Tower, towers

It might now be dwarfed by the residential apartments in the background, but this red-brick tower was once the centrepiece of India's first institution to train teachers. 

The absence of any reasonable protection for heritage buildings, especially those owned by the government, has seen many wonderful structures laid waste, and this tower is going the same way, by all appearances! 

 

The pillar

It was World Heritage Day yesterday; because I had asked a question about a monument within the city yesterday, I'm posting two pictures today in honour of the day. They are both from West CIT Nagar, where Mambalam meets Saidapet. Towards the end of the 18th century, the Long Tank was very long, and the spillover would flow across Mount Road, looking to connect with the Mylapore Tank on the east. This was very much of an inconvenience to the general public; since 1726, when Coja Petrus Uscan bequeathed a bridge across the Adayar less than a kilometre away, the public had become used to fording that waterway. A new watercourse, even if it was mainly a feature of the monsoons, had to be crossed. 

Cue Adrian Fourbeck, a merchant who was an "old resident of Madras". There is little information about the life of the man himself, but that he was pensioned off as a Gunroom Crewman of Fort St George (with a pension of 1-14-0 pagodas) in 1740. He must have been a shrewd merchant, for by the time he passed away in 1783, he had made enough to bestow his fellow citizens a bridge across the canal. Petrus Uscan's bridge half a century earlier had cost around 30,000 pagodas. Even if Adrian's bridge cost only a tenth of that, it was still a princely sum. 

Fourbeck's legacy was built by the executors of his will, T. Pelling, L. de Fries and P. Bodkin, according to plans made by Lt. Col. Patrick Ross, then Chief Engineer of Fort St. George. Their names, as well as that of the Governor of Fort St. George, Maj. Gen. Sir Archibald Campbell, were inscribed on a four-sided pillar, which marked the bridge's inauguration in 1786. While one side had the entire description in English, the other sides had its translations in Tamizh, Latin and Persian. The foundation stone of the bridge erected by Coja Petrus Uscan is out in the open, part of the Chennai Metro's fencing now. The bridge itself has been replaced by the Maraimalai Adigal bridge of the 1960s. Of Adrian's bridge, nothing remains but the pillar, which is today protected by a wall and fencing, and is inside the State Highways Department's office!

The exact location: 13.024642297473248, 80.22863700289777

Protein fix

There are some stereotypes that take a long while to go away. One such is the image of the south Indian as a vegetarian. Maybe most will describe themselves as such, for there are relatively still very few who eat meat every day of the week.

Sundays are most often meat days; and stalls like this one in the Saidapet market, make a killing that day. It might not look very hygienic, but this is where a majority of the non-vegetarians would shop. The meat is fresh, and the shopkeepers know what you are looking for. Anything from 100g to a few kilos is easily provided for!

 

Royal devotee

The Vaishnavite tradition of south India has 12 Azhwars, saints whose poetic works were laced with ecstatic devotion to Vishnu. It is believed that these Azhwars are human manifestations - avatars, if you will - of various people or objects beloved of Vishnu. Traditionally, Azhwars are thought to have lived between the 5th and the 3rd century BCE, but the spoilsport of science puts their works as having emerged between the 8th and 9th century CE. 

One such Azhwar was born into a royal family of Cheraman Perumal lineage and ruled as Sthanu Ravi Varma between 844 and 870 CE. Abdicating his kingdom after that long reign, during which his devotion to Vishnu was clearly evident, he composed Perumal Tirumozhi in Tamizh and Mukundamala in Sanskrit. 

This building is a shrine to Venkatesa Perumal, and it was established by the Srimath Kulasekara Azhwar Sabha. Maybe they did not want wild speculation about when the Sabha was formed, and that is why the name board of this Sabha, wedged under the centre gable, says clearly they have been around since 1904!

 

Biryani, anyone?

Who was it that had the idea of serving food in a bucket? Not just any food, biryani in particular. Who thought of it first? I am sure it started off as a convenient way of sending out the stuff in bulk, but in the past few years, it has become a thing. However, from what I have been able to figure out, with my limited research, is that the north Indian biryanis don't lend themselves to be parcelled into plastic buckets and carted around; it is only the south Indian variety that gets delivered and eaten by the bucket-load.

Before all of you howl about the best way to eat the best biryani, do remember that it is now a dish that has broken all kinds of norms. Each outlet decides the best combination for their biryani and goes for that, unmindful of what regional version it evokes. And there are hundreds of such outlets in Chennai alone. In 2020, Zomato delivered 22 biryanis every minute; in 2021 they went up to 180 biryanis a minute, and their rival Swiggy claimed that 115 biryanis were ordered every minute. Those are all-India figures, but Chennai's standalone should be pretty much in the same range, I guess. 

And then there are the self-delivering brands, who supplement the Zomato / Swiggy orders with their own delivery teams. One such is the SS Hyderabad Biryani, which started operations in Broadway in 1998 and now has over 25 branches in Chennai, and a few in other cities, besides. Here are a few of their delivery vehicles lined up in front of one of their outlets - exhorting folks to share their biryani; of course, it would be difficult for one person to finish a bucketful of it!

 

Ambedkar's model?

Does the statue look familiar? To most of us, it might, even though we might not have heard about the man himself. Though he was born in St Thomas Mount, in 1883, his name referred to another part of Madras; Mylai Chinna Thambi Pillai Rajah (MC Rajah) was quite a way away from the Mylapore that is part of his name. He studied at the Wesley School and at the Madras Christian College, before starting off as a teacher in 1906. Keenly aware of the way in which the Dalits had been segregated and oppressed, he was vociferous in his demands for their empowerment. Recognising his work, the Government of Madras chose him for the Provincial Legislative Council in 1919, as their nominee to represent the Adi Dravidars. Early in the term, Rajah convinced the British to remove the terms "parayan" and "panchaman", substituting them with Adi Dravider. 

That gave him a further boost as a champion of the Dalits. In 1928, when the first national association for the Dalits - the All India Depressed Classes Association - was formed, Rajah was  invited to be its first President, with a certain Bhimrao as the Vice President. Rajah had initially (in 1930) supported the idea of a separate electorate for the Dalits; but in what was probably a strategic blunder, he went ahead and forged and agreement with the Hindu Mahasabha, to have the Dalits be represented on the basis of a joint electorate, with province-wise seat reservation for the Dalits. Maybe it was too early for this idea, but it paved the way for the Poona Pact between Ambedkar and Gandhi, which was along similar lines. There was a time when Rajah was the national leader of the Dalits; but somewhere along the way the British sidelined him, nominating Rettamalai Srinivasan along with Ambedkar as the Dalit representatives to the Round Table Conferences in 1930-31. Rajah continued to be an active champion of the depressed classes until his death in 1943. Rettamalai Srinivasan passed away in 1945. And then the field was clear for Ambedkar to be the sole champion of the Dalits. 

This building at the Nandanam-Saidapet border was set up in 1944 by one of Rajah's followers, as a hostel for Adi Dravida students coming to study in Chennai. Over the years, its hospitality had been abused to an extent that, in 2019, a clean-up of the facility found that there were 80 non-student residents - and 13 of them had criminal cases against them. That clean-up has put this hostel back on track to providing much needed support for the underprivileged students from the depressed classes trying to make their mark in life!

Consort temple

The street is named after the first of the Pandavas. Yudhishthiran, the just, the one who held on to the truth irrespective of consequences, is also known as Dharmarajan, the just king. So when one comes across a street named Dharmaraja Temple Street in Saidapet, the first impression is that there must be a temple to this deeply honest ruler somewhere nearby.

The name-board at the entrance of this temple also appears to bear this out. Dharmaraja's name is prefaced by Draupadi's, but it still indicates that the temple is of her husband. However, that is not the case. Draupadi has pride of place here, as the main goddess. Yudhishthiran finds a place on the wall, along with his brothers. 

It is not a very well-known temple, even though it has supposedly been here for over 300 years. That is not very easy to believe (have to verify this independently), but it has been here for over 70 years, at the least. If only we could only have this restored to a state that reflects the glory of its presiding deity - that would be really something!

 

Shelter, dark

At six o'clock in the morning, not too many people wanting to take a bus. The shelter at the Saidapet bus stand is a big one and has quite a few bays. But it looks like there is still a lot of time for the crowd to build up! 

Fruit delivery

Yes, right, this is not done. Parked on the right - the wrong - side of the road, parked against the incline, parked. 

But early on a Sunday morning, they must have thought it is far easier to get this consignment of fruits unloaded this way. 

Don't try this, not on any account, not any day!

 

Market spot

They say India is a land of contradictions, and this picture kind of captures it. It is the entrance to a market in Saidapet. The sign says the market, or at least the land it is on, belongs to the Devasthanam of the Karaneeswarar Temple nearby. 

It is quite possible that in a particular manifestation, Mahadeva might have liked some fish, but I haven't quite heard of the deity of Saidapet being fond of it. So that could not have been the reason for this market to be entirely given over to fishes - there must be some better explanation there, one that clears the seeming (to me, at least) contradiction!

Going down

On the blue line, going towards the airport, the rakes of the Chennai Metro take it a bit easy as they come out from below ground after the Saidapet station. It does not appear to be a steep gradient to climb, but it is a kind of s-curve, so best be safe in leaping out into the light after coming all the way from Washermanpet through the underground tracks. 

The return journey also seems to be counter-intuitive; one would imagine that the rake would be reluctant to go underground, away from the sun. But these rakes do not lose any discernible speed. They seem quite happy to go underground.

Taken from across the road, early in the morning last week. The divider on Mount Road takes up a lot more space than it should!

 

Broken soldier

I will give you a clue. This is supposed to be a Roman soldier. At some point, he was flogging someone or dragging something along. And this is on a hillock close to the Marmalong bridge. 

Give up? Okay, I shall tell you now. It is - or was - part of a tableau in the precincts of the Little Mount Church in Saidapet. There is nothing else near it, so it must have been discarded. Or did he just desert the ranks?

From bars to bazaars

Sometime since December last year, the gates at Puzhal Central Prison have seen a spike in the number of people milling around there. No, there was no rise in crime (or conviction) rates; it was just that a new store had opened inside the prison, with a counter to the outside world as well. That was the first outlet of the "Freedom Prison Bazaar". In the past six months, two other outlets have opened up, one at the CMDA Office in Egmore and this one, the newest, just ahead of the Saidapet Metropolitan Magistrates' Courts. 

This one came up three months ago and it stocks the entire range of 'Prison Products'. Tamil Nadu has 9 central prisons, three of which are in Chennai - Puzhal 1 and 2  and the Women's Prison, all in the Puzhal Campus. From soap making to music, there is a lot on offer for them to study. And recently, investments have been made in setting up a bakery (Puzhal), power looms (Coimbatore) and handmade paper units (all prisons). These are in addition to the facilities already available for shoemaking (Vellore), garments (Coimbatore) and soaps and detergents (Trichy) 

Traditionally, these products were used inside the prisons and probably within the Prison Department itself. Since last year, they have been made available to the public and the response seems to have been good enough for the department to consider expansion into the High Court and DMS complexes in the next few months. The profits from these stores would be distributed as a fifth each to the prisoners who worked to produce these, to the Prison Staff Welfare Fund and to the Government Account. The remaining 40% would be ploughed back to the 'business' through the Tamil Nadu Prison Department Manufacture of Goods Fund. So go ahead, give a helping hand to rehabilitate the prisoners!

Bridge at the edge

The road does not climb - or drop, if you will - when you go across this bridge and yet, there is a feeling of leaving something behind. Heading out south of the city, the Marmalong Bridge (before it became Maraimalai Adigalar Bridge) marked the end of Madras in the early '70s. All on a sudden, there were no buildings, more greenery and one could see clear across for a very long distance. There was the other bridge over the railway tracks at Guindy, but by then, the city was far behind.

More than 30 years later, the Maraimalai Adigalar Bridge can be thought of as just another point on Mount Road; although there is still some greenery beyond the bridge, straight down to the Raj Bhavan, the buildings on the right proclaim it a part of Chennai. Still, it was almost 300 years ago that the first bridge was built here, so give us some time to believe it is not the city's boundary any longer!

Pro bono bridge

According to legend, Thomas Didymus - Doubting Thomas, as he is also known - was martyred somewhere on Parangimalai, or the hillock known to us as St Thomas' Mount. That hillock was south of the Adayar river, which made it slightly inconvenient for the Europeans - the Portugese initially, but also the British later - who were predominantly based further north of the river. There were several bridges fording the Adayar, but it was only after Coja Petrus Uscan built the Marmalong bridge connecting Saidapet (though it was not called by that name, most likely) and Little Mount that access to the township of St Thomas' Mount became much more convenient.


Coja Petrus had settled in Madras barely three years before he had this bridge built. He was quite well off, having been involved in trading between Madras and Manila, where he was based before moving to Madras in 1723. The Marmalong bridge cost him 30,000 pagodas (Rs.100,000), not a small amount in 1726. He did not stop with that; he also gave 1,500 pagodas as a corpus towards regular maintenance of the bridge - that gesture goes a long way towards proving that the bridge was truly built "Pro bono publico".


The Marmalong bridge lasted for over 200 years; it was only in the 1960s that the bridge we use today was built - rather, looking at an old photo of Marmalong bridge, it appears that the existing bridge was strengthened and new lanes added on. The bridge itself was then renamed Maraimalai Adigal Palam. I haven't been able to find too many photos of the old bridge, but here's a painting that supposedly has the bridge in the background!

Porky colours

It is a wonder how anyone who grew up in Madras could ever get around to eating pork. When I was in school, the only pigs we saw were the ones that lived on the garbage dump at the 'Lake Area' near Valluvar Kottam. The stink of the garbage could be smelt one bus-stop away and if you were game enough to look at the mounds of muck, you would see an army of pigs gambolling through them, blissfully content with their surroundings. The only feature that distingushed them from the piles of black filth was their mobility. If they stood still, they would completely merge into the background, for their hairs and skins were blackened by constantly rooting around the garbage.

It was therefore a challenge to any butcher to sell pork. Buying it in the form of sausages or ham from Spencer's was the chosen mode. As pork gained popularity, other 'cold storage' outlets began to stock it, but even then, it was always the processed meat. The only shop that I have seen selling fresh pork is this one near the Saidapet bus stand on Mount Road. For RGS, the positioning was, and continues to be, important. This shop does not sell any old pig; it is 'white pork' that is sold (and it says so even more explicitly, 'white pig meat', in Tamizh).

This shop came to mind after a question at the Madras Day Quiz - What are the ingredients of Chinnamalai Pork Curry? This shop is close enough to Chinnamalai to have been the bespoke supplier of the main ingredient of that dish!

For the record, Chinnamalai Pork Curry (as described at the quiz) is made with pork, mango, brinjal and drumstick!

Not in session

In most commonwealth countries, the lowest level of the justice system is the Magistrates Court. Most of the cases that come up here are of the type where the presence of a judge is necessary to carry out the bureaucratic processes that are a large chunk of legal proceedings - remand of suspects, swearing of affidavits, issue of warrants - all those little bits of paper that add up to the might of the law.

Chennai has 26 Metropolitan Magistrates; 24 of them operate out of fixed offices and 2 are 'Mobile Courts' - a large van that travels around within the Court's jurisdiction, taking justice to the people. Between them, they cover all the police stations in the city, though it might take quite a while to figure out how exactly they are connected - if you have the patience to do it. This building in Saidapet houses 7 of the 26 Magistrates (the biggest chunk is with Egmore which has 12 and George Town takes up the remaining 5; both Mobile Courts are attached to Egmore)

At 8 am, the buildings are shut and sleepy. As the time for the courts to begin their day approaches, the pavements wil be filled with all kinds of touts, lawyers, police constables, small time criminals hoping to either advance or retard the wheels of justice. I don't think it is a fun place to be unless you have a good idea how to work the system - or if you're just there to take pictures!