Displaced

There was a time when traffic along the ECR was controlled, not by any human agency, but by these friends of ours. Domesticated buffaloes were a-plenty, and if they decide to amble across the road, the rest of the world had to find a way around them. 

I was told that when the Sheraton property on ECR was being constructed, the most difficult task they had was to herd these animals away from the construction site. But they were not forgotten; these statues of the water buffaloes, though made of metal - balls of metal held together - they seem quite a lifelike replica of the animals displaced by development!

Vista

It is a lazy Sunday today, so I will let you relax with this view towards a beach from a hotel along the ECR, a bit of a way from Chennai! 

Empty seats

That's what the inside of a cinema hall looks like after the movie when everyone - well, almost everyone - has left. 

This was in the early days of the PVR Heritage RSL, the PVR Playhouse, on the ECR. It opened sometime in 2021, possibly after the first wave of Covid was past. It looked like the PVR Playhouse is the only business in the whole building. There were indications that other outlets would be opening there soon, but then, it did not seem like a multiplex in a mall; it was more like the screens are the only reason why anyone would come in, and all other outlets would depend on these crowds.

But then, none of those other outlets were open. The 10 screens are on the first floor, and one had to walk past a whole host of "Coming Soon" boards - and no, those were not for the movies, but for the food court and the play areas. The movie we went for did not have much of a crowd, so it was easy to take this picture after the show ended. I hope we won't have this luxury the next time around there! 

Tail-less Tomistoma

The Tomistoma schlegelii or the false gharial is native to Malaya and Indonesia, where its habitats have been under threat due to spread of oil palm plantations and clandestine gold prospecting. It is estimated that there are less than 10,000 of these animals in the wild, which places it in the 'Vulnerable' category of the IUCN's Red List. 

If you are in Chennai, you don't have to go out to Indonesia to see a Tomistoma. A short drive, to the Madras Crocodile Bank is all that it takes. It was earlier believed that this was similar to the gharial because of its thin snout; but closer observation showed that, unlike the gharial's evenly slender snout, the Tomistoma's broadens at the end, placing it closer to the true crocodiles than the gharials. That was further strengthened by recent findings that the Tomistoma's diet comprises more variety than just fish, which is the only food for the gharial. 

Notice anything odd about this animal? Yes, you're correct, it doesn't have a tail. No, not because that is how it has evolved, but because this female got into a fight a few years ago and lost her tail. She seems to have learnt to live without it - possibly because it is much easier to do without a tail in captivity than in the wild!

Buddha

The seated Buddha greets you at the entrance to the buildings of the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Manamai. Are symbols associated with the Buddha ubiquitous across educational institutions? Or B-Schools? I know one which has a "Bodhi Tree" on campus!

Display

At the Cholamandalam Artists' Village, visitors are not allowed to take pictures of the works inside the galleries. That is a big disappointment, but to make a mess of Keats, "...those unseen are brighter...". But they do allow you to take pictures of the exhibits and installations outside, and here is one of those. 

This one, by Keizo Ushio, and goes back to 1990. Titled 'Seven Thoughts', this granite sculpture took two years to be completed. Most likely, Ushio gifted this to the Cholamandalam Village in 1990, when he was invited to the 2nd International Sculpture Symposium in South India that year.

I am drawing a blank right now, but what do you think Ushio's thoughts were?

Remembering typewriters

"The Corporation has made a mess of numbers in these parts. Just look for the signs", said Yamuna, in response to my request for directions to her house. We were going there in the evening, because we had missed the earlier editions of "Cheruvannur Diaries Typewriter Tales" at the more 'formal' performance spaces. In a way, it was good that we did, because this show was more intimate, with just about 20 people in the audience. And so Paul Mathew, the army-man turned theatre persona, peppered his audience with questions, inviting them to be part of the show as well.

Produced by Perch, and directed by Rajiv Krishnan, the performance was all about Paul's experiences as a typewriter salesman in Kerala, circa 1985. Not having seen Paul's performances for a long time, it was good to see him in this setting. We had a good time, the audience and the performer and it was a solid one-and-a-half-hours well spent on a Sunday afternoon.

And now, hoping that there can be more such opportunities!

Movement memorial

In 1852, the government took over the Madras School of Arts, that had been established by a surgeon, Dr. Alexander Hunter, a couple of years earlier. More than a century later, the second Indian principal of that establishment - which was by now known as College of Arts and Crafts - was instrumental in creating a movement of painters and sculptors that sought to combine modernism with local influences of myth, legend and art heritage. That principal was Kovalezhi Cheerampathoor Sankaran Paniker. His fellow teachers, and several students pursued this artistic ideal and that group became the vanguard of the Madras Movement. 

Many artists of that movement were extremely individualistic and it seems to me something of a miracle that they held together for long enough for their work to come under a 'category'. But they did and their work, recognized as and identified with the Madras Movement is feted around the world. They came together to form the Cholamandalam Artists' Village in the late 1960s, but it was only in the last decade that the artists have ventured to create a Centre for Contemporary Art. 

Housed within that Centre is the KCS Paniker Museum of the Madras Movement. It has works from almost every significant member of the Movement. Most of Paniker's own works, however, are not here; they are not with the Cholamandalam Artists' Village, either. They are not even anywhere in Chennai, for the Government of Madras (as it was in those days) did not take up Paniker's offer to donate his works to the state; and so they moved away to the Art Gallery at Thiruvananthapuram!

Medicinal might

Legend has it that the 63 Nayanmars, the minstrels whose songs of Siva are so uplifting that the Nayanmars themselves are considered near-divine, have sung specifically about 275 of Siva's temples. These 275 are considered to be paadal petra sthalams and are considered a notch above the vaippu sthalams, which are those shrines that were 'mentioned' in the Nayanmars' compositions. Of of the 275, three are in Chennai - Tiruvottiyur, Mylapore and then this one at Thiruvanmiyur.

The locality the temple is in takes its name from Valmiki, but it is said that one of the reasons for him to be here was to recover from some illness; it was a blessing from Siva, in the form of Marundeeswarar who cured Valmiki. The form itself was assumed to cure Surya (the Sun God) and Chandra (the Moon God), as well as the sage Agastyar - and it was the last who named this form Marundeeswarar - the Lord of Medicines!

Getting away

Mahabalipuram is not far off and it is a good drive; along the East Coast Road, the signs talk about a 'Scenic Drive' - and the toll booth also welcomes you to the "ECR Scenic Beachway". If you are a passenger, good for you, you can enjoy the view. 

But if you are the driver, you had better keep your eyes on the road. Not only is there a lot of traffic on the road, there will likely be a lot of it moving across the road as well!

ECR Sunrise

Going off-road from the ECR one morning, got to see this lovely sunrise. And you've got to enjoy it, too!

In the middle

The great epic Ramayana traces several parts of the Indian sub-continent even though its author himself appears to have spent most of his life along the banks of the river Ganga. Ratnakar the robber used to waylay travellers for their belongings and would think nothing of finishing them off. One day, after realizing the error of his ways, Ratnakar began to offer penance, focussing on nothing but the syllables "Mara-maram". Over many years, his body was covered by anthills, but the focus of his penance wavered not a whit. The Gods finally blessed him, for the syllables he uttered were nothing but the name of Rama; as he emerged from his penance, he gained the name Valmiki, the one born of ant-hills. It was then that he began to narrate the story of Rama, in the process earning for himself the title "Aadi Kavi", the pioneer poet.

So how did the robber-turned-poet know about places that he had never seen before? Was he bestowed with divine visions? Or, as one strand of the legend of Valmiki has it, did he visit the places and then write about them? In this part of Chennai, the second option is favoured.  It is believed that Thiruvanmiyur, lying on the coast towards the southern end of Chennai, is the morphed version of Thiru-Valmiki-oor, (Thiru meaning holy, and 'oor' meaning village, or area) and that the poet, came here to worship at the shrine of Marundeeswarar, and stayed for a few years within a short distance of that shrine.

This one is a temple to Valmiki himself. As you can see, it is plonk in the middle of the East Coast Road, with traffic flowing along its flanks. Over the years, successive bouts of road laying have raised the height of the roads so that the temple (which was anyway accessed by going down 3 or 4 steps) appears to be even lower than what it is. Even though there doesn't seem to be a crowd visiting this temple, every passer by pays automatic obeisance. For the traffic, it seems to be a nuisance; certainly not Valmiki would have wanted!

Backwaters

It is barely 6 am and the light is wonderful. We are about 30km out of Chennai, on the East Coast Road. The Muttukadu Boat House brings back memories of how a college senior fell into the water just as she was getting off the boat, and how quickly panic gave way to embarrassment on realising that the water was only about waist deep at that time. 

But that was low tide time and it is not to be taken as an excuse to jump into the waters here. Muttukadu was one more of those open stretches of backwaters along the coast, until a boathouse was opened here by the Tamil Nadu Tourism department, about forty years ago. Even then, it had to struggle to keep itself going. The boat rides that would take you under the bridge and then circle back to the pier were thrilling by themselves, but there was nothing more at the spot.

Not that there is much more available now for the typical holidaymaker out for a good time. The boathouse is bigger, some restaurants are nearby and there are different kinds of boats available. This early in the day, however, we were watching the pelicans and the cormorants, as a solitary fisherman punted his way towards the shore. Hope all of them had a good catch!

Pure water

The city's second desalination plant, and the country's largest, has been operational since February this year. When running to full capacity, this reverse-osmosis based plant at Nemmeli, on the way to Mamallapuram, will supply 100 million litres of treated water every day. To enable that, it takes in a little over 250 million litres of seawater every day from the Bay of Bengal. 

But wait. Doesn't the desalination plant at Minjur also put out 100 MLD of treated water? So how is this the country's largest? Well, the only explanation is that the position is jointly held by these two plants which together provide roughly one-sixth of the city's current fresh water requirements!

Old fashioned

Early morning, by the side of a road just outside Chennai. Farmers here continue to use these tools - the hoe and the ploughshare - for their small landholdings. The oxen were taking a break from the ploughing, grazing nearby.

The city will catch up with them very soon. Too soon.

Flower.

What kind? I have no idea. Just thought they looked good, when I saw them at Neelankarai, just off the East Coast Road. The plant was rather unkempt; but the flowers lift up your spirit with their sheer freshness - what more can you ask for on a hot day, under the blazing sun at Neelankarai!

Beachside Drive-in

If this photo had been taken a few hours later, it would have been full of people. But at noon, there is really no reason for anyone to be crowding at the gates of Chennai's only drive-in theatre, considering that the first show is seven hours away. With the city's expansion, what was once a difficult-to-reach destination is now close enough for people to actually go and watch a movie out there. Despite that, Prarthana doesn't seem to be getting the bigger movies, having to make do with second-rung films or ones that are on their second wind.

It has been quite a while since I've been to a movie here, but memories of doing so are quite pleasant - except for the scramble to get into the gates. That's a test of patience and it takes a lot to curb roadrage when you see someone cut in front of you after you've crawled for about 20 minutes to cover the last half-kilometre to the gates. Inside, there is enough space; though I don't remember the actual capacity, I'm sure there's enough space for at least 75 cars - that's quite a lot of people, not including the 100 or so who, having come on their two wheelers, can sit at the back.

The complex also has a regular theatre - Aradhana. That's something I didn't know until very recently - haven't heard of anyone going all the way to Prarthana and then deciding not to do the drive-in bit!

Pay your way

In the early- and mid-80s, one went to 'Mahabs' through the road that got out of the city just after Tiruvanmiyur. It had no name in particular, it was just the best way to go to Mahabalipuram, or Mamallapuram as it was getting to be known as. Tiruvanmiyur was as far as the city reached, and once past the Marudeeswarar Temple, it was fun to go past all those little fishing - or trading - villages along the coast: Kotivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai, Injambakkam, Uthandi, Muthukadu and Kovalam, on to Mahabalipuram. It was a nice route to go through, even if the road itself wasn't much more than a series of village-to-village tar strips and it became popular enough for the 'proper' road to Mahabalipuram came to be called the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR, now recently renamed Rajiv Gandhi Salai). With popularity came traffic and the village roads were not equipped to handle the volumes; even buses to Pondicherry forsook the OMR for the drive by the beaches. By the mid-90s, there was hardly any road left.

It was in 1998 that the whole stretch from Chennai to Cuddalore, through Pondicherry, was taken under the newly set up Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd (TNRDC) and named the East Coast Road (ECR). The TNRDC probably did not worry about upkeep of the road when it first built it; it was only in 2000 that they were given the mandate of maintaining the road also. Even in the intervening two years, the ECR had degenerated, simply because nobody had cared about its upkeep. After another year of repairs and upgradations, the TNRDC began its toll collections on the ECR from March 24, 2002.

I haven't heard too many cribs about the toll rates, mainly because 2-wheelers are exempt from the toll. Of course, if you are only going to the Ragas Dental College, which is just on the other side of this toll plaza, you would certainly crib about paying Rs.45 for a return trip of about 200 metres!

Match the flower

The theme seems to be 'Let them have any colour, as long as it is not black'. Going on the East Coast Road recently, I happened to see several stacks of these kind of flowerpots along the road. Great idea to match these indoor planters with the colours of flowers that grow in them!

What interest rates?

With so much talk of inflation, growth slowdown and rising interest rates happening all around us, it is probably a good idea to visit a different kind of bank once in a while. If you are interested in crocodilians, Chennai is a good place to be. The Crocodile Bank (technically outside the city limits) is just a short drive down the scenic East Coast Road. Though it seems to have a majority of crocodilians, there are actually many more reptiles in this Bank; venom extraction, for preparation of anti-venom serum is done in public view - and these shows are always thickly attended.

Another popular attraction is the space for visitors to hold a baby crocodile - with open jaws, it appears very threatening, but is quite content to relax in your hands, as long as you're holding it right!

If you promise not to scream when you see the crocs, you may click on this link to see more pictures from our visit to the Crocodile Bank.