Small road

This was the first - and still the only - road on which I could name all the buildings. Not a difficult task, for there are only five of them. The youngest of them is the Kuralagam, about forty years old, housing countless offices of the state government. Coming up north on Muthuswamy Road and turning into the Esplanade Road (which's what this one is called), all the five buildings will be on your left. In order, they are the Raja Annamalai Mandram, the United India Building, the Chennai House (originally the Burmah Shell building), South Indian Chamber of Commerce and finally the Kuralagam.

What of the other side of the road? You will no doubt remember that the British had cleared the area around Fort St George in the middle of the 18th century. This road was at the north-western corner of the Esplanade that was created. Much later, part of the Esplanade was used to house the buildings of the Madras High Court. The walls of the court run almost the full length of the this road, except where there is a bus terminus at the southern end. The court buildings - including the two towers of the Dr. Ambedkar Law College on the right - are accessed through NSC Bose Road.

Now, don't you think remembering all the buildings on this small road is child's play?