Heritage Walk -- Mylapore -- With Of Course who else but Historian V. Sriram
With Historian V.Sriram being a member of the Rotary Club of Madras South , the Heritage walk is becoming an annual event for members of the club and one of the enjoyable events . There was more excitement as the walk as around Mylapore – the area where I go around and do not notice anything different( you will know why I say this ).
It was Sunday but with Sriram leading the walk , all those that signed up as part of the walk were on time ( 6 AM start ). The start and end was from Hotel Saravana Bhavan ( well planned ) on the North Mada street opp to the Mylapore tank.
Key Snippets
As introduction Sriram pointed us to the flats facing the Kapali temple – Vishwakamal building, RK Mutt Road -originally Krishna Vilas, the place where the idea of formation of the Congress party was first mooted– Although there is no plaque or an indication of this in the current building , clearly it is a significant landmark ( Just connect this to the state of this party today )
The first stop or rather walk through was through the Kutcheri Lane -- one of those small lanes --only one person could walk through the passage but we noticed that many a two wheeler was parked on either side of the lane and plenty of crowded housing. Since , it was early in the morning , we did not encounter any vehicular traffic but we were appraised that as the day progress, they will be good amount of traffic through this lane . I could not believe that vehicles can go in to this lane but it is true that vehicles do through. It is also a fact that I never located this lane in my innumerable trips on the North Mada street.( by walk as well ) The lane got us out at the main Kutcheri road.
Just close by ,we looked at a very modern building that was named “Shanthi Niketan” on Kutcheri road.I had noticed this previously but the piece of history attached to the name was unknown to us. Rabindranath Tagore stayed in the building in 1920’s and so to commemorate his staying in the house/ building, this was name Shanthi Niketan. Although today this is a modern flat , the current owners have carried the name through ! The Kutcheri lane also extends in to the Mundaka Kanni Amma temple street cutting across the Kutcheri road.
At the corner where there is a Jain temple ( clearly refurbished and modernized ) ,we spent time talking about V.Krishnaswamy who was instrumental in creating various institutions – the Venkatramana Ayurvedic Hospital ( On Kutcheri road ), Madras Sanskrit College and was also responsible for the Madras Law Journal to be first published in 1891.
We also talked about the “Dadha of Triplicane and Mylapore” Dr M.C.Nanjunda Rao, a person who was one of the city’s most influential figures in the early 20th century. He was an amazing personality, a patriot who came to be known as much for his philanthropy as his medical practice. Dr. Nanjunda Rao was a great philanthropist. His association with the Ramakrishna Math at Chennai was a remarkable one. He gave one of his houses at Keshavaperumal Street to start the Ramakrishna Mission Students Home in the year 1905. Later, the Home moved to one of his residences in Kutcheri Road, “ Chamundi Vihar ( this building exists but not in its original form
We continued our walk through the Arundale street , then on to Bazaar street ( had a distant look at the Crown Bakery which allowed its customers to bake their own cake ) , a quick information download on the Legendary Dabba Chetty Shop ( most of us have used this shop in one instance or another ) then cut across to “Nadhu street” ( this street splits the Myalpore area in two halves )—Looked at the first Music Sabha in Chennai that no longer exists and at the rival Sabha that was the reason for it to loose patronage ( RR Sabha). We looked at the house where Ariyakudi Ramunaja Iyengar lived ( some unprintable anecdotes on this )… Looked up the Alliance Publishers and then on to the entrance of the temple.
Along the walk , Sriram spoke about the Santhome Cathedral , the history behind it, the French and Dutch ruling Chennai and ultimately the British taking over till they exited. The area also showed up how clearly the communities lived in their defined territories in Mylapore but co-existed with each other and allowing space to each one. The temple tank for the temple being donated by another community is a clear pointer of the understanding between the communities.
I may have missed several anecdotes and observations but there were too many landmarks ! look up for some of them when you visit Mylapore next time .. You can relate to them !
The walk ended with a wholesome breakfast at HSB ( No prizes for guessing as to why the walk started and ended at HSB
It was Sunday but with Sriram leading the walk , all those that signed up as part of the walk were on time ( 6 AM start ). The start and end was from Hotel Saravana Bhavan ( well planned ) on the North Mada street opp to the Mylapore tank.
Key Snippets
As introduction Sriram pointed us to the flats facing the Kapali temple – Vishwakamal building, RK Mutt Road -originally Krishna Vilas, the place where the idea of formation of the Congress party was first mooted– Although there is no plaque or an indication of this in the current building , clearly it is a significant landmark ( Just connect this to the state of this party today )
The first stop or rather walk through was through the Kutcheri Lane -- one of those small lanes --only one person could walk through the passage but we noticed that many a two wheeler was parked on either side of the lane and plenty of crowded housing. Since , it was early in the morning , we did not encounter any vehicular traffic but we were appraised that as the day progress, they will be good amount of traffic through this lane . I could not believe that vehicles can go in to this lane but it is true that vehicles do through. It is also a fact that I never located this lane in my innumerable trips on the North Mada street.( by walk as well ) The lane got us out at the main Kutcheri road.
Just close by ,we looked at a very modern building that was named “Shanthi Niketan” on Kutcheri road.I had noticed this previously but the piece of history attached to the name was unknown to us. Rabindranath Tagore stayed in the building in 1920’s and so to commemorate his staying in the house/ building, this was name Shanthi Niketan. Although today this is a modern flat , the current owners have carried the name through ! The Kutcheri lane also extends in to the Mundaka Kanni Amma temple street cutting across the Kutcheri road.
At the corner where there is a Jain temple ( clearly refurbished and modernized ) ,we spent time talking about V.Krishnaswamy who was instrumental in creating various institutions – the Venkatramana Ayurvedic Hospital ( On Kutcheri road ), Madras Sanskrit College and was also responsible for the Madras Law Journal to be first published in 1891.
We also talked about the “Dadha of Triplicane and Mylapore” Dr M.C.Nanjunda Rao, a person who was one of the city’s most influential figures in the early 20th century. He was an amazing personality, a patriot who came to be known as much for his philanthropy as his medical practice. Dr. Nanjunda Rao was a great philanthropist. His association with the Ramakrishna Math at Chennai was a remarkable one. He gave one of his houses at Keshavaperumal Street to start the Ramakrishna Mission Students Home in the year 1905. Later, the Home moved to one of his residences in Kutcheri Road, “ Chamundi Vihar ( this building exists but not in its original form
We continued our walk through the Arundale street , then on to Bazaar street ( had a distant look at the Crown Bakery which allowed its customers to bake their own cake ) , a quick information download on the Legendary Dabba Chetty Shop ( most of us have used this shop in one instance or another ) then cut across to “Nadhu street” ( this street splits the Myalpore area in two halves )—Looked at the first Music Sabha in Chennai that no longer exists and at the rival Sabha that was the reason for it to loose patronage ( RR Sabha). We looked at the house where Ariyakudi Ramunaja Iyengar lived ( some unprintable anecdotes on this )… Looked up the Alliance Publishers and then on to the entrance of the temple.
Along the walk , Sriram spoke about the Santhome Cathedral , the history behind it, the French and Dutch ruling Chennai and ultimately the British taking over till they exited. The area also showed up how clearly the communities lived in their defined territories in Mylapore but co-existed with each other and allowing space to each one. The temple tank for the temple being donated by another community is a clear pointer of the understanding between the communities.
I may have missed several anecdotes and observations but there were too many landmarks ! look up for some of them when you visit Mylapore next time .. You can relate to them !
The walk ended with a wholesome breakfast at HSB ( No prizes for guessing as to why the walk started and ended at HSB
Comments
By the way, did Mylapore market get mentioned (or is it just a recent phenomenon)?