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 Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI INSIDE • Short ‘N’ Snappy • Tiger, Tiger... in Madras • The Mullai Periyar legacy • English Theatre returns • Dravid the battler Vol. XXII No. 3 MUSINGS May 16-31, 2012 Heritage legislation at last (By The Editor) e congratulate the Government for introducing in the Legis- Wlature a much-needed heritage conservation Bill that this journal and other heritage lovers have sought from 1999 following a focus on heritage in the City that began in 1977. While welcom- “WeAppa, have you been always asked don’t to walkhave onto ing the Bill, we reserve our comments till we study it. Meanwhile, thedress pavement, up in your but 70’s where clothes is everythe pave- time we trust that it offers an indisputable interpretation of heritage ment?!”you watch the ‘angry young man’ and doesn’t leave Government to view heritage depending on the The historic old church on St. Thomas’ Mount. movies!Run. Don’t walk exigencies of the moment. This kind of flip-flop attitude has in the past caused, and is due to cause, unless the Heritage Bill stops it, Here’s something more to worry further damage to whatever is left in the city that can be classified about. as constituting heritage. We thus have an ironic situation where A recent survey has discovered that this city is practically a centuries-old monuments and buildings are being neglected while non-starter in the pedestrian lakhs are being spent, in the name of heritage, on renovating re- safety department. cent structures that are already showing signs of structural weak- How dreadful is that?! ness. Chennai has done poorly on all Take Rajaji Hall for instance. The Government had in 2008 counts – grade crossing, walk- ability, crossing safety... announced a restoration package for this heritage structure located As for average motorist inside Government Estate. But then the new Assembly came along behaviour? and though the restoration proceeded uninterrupted, the Hall was In a word – pits, apparently. locked up. Last heard, its verandahs were filled with broken What’s worse, no pavements. furniture from the various offices that were demolished to make Quarrying Charnockite next to the historic church. Those that exist are hidden cunningly beneath and behind (Continued on page 2) encroachments, land grabbing Endangered garbage and garbage bins, informal shopping areas, wires, historic holes, uneven slabs, and some- thing that looks like rain- What should be done to space site water...you don’t even want to he St. Thomas’ Mount think of the alternative. beneath flyovers? Tchurch is a landmark Most pavements do not seem to and heritage site. The factor in people in general, let hat appears to be the heart art show or two and, above all, the fencing off of these areas for Church was built by the Por- alone the elderly, small Tof the ongoing debate in space for pedestrians to walk its own use. It has even erected tuguese and, later, improved children, and the wheelchair- the city. With land becoming on. Steps will be taken to pre- offices for its Projects Division by the Armenians. It has bound. many inscriptions and tomb- Some have become little gardens increasingly scarce on what vent illegal use of the area and below one of the flyovers. Mak- were once broad public thor- preserve it as planned. There ing over these areas for public stones of Armenians and – very pretty, adding that Portuguese. Moreover, it has much-needed touch of oughfares, a move to beautify will also be spaces for cycle use will also hinder mainte- the space beneath flyovers has stands, parking facilities for po- nance work, according to the a number of Tamil inscrip- precious green – but they do tions from centuries ago. push walkers into the road run into controversy. On the lice vehicles and ambulances, Department. The church authorities even more, right? one hand, there is a proposal to A third body of opinion are modifying this heritage And you cannot get two more aesthetically enhance these holds the view that the land structure and the Canton- mutually opposing concepts spaces and also provide for G By A Special ought to be given to vendors ment Board, St. Thomas’ than ‘Pedestrian Unfriendly’ some long-felt needs of public Correspondent and small shops. This argument Mount, has permitted the and ‘Chennai’s Fitness Freaks’. conveniences there. On the is based on the fact that when church allowing excavation Statistics, in the habit of pre- other hand, there is the view and the lighting for these spaces flyovers were erected, they took below ground level to a senting horrific facts in the that the area ought to be will be through solar power. over the sidewalks, traditionally depth of 50x80x50 feet adja- blandest manner possible, give cent to the church. you the number of pedestrians utilised for car parking. The Corporation, it is learnt, the space on which these trad- An NGO and a consulting has agreed to the proposal and ers thrived. While not disputing The architectural and who died simply because of a structural integrity of this lack of safe pavements. agency have together submitted plans to implement it on 70 that the land belongs to the heritage site and heritage And you ask: How many deaths a proposal for better utilisation roads and five flyovers. Highways Department, they building is now in danger. will it take till they know that of public spaces. The aim is to The State Highways Depart- feel that they ought to be al- too many people have died? make the use of roads an ment, however, begs to dis- lowed to use it, by way of com- K. Rameshkumar Sadly, the answer is blowing in aesthetic experience. The idea agree. In its view the land be- pensation for what they lost. Secretary the wind... is to use the space for toilets, low the flyovers belongs to it Youth Welfare Association Butt Road, Chennai 600 016 Ranjitha Ashok cold drink vending stations, an and, therefore, it is proposing (Continued on page 2) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS May 16-31, 2012 Legislation The crisis of domestics at last he Man from Madras the 12th Century that the apprehended and hauled up T Musings was looking farmer is not satisfied with before the awful majesty of forward to going home and farming nor is the beggar with (Continued from page 1) view, only the building is heri- the law. When questioned he eating a well-cooked meal, begging. Things haven’t replied that his master lived tage and sub judice and not the made by a man from up north. changed in all the intervening but two doors away from the way for the new Assembly. And compound space. Whoever has It is quite amazing as to how centuries. politician, and so he thought its interiors were filled with files heard of such logic before? nowadays most of the It was not as though MMM he could take advantage of and papers belonging to some And what happened to the domestics are from up north. had used the vernacular the fact that all traffic signals Government departments that concept of a heritage precinct Wonder what happened to equivalent. It had been in the were being ignored by the the ayahs and the rest from Queen’s English. MMM could have promised to shift them “in and the necessity to prevent convoy. A tight slap modern construction within down south. Apparently, not help thinking of the days stopped him in mid-sen- due course”. After the recent what with all the freebies that when MMM’s grandparents tence. He had in his fire at Chepauk Palace and given close quarters of a heritage building? include television sets, very could get away with referring nervousness forgotten to our history of fires breaking out few feel like working for a to each one in their army of include all the honorifics and in historic buildings, stuffing Even that concept may now living. In short, our State is a servants by even their caste titles of the VVVVVVVVIP Rajaji Hall with paper may not be under threat. In a first of its land of lotus-eaters who feed names. MMM was never while referring to the person be the best of ideas. kind (and it is ironic that our on milk and honey. And as for comfortable with that. But he by name. That, in the view of city which had many glorious the younger lot, they much had never anticipated anyone the investigating officer, was Chepauk Palace’s fate is still prefer working in software being upset with his/her a worse crime. uncertain. It is now more than firsts should also be in the companies. Not that MMM is professional appellation. The two months since the three- forefront of such develop- complaining. If they are man clearly aspired for better Traffic rules ments), the National Monu- man committee (whatever be capable, let them progress. things. aiting for a signal to the merits and demerits of its ments Authority (NMA) has Upward mobility is what Having perpetrated a crisis, Wchange to green gave composition) came out with a reportedly ruled that construc- counts. albeit unknowingly, MMM The Man from Madras report that recommended tion of Metrorail can come But what MMM cannot had to make amends.