August 16-31, 2010 MADRAS MUSINGS 8 JANUARY. It is called chai cutting. And is FEBRUARY. The students of a local college MARCH. The famed Chennai auto meter. APRIL. Visits from the local temple on special performed every time you ask for a cuppa. The take local transport to a whole new level. There Legend has it; they used to actually work at some occasions are occasions in themselves. You chai may be grossly overcooked, but you can’t are a lot of expectations for this. We think it’s point of time. certainly won’t find anyone refusing. beat the delivery. sheer joblessness. MAY. Completely drunken men, lots of mad JUNE. The second longest beach in the world JULY. The boss. Some Chuck Norris fan AUGUST. This is a spectacle. And there’s dancing and drumming, blocked roads, and some is home to numerous pairs of hands. They gather stole a new facts. And has been dispatched for a none like it anywhere else. You won’t need to fireworks thrown in for good measure. This is how together, bringing their respective bodies along trip into space. record it because you won’t forget it anytime the locals deal with the departure of a loved one. to watch the sunset. soon. Death in Chennai is something that is shared. Whether you want to be part of it or not. SEPTEMBER. Rowing down what is effectively OCTOBER. The wine shop. The TASMAC. NOVEMBER. The great Valmiki sat here for so DECEMBER. This is what Chennai is tripping on an open sewer at 5 am might seem mad to some. Wretched government owned places that sell long in meditation, an ant hill grew over him. at the moment. Setting up new statues, It however builds character, kills olfactory cells. booze. Plastic cups. And pickle. They open early And in that time, he also managed to receive painting its walls, restoring its historic buildings Both essential for life in Chennai. and close early. Reflecting the drinking habits of the Ramayana. Some believe it, some and generally doing a bit of sprucing up. Some the locals. don’t, but the fact remains that this temple is might say it’s a task too large, but maybe, just still in the middle of the road. maybe, 2011 will see a cleaner, more colourful Chennai. August 16-31, 2010 MADRAS MUSINGS 9 The making of a From ‘bunktea’ to Nawabi days Madras calendar hat is bunk tea? hy are we writing about Shanghai, Singapore City or my surprise, D’Sa informs me W Tea made in the bunkers? Tea not made from tea leaves? Wa 2010 calendar this late even Mumbai, but what are that the Madras Boat Club con- We were at the foothills of St. Thomas’ Mount. Richard in the year? you ask. There is some of the core characteristics ducts rowing training and holds O’Connor had come to meet me because we wanted to make a recce of this area and find out if there was a possibility of hosting an explanation for the utter that set it apart? Capturing the races on that polluted water a Heritage Walk for the Madras Week celebrations. lack of timeliness, but the fact is subliminal essence of contem- body. “Anek used to do a bit of It was 4.30 p.m. it doesn’t matter. Because to porary Madras in twelve images rowing himself; he was the one “Would you like to have bunk tea before we set out?” think of Indian-Bred 2010 as a is no mean task. But the WMD who came up with the title,” he I was puzzled. mere calendar would be to miss team – Shaun D’sa (art), Anek adds. The discarded rubber There exists a colourful lexicon of the Anglo-India language the point. This is a work of art Ahuja (interactive) and tyres on the bank are real, as and though I have moved with it for many years, I had not heard which celebrates the quotidian Nishant Philip John (writer) – are the buffaloes wallowing in of ‘bunk tea’. life in Chennai, or Madras, if has done it with style. Those the dark slime. And the fantas- Richard, who works for the Customs at the Chennai Airport you prefer the capital’s older who call Chennai home, home- tic-looking bird perched on the Complex and lives on the ‘hill’, pointed out a tea shop with an name. If you are fortunate town, or both, will probably re- phlegmatic beast? “That red- asbestos roof, as if to answer me. enough to have acquired one of gard Indian-Bred 2010 as a love blue bird probably escaped from “That’s the bunk!” the 500 copies its creators, the poem to the city. the nearby Guindy Park,” D’Sa I got it. founders of Whoa Mama De- quips. And from the teashop owner there was more to learn when I sign (WMD), handed out for Even the unlikeliest scene asked him why the tea looked orangeish. “People want it strong G free, hang it someplace where by contains a kernel of truth, and so we mix Kannan Devan and 3 Roses.” everyone can enjoy the witty il- Vijaysree Venkatraman that is precisely what makes I thought of that blackboard kept outside the old India Coffee lustrations and commentary. deconstructing these images Depot off Mount Road, behind India Silk House, and the coffee Live in one place for too long such fun. With December’s mix they offered to customers. and there is a danger that, over Singaara Chennai they end on There is so much you discover, experience and feel when you time, you will become inured to The creative trio, with an an optimistic note. “Maybe, just volunteer to take a closer look at places. both its peculiar charms and its average age of 25, uses mixed maybe, 2011 will see a cleaner, Anwar, photographer and researcher, was tentative about undeniable warts. We know media to depict vibrant local more colourful Chennai,” John hosting a Heritage Walk that took you to the last days of the Nawabs, but he was planning to do an illustrated talk. that our capital city is distinct scenes. The old formula – find- writes in the blurb. These are all ing a dozen photogenic Madras So I joined him for a recce of the Palace of Chepauk and of from other metropolises like good ideas: restoring historic Triplicane. This area was our haunt when we were teenagers. But landmarks, allotting a picture to buildings, better civic ameni- each month, and writing literal Anwar had the history of places we took for granted, included a captions to match – is far too simple arch over a street that is 6 feet wide. passé for them. The new form When we looked around for a tea shop, we stopped at a nook that sold samosas, vadas and a sweet made from beaten rice and combines photography and ar- sugar, in a street where once the devadasis are said to have lived. tistic rendering, with pithy com- Madras Day / Week will hopefully show you a city you have mentary to boot. People be- not known or seen or felt. come vivid pencil illustrations (See pages 5, 6 & 7) while buildings stay put as pho- Vincent D’ Souza tographic elements. “Besides, the idea was to make local graphics stand out in all their glory: be it on a fishing boat, a Capturing the spirit of matchbox label, or the ubiqui- tous movie poster,” says D’Sa. Madras “We see these things day in and hat is Madras to young day out, but tend to overlook WChennaiites? Those grand them.” At two photowalks early in While the trio’s imagination August that YOCee, a website old tales soars and carries you along, ev- for Chennai children, organ- ver 2000 entries have ery frame is still grounded in re- ised as a pre-event of the Ma- ality. Take, for instance, the Obeen received till dras Week celebrations, the August 10th for the Madras September sheet with the po- children captured the spirit of etic name Gently down the Kathai contest (http:// the city through their simple themadrasday.in/2010/07/ Sewer. As it happens, people do aim-and-shoot cameras. madras-kathai-contest/), in scull in the smelly waters of the When YOCee approached which schoolchildren have to Adyar River. Mildly amused at N. Ramaswamy to lead the record stories told to them by ties, and brightly-painted photowalk for children, he was senior citizens in their homes houses to dot the landscape. But excited. Ram is a dedicated and neighbourhood. This ini- a cleaner Chennai is impossible blogger chronicling the city in tiative involving the young is unless resourceful residents, by Prodigy Books and CHENNAI HERITAGE pictures through his blog www.yocee.in, a website for who believe in civic action, de- http://chennaidailyfoto. !"#$%&$'()**)+$,"-./&$01&$2.3*4"**$5")+& Chennai children (run by cide to bring about this transfor- wordpress.com. 5"6)7.**)(&$8(.99):$;11$1<= Revathi R.) and they plan to mation themselves. For that The walk on August 1st publish the best 50 entries as >$ )?$ )@/.)+6$ "9$ 6"A/$ ?):@:9B$ @:3*$ CD):@:9B$ E:3*$ !"####################F$ G they need to notice their sur- a book. >$ ()H.$ IA3*$ 3..9$ !"#$"%& !'%()*%& )9+$ -"A@+$ @:J.$ *"$ /.4.:H.$ :* started at the famed Ratna roundings once again and Cafe in Triplicane and the chil- (./.)K*./# Revathi R maybe this calendar will serve dren walked shooting all that G!"#$%!%&'()*%!'+%,-%#.%/0&.!.1023#/)&%4!)1.%1!2)1!5*6!788!95-:%%*!;&%!+-&.1%.<!:04= [email protected] 0>(%!3)!8LM!!N>$LM5>,NOM&$DNP5NQ&$0*!%'+%,$(-.(/)&3)!!"#$"%&!'%()*%&2)1!3+%!4%01 as an eye-opener.