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 Ammu & her daughters MADRAS Historic autographs The talk of The Season MUSINGS KBHs Victorian traditions Vol. XVII No. 17 December 16-31, 2007 FlyoversIs VPH to are get still a newseen as the Whats my New Year resolution this year? To send only 250 sms instead of 300 sms a day! solution... I hereby swear... Making resolutions?So you (By A Staff Reporter) can forget all about them by the afternoon of January 1st? hennai is rapidly becoming reacted in the same way as the Here are some situations that Ca city of flyovers, which are Boat Club area residents. could do with re-thinking. seen as the cure for all traffic ills. The second flyover is coming Starting with cell-phones. In the past few days, there has up at the Kodambakkam High Seriously, a huge no-no while been plenty of news regarding Road-Mahalingapuram Junc- Day by day, traffic keeps growing in the city and, unless solutions are found, driving. Using ear gizmos the work that is going on on tion. Being built at a cost of will soon reach gridlock. that give you that alien-from- four mini flyovers in various lo- (Continued on page 8) The-Flintstones look is cations in the city, but will they mere quibbling. solve the citys traffic ills? Can we ease The Seasons And please, people can hear The first of these flyovers (By A Staff Reporter) you mumbling into your was to be on Chamiers Road at ahead of The Season, and discussing with them specific phone while at the movies, its junction with Turnbulls he Music Season is here. pain? even with all that noise. location-related issues and Road. But based on the repre- TAnd as it annually does, it The hotspots are just less No, MCs arent obliged to arriving at implementation sentations made by residents of brings with it, along with music, than ten in number (see box look at you directly when plans. the Boat Club area, it has been plenty of good food, music prod- below). And it does not really they request the audience to 2. Getting sabha-s to coordi- decided to reorient the flyover uct sales, several fringe events require enormous imagination switch off their phones. nate with schools and col- so that it will now connect such as walks and talks and, of to solve the problem. It just re- Deliberately holding long, leges in their vicinity to ar- Turnbulls and Cenotaph course, traffic snarls. Yet, apart quires will-power and some mundane cell conversations range for parking space, so Roads. This will involve fresh from posting a few policemen, forethought. True, the sabha-s while in a group can, and that road space is not utilised land acquisitions and further the authorities do not appear to have themselves taken some will, be treated as an act of unnecessarily. For instance, delays. Strangely, residents in think of anything innovative to steps, the efforts of the Music social aggression. the Music Academy has al- other parts of the city, whose ease the flow of traffic near the Academy and Narada Gana Also, lets clean up those con- ready got an arrangement lives were suddenly impacted by sabha-s. Sabha in particular being com- tact lists. If you find a name with St. Ebbas School and the arrival of flyovers, have not mendable. But unless this be- listed as RSWZap, and can- this has worked well in the comes a larger exercise, involv- not remember who, from past couple of years. There ing the authorities, it is not go- where, or even why the ... But pedestrians are such possibilities in other ing to be feasible. code...its time to hit that de- locations (Sri Parthasarathy lete button. get no relief A few suggestions are Swami Sabha Vidya All e-mail IDs neednt be cute. listed below: Mandir; the Mylapore And every Forward neednt sabhas PS High School hile all the above constructions may spell good news for 1. Calling for a meeting with be forward-ed. Wvehicle owners, the pedestrian appears to be getting short sabha representatives, well (Continued on page 8) Some emotional distance from shrift as usual. Most flyovers in the city come up by utilising space the TV should be considered that reduces the width of the roads at ground level. When these prevents that migraine need to be widened, the pavements are the first things to be brought about by the second removed, thereby forcing pedestrians to use road space and com- Seasons traffic hotspots daughter-in-laws third pete with vehicles. The risk is all the more where, in the case of cousins villainy. The Music Academy junction, where the Academy, Narada some flyovers, heavy vehicles and buses are not able to use them Gana Sabha and the Sankara Hall events ensure that traffic Try misplacing that remote and perforce need to continue to use the roads. That leaves very is held up often. now and then. little space for those who walk and pedestrians are put to grave A friends losing weight, or risk. The Mada Streets of Mylapore, where the proximity of the changing his/her hair isnt al- The traffic arrangements in T. Nagar, following the beginning Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, the R.R. Sabha (now being rebuilt) ways a declaration of war of flyover construction in the area, were initially praised by vehicle and the R.K. Swami Auditorium (inside Sivaswami Kalalaya), ensures together that evening traffic is chaotic. against you. users but, with festival shopping at an all-time high, matters soon As for that obsession with the degenerated into chaos. The traffic arrangements have all been The Musiri Subramania Iyer (Oliver) Road-Luz Church last word? No one has a done keeping vehicles in mind, with total disregard for pedestri- Road stretch, where Mylapore Fine Arts and Sivakami copyright over it... and ans. Parts of the road have been commandeered for parking and Pethachi Auditorium programmes slow down the traffic. shouldnt. what is left is all dug up. Vehicles are forced to the periphery of the The Vani Mahal roundabout, where a combination of Lets make those bells toll for road, thereby squeezing out the pedestrian. Residents are also com- T Nagar traffic and the sabhas events causes mayhem. change. Happy New Year. plaining about the dust and the pollution. Ranjitha Ashok Royapettah High Road, where the Sri Parthasarathy Swami All this activity, it would appear, focusses only on the few who Sabha holds its events. are vehicle users and not on the thousands who move on foot. CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS December 16-31, 2007 The Swaminathan Did I drench you? Im sorry! mother he Man from Madras birthdays, posters for felicita- pending further hearing. So it T Musings is unhappy and is tions and also posters when in- is back to square one once feeling guilty as well. The roads terviews of theirs are published again. and daughters of Madras that is Chennai have in magazines. These publicity MMM is confident that taken a beating following the campaigns are undertaken by when he runs out of material orn in a family of Nairs, Ammu had become one of the not-so-torrential rains this fans associations in the same for his column, this problem BAmmukutty, the youngest leading socialites of the time, year. MMM is not one of those way film stars have rasikar will always provide sufficient child of P. Govinda Menon of and in a smart coach, drawn by who drives his car at high speed manrams which take up such matter. through puddles, thereby en- activities. Nobody is bothered Palghat, was married to Subba- two matched horses, she would suring that pedestrians and about civic cleanliness. But Senate House rama Swaminathan, a Brahmin drive herself to the Marina. She two-wheeler users are that being the way of life in of Madras, at the tender age of played tennis, and threw parties drenched. He, in fact, slows Chennai, MMM fully expects he Man from Madras 13. Subbarama Swaminathan for the elite of the city. She was down at such spots and, yet, that cutouts of artistes will be T Musings learns from his came from a family that was far the first woman of Madras to that is precisely the reason why the next wave. sources that Senate House has been declared out-of-bounds from well off, but was helped by obtain a driving licence and he is unhappy today. The other day, MMM happened to be for public events once again. Govinda Menon, a State used it driving her car herself! Saving Govt. House The University authorities official, who recognised Swami- In spite of all these accomplish- driving along when the car To have locked the building and it nathans exceptional intelli- ments, she was basically an went over what MMM thought was a shallow puddle. What he The Editor Madras Musings now appears evident that by gence. He helped him, both Indian Woman free of snob- did not realise was that there Dear Chief, doing so they are hell-bent on financially and with words of bery, and was soon attracted to were some spots where the de- I have heard from a little reverting it to the condition in encouragement, to complete his the Swadeshi movement, par- pression was quite deep.