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 • Tamil film success • Two pages of medical history • The T’Nagar gardens • Watching the soaps Vol. XXII No. 21 MUSINGS February 16-28, 2013 A crawl to list heritage sites (By The Editor) he CMDA and its Heritage Conservation Committee have finally spoken on Theritage. Three years after the HCC was set up for the purpose of going into the list of 400-and-odd buildings that were ordered by the High Court of Madras to be listed under heritage status, it has announced that it is finalising a list of 70 buildings that may merit consideration for protection. Conservation and preservation are a long way off, as this list is now to go through a long process of public debate and may undergo changes. It is all too little and too late. There have been listings of heritage buildings in Madras, going back to the 1990s. INTACH, a body that is now, it would appear, persona non grata with the Govern- ment, had compiled the first listing and had submitted it with detailed documents to the Government. This was duly filed after vague promises. Much water has since then flown down the Cooum and the latest list was the one put together by the Justice Padmanabhan Committee in connection with large outdoor hoardings and had around 460 buildings. That list was the enumeration that Justice Prabha Sridevan used in her landmark judgement concerning Bharat Insurance Building as a consequence of which the HCC was formed. The Committee was given the mandate to go through the list, decide on whether gradings suggested by the Justice Padmana- bhan Committee were acceptable to it and then offer guidelines for protecting the “The Cupid thing is all so outdated. Why don’t you try adding her as your friend on Facebook!” buildings. However, the HCC had for reasons best known to itself set about making another list. At the end of three years, it has Now, a glass-fronted building now decided that 70 buildings may be worthy of protection. As to the methodology used for the in the heart of heritage! enumeration and what the con- siderations were for including a building in the list, the HCC is he poor old Fort! If there is maintained all along and deve- the Archaeological Survey of In this connection, it should silent. The contents of the list Tany heritage precinct that loped cracks within fifteen years India and the Heritage Conser- be pointed out that the Indian are yet to be made public but it is sure to have an identity crisis, of construction. It was then vation Committee of the National Trust for Arts and is understood that it comprises it is this one. First was the ding- given a facelift, with a frontage CMDA gave their approval for Cultural Heritage (INTACH), around 42 public buildings. dong battle on the location of that claimed to be Chola tradi- its restoration. The building, it Chennai Chapter, has observed This in a city that as per inde- the Assembly. Then came the tion for inspiration. A couple of is understood, has been labelled that the building had no place pendent lists has more than 400 attempt at getting it listed for years ago, the building once as an example of early modern in the heritage precinct that the heritage structures! World Heritage Status that again began showing signs of construction in the city and, Fort is and, therefore, ought to The story does not end here went nowhere. Now the latest weakness. At that time, with therefore, worthy of preserva- be demolished at once as it for heritage structures. The is that the Namakkal Kavingnar the new Secretariat on Mount tion. And this has been blessed completely dwarfs the most CMDA plans to follow a time- Maligai located in the Road supposedly becoming the by the ASI and the HCC, important structure of the State consuming process of public Fort, which is undergoing a – the Tamil Nadu Legislative consultation during which it Rs. 28 crore restoration, will Assembly. That observation plans to invite the owners of the have a glass front! Nothing G went unheeded. buildings and explain the heri- more incongruous can be by A Special Correspondent Now the latest is the glass tage value of the structures in imagined. front. It is learnt that the build- their possession. It will record In the first place, the build- ing will be airconditioned and their assent/objections, if any, ing ought to have never been apple of everyone’s eye, the neither of which, it is necessary given a full plate-glass exterior. and then forward its recommen- constructed within the Fort. It building was left as it was. to point out, has any jurisdic- Is airconditioning really neces- dations to the State Govern- was constructed around 35 It came into the limelight tion over the building. If the sary in a power-starved State? ment, which will then notify the years ago, at a time when aware- when Assembly and Secretariat ASI had gone by the rulebook, And has any thought been final list of buildings as having ness on matters concerning shifted back into the Fort. A such a building would have given as to how this will fit in heritage status. Given the way heritage was lower than what it high profile launch of the resto- never been allowed to be built with the centuries-old Fort that things have moved on heritage is now. Two notified buildings ration of this building was held inside the Fort and if the HCC surrounds this building? It thus far, all this is likely to take were demolished to make way and work got underway. A show did not behave like a hand- makes you wonder as to what forever. And, above all, there is for it and it stands, a sore thumb of consulting relevant depart- maiden of the CMDA, it ought justifications will be given for not even a mention of a sticking out in the Fort. ments and INTACH was made. to know that this building is not preserving this glass front as and Heritage Act, the creation of Constructed in the best PWD The Chola frontage, it is under- a heritage structure by any yard- when the building needs repairs (Continued on page 8) tradition, it was poorly stood, was the basis on which stick. again in future. CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-28, 2013 Tamil films The birds of Oz... – alive he Man from Madras T Musings couldn’t believe his eyes. The whole thing re- minded him of the nursery and kicking rhyme, which if you recollect went this way: t is only one of two Tamil movies to cross the Rs.100 crore mark. When Mary had a little lamb The Doctor was surprised IAnd it did in quicker time. I am talking about A.R. Murugadoss’ But when Old MacDonald had Thuppakki. a farm For sure, Sun Pictures Enthiran made by Shankar stays the all- He couldn’t believe his eyes! time top grosser for both Tamil and Hindi films at ovcr Rs.375 MMM was more or less in crore against a budget of Rs.160 crore. Thuppakki was made on a the position of the doctor, for, slimmer budget because it was shot wholly in Chennai and walking in front of him, on a Mumbai. Speaking of the success of Thuppakki, Murugadoss, who busy thoroughfare of this other incidentally is the first director to have any film cross the Rs.100 Eden, viz, our Madras that is ... now the emus of Madras crore mark with Ghajini in Hindi, said: “I am happy and I now look Chennai, was a pair of emus (Or are they Emi? But since the cheap and so trained them caught between the wheels, forward to Rs. 200 crore collections.” that reminds MMM of Equal to forage in garbage dumps, the pig spells economic disas- Thuppakki has a racy story that takes the hero, military intelli- Monthly Instalments and his which is precisely what the two ter. Apparently, any vehicle gence officer, Vijay, on a roller coaster ride in Mumbai while borrowings, MMM will refer to emus were doing. Shortly dashed against by a pig is prac- uncovering a terrorist plot and bringing the mastermind down. All them as emus). What these thereafter they also began tear- tically unsaleable according to this while on a holiday in Mumbai to get married. The film’s success flightless birds from what we so ing wall posters with their Chennai tradition. The thing has prompted Murugadoss to look for a sponsor to re-make the incorrectly call Down Under beaks and then chewing them may as well be gifted to the pig film in Hindi with Akshay Kumar as the hero. were doing here and how they up (the posters and not the for future use. MMM asked as Today, be it Hindi or Tamil, films get to know in four days flat came a-calling in the city (they beaks). The birds were evi- to what would happen if the whether they would make a killing, or break even or go down the could have hardly flown, and dently going local. Given their seller just kept silent about the height, they could easily reach attraction his vehicle had for tube.