Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/12-14 Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/12-14 Publication: 15th & 28th of every month Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI INSIDE • Short ‘N’ Snappy • Drawing with Mano – 3 • Multi-faceted Balfour • Pricipal from the Punjab • Wensley & other coaches Vol. XXIV No. 1 MUSINGS April 16-30, 2014 G Changing skylines Madras Landmarks – An insensitivity 50 years ago everywhere (By The Editor) he whole story has déjà vu ment on South Bank which, Many of them are hugely promi- Twritten all over it. The according to UNESCO, poses a nent and grossly insensitive to builders’ lobby constructing grave threat to Westminster’s their immediate context and huge structures in all available world heritage status. On the appearance on the skyline. G Everest Hotel is one of the best known occupants of Jaya Mansions, a spaces… heritage under other hand, with England still “This fundamental transfor- classic art deco building constructed in the late 1930s by S.P. Jayarama Nadar, threat… the public remaining in the midst of a grim recession, mation is taking place with a Mercant and Councillor of the Corporation of Madras, to serve as a commercial insensitive… a few people lodg- this could do wonders for the shocking lack of public aware- hostel for students of the Madras Medical College. By the mid-1940s it had become commercial premises with a number of shops and establishments renting ing protests… an appeal in the economy. ness, consultation or debate. the rooms in the ground floor. Everest Lodge, as it was known, the creation of Courts of Law… judgement Not so, say the intellectuals. Planning and political systems Sundaram Iyer, took the upper floors. given in the absence of any law And some of the language they are proving inadequate to pro- Located as it was midway between Central and Egmore stations, it became a protecting skylines…In case have used sounds very familiar tect the valued qualities of Lon- very popular place of stay. There was a rooftop restaurant as well, which also you thought that was something to us fighting the same battle in don, or provide a coherent and functioned as the premises for the Muthialpet Sabha. It was here on a full moon that happened only in Chennai, Chennai: “It is shocking that positive vision for the future night that Tiger Varadachariar is said to have performed a pallavi in Raga relax, for you are in august com- such a profound change is be- skyline. The official policy is Poornachandrika. pany. London has the same ing made to a great city with so that tall buildings should be Sundaram Iyer married a well-known dancer Swarna Saraswathi problems. little public awareness or de- ‘well designed and in the right en secondes noces as the expression is, and the couple later moved to Delhi It may be the city with maxi- bate. There is also a startling place’, yet implementation of where they lived till their passing. The hotel changed hands and continues to function from the same premises mum protection for heritage lack of vision from the city’s policy is fragmented and weak. though ill-advised attempts at modernisation have robbed the facade of all vestiges and with the highest number of leaders. These towers do not “Too many of these towers of art deco. footfalls seeking out history, but answer the city’s housing needs, are of mediocre architectural An interesting aside is that Everest also ran Zoo Café, which, as the name it is no different from Madras! but respond to a bubble of in- suggests, was a restaurant at the Zoo which at the time was just behind Late last month, some of the ternational investment in Lon- (Continued on page 3) Ripon Building, barely a stone’s throw away. city’s most influential names in don residential property. A arts, academia and politics short-term financial phenom- began a campaign to protect the enon will change the city’s sky- city’s skyline which they say is line forever. Over 200 tall Of ‘official’ slums and under grave threat. This was buildings, from 20 storeys to after the Courts gave the go- much greater heights, are cur- ahead for a £600m develop- rently consented or proposed. ‘unofficial’ ones ow many slums are there body was set up following legis- Chennai – the congestion can Hin Chennai? Officially, lation. The TNSCB had under only be imagined. Periodic evic- 1219. But unofficially there are its purview only the officially tion drives are the only strategy 444 more. What is being done recognised slums, which then that the city’s administration for the residents of these slums? were 1202 in number. In 1985, has towards these slums. The Very little, apart from persistent a further 17 were added to the residents return after a while and misguided attempts to relo- list. And the tally stopped there. and the cycle continues. What cate them to the periphery of is often forgotten is that it is this the city, thereby simply shifting fringe population that provides G the problem to where the up- by A Special most of the service in the city. per-class citizenry cannot see it. Correspondent Coming to the official slums, All this and more are some of the city had one of the best pos- the highlights of a study done by What we hear now is that there sible methods of handling them. an NGO, Transparent are at least 444 more in the city Ever since the late 1800s when Chennai, in 2013. Excerpts and these do not have any form Charles Gower first mooted the from this study were published of governance, as the TNSCB idea of reconstructing slums in in The Hindu and the figures claims it can only handle the situ with better planning, access quoted here are from there. approved ones. to water and ventilation, the Slums, which were initially Some of the statistics quoted Corporation had been doing under the control of the Madras is truly frightening. As many as just that. That way, the slums Corporation, were transferred half a million people reside in continued to remain where they “With these new arrivals, you won’t be affected by the 2,500 MW power to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clear- the unofficial slums which oc- were, but they were a lot cleaner shortage in the state!” ance Board in 1971 when that cupy just 4.8 sq km of Greater (Continued on page 7) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2014 Save our heritage On Election Duty, Immediate – a call of despair hese days, you amount to certain type of vehicle – it has all the consonants correct and Tnothing if you don’t have to be closer to a bus in length, in order), which deals with our the above statement stuck on breadth and height than a car. water and sewerage, has not in the UK too your car windscreen. The Man It should also have tinted shifted its manhole covers or from Madras Musings notices glasses, though that is really elevated them or whatever it heir stones, bricks, brooks and glades ring with the sounds of that with this notice strategi- not on as per law. But then was supposed to do. And, so, Tour history. But we seem to have stopped listening. cally positioned so that all can when you go around in these the smooth concrete surface is A shocking report on England's iconic landmarks reveals that read it, you can get your uber-sized vehicles, you really marked here and there with vehicle to do anything that are above the law and so such deep craters below which the one in 12 are under threat from neglect, decay and vandalism. James Bond did with his, and trivialities make no difference. manholes lurk. Vehicles ply- English Heritage, which compiled the register of more than more. The ‘On Election Duty, Then, and only then, will you ing on these roads keep jump- 6,000 threatened sites, recently called on Britons to wake up to the Immediate (or Urgent)’ is the be searched by the OED gang. ing in and out of these depres- damage being done. current equivalent of the red And going through this ordeal sions which, in the good old beacon light that was so hated is the new ticket to high soci- tar days, were just a few inches One in five scheduled monuments, registered battlefields and by an emerging political light ety. It reminded MMM of his deep but now go down by at protected wreck sites are in danger, while one in 30 Grade 1 listed before it somewhat extin- days in Delhi when business- least half a foot. buildings are being neglected. guished itself (by which MMM men considered Income Tax And then, what about the Lord Lockhart, chairman of English Heritage, said: “Everybody alludes to the political light raids to be badges of honour. edges? The concrete is not and not the beacon light which The more, the better. spread up to the footpaths (if must live near, walk past or know of a heritage treasure at risk near is going strong). With that they exist) and quite a deep rut them. notice pasted on, no matter if now runs between the side- “We believe that our Heritage At Risk register will galvanise it is just a newspaper with the SHORT ‘N’ walks and the road proper.