Archive of Vol. XVII No. 21, February 16-28, 2008
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Registered with the Reg. No. TN/PMG (CCR) /814/06-08 Registrar of Newspapers Licence to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. WPP 506/06-08 Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI INSIDE Short N Snappy Avvai TKS in Madras MADRAS Manohar recalls Madurai The Roman gold coins Disappointing the fans Vol. XVII No. 21 MUSINGS February 16-29, 2008 DoIs VPHwe really to get need a new to develop Let me make it very clear right in a new city? the beginning... if you use any abusive word that is not there in this Abuse Manual, you will be penalised! (By The Editor) Mind your language ts just possible that we dont the city in the CMA is 1005 he Vehicle-Users Asso- Ireally understand such tech- sq.km. in extent. T ciation In Support of nical matters like urban devel- The 2001 Census stated that Free, Frank Speech (their opment and town planning. We the Citys population was 4.3 theme song is a slightly re- would, therefore, welcome it if million, up 0.5 million from the worked version of Words) is some kind soul in officialdom 1991 Census. up in arms. will explain to us why there is a The CMA the area be- Their press statement declares, desperate need to develop an yond the city had a population Its hard enough to handle entirely new city beyond the This is what new multistoreyed construction does to Mount Road with its (Continued on page 4) traffic, without having to Chennai Metropolitan Area gracious old buildings. mentally run through a long list of accepted abuse in the (CMA) and reaching as far as event of traffic provocation. Chengalpattu. Especially when Meanwhile, our animal co- the CMA has more than double existers are fed up, and want the area of 500 sq.km. proposed From Mount Road us humans to just leave them for New Chennai, an over 1000 out of our silly (unsavoury?) sq.km. area thats been crying brawls. for development for years. Why cant you use your own Just as it is possible that we kind for comparisons? they to Mall Road? really dont understand such grumble. technical matters as urban plan- Were a people rich in lan- ning, its quite possible that we guages. he central business district Beginning from the Guindy other Rain Tree Hotel. An of- And we can be rude in all of dont understand numbers. Per- haps that same kind soul from Tof Madras that is Chennai end, the old Vel Studio prop- fice complex by the same them, including local dia- is fast changing shape and pro- erty, later belonging to Campa builder is coming up at a lects, variations in accents, officialdom will explain the fol- and even in pitch. lowing numbers we present and file. Despite the continuing Cola, has been acquired by ITC neighbouring site. Saundarya We embrace the power of lan- tell us why the inferences we pressure caused by traffic and Limited and it is reported that Nursery, which was across the guage with fervour, and con- make from them might be the demand for parking space, the largest five star hotel in the road, has made way for a retail frontation is seen as an excit- wrong. the road continues to be a ma- city is coming up on the site. and office complex being put up ing opportunity for imagina- Chennai City (the area jor draw with more and more Close by is TPL House of Tamil by the Prestige Group of Banga- tive expression. within Corporation limits) has corporate houses, hotels and re- Nadu Petro Products which is lore. This is one of the last But, now, confusion abounds. an area of 172 sq.km. Beyond tail outlets buying up property stretches, just ahead of the Who decides what you can say, this is an urban agglomeration, in the area. junction at Sir Theyagaraya and when, and to whom? the Chennai Metropolitan Area A recent report in a city- l by A Special Road, where Mount Road is still Apparently, geography plays a based financial daily claims that bottleneck-free. That feature huge role in this process. of 1177 sq.km. In the event the Correspondent City is also considered part of due to traffic congestion, park- will obviously not last long. Responsible social sensitivity is ing constraints and the conse- The Abbotsbury property a must, certainly. the CMA, then the area beyond quent shift in focus to new cor- which morphed into a half-built But is political correctness up for sale. At the old Halda slithering towards paranoia? ridors, Mount Road lost its at- premises, long lying vacant, hotel developed by the Balaji Besides, how many What not tractiveness as a premier shop- Ashok Leyland is putting up its Distillery group and which was to manuals can you study in ping hub. That status, the re- corporate office. A part of this supposed to be managed by The a day? port says, is all set to be re- parcel of land, which belonged Oberois as the Magunta Oberoi Even playgrounds are witness- gained with scores of mega to TVS, has changed hands and had remained that way for over ing tension. Youngsters say shopping malls, office com- a star hotel is coming up there. a decade now. It has recently that they are expected to re- plexes and star hotels dotting Another hotel is said to be com- been taken over by the Hyatt member too much already in the skyline. How these devel- ing up where the old Concorde Group and will be revived un- the name of education... and opments are going to offset the Motors showroom used to be, der the name of Grand Hyatt. now this! traffic congestion and parking just off Mount Road, where Raj Just opposite is the Courtyard Life in the 21st Century seems constraints is anybodys guess. Marriot which was once to be all about learn, unlearn Bhavan Road intersects with and re-learn... But if the paper is to be be- the turning to Velachery. Srilekha International. Thats a head(ache)y stuff. lieved, just about anybody and A little further down Mount everybody is pitching camp on Road, close to Nandanam, Ranjitha Ashok Mount Road. Ceebros is constructing yet an- (Continued on page 6) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-29, 2008 A library romance led to ‘Showing’ foreigners our City he Man from Madras were pavements, their heights T Musings was requested by were such that no elderly per- social activism a friend to take two Englishmen son could possibly climb on to and their wives around the city. them. MMM had no comments MMM drew up an ambitious to offer by way of explanation. ttending the 10th Interna- plan of taking them all the way Ational Womens Suffrage from San Thomé to Fort St. Murphys Law Alliance Conference in Paris in George. But the guests were 1926 from Madras was Rukmini late and, so, a part of the tour he Man from Madras Lakshmipathi. She was to go on had to be scrapped. When T Musings heartily dislikes to make a name as a freedom MMM and friends set off from Mondays, for it is usually on fighter and a social activist. Mount Road and made their that day when things go wrong. So on coming in to office, Rukmini was born on De- way to the Fort, it was, conse- quently, well past sunset. It MMM was not surprised to find cember 6, 1892 to an orthodox was then that MMM realised that all the telephones in the Vaishnav Brahmin couple, the uphill task in front of him. building had gone dead. The Srinivasarao and Chudamani. For, standing in the parking lot reasons for the breakdown They were of Andhra origin, in front of the Fort, MMM were quite intriguing. but lived in Madras. The great could only gesticulate at a The phone cables are laid Veena Dhanammal taught clump of trees beyond which all below the ground and the road Rukmini music, and her father was darkness. above them was not long ago arranged for her to learn Latin The Fort, not being floodlit, re-laid. During the recent mon- soon, the newly laid road had under a tutor known as could have been any building. Rukmini Lakshmipathi. The only structure that was naturally come apart, exposing Thambi. clearly visible was Namakkal the soft soil below. Even as this Lakshmipathi was born in George Town (5:00 pm to Kavingnar Maligai, the new of- deepened into a chasm and re- Madhavaram to an orthodox 7:00 pm). fice block, which is not a build- mained that way through most Andhra Smartha couple He used to cycle from clinic ing worth talking about. Of of December, the telephones V Achanta Sriramayya and Jana- to clinic and to visit patients. course, the visitors noticed it miraculously worked. kamma on March 3, 1880. Right opposite his dispensary standing out like a sore thumb While studying in Raja- in Triplicane there was a library, and wanted to know how such mundhry, he married Vignyana Chandrika Mandali, a building was built in the Fort SHORT Seethamma in 1895 and shifted where he chanced to meet precincts. MMM then took N to Madras to join Madras Chris- Rukmini who was at the time them past the War Memorial, studying in Egmore for her ma- which was once again shrouded SNAPPY tian College. In 1900, he got a in darkness.