartition, it was here thatQuaid-e-Milleth Ismail Sahibfounded the Indian UnionMuslim League to provide apolitical voice to the IndianMuslims. Right opposite RajajiHall, on the other side of MountRoad, is Anjuman-e-Mufid-e-Ahle-Islam (Society for theBenefit of Muslims), which wasestablished in 1885 for the bet-

terment of Muslims and providetechnical education to them.Today, the place houses a com-mercial establishment, ‘IndiaSilk House’. The third presidentof the Anjuman, JusticeBoddam, helped purchase theproperty and the society movedinto the new premises in 1901.Anwar recalled that LoddGovinddoss donated Rs. 10,000to the Society when it was badlyaffected by the ArbuthnotCrash of 1906.

We were treated to a de-tailed history of the Nawabs,who belonged to three succes-sive and different lineages, atthe Chepauk Palace: ZulfikarKhan and Daud Khan Panni,the original appointees of Au-rangazeb, the Mughal Emperor,followed by the Nawayati Na-wabs, prominent among thembeing Sadatullah Khan afterwhom Saidabad was named,which later became Saidapet. Inthe 1740s, the Wallajah line ofNawabs came into being.

At Dargah-e-Hazrath SyedMoosa Sha Khaderi on MountRoad, Anwar explained Sufiismand the different mystical or-ders such as Khaderia, Chistiya,and Nakshabandhi. NawabMohammed Ali Wallajah was afollower of the Khaderia order.He was also open to other or-ders like Nakshabandhi andwent on to invite DastagirSaheb to Madras. The latter isburied at the end of NatesanRoad, Mylapore.

We then went to theMadras-e-Azam, set up in 1849as a school at the instance ofEdward Balfour by the thenNawab, Ghulam Ghouse Khan.It originally operated inTriplicane and moved to thepresent premises of Umda Bagh,

which was a palace of theNawab that changed manyhands before being bought bythe government in the early20th Century by paying LoddGovinddoss’ family Rs. 1 lakh.Balfour designed it as a schoolfor the English way of teachingMuslims and did away withQuranic studies. In 1919, theGovernment established theMohammedan College for theeducation of the Muslimcommunity. After Indepen-dence, the College was madethe Government Women’s Col-lege. It was renamed the Quaid-e-Milleth Women’s College bya government order.

Only the small minarets ofByramjang Mosque are visibleacross the road, a few buildingsaway from Agurchand Mansion.Nawab Umdat-ul-Umrah’s ad-viser Byramjang built it. Themajestic Agurchand Mansionwas once known as KhaleeliMansion, built as it was by aKhaleeli who came to Madrasfrom Persia for trade. As one ofthe Khaleelis who owned themansion migrated to Pakistanafter Partition, the Governmentauctioned off the premises asenemy property and it wasbought by Agurchand family.

Abbasi Ashur Khana and amosque constitute what ispopularly known as the Thou-sand Lights Mosque. They wereoriginally built by NawabUmdat-ul-Umrah who showedleanings towards Shiism. Thecurrent structures inside thecompound, both the AshurKhana and the mosque, are be-lieved to have been rebuilt bythe Khaleelis. It was a delight-ful walk culminating withbreakfast at Saravana Bhavan,Peter’s Road.

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(By A Special Correspondent)

All about the Nawabs

Namma Arcot Road celebrated Madras Day with a talk by

S.Anwar on the significant social and cultural contributions of the

Nawabs of Arcot to Madras. Anwar spoke at Vadapalani on the

secular practices of the Nawabs and the influences they had on

architecture, education and British rule.

On the Nawabi trail in Mount Road with S. Anwar.

September 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 9

(Current Affairs questions are fromthe period August 1st to 15th.Questions 11 to 20 pertain to

Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Name the American whistle-blower who got political asylum inRussia for one year, straining itsrelations with USA.

2. Hassan Rouhani was officiallyinaugurated as President of whichnews-making Islamic nation onAugust 4th?

3. Name the Internet pioneer andbillionaire who, in his personalcapacity, has purchased TheWashington Post.

4. In a week of mixed emotionsfor the Indian Navy, name thefirst indigenous aircraft carrierthat was launched and also thesubmarine that sank after anexplosion.

5. What is Olinguito that createda buzz among naturalists on Au-gust 15th?

6. In a move that has surprisedmany, a recent Grand Slam ten-nis champion has decided to callit quits. Who?

7. On August 13th, who emu-lated Prakash Padukone, G. Jwalaand Ashwini Ponnappa?

8. What is the name of NASA’snext Mars mission set to take offin November?

9. Who recently became the firstIndian bowler since Kumble totop ICC ODI Bowlers’ Rankings?

10. The Diamond Jubilee of theliberation of which UT was ob-served on August 2nd?

* * *

11. Which vocalist, a disciple ofMLV, has been chosen for thisyear’s Sangita Kalanidhi awardgiven by the Music Academy?

12. Who is the only cricketerfrom the State to score a centuryin his Test debut?

13. Which eminent dancer is thenew director of Kalakshetra?

14. What political first did Sir P.Rajagopala Acharya (aka Raja-gopalachari) achieve in 1921?

15. Name the bridge that con-nected Black Town and Pedda-naikpetta and which, accordingto H.D. Love, is said to have beenbuilt around 1677.

16. Which Divyadesam town hashad names like Varaga Kshetram,Vadesupuram and VikramaChola Mangalam in the past?

17. Name the queen whose pal-ace in Madurai was partly demol-ished recently. She is consideredthe first to lay an extensive roadnetwork in the whole of southTamil Nadu.

18. The first structure of its kindin Madras came up on the roof ofthe Exchange Building (present-day Fort Museum) in 1796, whilethe latest one is on the Marina.What?

19. Which famous institution inAdyar was started by Dr. Mal-colm S. Adiseshiah and Mrs.Elizabeth Adiseshiah in January1971?

20. Which much-loved literarycharacter’s wife was calledVembu and had a son calledSundhu?

(Answers on page 11)

Madras – fifty years agoThis is the story of

Chitra alias Madhurambal,born and brought upin the heritage city of Madras!

My father was truly Middle Classin those days - butI was raised asa Princess of Mylapore!

My grandma adorned Karpagambalwith a nine yards sareeto celebrate my birth - so precious!We roamed the streets of Mylaporewith our jimikis and kunjalams tanglingand silver anklets tingling.

Our toys and trinkets came from Mada Veedhishops

Our pattu pavadais from Nalli and RasiMy first geometry box from Vijaya StoresBooks from Higgin Bothoms;Science and fiction both interested me even

then...

How we enjoyed the moviesat Kapali and Kamadhenu!Pity we saw only Sivaji films,MGR films with dreams duets, not allowed!Bama Vijayam at Midland was a rare treat.

We were groomed with Kalki and Vikatanweeklies,

writers Kalki, Manian and Savi addeddifferent perspectives,

I read Washingtonil Thirumanam to mygrandma,

translating the English verses for her!

We peeped at the Kapali car festival,holding on to our father’s hands;We thought it reached the clouds then,now it seems so small!

How I relished the Sunday bajjiswith hot filter coffee to follow,Evening outings to Marina beach,with sundal to follow,and shells to collect.

Dinner outings at Gupta’s,the first roof garden restaurant in Madras!

The milky taste of Rita ice cream,gave way to ‘Joy’ with chocobar!With the monsoon rainscame the cyclones,flooding the coconut groovesenroute to school.How we enjoyed wading through!

School days are still vivid in my memories,I was the Bharatha Mata, shackled with a

cycle-chain,with my long hair billowing out in curls!And Lord Indira in Thanushkoti drama,prompting everyone’s lines throughout!And the Kush of the Lava-Kush twins dance

drama,I wonder where is my twin brother now,

rather sister?

‘King Maker’ Kamaraj inauguratedthe Mandaveli New Bus Stand,So proud to see a humble politician!Route No. 21 was our favourite,to go to Luz, Tank or a doc’s visit.Enjoyed the long rides in 5B buses,to Guindy and T’Nagar.

Over the last five decades,Madras, nay, its Chennai now,has grown more beautiful, very elegant,and all powerful!It has stood the testimony of time!

Chennai is now home to (abode of)chirpy young IT professionals,middle-aged business magnets, andelderly NRI parents.

Change is the rule of nature,Chennai is now riding high.No stopping you, my dearest Chennai,celebrations are coming (y)our way!

Chitra SundarA 57 year old, homemaker, caregiver, socialworker, lover of arts & crafts, science and cinema.1-B, Kgeyes Magnolia FlatsM-10, Lattice Bridge RoadThiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600 041chitrasundar18@gmail.com

walks in their neighbourhoods,Kilpauk, Tiruvottriyur, Royape-ttah, etc. There have also beengroups studying their ownneighbourhoods, past, presentand future.

These are all harbingers ofthe future, say the Coordinatorsnow grown from three to adozen. We join them in hopingthat the promise of 2013 growsinto an even bigger, even moremeaningful celebration in 2014.It’s time to start thinking aboutthose plans right now.

MadrasWeek,a greatsuccess(Continued on page 1)

No airs about him

I met A. G. Kripal Singh, theMadras State and Test cric-

keter, when he was with E.I.D.Parry’s, Ranipet unit, during theperiod 1964-1966. As con-vener, I invited him, B.R.Mohan Rai, former State cric-keter, and M.R. Mehra Direc-tor of E.I.D. Parry, to partici-pate in the meeting organisedto form the North Arcot Dis-trict Cricket Association onJuly 1, 1964. As founder-Hon-orary Secretary, I invited Kripalto attend the nets we had atthe George Union play-grounds (now the NethajiSports Stadium).

Both Kripal and Mohan Rairepresented the Parry & Com-pany in the Inter-club CricketTournament conducted annu-ally by the Association. We re-quested him to lead the 1964N.A. District team in the Inter-district Cricket Tournamentconducted annually by TNCAin the year. He agreed to do soand both Kripal Singh andMohan Rai played for theteam in the match at theVaniambadi Islamiah Collegegrounds. Chengalpattu Districtwon the match by a slendermargin. Kripal bowled verywell to take four wickets. Un-fortunately, when he hadscored 15 runs he was declaredout on a dubious LBW deci-sion. Playing for the Club teamthe jovial Kripal had none ofthe airs of the former Test crick-eter!

P.S. Subrahmanian2 A, Nalanda Apt

2,5th StreetDr. Radhakrishnan Salai

Chennai 600 004

Recharging tanks

With reference to thearticle about ‘Temple

Tanks’ (MM, August 16th), theRotary Club of Madraslaunched “Project Thanneer(Water Project): (2000-02)”.The project recharged the freshwater aquifer in nine templetanks by cleaning the surround-ing areas, providing collectionpits around them to guide rain-water and thereby raising thegroundwater level. The projectwas financed by Rotary Club ofMadras, Rotary Club ofWhitby, Canada, MatchingGrant and CRCID to the timeof $60,000.

Of 36 tanks in Madras, thesenine tanks were renovatedunder this scheme.

S.L. Chitalechitalearchitects@gmail.com

September 7

Till September 15: Ganesha, an exhibition of the work of 24 artists at IBAArts and Crafts, 8th Cross Street, Shenoy Nagar West, Chennai 600030.

10 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

HOW TO SKIN AGIRAFFE (inspired by

Georg Büchner’s Leonce undLena), directed by RajivKrishnan, presented by Perch ofChennai and Rafiki of Banga-lore.

For a minute, it feels likeyou’ve pulled an Alice-like

stunt and tumbled into anotheruniverse... a zany, Dr. Seuss-likeone. A myriad mix of languagesdart about on stage, reflecting,in a sense, the audience rightthere in the theatre....Tamil,Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada,to name a few, with Englishstrictly of the ‘we-are-like-this-only’ kind, always a delight tothe ear.

The story unfolding on stagehas a comfortably familiar airabout it. You have two ‘enter-prises’ – one a kingdom ruledover by a king who, whileendearingly limited in vision,believes wholeheartedly in themyth of his own intellectualenlightenment. As a measure ofthis superiority, a stream ofwords, all ending with ‘ion’,tumble out of him. “Predestina-tion of creation; Automation ofemotion; Moronic deforesta-tion, oral diarrheaification!”Stream-of-consciousness meetscrazy-roller-coaster... yet, a fewcontemporary digs slip slylyin: “Deception by election!Gender equalisation molesta-tion discrimination... nothing,nothing moves without bribifi-cation.”

Fawned over by his coterie of‘yes-sayers’, who rush to clearhis path of obstacles, KingLabadub is blissfully unawarethat he is basically walking thesame road always...getting no-where quickly, inexorably, withtheir help. A victim of his ownsocial status, he is willing tostoop to lies when it suits him.

Then you have Heroine Pipiin – what else? – a tower filledwith that wistful longing so typi-cal of heroines everywhere, asthey cling desperately to day-dreams even though somethingwithin warns otherwise. A life,where she will merely exchangeone window for another, loomscloser, and she knows it.

There’s Prince Popo, againmore than slightly addicted toillusions. (For a second, youwonder: What is it with writersand their obsession with melan-cholic, joy-challenged Princes?)Popo is aware that he may “stillbe suffering from a slight case ofideals!” He says: “I wish I couldbe like one of you. Take thispuppet of a body and stuff it

Random thoughts onlocal flavour at Fest

� The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest

� by Ranjitha Ashok

into some nice suiting shirtingekdum smiling shyling usefulmember of society types.”

Boredom terrifies Popo,above all else...with goodreason, you feel.

Other wacky charactersabound – like Popo’s second incommand, Vaal, a good-timeguy, with an eye on opportuni-ties and the good life. Possess-ing a “BA in Idleness”, he wouldlike to “declare that Sundaywould extend all the way toFriday, with Saturday being halfday”, but is actually Popo’s oneaccess to reality. There’s thedog Wagner, and Pipi’s Mother,Madam Momosa, who isn’texactly the Wicked Witch, buta ruthless Corporate Chief,head of the Jolly Cheimeensprawns factory, selling prawnsthat have been bludgeoned intosubmission. She is all about

power and money....wiggles herfingers to show you she knowshow to get it....and is willing toenter her daughter (whose ownwishes seem to have sufferedthe same fate as the prawns)into a marriage of convenienceto further both her social andher business agendas.

That charming folk-talestaple – the heroine’s compan-ion – appears here as the gov-erness, who supports her dearcharge. She has some of the bestlines in the play, spouting –ismsuniquely her own: ‘Nadakanadaka daan paadai, varudumuttiyila baadai.’ For a secondyou almost smile in that supe-rior ‘I-understand’ manner ofmany who attend philosophylectures....till the obviousnesshits you, and your foreheadwrinkles in a ‘hey, wait aminute’ moment.

She goes: meenu kulla kadalirukku, pagallukkulla iravu

irruku, iravukkula pagal irukku;Yen raniyoda chinna kannil,periya periya kanavu irukku...and charms the audience.

Reality shows with relent-lessly upbeat hosts, cops who’velearnt to take refuge from actualwork by resorting to endless,obvious report-writing, schoolmasters who bully and threa-ten... the script flings stereo-types at you, and in recognisingthem, you are forced to admityour own compromises andcompliance.

What do you take away withyou? Beneath the laughter is agrowing sense of sadness as theplay progresses. Sheer, deadlybanality will come. Life will turnmediocre by its descent into thecommonplace....that soul-de-structive ‘sameness’ which killsdreams and illusions.

In the end, happily-ever-af-

ter comes with a question mark,as these two idealists (whosenames, incidentally, are basicbody parts and/or functions)ultimately surrender, becomeboxed-in, like their parents,down to the mannerisms.

The tragedy lies in this pro-cess being declared a success –just like the packaged prawns.

And yet, what choice didthey have – or do you – for thatmatter?

Those on stage are perhapstoo young to remember PeteSeeger’s song, “Little boxes”,but you find traces of the lyricsfloating through your mind atthis point.

Is it better to be an idealistwho then succumbs to the prac-tical, better for having known afew moments of dreamymadness....or should you befirmly practical materialists likeVaal, or dear Momosa, fromDay One?

How many ways are there todeal with that one all-encom-passing situation – the life that’sbeen wished upon you?

How to find those ways?A little like asking...how to

skin a giraffe?* * *

CIRCUS (adapted fromCharlie Chaplin’s film, TheCircus, directed by Victor Jaya-raj M, presented by MacTrics ofChennai.

Imagine this. Charlie Chaplinruns into career difficulties

back home, and decides to seekhis fortune elsewhere on adviceof a parent who points out thathe was born for entertaining,and that Man is pretty muchmaster of his own Destiny(given Chaplin’s real father’strack record, you can’t helpfeeling this bit of poetic licenceis a cheerful change). Chaplintravels by ship, then by train,finds himself in Chennai’s Cen-tral Station, is overwhelmed bythe teeming millions, runs afoulof the law due to a misunder-standing, stumbles into a Cir-cus, encounters bullies, an iras-cible owner, a handsome tight-rope walker, falls in love withthe circus owner’s daughter,watches Rajnikanth movies, al-most loses the girl, but wins herin the end and, dancing toKamalhasan’s Pudhu Mappillai-kku from the film Apoorva Sago-tharargal, lives happily ever after– at least, you hope so.

Cute and quirky, this story,stepping out of the constraintsof real-time chronology, isbrought to life by a Chennai-based mime and body theatregroup.

In the beginning, all actiontakes place through shadowmiming, using a shimmeringivory screen – and this sequencecomes close to ‘Wow’! The‘over-there’ scenes ingeniouslydraw reality out of illusion, withhuman bodies easily taking onshapes – a computer screen in arestaurant being handled by themaitre d’, musical instruments,a car. When Chaplin success-fully gets himself fired out ofpromising careers, and makeshis way across the seas, thoseoutlines of ships and trains,complete with slatted windows– very impressive.

A voice, in that distinctive

cadence Central Station,Chennai, has perfected,announces the arrival of ourhero’s train, and, naturally, thefirst thing that literally hitsChaplin is the sheer crowds.The screen disappears, and youare now ‘on stage’ so to speak,as Chaplin moves throughChennai.

Circus has a large ensemble,with mummers of various sizes– all of whom are quite good increating formations to suggestlandmarks, in playing the inani-mate to sound effects....like acreaking door, or a slammedone, and also in acrobatics,including aerial acts and simu-lated tight-rope walking.

You have to give a young setof mummers and actors creditfor trying.

But when you leave the the-atre, you can’t help feeling someelements need work.

* * *

And now – since both playsdealt with Humour....anothersmall point.

Editing.Yes, this is always the tough,

even heart-breaking, part of anycreative process. But an essen-tial one, especially when you aredealing with something as deli-cate, as capricious and touchy acreature as Humour. Treatedgently, with the lightest oftouches, Humour sparkles,soars, transforms magically inan instant into the sharpest ofarrows, or offers a smile thatfloats softly, yet devastatingly,on pathos. But, handledroughly, clumsily or worse,strrreetchhed too long, it col-lapses, turns leaden, and fallsflat. Like they say, ‘taking ashovel to a soufflé’ is always abad idea.

So learning to recognise thatmoment when a story is done isthe difference between a talewell told, and one that growstedious.

Remember Hamlet’s words?“...in the very torrent, tem-

pest, and, as I may say, whirl-wind of your passion, you mustacquire and beget a temperancethat may give it smooth-ness.”.... “for anything soo’erdone is from the purpose ofplaying...”

A useful bit of advice – forall occasions.

From How to Skin a Giraffe.

From Circus.

September 1-15, 2013 MADRAS MUSINGS 11

Justice, Navasakthi, India Thozhi-lali and Swadharma (the first ex-clusive labour journal in En-glish), and interviews withlabour and shop-floor leaders ofdifferent eras like G. Selva-pathy, Rudra Kuppusamy, P.Ramamurthi, Arujunan and K.Murugesan, to name a few.

The publishers, Leftword,feel the book will become astandard reference work notonly in labour history, but thehistory of Madras and the Leftmovement owing to the ex-haustive research that has goneinto it. The inclusion of bio-graphical notes on leaders likeV. Chakkarai Chettiar (1878-1958), V.V. Giri (1894-1980),Hari Sarvottama Rao (1883-

1960), A.S.K. Iyengar ((1907-1978), E.L. Iyer (1885-1941), P.Jeevanandam (1905-1963), V.Kalyanasundara Mudaliar(1883-1953), G. Krishnamurthi(1905-1970), G.T. RamanujuluNaidu (1886-1959), P.R.K.Sarma (1903-1951), V.L. Sastri(1890-1962), G. SelvapathiChettiar (1892-1985), B. ShivaRao (1891-1975), M. Singa-ravelu (1860-1946) and B.P.Wadia (1881-1958) after theconclusion with cross refer-ences on their roles in the evo-lution of the labour movementis a bonus read. The observanceof the May Day in 1923 was firstinitiated in Madras at NapierPark, Chintadripet, by Singara-velu, hailed as the first Commu-nist of South India. He also pro-moted the Maha Bodhi Societyin the city.

The Race of My Life: AnAutobiography – Milkha Singh– Sonia Sanwalka (Rupa,Rs. 250)

Watching the recently re-leased film Bhaag Milkha

Bhaag with my 8-year-oldproved to be a rather unique ex-perience. After the film, mylittle one was very curious to‘see the real’ Milkha Singh.Thankfully, Google and Wiki-pedia came in handy, and hewas fascinated to ‘see’ how the‘real’ Milkha Singh looked andran.

Thanks to Rakeysh Ompra-kash Mehra’s bio-pic, a newgeneration of people has got anopportunity to ‘meet’ and un-derstand a legend whose successstory is not just about him butalso about the time he lived in.

Did Milkha Singh run all thetime? Yes, running in his case,like many of that time, was notjust about winning; it was ametaphor for escape… fromhunger, despair, helplessnessand, most importantly, the onlyoption if he wanted to live.

For a boy who narrowly es-caped death during Partition,when most of his family washacked to death, winning a racejust for a glass of milk was moti-vation enough. Milkha stole,fought, and survived to becomea young Army recruit who ranhis very first race to ensure hegot a daily glass of milk. Afterthat first race, he became anathlete by default. In fact, as of2013, he is the only Indian maleathlete to win an individualathletics gold medal at a Com-monwealth Games (in 1958).

In this candid autobiogra-phy, co-written with his daugh-ter Sonia, Milkha Singh sharesmany significant moments of hislife… the amazing highs of win-ning the gold in athletics at theCommonwealth Games, theunbridled joy of being hailed as

On your marks...geographyand a laugh!the Flying Sikh in Pakistan, aswell as the shattering low offailure at the Olympics.

Simple, yet ambitious;famous, yet grounded; tempta-tions all around him, yetremaining celibate so that hecould focus on running…that’s what makes MilkhaSingh a league of his own. Yes,there are plenty of nuggetsabout his personal life whichare beautifully intertwined withhis love for sport. Especially hiswooing and marrying his ladylove, Nimmi, against all odds.In fact, he reserves high praisefor his wife who has “stood byme” at every turn of life. Yet,for a man whose life was domi-nated by sports, he remains dis-illusioned with the way sportsevents are run today.

A touching foreword byRakeysh Omprakash Mehra,who was inspired by this bookto make the film, as well as amoving tribute by way of intro-duction to his father by inter-national golfer Jeev MilkhaSingh, adds plenty of emotionalquotient.

As a reader, you join in hisanguish, you laugh with him,you cry for him and cheer whenhe needs it. That’s what makesthis book a compelling read.

* * *

Land of the Seven Rivers: ABrief History of India’sGeography – Sanjeev Sanyal(Penguin, Rs. 399)

When this book was sug-gested to me, I was

initially reluctant to read it. Butonce I began to read, I could notput it down. For the simplereason that though Sanyal’swork is all about history andgeography, all right, it’s the wayhe has put down facts andfigures (and plenty of specula-tion, of course) that makes thisa fascinating read.

The history of any countrybegins with its geography. Fromthe raw and basic Stone Age topresent-day multiplex and sky-scraper-infested India, Sanyal’sis a riveting journey. He beginsat the beginning with the theoryabout how one huge land mass,following various geographicaloccurrences such as earth-quakes and volcanoes, split andcontinents took shape. Did youknow that the San tribe inAfrica is perhaps the oldest inthe world! Man migrated fromthere to other parts, includingIndia.

Sanyal takes on questionssuch as: Where did the riverSaraswathi originate and howdid it disappear? Did the GreatFlood of Indian legend actually

happen? Why did the Buddhawalk to Sarnath to give his firstsermon? How did the Europe-ans map India? With sparklingwit and intelligence, he exploresvarious theories and facts to tryand understand the India weinhabit today.

Traversing remote mountainpasses, visiting archaeologicalsites, crossing rivers in shakyboats and delving deep into oldrecords and manuscripts,Sanyal tries to paint a picture ofIndia that is Bharat. But whywas it called Bharat? And whywas the world’s highest moun-tain named after GeorgeEverest? Pick up the book todiscover some interesting sto-ries that provide answers.

* * *

Jest in Time: A Cavalcadeof Cartoons Over 175 Years –Jug Suraiya, NeelabhBanerjee, Ajit Ninan (TimesGroup Books, Rs. 699)

Nobody has captured Indiain all her glory and grime,

horror and glamour, like TheCommon Man, that little guycreated by R.K. Laxman, whobrought a smile on people’sfaces every morning when theypicked up The Times of India.Similar is every cartoon thatoccupies a pride of place innewspapers across the world. Infact, if India did not exist,cartoonists may have had toinvent it.

True, for there’s no othercountry in the world, perhaps,which presents such rich andvaried material for the de-piction of humour as we dohere. Humour is the harmoni-ous reconciliation of oppositesand India abounds in opposites:the corrupt and overweightVVIP vs. the skinny and honestaam admi, the pompous politicovs. the skeptical voter, and soon.

This book is a pageant of car-toons culled out of The Times ofIndia archives which portrayscolours, the emotions, the trialsand the travails, the triumphsand the zest for life that makeup the never say die spirit ofIndia. Take a peek and laughout loud!

– Savitha Gautam

(Continued from page 3)

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share ourkeen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response torequests from many well-wishers – especially from outsideChennai and abroad who receive their postal copies very late– for an online edition. Madras Musings is now on the web atwww. madrasmusings.com

THE EDITOR

Answers to Quiz

1. Edward Snowden; 2. Iran; 3. Jeff Bezos; 4. INS Vikrant andINS Sindhurakshak; 5. It is a newly discovered mammal and thefirst new species of carnivore to be identified in the Westernhemisphere in 35 years; 6. Marion Bartoli, the 2013 WimbledonLadies Singles champion; 7. P.V. Sindhu, by winning a bronzeat a World Badminton Championships; 8. MAVEN;9. Ravindra Jadeja; 10. Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

* * *

11. Sudha Raghunathan; 12. A.G. Kripal Singh;13. Priyadarshini Govind; 14. First President (Speaker) of theMadras Legislative Council; 15. Armenian Gate Bridge;16. Srivilliputhur; 17. Rani Mangammal; 18. Lighthouse;19. Madras Institute of Development Studies; 20. ThuppariyumSambu.

Beginningsof the labourmovement

12 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2013

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

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— A WELLWISHER

� The tenth in a series of profiles by V. RAMNARAYAN of cricketers who may have made an all-time Madras* squad.

Unlucky to find aTest cap too far

V. Sivaramakrishnan, thetall, left handed opening

batsman, who played first classcricket between 1973 and 1988,had the highest Ranji Trophyaggregate for a Tamil Nadubatsman for a long time, beforeanother lefthander, S Sharath,went past him. My youngestbrother, Sivaramakrishnan was,however, my senior in first classcricket, making his debut forTamil Nadu three seasons be-fore I made mine forHyderabad. As he was playingfor Bihar during my first season,I had to wait another season be-fore I bowled to him for the firsttime. Fittingly, as his elderbrother, I got him out in thatgame at Lal Bahadur Stadium,Hyderabad, but only after hehad made a bright 61. Thereaf-ter, we shared the honours moreor less equally in Hyderabad-Tamil Nadu matches.

Sivaramakrishnan repre-sented the beginning of a bat-ting revival in Tamil Naducricket in the 1970s. He was animportant member of the Ma-dras University team that wonthe Rohinton Baria trophy forthe first time in its history. Thatwas in 1971 and, under the cap-taincy of R. Ravichandran, Ma-dras discovered a galaxy ofyoung stars in Sivaramakrish-nan, Krishnaswami, Mukund,Sushil Haridas, Victor Fernan-des, Bhargav Mehta, N. Bhara-than and P. R. Ramakrishnan.The left-hander’s best contribu-tion in the tournament was afine hundred in the final againstBombay. A hundred and othergood scores in the Vizzy Trophyfollowed, South Zone winningthe title.

Making his Ranji debutagainst Karnataka in 1972-1973, Sivaramakrishnan was

run out for zero in the first in-nings, but gave evidence of hisclass in the second innings,when he punished Prasannaand Chandrasekhar to make 53.

With stiff competition build-ing up for batting places in theTamil Nadu eleven with the ar-rival of P. Ramesh, another lefthander of great promise, and aline-up that had in it Krishna-swami, T. E. Srinivasan, Jabbar,Satvinder Singh and Mukund,Sivaramakrishnan moved togreener pastures in the steeltown of Jamshedpur in Bihar,where he played for TISCO andBihar in the company of thelikes of Ramesh Saxena andDaljit Singh. His consistent per-formances won him a place inthe East Zone team, and hescored runs in the Duleep andDeodhar Trophy matchesagainst North Zone, dancingdown the wicket to Bishan Bediand the like.

Sivaramakrishnan returnedto Madras in the very next sea-son, with his reputation en-hanced by his Bihar sojourn andan earlier stint in Calcuttawhere he had proved his com-petence against the movingball, playing quality swingbowlers with consummate ease.

Back in Madras for the RanjiTrophy, the left-hander battedin the middle order againstKarnataka and scored a mag-nificent 169 against Prasanna,Chandrasekhar, Vijayakrishnaand Co.

Sivaramakrishnan wentfrom strength to strength fromthat point, to become TamilNadu’s most reliable batsman.He was a strong driver of theball and revelled in the cut. Hewas particularly good when thechips were down and whenthere was something in thewicket for the bowlers. One ofthe most brilliant close-in field-ers Tamil Nadu has produced,he held more than a hundredcatches in the national champi-onship, besides occasionallyturning his arm over usefullywith gentle in-swingers.

Sivaramakrishnan cameclose to being picked to tourAustralia in 1977-1978, whenhe made 74 for South Zoneagainst North at Bangalore. Hisrival to the second opener’s slot

Chetan Chauhan failed in thatgame, but North piled up a largetotal after debutant YashpalSharma made an impressive173. The only way South couldhave gained the first inningslead and, by virtue of it, thematch, after being down at 50plus for 3 was for Siva and T. E.Srinivasan (who scored a bril-liant hundred) to put on a mas-sive partnership, but Siva virtu-ally threw his wicket away justwhen the attack was tiring.South Zone yielded a lead ofover 100, North went on to winthe match and Chetan Chau-han made a hundred in the fi-nal at Bombay, to clinch a placein the squad. The rest is history,as Gavaskar and Chauhanstruck a durable partnershipthereafter.

Opening the innings forSouth Zone against TonyGreig’s Englishmen at Hydera-bad (I was warming the reservebenches then), Siva negotiatedthe seam and swing of John Le-ver and Co., and was on theverge of launching an all-outattack on the spinners, when hewas run out while he and G.R.Vishwanath attempted an im-possible single to DerekRandall. He had made 27. Inthose pre-helmet days, he wasout fending off bouncers fromImran Khan and MalcolmMarshall in the tour matchesagainst Pakistan and WestIndies, and failed to convert agood start against Rodney Hogg

and Co. of Australia. These fail-ures kept him out of a Testberth. His last chance wasagainst England again, in 1983,following a hugely successfulRanji season, but again he wasdismissed for 38 and 30, thoughhe made batting look relativelyeasy facing Bob Willis at hisquickest.

Some of Siva’s best battingagainst fast bowling came inColombo in 1982, and in Perthsix years later. In Sri Lanka, hebatted so well in the first in-nings of the Gopalan Trophymatch against genuinely quickbowling on a fiery wicket thatthe coach Peter Philpott ad-vised the captain not to enforcethe follow on so that theLankan bowlers gained morepractice bowling to a quality lefthander, ahead of the then forth-coming tour of Australia, whichhad a few southpaws. In Aus-tralia in 1988, playing for theRanji Trophy champion TamilNadu, he blunted a pace attackwhich had three Test fastbowlers on the Perth wicket no-torious for its pace and bounce.It was a brave counterattackamidst a general batting col-lapse.

Winning the Ranji Trophythat season had been a personaltriumph for Sivaramakrishnan.He had come back into the sidefor the knockout stage of thechampionship after announcinghis retirement at the start of theseason and scored heavily in allthree matches he played,including a hundred in thesemifinal and 94 in the final.He continued to play leaguecricket in Chennai for manymore seasons, regularly amass-ing runs.

* Madras Province/State/Tamil Nadu.

V. Sivaramakrishnan.