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 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 • Health & the community • The Indra Nooyi viewpoint • Verse...and ‘verse’ • Nicholson the co-operator Vol. XXIV No. 7 MUSINGS July 16-31, 2014 G For satellite and heritage towns... Madras Landmarks Infrastructure – 50 years ago the first need (By A Special Correspondent) he latest Union budget has, in keeping with fact that several Japanese companies have set up Tthe political equations, not singled out the base there, given its proximity to Ennore Port. A Chennai area for anything exceptional but it has visit to the town will reveal that while it admit- held out two promises – the development of tedly holds potential, it presently lacks even the Ponneri as a satellite town and Kanchipuram as most basic infrastructure, road connectivity being a heritage town. Both of these are exciting the first. And so development has to begin from prospects that can do much good, provided they scratch. are planned and executed on -different lines as In the past we have had developments of compared to what has happened in the past. The satellite towns – Tambaram was supposed to be question is, are we capable of that? one, Siruseri was yet another. In the case of the Let us deal with the satellite town first. The former, growth happened in a laissez faire fash- Union Budget has called for the development of ion. Private developers acquired land and sold ompletely cut off from public view and located at the end of a curving drive ‘smart cities’ and has identified Ponneri as one of plots and a town came up. It has the narrowest Cis a sylvan property that is now on its last legs. It is reliably learnt that the the areas capable of such development. The possible roads, the worst drainage systems and space has changed hands and developers will soon swing into action. choice of this locality has been dictated by the (Continued on page 9) One of the prominent landowners of Madras Presidency was Shanmukha Rajeswara or Naganatha Setupathi, Rajah of Ramnad, and among his many properties was Woodlands, Royapettah, a stone’s throw from the erstwhile Ma- dras Club property that became Express Estate and is now a mall. Set in the Moolah for statues, midst of 16½ acres. Woodlands was the city residence of the Rajah before he moved to Cenotaph Road. Woodlands was purchased by Muni Venkatappa, a building contractor, in 1937, for a hotel business. Not finding the going easy, he offered it on rent in 1938 to K. Krishna Rao (1898-1990). morsels for heritage! Krishna Rao had worked as a dishwasher, waiter and flour-grinder before he got his big break, when he was asked to manage a restaurant on Acharappan (By The Editor) Street in George Town. Having made a success of it, he struck out on his own he latest Union Budget in- to be spent under the rather other words – Rs. 200 crore for and set up Madras’s first Udipi hotel, ‘The Udipi Sri Krishna Vilas’ on Mount Tcludes a provision for Rs. oddly named National Heritage one statue, Rs. 33 crore for each Road in 1926/27. 200 crore to be spent on a City Development and Aug- of the historic cities that need He leased the Royapettah property and established the eponymous Wood- statue for a great leader of the mentation Yojana, which is ab- support! That essentially sums lands Hotel here, the first of what is now an immensely popular worldwide past. We do not have anything breviated for some reason to up the importance given to chain. The hotel had 45 rooms at a rent of Rs. 5 a day. Krishna Rao would to say on that beyond wonder- HRIDAY. This is praiseworthy. heritage in our country. himself solicit guests by waiting at Central Station! The Music Academy’s an- ing whether the Iron Man of But the amount is to be shared There are plenty of other ex- nual conference in 1938 was held here under the leadership of Ariyakkudi India would have wanted such by six cities – Mathura, Gaya, amples within the country and Ramanuja Iyengar, which proved a strong advertisement for the hotel. It became amounts to be spent on his dei- Amritsar, Ajmer, Velankanni closer home as well. The news- the place where the glamorous stars of the 1940s – M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavatar, N.C. Vasanthakokilam and others-stayed. The War years brought fication. The same budget also and Kanchipuram – that comes papers carried a story recently difficulties, including the crashing of a light plane in the garden! In 1947, Rajaji has provision for Rs 200 crore to Rs 33 Crores per city. In about the historic Town Hall in hosted a tea party on the lawns here to celebrate India’s independence. Shimla, which is to be restored In 1952, Krishna Rao moved Woodlands Hotel to Edward Elliot’s at a cost of Rs. 8 crore, out of (Dr. Radhakrishnan) Road, where it became the New Woodlands Hotel, to which Rs. 6 crore was to come distinguish it from the old at Royapettah, which continued as a hotel. Despite the from the Asian Development outstanding success of the former, the latter remained popular as a venue and, in Bank. In Chennai, the VP Hall 1959, it was from here that Rajaji launched his Swatantra Party. The place was restoration project, which is also a favourite location for photo and film shoots. dragging on interminably has a In 1966, Woodlands, and especially room number 32, shot briefly into budget of Rs. 3 crore. Ripon notoriety. 750 bars of gold were discovered under the mattress following a tip Building, another structure that off. The consignment had been brought by car from Bombay and was is undergoing restoration, has a hidden here by a guest who, having locked the room, went off to the Dasaprakash budget of Rs. 7.7 crore. Here Hotel to stay. Investigations led to the arrest and trial of Kotumal Bhirumal again, the bulk of the funds has Pihlajani and several others. In its time, it was a sensational instance of gold come from the Jawaharlal smuggling. Nehru National Urban Re- Till the mid-1970s, Woodlands continued to remain one of the well-known newal Mission (JNNURM). hotels of the city. It then went into a decline. The property itself now houses a The National Art Gallery in the hotel and a theatre under different managements and both share its name. The hotel building, with a portico that was probably added later, is of the typical Museum complex has had Rs. Madras roof type. It has some fascinating and beautifully maintained period 11 crore allocated for its resto- furniture and fittings. A few plaster statues adorn the vast gardens. Apart from ration, though work on it has the cheap lodgings it provided, the hotel was till recently known for its lunches, “No sign of a new train coming our way?” (Continued on page 9) which were of the traditional South Indian variety. CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS July 16-31, 2014 Yet another Madras Week Hard to stomach fully understand our total lack of public sense and consideration et there be Madras Week, the sun (with information usu- mires the company and the Ifor others in all respects (MM, July 1st). Dogs’ excrement was a big Lsaid the Chief, and there ally plagiarised from the writ- way its founder, after retiring, problem in Europe, even in cities like Paris and Brussels, because was Madras Week. The Man ings of the Chief and a few oth- came back to turn the they used to do the same thing as our friend does now in Chennai. from Madras Musings can al- ers) and demands to know why organisation around, rather in most imagine the Chief, bare he/she has not been invited to the manner of a local head But,as MMM has rightly portrayed, they have changed now. Even toes and knee caps and all, be- speak during the Week. The honcho who, after declaring the Chinese, who were like us once, have changed, I believe. Will we ing wafted through the sky in a second variety chooses to be himself mentor or vision- change? billowing cape in which are maudlin and declares that he/ holder or some such thing, Please read the article below which I received from the former also carried the team of evan- she has not been invited to par- came back, son in tow, to Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India, T.S.R. Subramanian, gelists of the Week, MMM be- ticipate owing to a conspiracy mentor and vision hold the together with his comments and also the comments of another senior ing one of them. In front leans of some kind to keep him/her company he founded as it was official, Anand Sarup. Madras itself, suitably clad, of away. These self-centred slipping into a morass. Now course, and the Chief ignites it people are placated very simply both Pop and Son have gone – Dr. G. Sundaram by the touch of a finger. At by telling them that there is al- away once again, Pop to men- * * * least that was how MMM ways a next year. If not, they tor and Son to a land across visualised the scene, falling can be told to organise an event the seas.