Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/15-17 Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/15-17 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 • Madras Week nostalgia • Pictures of a celebration • The Surf of Madras • Runners & Cricketers Vol. XXVI No. 10 MUSINGS September 1-15, 2016 Does Marina really need a sailing academy? (By The Editor) t appears that the threats to deal with the influx of visitors. Iour city’s beloved beach will There is a terrible service road never cease. The State Govern- that all vehicles bound for San A different kind of celebration by the US Consulate General during the Madras Week. ment recently made an an- Thome are forced to take, nouncement that a sailing acad- morning and evening. This is a ne of the most imaginative events marking caption of the video posted by the US Consu- emy at a cost of Rs 7 crore, will thoroughfare that is most likely OMadras Week this year was a series of late General on YouTube. come up at the Marina Beach, in violation of coastal regula- videos by the US Consulate General in Chennai The group seemed to have done their home- which featured American staff participating in work, because they even had their banana leaf- ostensibly to help create an en- tion zone (CRZ) rules, for it everyday Madras activities like eating with their etiquette on point. Before the meal was served, vironment where “world-class runs close to the sea. The fish- hands in a ‘mess’ and tying jasmine flowers in a the leaf-plate was sprinkled with water and then facilities for water sports” can ing hamlets that have been here house. cleaned using their hands, like they had been exist. The question is, given for centuries have already com- A group of American staff and their families, doing it for ages. Then, with no forks or spoons, that the eastern face of our plained several times about it which also included children, went to the they ate a hearty meal, complete with chor State is one long coastline, can but to no avail. Now the origi- Kasivinayaga Mess in Triplicane, and ate the (rice), sambar, poriyal (stir fried vegetables with this facility not be put up else- nal residents of the area will food served on banana leaves with their hands. grated coconut) and pappadam. where? have to put up with the sailing “Eating a meal with your hands from a With a couple of toddlers in the mix, balanc- Our beach grew to its academy as well. Will it not add banana leaf is always special, isn’t it? And it’s a ing eating with their hands and making sure the present size thanks to the con- to the congestion already pre- celebration, especially in South India! We are kids ate too, did take some manoeuvring, but trying to connect with the every- day rhythm of everyone seemed to have a great time. There struction of the harbour in the vailing here? Madras life by highlighting Madras culture, were even some self-congratulatory exclama- 1880s. And it must be admitted Chennai already has two in- food, and traditions. This is the first video in tions on how the sappad sans cutlery should be that threats to it have also stitutions dedicated to sailing. the Madras Week video series. SEVEN more to done again. grown since then. In the early come. Keep watching and make your Madras (See pages 5-8 for more Madras Week 1900s, there was a plan to build (Continued on page 10) connections! Happy Madras Week,” read the coverage) a railway on it. In the 1980s there was thought of having the MRTS cross it. A decade or two later there were plans to con- Do we deserve civic improvement? struct condominiums for the af- fluent on the waterfront and (By a Special Correspondent) sometime later a Union Cabinet adly, the answer is NO. We streets began to come to life, number of posters of that ilk has advertising and also make Minister announced that a Shave for long blamed our neighbourhoods regained an come down drastically in the money by selling the metal commemorative tower would city’s Corporation and other identity, and finding locations past few months, it being reli- frame. But what about the well- be built there. Fortunately, all civic agencies for their inepti- became that much easier. The ably learnt that informal orders to-do? They appear to be no these plans came to nought, but tude in keeping our city boards were mounted on el- are in place to that effect from better. We have seen a revival it appears that the flow of ideas shipshape. We have rested con- egant metal frames with the up top. What we now have are of pavements in some localities. has not yet ceased. Clearly, the tent after complaining about names pasted on them using posters that are commercial in Efforts are being made to clear sight of such a vast open space the garbage, the poor roads and adhesive sheets, thereby ensur- nature, pasted by newsagents, these of encroachments, re-lay makes people in power come up the lack of pavements. But, ing that when errors were quack medication vendors and the stones and make them com- with schemes aplenty. when the authorities begin im- pointed out, correction was others. Surely these people can fortable for pedestrians. In order The latest in the series is this proving some of the facilities, swift. The sheets were lumines- practise some discipline? In to prevent people from parking idea of a sailing academy. The we respond by rampant vandal- cent and so visibility at night many places, the luminescent cars on them, many of these waterfront is already getting ism. Does this in any way be- was also easy. Our streets had sheets have been ripped off, sidewalks were fitted with congested. Beach Road, which come the residents of what is never had it so good in a long leaving a white board in place. bollards, some of metal and oth- was at one time a vast and said to be the cultural capital of while. But what we are now no- After a while, the boards van- ers of granite. This apparently empty stretch, is getting in- India? ticing is that in many places, ish, the metal frame is then pil- has not been to the liking of creasingly clogged with ve- Take for instance the boards these signboards have become fered and sold for scrap. those who reside in the imme- hicles. In the summer months, bearing street names. We have convenient sites for pasting Those at the bottom of the diate vicinity, as that means the Police are forced to declare had this initiative being imple- posters. For a change, the politi- economic scale are probably do- as one-way various stretches of mented for the past two years. cal parties are not to blame. In ing these act of vandalism. They this thoroughfare in order to All of a sudden, long forgotten case you have not observed, the probably need that space for (Continued on page 3) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS September 1-15, 2016 Madras Week – from Valsaravakkam to the Vatican nd so, Chief, here we are These detractors were, how- A retired professor march- north is still puzzling. There can chomp away at the tough- Aat the end of Madras ever, enough to excite the me- ed up and having introduced were, after all, hundreds of est of food offerings, including, Week 2016. And what a week dia, which is forever hunting herself to MMM proceeded to other deserving women from in MMM’s view, a couple of it has been. And what a range around for controversies. the mic from where she intro- Madras. plates and knives. It hovers of events – from talks on MMM received several calls duced Madras Week, herself around the refreshment temples in Vietnam to books from the electronic media and MMM in that order. She Food For All counters long before the offer- on science fiction, all launched wanting what they refer to as then went on to say that it was ings are brought in, thereby in the name of Madras Week. sound bytes. He bit them all off a matter of great regret to her he Madras Week pro- cunningly reserving for itself Never before has any event so soundly and refused to rise to that Madras Week is entirely T grammes that ye olde the first place in the queue. united such a diverse collec- the bait. Controversies for- male oriented and has failed to magazine conducts were also Having begun eating when the tion of people under one ban- sooth! The debate, if ever there celebrate any woman of the rapturously received, Chief, food counter opens, it contin- ner. As for the walks, Chief – was one, raged before an en- city. This said, she glared at though you, rather selfishly in ues doing so till the time the what a number and what vari- tirely indifferent public and MMM who shrank into his MMM’s view, chose to make it programme has wound to a ety – street walks (sorry Chief, those who opted to celebrate clothes and pretended to be in- only to those events that inter- close. It also belches loudly in what you think MMM means Madras Week, continued do- visible.