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 • Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s letter • The eye-pecking snake MADRAS • The narrow road to North • Decline of Manikkodi Vol. XVIII No. 6 MUSINGS July 1-15, 2008 New Assembly complex raises many Modern-Dravidian’s the style logistics ome idea of the design for the new Assembly building com- Splex scheme of the Government of Tamil Nadu has been published. The buildings, it appears, will be modernistic in look but will incorporate some Dravidian elements. issues The original layout had five circular courtyards, with the With“A ‘Sound prices andsoaring, Light’ all show that Iwith- can main Assembly hall in the fourth. It has now been decided to affordout any now sound is to or take light... pictures Brilliant, of the I (By A Special Correspondent) have four courtyards only and the Assembly has been shifted to thingsthought!” I want to buy! the second court. The Assembly Hall earlier had a dome whose he design plans for the new that the impact of placing the design the powers-that-be did not particularly like. This has now Does that include TState Assembly complex Secretariat/Assembly complex been modified to resemble the gopurams of the rathas of have been unveiled, but the in the heart of the most impor- Mahabalipuram. It is reliably learnt that all buildings will be of the building? plan raises not a few logistics is- tant thoroughfare has not been locally available granite and, hopefully, they will not be faced ‘Routine’ once meant a happy sues which it will be well worth studied as yet. It is only now with the regulatory red granite that our PWD is so fond of. stew of both individual and the Government’s while to pon- that traffic experts have been The entire complex will be divided into two principal blocks, joint programmes. der over before work begins. called in. They will, therefore, the first one being the Assembly and the second the Secretariat. There are reports that the second one will have around 20 Not any more. The only entry and exit for ve- have no option but to accept A typical day now means a ve- the site as a reality and work to- storeys, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city. There hicles, and this includes the will also be a Convention Centre in the complex. hicle filled to the brim with at high security convoys, will be (Continued on page 3) least three generations, plus a near the intersection of Anna few who ‘need to be dropped’. The to-do list reads veg- Salai and Sivananda Salai etables-shopping-family-vis- (Adam’s Road). This is a very its-pick-up-repaired-cell- busy intersection, being an oft- City neglected as a phone/test-results/child- used route for those wishing to from-coffee-shop-finish- access Central Station. Siva- brisk-walk-buy-wedding-gift nanda Salai is a narrow stretch … and too bad if you are part with the river on one side and tourism destination of only one of these the MRTS going directly above ourisim is booming in It is simply that Chennai and G The city has over 20 muse- programmes. it. It is also one of the last green With these fuel prices, indepen- T Tamil Nadu, but why is its significance as the birthplace ums. Yet there are no booklets, dence is unaffordable. stretches in the city. With Gov- Chennai not considered a sight- of Modern India are not SOLD etc. providing such informa- Your vehicle is now the most ernment vehicles having to fre- seeing destination? Why does it by the Tourism Department. tion. Compare this with cities high-maintenance ‘thing’ in quently use this road and also not compare with the other This is done neither abroad nor such as London or the success the house – and you once Anna Salai, there are chances three metros all of which see on arrivals at railway stations or of small museums in India, such thought it would be your that traffic will be stopped tourists in large numbers spend- airports. This contrasts with as the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Mu- teenagers. whenever ministerial convoys ing time there? The reasons are many cities abroad and in India, And with cooking gas now on a use them. This will lead to an not far to seek. like Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur. (Continued on page 2) luxury list, civilisation is cer- enormous pile-up of traffic. It tainly declining and falling all must be borne in mind that in over the place. order to access Fort St George, Price tags are often far heavier Record visitors, record earnings to lift than the items them- the convoys at present use here is good news on the tourism front in line to the State in impressive numbers. As for selves. Beach Road, which sees less TTamil Nadu. The State set a new record by Indian States, neighbouring Andhra sent in the Yet, messages come at you from traffic and is also very broad. earning Rs 5,430 crore in 2007 from foreign maximum number of 39 lakh visitors last year. every direction: “Look, Ev- That not being the case in the tourists. This is roughly 80% higher than the Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal eryday People, look at all the new location, traffic bottle- amount earned the previous year. The number of and Uttar Pradesh followed in that order. goodies out there…Buy, Buy, necks are foreseen. foreigners who visited the State last year is given The State Government is extremely pleased Buy….” The PWD, never known to as 17,53,000, 31.3% more than the previous and is planning a slew of measures to improve Exactly how fast are average be proactive, has stated that it year. The increase in spend vis-à-vis the increase amenities for visitors. A Rs. 5.5 crore package people supposed to run, be- needs to study the relocation of in numbers indicates that per tourist spend is on has been announced for Vellore, which is fast fore they can catch up with bus-stops along Mount Road the increase in the State, which points to higher emerging as a tourist hub, the presence of the this promised Life, this ‘Ar- value added services. On the domestic tourist golden domed Sripuram temple being a major rived’ list? and Wallajah Road junction. front too, the State has registered impressive fig- attraction. The Tourism Department has Money has lost its ‘money-ness’, The pedestrian entry to the As- ures. A whopping 506.47 lakh Indians from analysed and found that tourists are going in or seems to be re-defining it- sembly complex will be along other States visited Tamil Nadu last year, which large numbers to Gangaikondacholapuram, self. this intersection. If the bus- is an increase of 28% over the previous year. Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur and the wildlife If the sky is the limit for soaring stops are to be moved away There are some interesting statistics in terms sanctuaries in the State. But what is striking is prices, we still have far to go. from here, it will mean pedes- of geographic spread of tourists as well. Interna- that Chennai is completely absent from the list. Meanwhile, the limitless sky is trians will have to walk much tionally, Sri Lankans top the list when it comes The city, while serving as an entry and exit lowering heavy grey clouds longer and, perhaps, cross the to Tamil Nadu as a destination, with over 3.60 point, is obviously not considered by most tour- on to the heads of hapless roads at all kinds of places, lakh arrivals last year. They are closely followed ists as worthy of stay. This excludes those who citizens. by visitors from Malaysia and Singapore. Visitors come in as part of health tourism, in which case thereby making their journey from the UK, USA and France also made a bee- the city is an obvious destination. Ranjitha Ashok more hazardous. It is strange CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS July 1-15, 2008 Can sister cities Heritage by any other name get together he longer The Man from thing for the sake of doing it longs to an i-pod, which is a TMadras Musings lives, the and then heaving a sigh of re- portable musical gadget that more he is convinced that the lief that it is all over and done stores an awesome number of on riverfront heritage movement in Madras with. MMM suspects that there songs in it. Here again, there is that is Chennai is blighted from must have been a budget for subliminal sub-communalism, the start, mainly because it the event, which those in for, the man whose i-pod holds development? lacks supernatural blessings. charge would have been eager 53,259 songs looks down on And what better way to get to spend. Now that the expen- the chap whose gadget has only e missed the news that with this agreement for them than numerology? It is diture has been incurred, all are 3245. Size matters. on February 27, 2008, Chennai? the in-thing now. MMM did happy. What does it matter if it To come back to the point, W not take it seriously till he re- was up for a day, an hour or the i-pod is in, say, pocket A, the Mayor of San Antonio We propose to initiate an ex- ceived an invitation from an even just a minute? with its wires firmly plugged to (Texas, U.S.A.), Phil Hard- change of students, physicians, organisation calling itself the the ear.