Sunday, June 14, 2009

Unheard of road?

The nationalistic (parochial?) fervour of the 1970s saw several roads being renamed. In many cases, the old names continue to be used, with the younger generations still being able to associate the old name with the new one. The older names will die out, surely, but some are sticking on for much longer than others.

One name that seems to have vanished completely is that of Brodie Road - now known as Ramakrishna Mutt Road. It was this sign that reminded me of where Brodie's Road had disappeared to - funnily enough, I haven't heard even any of the old-timers calling it by this name, ever!


8 comments:

LVISS said...

A FEW YEARS FROM NOW THE ORIGINAL NAMES OF THE NEWLY NAMED ROADS WILL BE FORGOTTEN.

Shantaram said...

@ lviss: It all depends on the masses... "Change we can believe in" types.... Mount Road still lives on, doesn't it! :)

Ramkumar said...

From a long-time resident of Brodies Road (what is now Ramakrishna Mutt Road), thanks for this post. Brodies Castle is where the Music College is now - if I remember right, the gent Brodie himself seems to have gone to a watery grave on the Adyar River.

Shantaram said...

@ Ramkumar: You're right. Am keeping the story of Brodie for when I post about Brodie's Castle - now called 'Thendral'.

KARTHIK A.BHATT said...

Hi Shantaram,

Just read this old post of yours. Jayaram Vilas was the home of Mylai Guruji Sundararaman Swamigal, a person credited with doing wonderful work for the restoration of the Kozha Vizhi Temple, just a street away from where I live.

In fact there is a board inside the house which states the ownership.

Shantaram said...

@ Karthik: Thanks! That'll be one more story that I will dig up sometime - will come back to you for help on that!

Anonymous said...

My mother used to say we lived in Brodies road in Mylapore long (so long) ago. Never knew where it existed. Thanks for your update. Thrilled!

R Nand Kumar said...

Good to see this post. My father lived on Brodie’Road in his childhood. I have heard him and his relatives mention the road. Some of them pronounced it differently - as Broadiss !!