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 • A trail of hope • Different villages • Canal chronology • The birth of MATSCIENCE Vol. XXIV No. 19 MUSINGS January 16-31, 2015 Buckingham Canal Madras Landmarks highs and lows – 50 years ago he water in it may be fairly (By The Editor) water levels in the canal even Tstagnant at least as far as during low tides, have mostly the city is concerned but, when to be undertaken if it is to be disintegrated. In any case these it comes to news about it, the made navigable for ferrying need to be replaced for they Buckingham Canal is full for passenger and industrial and were designed for much smaller highs and lows. Within the last agricultural produce. At a time vessels. But with the Centre fortnight we have had hearten- when the road network in the pledging Rs. 2000 crore for the ing and disappointing news – country is coming under great revival of inland waterways, all there are plans for its revitali- strain, the canal can be a viable this should not be an issue. sation and, at the same time, an alternative especially for goods What is needed is speedy execu- insensitive public is doing its that do not have to be trans- tion of the whole project. Much best to pollute the few surviving ported very quickly. It is to be will depend on whether the De- G Like many other firsts, Madras also holds the record for the first ever race pristine portions of the water noted that the Canal can serve tailed Project Report is com- meet in India. This was in 1780 and held on the Island. But it would appear that Guindy was the area earmarked for racing as early as in 1777 when 81 body. to transport nearly 15 million pleted as planned by June this cawnies of land was taken from the villages of Velacherry and Venkatapuram Late last December the Cen- tonnes of goods along its route. year. for the construction of a racecourse. tral Government announced The Centre’s survey will cover And now for the bad news. Almost from 1790 or so the Assembly Rooms on the racecourse were a land- that it was keen to revamp the the three States of Tamil Nadu, As is well known, our city has mark of the city. William and Thomas Daniell did a painting of the building in Canal, in particular the portion Andhra Pradesh and Pondi- been one of the major contribu- 1792. The racecourse stood to the left of the Assembly Rooms, where it still is, that runs between Chennai and cherry. tors to the destruction of this and according to the Daniells, “the amusement took place in the cool season, Yanam. This declaration was Preliminary studies have canal. Used as a sewage chan- when the ladies of the settlement are invited to a splendid ball.” Racing in the made on the occasion of the revealed that encroachments nel for long, the last nail on its early years began at six in the morning and ended by ten so that people could opening of the new regional and silting have narrowed the coffin was the construction of get to work. The sport received a setback during the Mysore Wars and was office of the Department of canal considerably along most the Mass Rapid Transport Sys- revived in 1804. Land amounting to 35 cawnies was added facilitating the Inland Waterways, located in of its route. Originally planned tem on the canal bed. That laying out of a second and smaller track meant for training horses. Vijayawada. It is learnt that a to be 32 metres wide, it is at blocked the waterway for good It is not clear as to who managed the races in the early years. The Madras comprehensive survey of the many places less than 6 metres. and destroyed all hopes of its Race Club was set up in 1837 and functioned till 1875 when the Prince of Canal will be taken up at the The depth which was to be revival. But with the MRTS Wales, afterwards Edward VII, visited it. It faded thereafter, to be revived in earliest. It is also understood maintained at 2.5 metres, is less running only within the old city 1887 by Lt. Col. George Moore, President of the Corporation of Madras. A than a metre now. The locks, new Madras Race Club came into existence in 1896, taking over the assets that the Centre is aware that limits and the canal extending and liabilities of the earlier one. considerable amount of moder- which at one time maintained nisation of the Canal will have (Also see page 6) (Continued on page 8) Racing suffered during the First World War but was revived in 1919 thanks to the efforts of the Governor, Lord Willingdon. The Bobbili and Venkatagiri stands were constructed a year later. The Guindy Lodge, built initially for the club Secretary, and now the home of the Madras Race Club proper, came up in 1931. The importance of An article on Guindy by the humorist S.V. Vijayaraghavachariar (SVV) appeared in The Hindu at around the time and this is what it had to say: “Guindy is the place where races are held at stated seasons of the being smart year. On race days the whole city gets empty and congregates at the course, from HE the Governor of Madras down to Muniammal, the vegetable seller. A racecourse is the most democratic place in the t is just a fortnight since we digital signboards that give up- world. It would be nothing surprising if a Secretary to Government G Ibrought you the news that a by A Special dated information on bus ar- should take Muniammal aside and request her to whisper in his ears national magazine survey Correspondent rival timings. the name of the winner. And mind you, Muniammal knows the birth, placed Chennai at the top of Compare this with what is upbringing and idiosyncrasies of every horse that runs in the race even better than the owner himself. It is really staggering what an amount the chart on the liveability to report – out of 11.64 lakh happening in other cities – of money passes from the hands of visitors through the small apertures index. We now have the other property owners in the city only Bangalore is working overtime of the ticket-selling windows. Guindy is the bottomless sink into which side of the tale to tell – when it 70,000 pay their taxes online, to meet its self-imposed dead- all the wealth, earned or borrowed in the city, disappears without comes to the digital divide. 10 per cent of electricity con- line of installing GPS in all leaving a trace behind.” Chennai ranks very low on sumers pay their bills online and 6,500 of its buses within this SVV may have felt it was classless but going to the races was considered a Internet connectivity and also out of 7.35 lakh buildings with year, Ahmedabad is setting up social grace in the upper echelons of society till at least the late 1960s. This was facilities that are available water connections, just about clusters where free internet also the time when certain well-known figures of Madras society cut a dash at online. 60,000 use the online payment connectivity will be available the turf – M.A. Chidambaram (MAC) and the Janab Ravu Janardhana This finding has come to facility. The record when it and Delhi police is working Krishna Ranga Rao, the Zamindar of Chikkavaram, being two such. MAC light following the expiry of the comes to public transport is wonders on mobile applications was to be steward for long and it was at his initiative that classic races were deadline set by the Centre for even worse – out of 3,600 buses for smart phone users – there is introduced in Madras in the 1950s. In 1953 he united the five race clubs of the States to nominate their an app to report lost property South India – Madras, Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ooty – and formed plying in Chennai, only 50 have the Southern India Turf Club which, once again thanks to him, was recognised smart cities. A national daily global positioning systems and there is another one for by the Royal Calcutta Turf Club and the Royal Western India Turf Club. In based outside of Chennai has (GPS) installed and out of 1800 some rather depressing statistics bus stops just a handful have (Continued on page 8) (Continued on page 6) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS January 16-31, 2015 Pleas against posters he Man from Madras Once you have climbed to T Musings was delighted to the top, it is best that you tarry see the latest initiative by the a while. This is to let your Corporation of Chennai. It has heart rest and get its beat rate put up signboards all along the down to normal. Most vehicles Eco-friendly dry toilets He now adds: flyovers, after it has finished pause here anyway, for at a n Madras Musings, Febru- These cylindrical monobloc painting them a garish green particular spot on the summit, ary 1, 2005, I wrote,” says concrete latrines can be modi- which, incidentally, is said to they attain a kind of equilib- “I be the favourite colour of those rium, with the entire chassis reader K.V.S.