Name the oldest surviving organisation in Mount Road.
Ans: It is Simpson & Co set up in 1840. They built the first railway coach for the Madras Railway. Other old institutions are Higginbothams (1844), P. Orr & Sons (moved to the present building in 1879), The Hindu (1885, moved to their present building later), J. Fenn & Co - undertakers opposite to Thousand Lights Mosque(1892 - always wondered how the undertakers celebrated their centenary year)
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
A Madras Week End
Last week end I had my regular dose of Madras history and more. Attended the Madras Book Club Meeting where the topic of discussion was Madras History. The two speakers Sriram V and Randor Guy were knowledgeable, informative and interesting.
Sriram talked about Veena Dhanammal and her house in North Madras. For the uninitiated like me, Dhanammal was a famous Veena player, who hardly ever gave a public concert, who never had any other instrument accompanying her concert and was considered the most gifted human being to play a Veena. Her grand daughter was the famous danseuse Bala Saraswathi. Sriram gave many interesting anecdotes about Veena Dhanammal and bemoaned the fact that there is not even a plaque mentioning that she lived in that house. This is apparently because the land lord is afraid the government will take over the house and convert it into a memorial.
Randor Guy was not like what I had imagined him to be. A tall, bald, avuncular man with lot of information . He spoke about his passion - movies, specifically about S.S. Vasan, AVM and Karunanidhi. There were a lot of trivia I came to know from him. Vasan is the only producer to have given 7 consecutive silver jubilee movies in Bollywood (yes you read it right, Bollywood); AVM produced his first movie in Calcutta which was a flop because the sound track and the video were asynchronous; there is a Thiagaraja Bhagavathar Rasigar Mandram in USA (mainly of Srilankan Tamils); Vasan didn't have enough money to take a train to Madras, so he cycled all the way from Trichy to Madras. Randor Guy is a veritable goldmine of information on Tamil movies.
Myself and CCG participated in the Madras Day Quiz held in PS Higher Secondary School on Sunday. There were 30 questions, and the last team to get selected for the finals had got 17 marks, atleast that's what the quiz master said. On counting I found that we had got 20 correct and two half correct ones, but still did not make the cut. Maybe there was a counting mistake, whatever. But it was an interesting quiz, despite some dud questions from the quiz master. Had to leave after four rounds. When I left the team of Srinivasan & Avinash were leading by miles, probably they won the quiz. Once I reached home, I jotted down the questions and to my surprise I remembered 29 of them. So, I am not as old as I think I am.
Sriram talked about Veena Dhanammal and her house in North Madras. For the uninitiated like me, Dhanammal was a famous Veena player, who hardly ever gave a public concert, who never had any other instrument accompanying her concert and was considered the most gifted human being to play a Veena. Her grand daughter was the famous danseuse Bala Saraswathi. Sriram gave many interesting anecdotes about Veena Dhanammal and bemoaned the fact that there is not even a plaque mentioning that she lived in that house. This is apparently because the land lord is afraid the government will take over the house and convert it into a memorial.
Randor Guy was not like what I had imagined him to be. A tall, bald, avuncular man with lot of information . He spoke about his passion - movies, specifically about S.S. Vasan, AVM and Karunanidhi. There were a lot of trivia I came to know from him. Vasan is the only producer to have given 7 consecutive silver jubilee movies in Bollywood (yes you read it right, Bollywood); AVM produced his first movie in Calcutta which was a flop because the sound track and the video were asynchronous; there is a Thiagaraja Bhagavathar Rasigar Mandram in USA (mainly of Srilankan Tamils); Vasan didn't have enough money to take a train to Madras, so he cycled all the way from Trichy to Madras. Randor Guy is a veritable goldmine of information on Tamil movies.
Myself and CCG participated in the Madras Day Quiz held in PS Higher Secondary School on Sunday. There were 30 questions, and the last team to get selected for the finals had got 17 marks, atleast that's what the quiz master said. On counting I found that we had got 20 correct and two half correct ones, but still did not make the cut. Maybe there was a counting mistake, whatever. But it was an interesting quiz, despite some dud questions from the quiz master. Had to leave after four rounds. When I left the team of Srinivasan & Avinash were leading by miles, probably they won the quiz. Once I reached home, I jotted down the questions and to my surprise I remembered 29 of them. So, I am not as old as I think I am.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Any Indian Blogger in Glasgow?
After convincing my boss that my trip to the UK conference will go a long way in selling more potatoes, I am off to UK in the second week of September. I have a punishing schedule, will land in London on 11th September (yeah, I am tempting fate) immediately catch a bus to Glasgow. Spend 12th & 13th in Glasgow and back by bus to London on 14th. Conference in London on 14th and 15th. Spend some time on 16th to meet clients and leave to Leeds by evening to catch up with a friend. Leave from Manchester on 18th. So I guess I will be meeting Dubukku on 15th evening to discuss post-modernistic-neo-magical-realism (check the comments of the previous post). If by any chance there is an Indian blogger in Glasgow / Leeds do drop in a message, I will try to meet you.
Monday, August 22, 2005
A literary meeting
Warning: A long post on a Tamil Literary meeting. If you aren't aware of what a Tamil Literary meeting is, you can safely skip this post.
Attended the "S. Ramakrishnan Kathaigal - Vimarsana arangu" meeting organised by Kizhakku Padhippagaam on 20th August. The meeting report is here by Badri. I have read S. Ramakrishnan's non fictional writing, but have no idea about his short stories, so I can't say whether all the praise heaped upon him that day was justified.
N. Muthusamy of Koothu-p-Pattarai spoke eloquently about the experiences that transcend the meaning of the words in the stories. Nanjil Nadan spoke about the growth of Ramakrishnan's stories from realism to Magical Realism to Post Modernism back to realism. (Believe me I too don't know what is Post modernism). S. Devadoss who spoke last, read an essay and effectively killed the audience's interest.
Then Badri announced a question answer session, but no questions came. So S.R. started talking about what are the questions that are generally asked of him, and went into what made him write stories different from those existing in Tamil. He mentioned Dostoyevsky atleast 50 times, Borges 20 times, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez got 5 minutes. Having read only Marquez amongst the three, I could relate when S.R. spoke about One Hundred Years of Solitude.
One suggestion to Badri - while arranging for a review / critique, please avoid placing a lectern / podium. Once the speaker gets behind the lectern it ceases to be a discussion, it turns into a speech.
Saw famous Tamil bloggers Icarus Prakash and Meenaks. I was suddenly bit by the anonymity bug, so didn't introduce myself.
Attended the "S. Ramakrishnan Kathaigal - Vimarsana arangu" meeting organised by Kizhakku Padhippagaam on 20th August. The meeting report is here by Badri. I have read S. Ramakrishnan's non fictional writing, but have no idea about his short stories, so I can't say whether all the praise heaped upon him that day was justified.
N. Muthusamy of Koothu-p-Pattarai spoke eloquently about the experiences that transcend the meaning of the words in the stories. Nanjil Nadan spoke about the growth of Ramakrishnan's stories from realism to Magical Realism to Post Modernism back to realism. (Believe me I too don't know what is Post modernism). S. Devadoss who spoke last, read an essay and effectively killed the audience's interest.
Then Badri announced a question answer session, but no questions came. So S.R. started talking about what are the questions that are generally asked of him, and went into what made him write stories different from those existing in Tamil. He mentioned Dostoyevsky atleast 50 times, Borges 20 times, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez got 5 minutes. Having read only Marquez amongst the three, I could relate when S.R. spoke about One Hundred Years of Solitude.
One suggestion to Badri - while arranging for a review / critique, please avoid placing a lectern / podium. Once the speaker gets behind the lectern it ceases to be a discussion, it turns into a speech.
Saw famous Tamil bloggers Icarus Prakash and Meenaks. I was suddenly bit by the anonymity bug, so didn't introduce myself.
Happy Birthday Madras
As most of you know Aug 22, 1639 was the day Madras was founded. From a trading post it has grown to be an important city of India. Only in the last few years is the city gearing up to celebrate this day. The credit for awakening the city to its glorious history goes to Mr. S. Muthiah, who has been battling hard to preserve the old buildings and memorabilia of Madras.
If you want a bird's eye view of the city's history there is no better place to go than to this article by him
If you want a bird's eye view of the city's history there is no better place to go than to this article by him
Friday, August 19, 2005
Chennai Trivia - 10
Ok, the last few questions were about events 200 years back. So this will be a contemporary one.
Who is he?
1. He started out as a small scale fabrication contractor in Chennai.
2. He bought a rap star's house in San Francisco.
3. Ratan Tata says that he has helped us in terms of gross savings more than any one else.
Ans: It is C. Sivasankaran of Sterling Group. Starting out as fabrication contractor for MRL (now CPCL), he bought Sterling Computers from Robert Amritaraj, father of the tennis player Vijay Amritaraj. From there it is all the way up for Mr. Sivasankaran, the serial entrepreneur. He is behind Dishnet (now sold to VSNL), Aircel (sold to Hutch?) and Barista (will probably be sold to Starbucks when they enter India). He bought rapper C J Hammer's house in San Francisco.
Who is he?
1. He started out as a small scale fabrication contractor in Chennai.
2. He bought a rap star's house in San Francisco.
3. Ratan Tata says that he has helped us in terms of gross savings more than any one else.
Ans: It is C. Sivasankaran of Sterling Group. Starting out as fabrication contractor for MRL (now CPCL), he bought Sterling Computers from Robert Amritaraj, father of the tennis player Vijay Amritaraj. From there it is all the way up for Mr. Sivasankaran, the serial entrepreneur. He is behind Dishnet (now sold to VSNL), Aircel (sold to Hutch?) and Barista (will probably be sold to Starbucks when they enter India). He bought rapper C J Hammer's house in San Francisco.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Chennai Trivia - 9
What connects Nova Scotia,Canada and Chennai?
Ans: Dupleix, the French Governor General of Pondicherry, captured Madras in 1746 from the British. This was during the War of Austrian Succession 1740-1749 when British and French were fighting all over the world. At the end of the war, they signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, under which British agreed to give up Loisbourg,Nova Scotia to the French in lieu of which Madras was handed back to the British. If not for the treaty, we would probably be blogging in French.
Dupleix was an interesting character, the first European to dream of ruling India. The British actually had no interest in taking over India then, they were treating it as a trading outpost only. Dupleix's actions prompted the clerk in Madras East India Company, Robert Clive to take up arms and rest is history. Dupleix's Dubash Ananda Ranga Pillai had kept meticulous records of daily happenings in his diaries. These provide great insight into those turbulent years. I have read bits and pieces of them. If you get a chance do read them.
Ans: Dupleix, the French Governor General of Pondicherry, captured Madras in 1746 from the British. This was during the War of Austrian Succession 1740-1749 when British and French were fighting all over the world. At the end of the war, they signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, under which British agreed to give up Loisbourg,Nova Scotia to the French in lieu of which Madras was handed back to the British. If not for the treaty, we would probably be blogging in French.
Dupleix was an interesting character, the first European to dream of ruling India. The British actually had no interest in taking over India then, they were treating it as a trading outpost only. Dupleix's actions prompted the clerk in Madras East India Company, Robert Clive to take up arms and rest is history. Dupleix's Dubash Ananda Ranga Pillai had kept meticulous records of daily happenings in his diaries. These provide great insight into those turbulent years. I have read bits and pieces of them. If you get a chance do read them.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
The Paper That Saw Tomorrow
I am back to my favorite sport, spotting loopholes in The Hindu. This is from the article in Metro Plus about the new British Council Director
They are in serious need of an editor I guess.
when he served as Assistant Director-General from 2003 to 2009 to fine-tune the Council's role as cultural ambassador to becoming a leader in higher education, development and communications,
They are in serious need of an editor I guess.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Chennai Trivia - 8
Identify these buildings.
The first building has been rebuilt, but the second, taller one is still present, alive and functioning in the same location.
Answer: The picture is of Rajaji Salai. The first building is the (in)famous Arbuthnot Bank whose collapse IN 1906 almost bankrupted entire South India. The Second building is now occupied by HSBC Bank.
The crash of Arbuthnot bank is an interesting study. When it crashed in 1906 it had dubious assets worth 7 million Pounds and liabilities of 27 million Pounds (and we are taking in 1906 values).
History was to repeat itself when the successor to Arbuthnot Bank, the Indian Bank went through the same set of sequences in 1990s under the flamboyant chairman M. Gopalakrishnan lending recklessly to various ventures and almost folded.
Looks like Finance Company debacles are regular events of Madras History.
Futher details here. I guess this is an article by Mr. Muthiah, the tone is his, but there is no byline to the story.
The first building has been rebuilt, but the second, taller one is still present, alive and functioning in the same location.
Answer: The picture is of Rajaji Salai. The first building is the (in)famous Arbuthnot Bank whose collapse IN 1906 almost bankrupted entire South India. The Second building is now occupied by HSBC Bank.
The crash of Arbuthnot bank is an interesting study. When it crashed in 1906 it had dubious assets worth 7 million Pounds and liabilities of 27 million Pounds (and we are taking in 1906 values).
The firm invested lavishly in daring enterprises, such as searching for gold in the Nilgiris and Anamalais, investing in American railway projects and new South African goldfields, and in the plantation crops of the West Indies, amongst other ventures
History was to repeat itself when the successor to Arbuthnot Bank, the Indian Bank went through the same set of sequences in 1990s under the flamboyant chairman M. Gopalakrishnan lending recklessly to various ventures and almost folded.
Looks like Finance Company debacles are regular events of Madras History.
Futher details here. I guess this is an article by Mr. Muthiah, the tone is his, but there is no byline to the story.
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