WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXII No. 1 April 16-30, 2012

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Tambrahms portrayed

• Cardiac care in Perambur

• The great 1930s’ debate

• The Baroda connection

(Continued on page 8)

(Continued on page 8)

Can’t Mylapore Festival

� By A Special Correspondent

(By A Special Correspondent)

be morepeoplefriendly?

George Town needs a master plan

Appa, you always don’t have todress up in your 70’s clothes every timeyou watch the ‘angry young man’movies!

Rail-roadedPoor Chennaiites.

First the power situation; now this– The Great Chennai Re-Route Rumpus.

Look, Chennaiites, a fairly co-op-erative lot, willingly, evencheerfully, endure the tumultand upheaval caused by valueadditions like the ‘...rail basedrapid transport system’ to thecityscape of their beloved...er...city...

But...

It’s hard, okay?

Agreed, all proposed road usagechanges are always carefullyexplained beforehand...

But hey –

There’s a huge difference betweenbeing given a set of directions,and actually following them.

‘Directions’ don’t tell you that thenew you’ll-have-to-take-this-right-for-a-while is a narrowstrip that clearly resents havinggreatness thrust upon it.

Or that, with all those one-ways,you’ll loop about so much,there’s a real possibility you’llgo past yourself at some point.

Dwellings in hitherto quiet by-lanes are now learning to say:‘We’re on the main road itself,okay, va?’

Current Chennai road-users,stepping out of home, feel asense of shared experience withtheir favourite mythical he-roes.

Talk about facing the perilous andthe unexpected on a daily basis.

In addition, it’s summer.

Rumour has it that the averageChennaiite is checking dailyhoroscope columns moreassiduously these days.

Understandable.

When chaos abounds, you turn tothe stars for answers.

Ranjitha Ashok

“O, God! It’s the ‘Metro’ attack!Quick, remove our things from ourroad!”

(By The Editor)

We heard it said the other day that the Indian NationalTrust for Art and Cultural Heritage’s Chennai Chapter

knows nothing about heritage buildings. That the architects,history and heritage buffs, story-tellers and dilettantes associ-ated with INTACH-Chennai know nothing about heritagebuildings. We also heard it said that the experts on the subjectwere institutions like the Heritage Conservation Committee ofthe Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the Corpo-ration of Chennai, Metrorail, Government Infrastructureorganisations, etc. with their complement of bureaucrats, engi-neers and planners.

Now that it has been stated definitely that those associatedwith these Government organisations are experts on heritagebuildings, may we, and others like us, appeal to them to draw upa Heritage Act worthy of a city of the 21st Century as quickly aspossible and have it enacted. To take the first step of drawing upthe Act, they won’t have to do much. A draft was suggested tothe States by a Central Ministry more than a decade ago and itwas fine-tuned by various Tamil Nadu bureaucrats at differenttimes, but never seemed close to presentation for enactment.With their expertise attested to, perhaps the present group ofbureaucrats, engineers etc. will fine-tune the draft a little more,spell out in one-syllable words what heritage buildings are, andhave the Act enacted.

West Bengal has a Heritage Commission Act for the wholeState. Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad have legislation pro-tecting identified heritage buildings. Delhi and Bangalore havetheir Urban Arts Commissions. But why do we want to be likethem? We always want to be like that 21st Century city,Singapore. So, perhaps then, this now-certified team of expertsshould visit Singapore and see what its rigorous Heritage Acthas done to areas with Chinese, Malay, Indian and ColonialHeritage. Perhaps they should look at what has been done therebeing done to George Town, the Mada Streets of Mylapore andTriplicane, Rajaji Salai and the Marina, and several other heri-tage precincts in Chennai (not to mention elsewhere in TamilNadu).

We are quite sure that all those members of INTACH-Chennai who know nothing about heritage buildings will be onlytoo glad if the now-proclaimed experts draw up a Heritage Act –after visiting Singapore – and ensure that it is enacted. Andimplemented. That’s all heritage buffs like your Editor want.And have wanted for over twenty years now.

The annual festival of theMylapore Kapaleeswarar

Temple has just concluded. Itwas a grand spectacle, in keep-ing with what is expected of atradition that has spanned sev-eral centuries. The devout andthe curious assembled in thethousands and were not disap-pointed. It was a gala ten days,except for the woeful inad-equacy it exposed – both interms of civic infrastructure andthe sense of civic discipline inthe public. This is not the firsttime this has happened and, asthe years advance, the pressureis only building up on what littleamenities that are available.

Take, for instance, the traf-fic. Given that the festival hap-pens each year and its dates arefixed pretty much in advance,surely the city’s traffic policecan involve themselves in somecreative solutions. One of thesecould be the declaration of thefour Mada Streets as ‘pedestrianonly’ zones at least for the ten

days of the festival. Residentswith vehicles could be given en-try passes, surely not a difficultyin this electronic age, and therest could be asked to park theirvehicles at specific locationsand walk the rest of the dis-tance. And for those who can-not walk, the temple, given itssubstantial income, can eventhink of running a ferry servicecomprising the kind of golf cartsthat are in use at the MaduraiMeenakshi temple and also atCentral Station. This will work.very well, especially if otherkinds of traffic are preventedfrom entering the zone duringthe festival.

What is happening atpresent is that the traffic isallowed to flow right throughthe four streets whenever thedeities are not being taken outin procession. What is over-looked is that the festivalbecomes an occasion when

The Corporation of Chennaihas been making several

announcements on majorprojects. It has promised world-class roads, commissioned fea-sibility studies for a slew offlyovers, and initiated consoli-dation of garbage storage invarious localities. There is alsomuch noise being made on aunified transport authority forthe city. In the midst of all theseinitiatives, one locality, a local-

ity that is completely differentfrom any other in the city, issure to be left behind, exceptperhaps when it comes to gar-bage disposal. I allude to GeorgeTown, the old city.

George Town presents chal-lenges that are not necessarilypresent in other areas. This en-tire quarter came up at a time

when electricity, motorisedtransport, footpaths and mod-ern drains were unheard of. Thestreets were laid out in a gridpattern and were meant for pe-destrians and a few horse car-riages. Today, the same roadsbear the load of a vast number,and bewilderingly differentrange, of vehicles, together with

a burgeoning pedestrian popu-lation.

If those be the problems withthe streets, the homes and of-fices have challenges as well.They were all meant to be townhouses, with no space betweenthem. These were usually two-storeyed, with the business es-tablishment and warehouse onthe ground floor, and residence

Who knows all aboutheritage buildings?

2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2012

Why don’tthe womenanswer?

Tanneer pandals were verymuch in the news in the

last couple of weeks. For, itwas the time when the festi-val of the 63 great devotees ofLord Shiva was celebrated inMylapore. To The Man fromMadras Musings, tanneerpandals will remain a uniqueTamil tradition, though anewspaper did refer to themas refreshment stalls, therebyconjuring up a vision of some-thing on a railway platformwith catering by Spencer’s inthose good old days.

In the days of not so muchyore, these tanneer pandalswere simple affairs. Patronsdonated money, a makeshiftshelter of thatch was put up, acouple of pots of water wereplaced in them, and that wasthat. The more affluentpandals had buttermilk and,maybe, panagam, that sweetdrink made with jaggery. Thatwas the very outer peripheryof luxury. To these the faith-fuls flocked, slaked theirthirst, and moved on.

But all cannot remain for-ever well in this Garden ofEden. MMM notices that thepoliticians have of late discov-ered that much capital (andwhat else is the average politi-cian interested in?) can bemade out of these pandals.Overnight these pandals havebecome participants insqualid vote-grabbing exer-cises. And how!

From his vantage eyrieMMM could see the pandalsspringing up in street cornerafter corner. And each ofthem sported banners withbeaming photographs of theleader whose party had spon-sored the particular pandal.The side walls had cut-outsand the rear had full-lengthphotos of the leader in action.And each of the pandalsneeded formal inaugurationsas well.

These followed a well-setroutine. From an early hour,high decibel loudspeakersblared out party songs, film-songs involving the leader andannouncements to the effectthat a pooh-bah from theparty was on his/her way toinaugurate the refreshmentstall and provide manna in thewilderness to the deservingpublic. Bawdy dances fol-lowed in the bigger venues.Then came a series ofspeeches by the junior lead-ers, each in ascending levelsof volumes and stridency.Dire fates were predicted forthose who dared oppose thebeloved leader while milk andhoney would be showered onthe faithful. The leaders in theopposition were berated incolourful language and asper-sions were cast on their con-duct in private and public.Moral turpitude was the gen-eral theme. MMM wonderedas to where the speakers gotsuch intimate details.

The Big ‘Un duly rolled upin due course and, by the

simple act of drinking a glassof water, declared the pandalopen in the name of the leader.The faithfuls were then let in.The bar, in short, was open.Those who preferred liquidswere given the drink of theirchoice and for solid refresh-ments the sky appeared to bethe limit. By the end of the day,the place resembled a Romanorgy of sorts with the ‘spirit-ually’ elevated reeling away orsimply lying down on the foot-paths. The next day thepandals bore all the signs of amorning after, with even thestructure in some places lean-ing to one side, with a dissi-pated look.

Somewhere in his child-hood, MMM had read thattanneer pandals had originatedwhen Appoothi Adigal, one ofthe 63, had welcomed Appar,another of the same ilk, byconstructing them. All MMMcan say is that we appear tohave come a long way from thetime of Appar and Appoothi.Apres Appar le deluge, eh?

for a tipple or two. It cannotbe denied that our brethrenlead interesting lives and workhard for a living.

MMM was quite shockedto know about such goings on.Not so MMM’s informant whois a sharply observant charac-ter. He sees poetic justice inthe whole thing. What wasprovided by the Governmentis being returned to it, is hisview. What is being lost on theturnstile of roadways is beinggained on the roundabout ofliquor vending.

Ever punctual

There was a time whenChennai worked as per

the clock and the more reli-gious followed the panchan-gam or almanac. Good deedswere begun at certain hours,and the inauspicious hour,which followed the formula ofMother Saw Father WearingThe Turban on Sunday, wasavoided like the plague. Butnow The Man from MadrasMusings observes that every-one works as per the hours ofthe power cut. Meetings, dis-cussions and outings areplanned according to theschedule and the more enter-prising ones fix visits to placeswhere they are sure to findpower and, more importantly,airconditioning.

And MMM has to hand itto the TNEB. Their word istheir bond and they are re-markably punctual when itcomes to turning off the powerat the main and restoring it af-ter the stipulated two hours.Neither a minute more, norless. Never a minute earliernor after. Shylock could havetaken his lessons from them.But it makes MMM wonder asto why such meticulousnesscould not be followed when itcame to planning for powercapacity and generation.

Tailpiece

That Chennai is a prettycommercial city is known

to The Man from MadrasMusings. But he did not realisethat even bachelors and fami-lies were available on hire, tillhe saw the poster announce-ment reproduced below.

– MMM

Render unto Caesar…

Remember those twinklingfluorescent strips that

flashed at you from the roadwhenever you drove on thewrong side, which was all toooften though it was not yourfault. Well, The Man from Ma-dras Musings has news for you.They have begun vanishing,one by one. MMM attributedtheir departure to the fact thatthe volume of Chennai’s traf-fic was too much for them andso they were wearing out at analarming rate. But such, it ap-pears, is not the case.

Apparently, there is a groupthat makes a small packet byremoving them, collectingthem till they form a respect-able quantity and bulk, andthen selling them. Thoughwho care to buy them and forwhat purpose, MMM is at aloss to fathom. The seller,however, gets much-neededcash which he, in turn, show-ers on the local TASMAC bar

The politics of a tanneer pandal

SHORT ‘N’

SNAPPY

You call your local ward councillor on the phone. A male voiceanswers. The man refuses to hand over the phone to his wife,

the councillor.“You can talk to me, it’s alright," he insists.So why do parties choose to select the wives of local area politi-

cians when it comes to giving tickets and respecting the reserva-tion policy for women in our local bodies like our CorporationCouncil?

Is the situation so bad that these parties do not have womenwho have taken part in rallies and agitations or addressed localissues, women who could better qualify for this job?

I was looking for answers at a discussion held at the AmericanCenter recently. The United States celebrates Women’s HistoryMonth each March and among the events was this discussion on'Women and Politics’.

The panel included former State Minister of the DMK, Dr.Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Bader Sayeed, senior advocate andformer AIADMK MLA, Lalitha Kumaramangalam, senior mem-ber of the BJP, and Dr. Wendy Singer, Fulbright Nehru senior re-searcher.

It was a refreshing experience because all the women were out-spoken, warm and displayed character.

This was a ‘limited’ public event and hence the candid natureof their conversation – they could not have said many of the thingsthey said in a public space, much less in their own political space.

The discussion touched on how being in political families helpedan aspirant, how party cadres treated and respected women in theirmidst, what it took to be in, and survive, electoral politics, andhow women leaders and colleagues treated each other.

For someone who has followed grassroot politics and electoralsystems closely for many years now, much of what was said was notnew.

But when I did ask the question about wives of local area politi-cians being chosen for tickets, there were a few unconvincing re-plies from the panel.

“Perhaps parties think wives of their local leaders are winnable.”“These women will also be party members, so there is no harm

selecting them.”“It's a start, at least a woman has found a space, she will do

better as she learns down the line.”Some women ward councillors have got down to business with

experience. Some have turned corrupt. Others have remainedmum or played puppets.

If the ward community can work alongside, if the women aregiven skills training, then our neighbourhoods would stand to gain.– (Courtesy: Mylapore Times)

– Vincent D’Souza

Rs. 100: Janardhan, S.; Chandramouli, AL.; Venkateeswaran, MN.;Charu Madhavan; Rangaswamy, M.; Thiagharajan, PS.;Arunachalam, VE.; Srinivasachari, T.; Narasimhan, S.

Rs. 150: Wayte, SSR.; Indukanth S Ragade; Appaswami, T.; PremNatesan; Ravindranath, R.

Rs. 200: Sundar, S.; Jayaraman, VV.; Srinivasan, G.

Rs. 300: Sundari Siddhartha; Cherian, VM.; Subramanian, MV.

Rs. 400: Balasubramaniyam, M.; Ranganathan, G.; Raghavan,MS.; Ravi Shankar, L.; Ravishankar, V.; Anand Krishnan, KM.;Parthasarathy, R.; Malayan, CV.; Soora Chandhira Mouleeswaran;Vedapuri, KM.; Oza, DK.; Srinivasan, KS.; Rajagopal, PC.;Thomas, JW.

Rs.500: Mohan K John; Bhagirathi, S.; Nalli Chinnasami Chetty;Viswanathan, G.; Varadarajan, TR.

Rs. 900: Zarin Mistry

Rs.1000: Mani, MK.

A big ‘Thank You’ to 41 of youWe publish below the list of donors who have, between16-02-12 to 15-03-12, added to the support Chennai Heritageand its voice, Madras Musings, have already received. Wethank all of them for their support for the causes ChennaiHeritage espouses.

– Chennai Heritage

April 16-30, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Till June 15: A solo show ofSophie Jo’s paintings. Herbrillantly coloured works areinspired by everyday life thatshe captures with a sense ofhumour (at Apparao Galler-ies).

April 18-April 30: Art exhibi-tion by Candapanne (atDakshinaChitra).

April 20: Check it Out: Nee-reekshan Dance Academy’ssecond annual dance show (atKamarajar Arangam). Con-tact: 2434 9040.

April 22: Boy with a Suitcase aplay presented by RangaShankara Bangalore andSchnawwl Theatre Manne-heim (at Sir Mutha Venkata-subbarao Hall)

DakshinaChitra WorkshopsFor ChildrenApril 28-29 & May 12-13: One-

day Activity CampMay 11: Junk ArtMay 18: Traditional gamesMay 25: Pottery & Clay Modell-

ing

For Adults1. April 21-22: Residential Pho-

tography2. May 2-6: Table Mat Weaving3. May 2-12: Studio Pottery4.May 25-27: Glass Fusing

(jewellery)5. June 8-10: Kalamkari + Kala-

hasti visit

For details: 98417 77779May, June & July: Sakti Burman

Retrospective, a travellingshow by Apparao Gallery onSakti Burman, a well-knowncontemporary artist who wasborn in India and lives inFrance. There will be over 100paintings, water colours, draw-ings and lithographs (atDakshinaChitra).

May 3-May 30: Photography ex-hibition by Poochi Venkat andhis students on ‘Flora andFauna’ (at DakshinaChitra).

June 1-June 17: Paintings andSculpture by Shanthi (atDakshinaChitra).

June 20-June 30: Puppets ofSouth India from theDakshinaChitra Collection (atDakshinaChitra).

Heritage buildings

I have been a regular reader ofMadras Musings for several

years and I appreciate yourfocus on matters of history andheritage. However, I wish tooffer some thoughts on heritageconservation which are slightlydifferent from yours (and mostother readers).The basic aim ofconservation is to preservebuildings and structures as alive record of history for educa-ting and enlightening posterity.Many of them have lost theiroriginal value or purpose forwhich they were built.To elabo-rate, two or three specimens ofGothic or Indo-Saracenic archi-tecture in Chennai may bepreserved.To contend thatevery heritage structure shouldbe preserved is to insist that alldinosaur skeletons found on theplanet should be kept inmuseums!

There is another, moreimportant, angle, i.e. financial.Some heritage structureshappen to be in areas whose realestate value has shot up due toefflux of time.Their ownersnaturally would like toredevelop the site, by demolish-ing the heritage structure. Thehue and cry regarding the

destruction of heritage build-ings is from enthusiasts, whohave no financial stake, i.e. theydon’t stand to lose if the site isprevented from being put to adifferent use. To fulfil theirobjective, a fund can be createdwith donations, which can beused to buy heritage structures.

S. SubramanianPlot 317, Kamaraj Salai

Valasaravakkam Chennai 600 087

Metro Rail & Heritage

It is most disheartening tonote that the Metro Railbabus have scant respect for

heritage structures. The ques-tions that come to mind are:

1. Many European citieshave underground rail networksthat pass along and belowheritage buildings. These lineswere laid much after the heri-tage buildings were built. Whenthey were able to lay under-ground lines without damage tostructures, why are we unable toplan a route that will skirt suchbuildings without having todemolish them?

2. New Delhi has many heri-tage buildings. Not one of themwas touched for laying theMetro lines there. If it can be

done in Delhi, why the samecannot be done in Chennai?

It appears that the babus inChennai Metro Rail have a“don’t care” atitude. With suchan attitude, we can be certainthat the Metro here will be asgood as the MRTS.

C.S. AnanthNeelankarai

Chennai 600 041

Senate House

Your article on the conditionof Senate House (MM, April

1st) has brought to light the in-sensitive attitude of authoritiestowards the heritage structurefor whose restoration severalcrores were spent a few yearsback. Civil contractors are notcompetent to undertake jobs ofthis nature. I do not knowwhether conservation expertswere involved while undertak-ing the project. In Chennai I donot know of any such profes-sional institution. Experts avail-able with the National MuseumInstitute, New Delhi, and itsalumni would do a perfect job.More importantly, the structureshould be put to proper use sothat it is living heritage.

R. Ramamurthy737, Lakshmibai Nagar

New Delhi 110023

* * *

Senate House – II

I have passed the psalmiststhree score and ten to reach

four score and ten and havefond memories when, grandlyrobed, we had our convocationin majestic Senate House (MM,April 1st) and took our degrees!I weep to think that it is now anapology for a Museum as well asa storehouse! Soon, it will be ina shambles. Why not have col-leges use it for what it was, agrand Convocation Hall?

Our disregard for heritage isappalling. Everywhere else youtravel, there is an effort to pre-serve, but not in Madras.

Anna Varki1-D, ‘Rosamere’

18, Harrington RoadChennai 600 031

More identities

‘Perambur’s pacesetter’ was an excellent article andbrought back many happymemories.

I joined the Southern Rail-way Hospital in March 1958 asa young doctor fresh out oftraining. Not long after I joinedthe Hospital, the MaternityWard was opened. I was one ofthe two doctors in charge of theMaternity Ward and Women’sSurgical Ward.

It was my privilege to workclosely with Dr. T.J. Cherianduring the few years I worked inthe Railways before I left it togo abroad.

I can identify three of thedoctors in the 1966 picturetaken of the doctors in South-ern Railway Hospital.

OUR ADDRESSES

For matters regarding subscriptions, donations, non-receiptof receipts etc.: CHENNAI HERITAGE, 5, Bhattad Tower, 30,Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 14.

Madras Musings now has its own email ID. Letters to theeditor can be sent via email to editor@madrasmusings.com.Those who wish to intimate change of address can also doso provided the subscription number is quoted. For non-receipt of copies, change of address, and all other circulationmatters: Madras Musings, C/o Lokavani Southern PrintersPvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai 600 006.

On editorial matters: The Editor, Madras Musings, C/oLokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road,Chennai 600 006.

No personal visits or telephone calls, please. Letters receivedwill be sent from these addresses every couple of days to thepersons concerned and you will get an answer from them toyour queries reasonably quickly. Strange as it may seem, if youadopt the ‘snail mail’ approach, we will be able to help youfaster and disappoint you less.

– THE EDITOR

Seated Left to Right are No.6 Dr. Ramachandran, No. 7 Dr.T.B. Rao, and No. 8 Dr. N.Govindaraj.

Dr. Vimala Ramakrishnan 1658, Cardinal Drive

Munster IN 46321U.S.A.

Phone phonetics

In Chennai some people pronounce ‘ pronunciation’ as

‘pronounciation’ and spell itwrongly to boot. To transcribewhat a Chennaiite speaks istough and proper nouns espe-cially are a painful nightmare.

In 1985 I worked as privatesecretary to the boss in a Bank.I was given the job of recordingthe RSVPs for one of the Bank’sinvitations for the elite. Thephone rang and a man (himselfa private secretary) said that aReverend Sundakka will be at-tending the function. I askedhim three times, “Reverend,who?” because it sounded likethe Tamil name of vegetable.When I asked him for the spell-ing, he lost his temper andshouted at me.

Later he put his shirt back onand spelt the name. It read Rev.Sundar Clarke!

C.G. Prasad9, C.S. Mudali Street

Kondithope, Chennai 600 079

Can you help me?

INTACH, Kodaikanal, ispublishing a coffee table

book on the architectural andnatural heritage of Kodaikanal

MADRAS MUSINGS

ON THE WEB

To reach out to as many readers as possible who share ourkeen interest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response torequests from many well-wishers – especially from outsideChennai and abroad who receive their postal copies very late– for an online edition. Madras Musings is now on the web atwww.madras musings.com

THE EDITOR

– its houses, their occupants,the forests and wildlife. Thespecial focus is 1920-1980.If anyone can help by way ofmemories, photos, they will beexamined and gratefully ac-knowledged if used.Those interested can contactpradeepandanusha@gmail.com

Pradeep Chakravarthy

READABILITYPLEASE

Dear Readers,As letters from readersincrease, we are receivingmore and more hand writtenletters, many of them in a handso small and illegible or largeand scrawled as to beunreadable. Often this leads toour discarding a letter,particularly if some part of it isunreadable.If you wish us to consider yourletter for publication, pleasetype it with enough spacebetween lines or write it using amedium hand, clearly dottingthe ‘i-s’ and crossing the ‘t-s’.Many readers also try to fillevery square centimetre of apostcard space, making read-ing or editing impossible.Please help us to consider yourletters more favourably by mak-ing them more legible for us.

– THE EDITOR

April 16-30, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 54 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2012

The West Coast Brahmins

My nephew sent this mail. Iam posting this in my blog

so that those who have not readthis interesting article when pub-lished can read and spread theword to others.

‘This piece, it must be explainedat the outset, is not a history ofthe Tamil Brahmins, or agratulatory account of thecommunity’s famous achievers.It is more in the nature of a por-traiture of the ‘average or themedian’ member of the species.In an endeavour of this kindseeking to crystallise the uniquequalities of a whole people, itwould be misleading to talk ofthe ‘tall poppies’, the all-timegreats, such as Sir T.Muthuswami Iyer, G. Subra-mania Iyer, Subramania Bharati,Rajaji, Satyamurthi, Sir C.V.Raman, Srinivasa Ramanujan,Madurai Mani Iyer or AriyakudiRamanuja Iyengar.

It would be more appro-priate to use (or misuse?) the wellknown statistical concept of the‘Bell Curve’: a graph showing thedistribution of the range of anycharacteristic within a popula-tion – say, height, weight, intelli-gence etc. This is typically a bell-shaped figure with a single well-defined maximum, an initialsteep slope and a gradual taper-ing further down. Since such adistribution is common in na-ture, it is also known as ‘normaldistribution’. The maximumnumber in the frequency distri-bution, also called the ‘mode’,occurs roughly in the middle. Itwould be permissible to take per-sons in this range as authenticrepresentatives, warts and all ofthe whole community. What fol-lows is one man’s perception,necessarily subjective, of the de-fining qualities of this ‘represen-tative’ Tamil Brahmin.

Those who have seen the1971 Satyajit Ray classicSeemabaddha (Company Limi-ted) would recall a cameo in it ofa conversation between theyuppie Bengali hero of the filmand his personal secretary, amiddle-aged Tamil Brahmin.The young man ‘on the make’ isa covenanted officer in one ofthose once-famous British mer-chant houses of Calcutta. Thetwo have forged a relationship ofextraordinary mutuality based ontrust and admiration for eachother’s contrasting qualities.Tormented by the neurosis ofupward mobility, particularly byhis frustration over a decisivepromotion still eluding him, theyoung executive asks his elderlysecretary the secret of hissangfroid, his total impervious-ness to tension and worry. The

TAMBRAHMSA portrait of the median

secretary sagely replies: “Sir, it isquite simple. On a cold day,when the hearth-fire is on, thebest position to occupy is theplace that is neither too near thefire nor too far. If you are toonear, you might get singed. If youare too far, you would not get thenecessary warmth.”

Here, if you like, is the meta-phor of the working philosophyof the archetypal Tamil Brah-min. What this illustrates is thatthe Tamil Brahmin prefers tofunction (and function effi-ciently) from behind the scene,rather than thrust himself to thefront, with all the hassles andhazards of overexposure and toopublic a presence. His preferredposition is the row behind thethrone (as when the pompousminister briefs the Press). Hispassion for anonymity is notori-ous. His real successes are privateones secretly to be gloated overby himself or, at the most, in theintimacy of chosen friends. Evenhis jokes are private, with hiscynical wit much in evidencewhen among intimates. His forteis wit rather than humour, un-like, say, the Punjabi. He is amaster of the double entendreand is an inveterate punster, of-ten bilingual and sometimes

even trilingual. A random ex-ample: At the height of Japanesecommercial expansionism in Eu-rope and America in the 1970s,an envious joke was that theJapanese multinational Sony hadbought the Leaning Tower ofPisa and re-erected it in Tokyo.The Tamil Brahmin tourist in Ja-pan watching the operation issupposed to have made the dead-pan observation: NikkumoNikkado which is Tamil for “Godknows whether it will stand orfall.”

An apocryphal quip describesthe Tamil Brahmins as “the bestsecond-rate men in the world.”Rude as this remark is on the faceof it, it is in many ways percep-tive and could well be considereda compliment. (It is certainlybetter than being considered theworst first-rate men.) The sneerlatches on to the central charac-teristic of a Tamil Brahmin – hisinstinctive preference for anony-mous functionality behind thescene rather than high profilehighfalutin from centre-stage. ATamil Brahmin would readilyendorse E.M. Foster’s famous

prayer: “Let no achievement onan imposing scale ever be mine.”

This ineradicable modesty co-existing with proven competenceis the reason why his preferredprofessions are the great anony-mous ones, such as the Civil Ser-vice, where it is easy – indeed therequired trait – to be ‘the facelessbureaucrat’. He lets his nominalboss, the publicity-hungrypolitician, boast about policieswhose details his ingenious mindhas given legal and formal shapeto, with all the ambiguities andobfuscations safely hidden in thefine print. Give him a brief of yourintention, and he will give it ashape that would pass musterwith a trusting public. Like theprestidigitator, he gloats in secretnot over the illusion that the pub-lic laps up but over his real skill ofsleight of hand that had made theillusion possible. An extremeexample of this is the TamilBrahmin folklore to the effectthat some of the brilliantjudgments of the English judges inpre-Independence Madras HighCourt were really written by theirTamil Brahmin bench clerks.

In the public sphere, the rep-resentative Tamil Brahmin is anapolitical pragmatist rather thana passionate ideologue, a trait

that intelligence rather than in-tellect is a Tamil Brahmin’sstrength.) Typically, a TamilBrahmin is a professional execu-tive or administrator rather thana professional politician or entre-preneur or a labour leader. It caneven be argued that this is athrow-forward of the ancientVarna taxonomy: of the Brahmin– the purohit and the counsellorin contrast to the Kshatria (theforerunner of the modern-daypolitician), Vaisya (the proto-type of today’s entrepreneur),and the Labour leader (thechampion of the working class,the modern-day shudras). Thus itis that you find that some of thegreatest Diwans of Indian Statesof yore such as Seshadri Iyer andC.P. Ramaswami Aiyar were vin-tage Tamil Brahmins.

The Tamil Brahmin is by in-stinct a Rajabhakta, putting hisingenious mind at the disposal ofthe ruler of the moment for anypurpose the latter chooses. But itis not a passive role of the flun-key, doing the bidding of his mas-ter. His manifest intellectual su-periority makes him an idealAmaathya, or Counsellor. Manya ruler of the former princelyStates had the good sense to lis-ten to their Tamil BrahminDiwans: this was true even whenthe advice was to quietly quit thescene collecting their privypurses when Sardar Patel ran acoach and fought through theirpuny sovereignties. Quite often,some of these princelings havebeen saved from the extremeconsequences of their rather lu-rid private lives by the sagaciousintervention of their counsellors.

Ostentatious wealth is rare inthis community, testifying onceagain that a representative TamilBrahmin abhors extremes.Though poverty and privation

are not unknown in the commu-nity, the median Tamil Brahminhas a reasonable competencethat meets his un-extravagantneeds. Thrift comes naturally tohim to the point of stinginess. Afamous story used to go roundthe editorial anterooms in thedays of Ramnath Goenka. AMarwari friend asked RNG whyhe paid his Punjabi editors fabu-lous salaries while his TamilBrahmin editors were paid a pit-tance. Ramnathji is supposed tohave replied: “Arre bhai! MyPunjabi editor gargles his mouthwith rose water after brushing histeeth. My Tamil Brahmin editoris content with ‘rasam sadam’.To everyone according to hisneeds. Pure Communism!”

Competent, conventionaland conformist, the medianTamil Brahmin is rarely adven-turous or conspicuously unor-thodox. Resilient and quicklyadaptive, he would never wish“to stand out” as too heterodoxor for that matter excessively or-thodox either, despite the factthat, until recent times, the castemark on his forehead was a give-away. A favourite expression ofapprobation in the community is‘God-fearing.’ But his conformityis a convenience rather thanconviction, arising partly fromhis reluctance to be the odd manout. Ancient taboos atavisticallypresent in him are observed inthe letter rather than in the spiritas in the obligatory rituals regu-larly performed. His house has itssacred and secular spaces clearlydemarcated. Even today, in vil-lages and small towns where the‘flat culture’ has not yet found itsway, a traditional Tamil Brahminhouse has the ancient layout ofincreasingly ‘sacred’ space as yougo inwards with the right of ad-mission to each strictly caste-

graded. In cities, where the draw-ing-cum-dining room layout hasinsinuated itself into domesticarchitecture, the Pooja room isinviolable.

A Tamil Brahmin’s moder-nity is equally skin-deep, readilydiscarded in the privacy of hishome. He eagerly sheds his trou-sers and shirt the moment he isback home and gets back to hiscomfortable veshti and barechest. Until recently, alcohol wasnot a domestic amenity evenamong the more affluent and‘modern’ Tamil Brahmins andwas meant mostly for others whomight visit. Though, for profes-sional reasons and for compul-sions of livelihood, he will go tothe end of the earth, he is by nomeans as cosmopolitan, readilyjettisoning his cultural baggageand merging with the homo-genised nondescript new envi-ronment. His domestic pietiesare preserved whether in NewDelhi or New Jersey and his twin-passions of temple worship andCarnatic music are never everabandoned, wherever he is.

Like the Jew to whom he isoften compared, he is a great sur-vivor. One of the earliest com-munities to have eagerly em-braced the exhilarating new op-portunities offered by Englisheducation in the early 19th Cen-tury, the Tamil Brahmins ac-quired a near monopoly of themuch coveted Government em-ployment of the times. This hadnaturally led to upper caste non-Brahmin resentment, which ef-fectively politicised itself in thefirst decades of the last century.When this self-consciousnesscaptured political power andformed governments in the1920s in the Madras Presidency,it pursued vigorously a policy ofreservation that ended the

Brahmin’s earlier monopoly ofgovernment jobs. This was thesignal for the great TamilBrahmin diaspora that stillcontinues.

Denied opportunities athome, the Tamil Brahmin soughtand found newer pastures inBombay, Delhi and Calcutta.Caste-neutral professions such asaccountancy and journalism be-came the alternatives. Still later,newer professional opportunitiesabroad, notably in the UnitedStates, became the magnet. Andwith the ascendancy in recentyears of information technologywhere brainpower is more impor-tant than capital investment,this dispersal has become a flood.Almost every English-educatedmiddle class Tamil Brahmin fam-ily has a younger member abroad.

Like much else in the worldand in this country, the TamilBrahmin profile is no doubtchanging. The younger genera-tions are conspicuously deraci-nated and some of the uniquequalities of this community aregetting blurred and homogenisedwith the rest of the world. Oldergenerations still around are oftendisconcerted by the fact that theyoung Yuppies are losing theirunique traits such as the love oftheir mother tongue and routineabsorption of domestic pieties inan ambience of soft Hinduism.

Sanskrit slokas and Tamilprabandam verses that used toreverberate in the house in thestillness of the evening are beingheard less and less. Raucous rockmusic is displacing the softerCarnatic melodies and ancientcivilities are being replaced bymodern brusqueness in the atti-tude of the young towards the el-ders. But deep down, not muchhas changed. They are still theworld’s best second-rate men.’

“Do you know about your family, your clan?” my uncle demandedto know – Indian? Tamil? I thought, dimly. He

continued,“We are Vadama Iyers from Thanjavur District, our ances-tors flourished as scholars and priests at court while kings came andwent, we have sipped from the Kaveri river for generations.” Sureenough, my older relatives proudly carried place names that reflectedthis geographic clustering, towns like Melakaveri, Sirkazhi andKumbakonam starting off the multisyllabic chant of their full names.

We have dispersed across the globe since then, but one place hasbecome the new Thanjavur. Within 30 miles of the Golden GateBridge in San Francisco lives one of the densest populations of Iyersoutside India. The Bay Area Brahmins.

The southern sect, the Silicon Valley Iyers, is mainstream. Theyare the fierce guardians of Iyer culture, keeping alive the language,music, dance and festivals. Their children attend Tamil school on Sat-urdays, Gita classes on Sundays, Carnatic music lessons during theweek, and plan for their Bharata Natyam arangetrams before the all-important junior year of high school. They score perfect 2400s onSATs and 12+ APs on their path to Ivy league programme, and playflute or violin for their school orchestra in their spare time.

Some parents are eminent scholars in the fiefdoms of Cisco, IBM,Oracle and Google. Others are fanatics, priests at the temples ofZuckerberg, Jobs and Pincus. And yet, when Avani Avittam arrives,the men troop to Komala Vilas at 5 am, where they can switch intopristine poonal, eat madi samayal, and taste filter kapi, all the whilewatching a cricket Test match live. The women do no less. Navaratriis ushered in with elaborate golus and extravagant Kanchipurams.Dressed to kill and armed with visit schedules, yummy maamis jumpin and out of Maybachs and Cayennes for rounds of speed socialising.Even sunbird grandparents contribute their bit, flocking to the ICC to

argue about presidential primaries or bemoan the rising land prices inLos Altos.

The northern sect, the San Francisco Iyers, is the reform move-ment. They relocate to places like Burlingame, Mill Valley or Danville– close enough to grab dosas on Fillmore or shop for appalam andvadam at Coconut Hill, but far enough to escape the intense pace ofValley Brahmin life. They enjoy sushi and dimsum, watch Andaz andMTV India, and send their children to Montessori or Waldorf or anyprivate school with a laidback attitude and a strong worldview. Theiroffspring speak Tamil with an accent, play football and basketball, andpursue passions in unbrahminly professions like art or social work orarchitecture.

Rumour has it that one actually went away to culinary school,ayyo paavam! Families organise local Diwali festivals with zeal, so thatthe children can get their annual dose of desi culture. No Thyagarajamusic festivals here. If they are lucky, they will hear (or, better yet,sing) Kolaveri di on stage. But every other year, without fail, theyreturn to their Mambalam mothership to savour the joys of eatingkalyaana sappadu off a banana leaf, and proceed to pay homage attheir family temple in some obscure dusty village in ThanjavurDistrict.

I can imagine the future. “Do you know about your family, yourclan? Our ancestors were managers and engineers in Silicon Valley asPOIs came and went. Our family has run marathons across bridges,hiked the open space ridges, and surfed these beaches for generations.We are Bay Area Iyers.”

(Disclaimer. All descriptions appearing here have been inspired byreal life. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is quitedeliberate.) (Courtesy: http://runnersblok.blogspot.com/2011/12/west-coast/brahmins.html)

With a focus oncardiac care

Cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. K.M. Cherian,with his long list of ‘firsts’ – India’s first suc-

cessful coronary artery graft, the first internalmammary artery graft, the first heart transplant inthe private sector, the first paediatric heart trans-plant, and the first heart and lung transplant, withover 35,000 surgeries and astonishing success rates– remembers heading back to India, Perambur tobe precise, at the age of 31, amidst disbelief amongfriends and colleagues in Australia and NewZealand.

“In May 1975, I found myself at the RailwayHospital in Perambur as a government employeeon an ad hoc basis (with a salary of Rs.1047 permonth, as an ad hoc AMO, the lowest rank), but

as an independent cardiac sur-geon. The mid to late 1970s wasan exciting and satisfying periodin my professional life, as I wasgiven the opportunity to performseveral surgeries for the first timein India; the first coronary arterybypass graft, correction of car-diac defects in infants using pro-found hypothermia, etc.”

He remembers, “The hospitalbuilding reminded me of theGovernment Wenlock Hospital,Mangalore, where I did my clini-cal studies. Both were built bythe British! I remember it wasJune 1975, a Friday, when myflight landed in Meenambakkamfrom Sydney. Madras was 35-38degrees hot, no green at all, likea desert. Dr.TJC and Dr.Sankaran came to receive me. Itwas four in the evening when wewent to the Gymkhana and I wastreated to a mug of beer! Wecame to the ICF guesthouse, andthen made a round of the hospi-tal. I was rather disappointed,because the ICU had minimal fa-cilities and was very basic.

“With help at hand from Dr.Sankaran and Dr. Premkumar,we made a heart lung machinework, calibrating it with a bucketof water! On Monday I did an

� Perambur Railway Hospital

Dr. K.M. Cherian and Dr. J.S.N. Murthy.

Dr. M.R. Girinath at the Railway Hospital.

open heart surgery, on Tuesdaytoo, and thereafter every day ofthe rest of the week. That FridayI performed the first bypass sur-gery in the country, but did notknow till Monday that it was so!By September that year, Dr.Girinath too joined us. Since Istayed at 119 Brock Road, justopposite the Hospital, any emer-gency meant I’d be runningacross in a lungi…everybody gotused to seeing me in ICU in thatattire!

“We had a lot of support fromthe Railway administration and

Ministers. Even in 1975, besidesrailway staff and their familymembers, we operated on pa-tients from Sri Lanka, Pakistan,Bangladesh and a few otherAsian countries, probably theearliest instances of what isknown today as ‘Medical Tour-ism’.

“Along with the evolving sci-ence, we grew up too, faced suc-

cess and failure,with many chal-lenges. The hi-erarchy in Rail-way circles waslegendary, butthe Sunday af-ter I joined, theGM, ICF, J.Mathan, calledme over forlunch to hishome. Otherswere surprised,and nobody be-lieved me whenI told themthis!” Dr. KMCsigns off with asmile.

C u r r e n tChief of the

Cardiac Surgery team at ApolloHospitals, Chennai, Dr. M.R.Girinath, was 36 when he joinedthe PRH in mid-1975 as a spe-cialist surgeon. With Dr. K.M.Cherian, he opened up manypathbreaking surgical frontiers.“The Railway Hospital was anunique organisation then be-cause its possible users were 1.7million employees who alongwith their dependents added upto 5 to 6 million. This meantplenty of heart cases and it pro-vided a great start. Patients werereferred to us from across thecountry. The work culture wastremendous and everyonewanted to do more and more!The Railways were very generousin supporting the infrastructurerequired. We were able to trainmany young surgeons who arenow all over India. And the in-stitution is still going strong witha dedicated team,” says Dr.Girinath.

By 1977, the PRH was alreadyan all-India referral centre forcardiovascular diseases, and thedepartment offered a completerange of services including adultand paediatric cardiology, coro-nary and peripheral interven-tional procedures, and electro-physiology services. It has been apioneer in coronary angioplastyand carotid stenting. The termcardiac anaesthesia as a sub-spe-ciality of anaesthesia was coinedin this hospital in 1977 by thelate Dr. Kalyan Singh.

The Department of CardiacSurgery at the PRH was soonrecognised as one of the best car-diac surgery units in India, espe-cially for complex congenitalopen heart surgeries in neonatesand infants. This momentousfirst step had started a trend ofspecialisations at railway hospi-tals. Along the lines of Perambur,which focussed on cardiac care,Howrah developed as a centrefor orthopaedics, Mumbai

(Continued on page 7)

� N.S. Jagannathan, former Editor-in-Chief of IndianExpress and Financial Express, passed away inBangalore on December 24, 2011. He was 89. Here’s anold (20.2.2008) blog posted by him on Tambrahms (whichactually reproduced an e-mail sent to him by hisnephew).

that makes him an ideal publicservant rather than a politicalleader. Temperamentally, he is anatural Tory or, at best, a Fabian,believing in the art of the pos-sible rather than in the impos-sible dream. A British Conserva-tive of the 1960s famously saidonce: “Let the socialists dreamtheir dreams and scheme theirschemes, we Conservatives havea job to do.” This sums up admi-rably the working philosophy ofthe Tamil Brahmin administra-tor. Grand gestures and con-spicuous posturing are not in hisblood. Risk averse by tempera-ment and playing for safety, he israrely given to extreme positionsor assertive stances in public. Apugnacious Tamil Brahmin is acontradiction in terms, thoughhigh profile T.N. Seshan, formerChief Election Commissioner,might seem to disprove this as-sessment. (In any case, he is a“Palghat Tamil Brahmin”, a sub(?) species that deserves a specialstudy in itself!)

Intellect rather than imagina-tion is the Tamil Brahmin’s forte.(Harsher judges might even say

� The second of a three-

part article by SHOBHA

MENON.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2012

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period March 16th to31st. Questions 11 to 20 pertainto Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)1. Off whose bowling did SachinTendulkar get his 100th interna-tional century on March 16th?

2. In which European capital wasthe world’s largest Titanic attrac-tion opened recently as a centen-nial tribute to the legendary ship?

3. Name the Railway Minister,forced to resign by his party’sleadership because he had raisedthe fares in the annual budget.

4. Name the vessel in whichJames Cameron made his solo de-scent to the Challenger Deep, thedeepest point on earth.

5. According to the recent con-troversial revelation by theCOAS, Gen. V.K. Singh, howmuch, and for what purpose, washe offered a bribe?

6. The high-profile BRICS sum-mit was held in New Delhi at theend of March. Which countriescomprise BRICS?

7. Jim Yong Kim has been nomi-nated by the U.S. PresidentBarack Obama to head whichglobal financial organisation?

8. Name the landlocked Africancountry, famous for the placecalled Timbuktu, that saw a coupon March 22nd-23rd.

9. Who won the first race of the2012 Formula One season onMarch 18th in Australia?

10. According to recently re-leased data, India’s poverty levelhas fallen sharply from 37.2% in2004-05. What is the figure now?

* * *

11. Lt. Col. Douglas Muir Reid isconsidered the prime mover be-hind which institution in Fort St.George?

12. Championing Enterprise by his-torian Sriram V. is a book to com-memorate the 175th anniversaryof which ‘commercial/financial’body?

13. What were Guzili Paattu?

14. What noble service has thefamily of Sabhapati Achari beenrendering for the last 152 years inMylapore during the ArupathuMoovar festival?

15. Name the first Indian to get abeach-fronted statue on the Ma-rina.

16. Which film classic featuresthe famous dialogue, uttered bythe queen-mother, Poruthathupodhum, pongi ezhu, maganey?

17. ‘Kondalathi’ and ‘Sempa-rundhu’ are the Tamil names forwhich birds?

18. Which European clergymanis considered the first to translateand print the New Testament inTamil?

19. Name the Englishman whowrote the four-volume Vestiges ofOld Madras in 1913, considered afantastic reference for Madras-philes.

20. In terms of size/area, wheredoes Tamil Nadu rank among theStates of India?

(Answers on page 8)

The greatdebate ofthe 1930sManikkodi first appeared on

September 17, 1933. Itfolded in 1939. Though it ex-isted less than six years, it madequite an impact. When K. Srini-vasan appointed Va Raa its edi-tor, T.S. Chokkalingam, whohad been managing the publica-tion, had problems with Va Raawithin a year. Va Raa left Ma-dras and went to Thirupazha-nam, his native town. It was atthis time that Virakesari, apopular Tamil newspaperpublished from Colombo, waslooking for an editor. Its pub-lisher had asked V.O. Chidam-baram Pillai to recommend asuitable person. VOC wrote toVa Raa in May 1935 asking himto help the publisher in Co-lombo, ‘a generous person and anice man’, by taking over thejournal. When Va Raa reachedColombo, his brother-in-lawfound him a place to stay, whichwas a room that he himself wassharing with Sivapadasun-daram.

In an August 1934, issue ofSwadesamitran, there was an es-say by one R. Ramarathnam,Three days with Va Raa, whichwas to stir up a hornet’s nest. Inthe article, the author said that

seemingly innocuous questionfrom a reader, quoting the state-ment of Va Raa and asking ifwhat he said was right. It wassigned as being from ‘A LiteraryStudent’. To this question, theeditor replied that the state-ment was wrong and if such astatement had been made bysomeone he should be termed anirathcharakutchi – an illiterate.

The Manikkodi writers werefurious with this statement byKalki, who had himself askedthe question and answered it.

Va Raa sent a long write-upwhich was published inSwadesamitran on November30, 1935, under the title Bharatiand Literary Review. He followedthis essay with a four-page let-ter dated December 3, 1935 toKu Pa Rajagopalan in Madras,which is fortunately available tous now in the original. In thisletter, Va Raa asks Ku Pa Raaand his friends to do somethingabout this, as otherwiseBharati’s name as a great poetwould be decried by the likes ofKalki.

But Kalki did not stop there.He answered Va Raa with an-other long essay in the very nextissue of Swadesamitran, in whichhe used rather harsh wordsagainst Va Raa. He titled theessay Bharati and Literary Criti-cism.

This debate by now had splitthe Tamil literary world intotwo. Some of the younger writ-ers were rather harsh on Kalki.The reason was a particularstatement made by Kalki in hisarticle that while Bharati couldbe termed as a good Tamil na-tional poet, he could not beequated with the likes ofTagore, Shelley and others. Hewent so far as to say that ifTolstoy had seen the poem ofBharati about Valli (considered

Shelley when he had earlierpraised Shelley’s PrometheusUnbound.

Kalki’s statement madeyounger Tamil writers wild;they indulged in angry essays. Itwas left to Chitti Sundararajanand Ku Pa Raa to steer the de-bate in a more meaningful man-ner with their essays publishedin Swadesamitran. These werelater collected and published asKannan en Kavi by anotherBharati devotee, SanguGanesan.

It was unfortunate that Kalkiquestioned Va Raa’s capabilityto write on poetry, fully know-ing the background of Va Raa.In fact, when Va Raa was inprison after the Salt Satyagraha,he wrote in English a long essayof 20 pages titled What is Poetry?and dedicated it to the jailorDavid Abernathy Greenwood,who helped Va Raa with refer-ence books. Its title page statedWHAT IS POETRY? Written byV. Ramaswami Ayyangar, Con-vict No. 1557 – written between1930 October 6 and 11.

In it he stated, “The Tamillife was dull. It looked as if ithad lost the usual symbol of life,the power of response. EvenBose’s plant showed greater re-sponse to stimulus than thesoulless life of the Tamilians. It

erotic by some, like Kalki),Tolstoy would have set aflameall works of Bharati. Kalki won-dered how Va Raa could saythat Bharati was greater than

� by

K.R.A. Narasiah

in Coimbatore, at a meetingorganised by freedom fighters,“Va Raa had roared thatShelley, Tagore and Shakes-peare put together will notequal a line of Bharati.” Thestory was repeated by Virakesariin its issue of September 11,1935.

Dinamani brought out a spe-cial issue to commemorateBharati Day in September 1935.In it, writing under the pseud-onym, ‘Nellainesan’, P. SriAcharya, a writer of repute,questioned this statement of VaRaa by saying that, whileBharati was a good poet, hecould not be described as a greatpoet. This evoked furious re-torts from both N. Pichumurthiand K.P. Rajagopalan, knownthen as the literary twins of Ma-dras, who asked what was theyardstick for a great poet.

The real mischief was startedby Kalki (R. Krishnamurthi, thethen editor of Vasan’s AnandaVikatan, later editor of Kalki)who in the Vikatan issue datedNovember 3, 1935 published a

Va Raa’s letter dated 3.12.1935 to Ku Pa Rajagopalan.

The innocuous question raised in the Ananda Vikatan of 3.11.1935.

cared less for Phyrric Phalanxand more for Phyrric Dance.Tamil grammar is a typical ex-ample of the tail wagging thedog!”

In fact, when Kalki hadstarted writing long before hejoined Vikatan, he used to go toK. Srinivasan’s house in T’Nagar, where Va Raa was thenstaying, to show Va Raa the ar-ticles he had written. Kalki thenconsidered it a great honour tobe appreciated by Va Raa.What made the young Manik-kodi writers furious was the factthat the same Kalki was laterreferring to Va Raa as an illiter-ate! N. Chidambarasubra-manian in Dinamani on Febru-ary 8, 1936, and V. Anantha-krishnan in Dinamani on Febru-ary 17th, wrote more balancedarticles while B.S. Ramayya onDecember 13, 1935, and Ilango-van (the famous dialogue writerof Tamil cinema) on December21, 1935 condemned Kalki instrong words.

Va Raa replied in the Swade-samitran issue dated December14, 1935, “If Bharati’s workshave to be burnt, let it not hap-pen due to me; at least let thedivine fire brought by Prome-theus be used.”

The debate was known forits content. Chitti argued force-fully as to how Bharati was notknown to the world outside asnone of his writings had beenanalysed by any till then. Ku PaRaa brought out the best inBharati. In fact, both these writ-ers were known for their knowl-edge. Kalki later built the me-morial for Bharati in Ettaya-puram; rather a late penance!

(It was mere serendipity thatwhen Chitti’s daughter wasclearing her house whilemoving to another address, shefound a box full of old letterscollected by her father andwanted me to have a look atthem. Chitti’s son Visveswaranbrought the cardboard box andI found all the original letters ofVa Raa. And many other docu-ments – real collector’s booty –some of which I have beenhappy to share with readershere.)

April 16-30, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

The Baroda

connection

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Apart from the branches ofthe Bank of Baroda and

the presence of several Gujaratimerchants in Madras, there islittle to suggest a further con-nection with the erstwhile Stateof Baroda, one of the only fiveprincely States entitled to a 21-gun salute. Yet connectionthere is, albeit a rather sinisterone. A ruler of Baroda, MalharRao Gaekwad, was a guest ofthe Madras Presidency Govern-ment in the late 19th Century.Perhaps it is due to the circum-stances of his residence herethat reference to this interest-ing episode has been quietlydropped.

In 1870, Khande Rao,Gaekwad of Baroda, died with-out leaving a male child, andthe gaddi (Indian rulers wereforbidden to use the term‘throne’ or use arched crownson there letterheads) passed tohis brother, Malhar Rao, whowas at that time in prison fortrying to dethrone Kande Rao.Malhar Rao was released andproclaimed Maharaja.

He was smarting from his im-prisonment and determined towreak vengeance upon the sup-porters of his predecessors. Hewas a tyrant and an extravagantspendthrift. He commissionedcannon in solid gold and silver,and had woven a huge carpet ofpearls and semi-precious stones.He imposed exorbitant taxes onhis hapless subjects and his sen-sual appetites were unfettered.

Annuities to members of theGaekwad family were not paid.The Queen-Dowager, JamnaBai, went to Poona to protestagainst the behaviour of theGaekwad. The British Residentin Baroda, Colonel Phayre,asked for formal complaints sothat an inquiry might be insti-tuted. A Commission under thePresidency of Colonel Meademade certain recommendationsto the Gaekwad, urging him torestore order in the State anddesist from ill-treatment of hissubjects. They were ignored.

As a result of the strained re-lationship between the Gaek-wad and Col. Phayre, the latterwas replaced by Col. Sir LewisPelly, who was appointed Spe-cial Agent and Agent to theGovernor-General. On the eveof Col. Phayre’s departure, an

attempt was made to poisonhim with arsenic. It was allegedthat the Maharaja was the in-stigator. A Commission, headedby Sir Richard Couch, ChiefJustice of Bengal, began an in-quiry into the matter. In themeantime, the Maharaja wasrelieved of his duties and placedunder arrest. A State recordgives the following account ofthe inquiry:

“The three English Membersof the Commission came to theconclusion that an attempt topoison Colonel Phayre hadbeen instigated by Malhar Rao,while the three Indian Membersdid not consider him guilty. Itwas finally decided, as stated ina Proclamation issued in 1875,that the Maharaja must be de-posed, not because the BritishGovernment has assumed thatthe result of the inquiry hasbeen to prove the truth of theimputation against His High-ness, but because, having regardto all the circumstances relatingto the affairs of Baroda from theaccession of His HighnessMalhar Rao, his notorious mis-conduct, his gross misgovern-ment of the State, and his evi-dent incapacity to carry into ef-fect necessary reforms, the stepwas imperatively called for.”

The three Indian memberswere the Maharajas of Gwaliorand Jaipur, and one DinkarRao. Sgt. Ballantine, who waspaid a lakh of rupees, defendedhis client, the Maharaja, suc-cessfully. This was a sensitivecase, and the Government ofIndia had to act very carefully.It must be said that, by all ac-counts, Malhar Rao was an in-ept ruler whose actions werenot in the best interests of theState of Baroda.

spent much of his time enjoyingthe breezes. The room stillsurvives.

The British Governmentthen authorised Her HighnessJamna Bai, the widow of H.H.Khande Rao, to adopt a succes-sor to inherit the power andwealth of her late husband.Other sources claim that JamnaBai took the initiative when shemoved the British Governmentto depose the tyrant MalharRao. She summoned clan lead-ers to Baroda, and hopeful can-didates were asked to explaintheir suitability for the position.The choice fell upon thirteen-year-old Gopal Rao, son ofKashi Rao, the third son of PilajiRao Gaekwad, the founder ofthe State of Baroda in 1721.On May 27, 1875, Jamna Baiadopted him according toHindu shastras. On ascendingthe throne, his name waschanged to Sayyaji Rao. He wasgiven an impeccable educationin State affairs and manage-ment, and invested with rulingpowers by His Excellency SirJames Ferguson, Governor ofBombay.

Sayyaji Rao proved to be amost able ruler, far-sighted andbenevolent. Most of Baroda’spublic institutions were inaugu-

rated by him. He wasted notime in selling off Malhar Rao’sgold and silver cannon,together with part of the enor-mous carpet of pearls (only thelarge central medallion sur-vives), to fund educationalinstitutions. During the cer-emony in Delhi on January 1,1877, when Queen Victoria as-sumed the title of ‘Empress ofIndia’, Sayyaji Rao was investedwith the title of ‘Farzandi-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia’, or‘Favoured son of the BritishEmpire’. In 1880, Sayyaji Raomarried a princess of the Houseof Tanjore. That is not as sur-prising as it may seem: theHouses of Baroda and Tanjorewere of Maratha origin.

In accordance with this reso-lution, Malhar Rao was at onceexiled to Madras in 1875, wherehe lived under the surveillanceof a British officer until hisdeath in 1882. He was underhouse arrest in Doveton House*,now the main building ofWomen’s Christian College onCollege Road, Nungambakkam.Malhar Rao had a room built forhimself on the Madras terracedroof of Doveton House, where he

for plastic surgery, and Varanasifor oncology. For railway em-ployees the facilities are avail-able sans a price tag; outsidersare treated at a very reasonablecost.

By 1978, twin OperationTheatres with 20 beds withpost-operation wards for car-diac patients were in place. Allspeciality departments werefunctional and the bed strengthwent up to 505. In January

1980, the first modern CardiacCath Lab was set up. The hos-pital was recognised by the Na-tional Board of Exams for Post-graduate Training in 1984,when the late Dr. Y.N. Mehro-thra was the Chief Medical Of-ficer. Dr. J.S.N. Murthy, its firstcandidate, was in 1988 also ableto bring the Higher EducationLink Scheme (HELS), a three-year academic programme, be-tween Southern Railway Hos-pital and London University,with the help of Prof. Glennis

Haworth, the late S.N. Kumarand Kartar Singh of the BritishCouncil, Dr. P. Srinivasan ofthe Jeevan Blood Bank, andwith the support of the Railwayadministration.

By 1990 a new Cath Lab wasin place including facilities likeDSA, laser surgical unit, andvideo endoscopy. Two morenew Cath Labs have since beenadded. The department is cur-rently headed by Dr. SriramRajagopal.

FOCUS ON CARDIAC CARE(Continued from page 5)

Doveton House

� by Simeon

Mascarenhas

* Lt Gen John Doveton, who firstarrived in Madras in 1783 anddied in 1847, was the soldierwho looked after Tippu Sultan’stwo sons when they were heldhostage by Cornwallis inMadras. Doveton, who got onwell with Indians, is said tohave surrounded himself with acolony of Brahmins when helived here. Doveton House, thesecond European house midstthe paddy fields ofNungambakkam, was builtbefore 1798, probably by aBenjamin Roebuck; it still hasthe city’s tallest porch!Doveton, who died in it,acquired the house around 1837from a Linghi Chetty. He left itto one of his Brahmin familieswho took the name Doveton aspart of their name. In 1875, thethen Gaekwad of Baroda wasinterned in this house for hisrole in the attempt on the life ofthe British Resident in his State;he built himself an airy room onthe top, which still survives, anda bandstand and monkey housewhich don’t. The house revertedto Government occupancy afterthis episode and, in 1893, itbecame the home of Sir RalphBenson, a judge of the HighCourt. He left Madras in 1913.In 1914, the Indian NationalCongress sessions were held inthe compound. And then it wasa hostel for a while. Women’sChristian College, with 41students and seven lecturers,moved into Doveton House inMay 1916, the building and 11-acre campus having beenbought for Rs. 63,000 with aRockefeller contribution.

(To be concluded)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS April 16-30, 2012

Answers to Quiz

1. Shakib Al Hasan; 2. Belfast; 3. Dinesh Trivedi of TMC; 4. DeepseaChallenger; 5. Rs. 14 crore for clearing a ‘sub-standard’ procurement orderof trucks; 6. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; 7. The WorldBank; 8. Mali; 9. Jenson Button; 10. 29.8% of its population.

* * *11. The Fort Museum; 12. Madras Chamber of Commerce and Indus-

try; 13. Songs printed on cheap paper and distributed at street corners inMadras for people to hum; 14. Running a Tanneer Pandal; 15. V. Krishna-swami Iyer; 16. Manohara; 17. Hoopoe and the Brahminy Kite; 18.Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg; 19. Col. Henry Davison Love; 20. Eleventh.

This is the Bommai Chattiram on South Mada Street,all decked up for the Mylapore Festival...

... But this is what many areas in the Mada Streets arelike during the Festival.

IT NEEDS TO BEMOREPEOPLE-FRIENDLY

Master plan for George Town?

vendors of traditional waressuch as pottery, woodcraft andmetalwork, display and sellthem on the footpaths and thestreets. This further constrictsthe already narrow streets andmakes the movement of trafficall the more difficult. The erect-ing of temporary pavilions toshelter the deities all along theprocessional route further com-pounds the problem. The bestsolution would be to suspend alltraffic movements for ten days.It will only enhance the festivefeel. But, if this cannot beimplemented, can we at leastdeclare the four streets to be ‘nohorn’ zones during the festival.There are some drivers whohoot even at the deities, hopingthat the procession would speedup!

One of the most endearingfeatures of this festival is thetanneer pandal, or refreshmentstall, which is put up to dispensewater and some eatables tothose who visit the festival.These being times of relativeprosperity, these pandals haverapidly increased in number.They have also begun distribut-ing all kinds of cooked prepara-

(Continued from page 1) tions. Political parties have alsojumped in, no matter what betheir outlook on religion. As aconsequence, there is a surplusof food available. The visitingpublic simply grabs at every-thing that is offered and thenjust discards what it does notwant. This leads to anenormous waste of food, all ofwhich lies about on the roadand gets trampled upon. TheCorporation increases the fre-quency of cleaning up duringthe ten days, but when the lit-ter is thrown about with no con-sideration or thought for clean-liness, there is very little thatcan be done even with frequentcleaning up. What is needed isa larger number of temporarydustbins and strict instructionsto those who man the tanneerpandals that they will be respon-sible for the cleanliness in theirvicinity.

Would it be too much toexpect temporary public conve-niences? These are not all thatmuch of a novelty, for duringthe Tamil Conference inCoimbatore a few years ago,public hygiene was maintainedby pressing into service theseportable units that providecomplete privacy, are easy to

clean and transport. Surely,Chennai can take a leaf out ofCoimbatore’s book? It is indeeda sorry sight to see men reliev-ing themselves along a proces-

sional route down which deitiesare being brought.

That said, it is congratula-tions to the temple authorities,the police and the Corporation

(Continued from page 1)

on the upper floor. Ventilationwas largely through skylightsand open courtyards and veran-dahs. This sensitive fabric hasbegun to come apart when per-mission to build according tothe norms of the rest of the cityis being extended to structuresin George Town as well. Severalbuildings have risen to manyfloors, putting the entireneighbourhood under severestress in terms of infrastructureand quality of life. The Govern-ment itself has led the way withthe police quarters on Broad-way becoming multi-storeyed.There are problems of illegalstructures as well. With owner-ship rights of several old build-ings being hazy at best, therehave seen unplanned construc-tions by tenants, adding to thechaos. What George Townneeds is strict governance ofconstruction permits and em-phasis on safety norms.

Traffic in George Town fol-lows a complicated set of one-

ways. These are observed morein the breach, which only addsto the confusion. There are nochecks on the number of ve-hicles plying inside the area oras to where they are parked.The Loane Park, for instance,became a truck parking facilitythrough the simple act of usur-pation. It took the Governmentages to retrieve the Park and re-store it. What is needed is a rec-ognition that George Town hasa severe shortage of space and,so, parking in the area needs tobe at a punitive premium. Trav-elling by foot needs to be en-couraged and mass-parking fa-cilities need to be organised onthe outskirts of George Town.It is not as though space is notavailable for this. Land can betaken from the Seven WellsPumping Station, the SaltCotaurs Goods Shed and fromthe Esplanade Bus Terminus forthis purpose.

There is much talk aboutdecongesting George Town byencouraging the wholesale busi-nesses to move out. While thedebate is on as to whether this

will destroy George Town’s tra-ditional character, what is over-looked is that such shifts arerarely accomplished in full.Thus, vegetable vendors are stillaround in the Kotwal Chavadiarea, flower sellers remain onBadrian Street, the chemicalspeople in Mannadi and thehardware merchants on Ander-son Street. This, years after al-ternative locations have beenproposed. And, very often, theshifting of one trade sees thevacated place being occupied byothers with alacrity, thereby ne-gating the entire effort.

What is urgently needed is aseparate master plan for GeorgeTown. This needs to be a planthat recognises George Town’sspecial character – its multi-ethnic population, its tradi-tional ways of business, its nar-row spaces, and the necessity topreserve its heritage, even whileimproving the lot of its people.Ahmadabad has already donethis in its Walled City and isreaping the benefit of increasedtourism as well. Can Chennainot do the same?

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

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for successfully handling what isincreasingly a logistic challenge.But given that cleanliness is saidto be next to godliness, can wehope for both?