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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 She freed the devadasis MADRAS Of sparrows & snakes A poonga & the wetlands He set off chess boom Vol. XVII No. 14 MUSINGS November 1-15, 2007 You can click only if you report that we are wearing very expensive From left to right: Capper House, Pentland House (1915), and Stone House (1918) reveal the clean lines of Classical architecture on South Beach Road in and the latest designer outfits and 1919/20. jewellery...! Lens attack Someone is taking the phrase 15 seconds of fame a bit too Classical no more at seriously, and Chennai has become dangerous as a result. Random cameras are afloat, stalking you everywhere. QMC? Everyones fair game... even the non-celebrity, non-Chief- Guest, non-I-love-to-see-my- (By A Staff Reporter) self-in-print-or-TV types. You may be out on innocuous, here was much excitement routine errands; or merely Tat Queen Marys College honouring an invitation to an (QMC) last month when the event, or even at what you In picture on left, Capper House as it was in 1919/20. On right, Capper House with all its additions before it was Minister for Local Administra- assumed was a private social pulled down c. 2002. Below, the Kalaignar Block that has been planned to replace Capper House and which is promised tion, M.K. Stalin, laid the foun- gathering. to be in keeping with the architecture in the campus. dation stone for the Kalaignar Within 24 hours, there is a Block, which will be the good chance youll find your- self in a newspaper (where Colleges new main building. apparently certain page The new facility, comprising numbers are of far greater ground plus two floors, will significance than others) or come up on the site where once magazine or TV channel stood Capper House, which had sometimes accompanied by been the main building for over captions being funny at your 85 years. innocent expense. Capper was a soldier and Citizens are becoming furtive, geographer in the 1800s. His glancing this way and that, trying to ensure the deadly house, the first on the camera is nowhere around beachfront, was later converted to capture the unguarded (Continued on page 6) over-wide yawn or grin, the poor posture, the bored look, or that truly dreadful moment when you are trying Bens Gardens: Awaiting development? to negotiate a large, or slip- pery, item of food into your he Bens Gardens property, (By A Special Correspondent) whispered that the deal was not mouth. Tstanding at the intersection in keeping with the spirit of de Some people now dress for of Boat Club and Chamiers property was 105 acre and was which was leased to Parry and Montes will and some members vegetable shopping. Roads, is once again in the left with specific instructions Co. till 1996. Originally having of the community, led by M.G. Can you blame them? news. As is well known, the that none of it ought to be sold only one big bungalow, which Devasahayam, retired IAS of- This could be the day they do a property was a part of what John and the income from it was to could well have been the garden ficer, formed the Forum of story on cabbages... and youd better not be wearing de Monte, the wealthy Portu- be used for the benefit of Or- house of the property, it later Catholic Unity to protest. L.M. what you wore last week. guese business magnate of the phans, Widows and distressed hosted three bungalows built for Menezes, a former IAS officer, Big Brothers are all over... and 19th Century, left to the Families and also Charity the executives of Parry and Co. who retired as Secretary to the theyre watching. Church. This huge legacy was Schools. (now EID Parry). Government of India, Joseph C. But the leave-me-alone types to be managed by the Bishop, or Subsequently, as and when It was decided by the Church Kuriacose, a retired IIT profes- have their rights too, to Vicar General, of St. Thomé the need arose, the Church did to hand over the property on sor holding a Doctor of Science be...er...left alone. and his successors. The succes- dispose of parts of the property, long lease in 2001 to two influ- degree from Louvain, Belgium, Not everyone is into fame. (Or sor, with the changing shape of always after obtaining the per- ential businessmen belonging to and Harold DSilva, a retired se- notoriety?) dioceses, has become the Arch- mission of the High Court. Fi- the Roman Catholic commu- nior executive of Hindustan Especially of the unsought kind. bishop of Madras-Mylapore. nally, what was left included nity. As the businessmen Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Ranjitha Ashok The original extent of the nine acres called Bens Gardens moved into the property, it was (Continued on page 2) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS November 1-15, 2007 Synes of Our Rodes he Man from Madras with word and gesture that he road in an industrial estate is T Musings can never tire of better move on or else. MMM not clear to MMM. this subject and, thanks to did and promptly got lost. The Heritage lovers of Madras those who put up road signs Man from Madras Musings that is Chennai, however, will and street names, theres no Lady has often remarked that if be glad to note that if one place end to the subject. With the MMM has a weakness (and she is unchanging it is Ambattur growing tendency among shops can list quite a few), it is inabil- Industrial Estate. The roads are and establishments to sponsor ity to ask anyone for directions. as battered as ever and the boards bearing road and street But a passing cyclist noticed strips of land beyond the road, names, the mutilation of names MMMs predicament and came meant for sidewalks at one One of the citys rode synes. keeps increasing. MMM forward to help and so if you time, are as full of refuse as thought Pycrofts Garden Road are reading this column you ever. It appears that every claring the four Mada Streets police stood by unconcerned. and Jilvan Lodge Colony took have only the cyclist to thank organisation in the estate uses around Mylapore temple a pe- After all, this world is but an the cake. But then he had not (or blame). these spaces to dump its filth destrian area. If it can be done illusion, as the good book says, seen all. The latest is to do with Building a flyover is all very and this includes the IT com- in T Nagar, why not in and it is best to take such Lazarus Church Road in the well, but does it have to involve panies that are rapidly filling up Mylapore also? The area is sim- matters in our stride. Foreshore Estate area. This is a removing every road sign in the the estate, thereby causing land ply crying out for such a restric- Planning ahead fairly old street and the name is vicinity so that people are thor- prices to skyrocket. Come the tion and during the recent well-known. But a well-known oughly confused, thereby rains and the roads can only get Navaratri festivities the chaos he city, as The Man from boutique in the area has put up adding to the chaos caused by worse. there had to be seen to be be- TMadras Musings could see a board which proudly pro- the construction? Also, MMM And this is meant to be a lieved. Shops there cannot on a recent journey, is rapidly claims that it is Losers would like to know what pioneering estate in our city! claim any loss of sale because growing along the road to Church Road. Wonder what exactly is the status of the of such restrictions for the Chengalpatttu. And yet, while Lazarus would have thought of project. He recalls a presenta- T Nagar one-ways shops in T Nagar have not the four-lane road there is it? As for the residents, some of tion made by the then chief of seen any reduction in business excellent, we appear to be them are up in arms. A couple the Tamil Nadu Road Develop- he Man from Madras owing to the new traffic regula- repeating the same mistakes of lawyers who practise in the ment Corporation a couple of T Musings has not yet found tions there. MMM lives in that we have committed earlier vicinity have informed the bou- years ago, wherein a rather op- time to visit the place, what hope. in the city. tique to correct the name but timistic power point presenta- with his having just returned Dredging drains The land earmarked for to no avail. Perhaps it is not tion showed a beautiful clover from Padi and Ambattur, but future expansion on either side enough for lawyers to bring it leaf-shaped flyover with ver- he hears nothing but praise for he road where The Man is occupied by illegal shops, to the boutiques notice. A dant greenery, angelic road us- Tfrom Madras Musings lives tenements and flag-posts bear- lawyers notice may be more ers, orderly traffic, pedestrian is at a fork, one prong of which ing political party insignia and effective! pathways (oh, can you believe SHORT is a vital artery leading to it will be only a short while And then what do you have that), kiosks and such things N Adyar.

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