WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXV No. 5 June 16-30, 2015

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Saving our classical wealth

• Remembering Gopulu

•An affection for Chennai

• Life with the staff

(Continued on page 2)

The Cupola in the Fort, as seen today.

Global investors

Madras Week, August 16-23

(Continued on page 3)

� by The Editor

� If you are not a VIP, you enter the Fort through a small sideentrance – not for you the joy of sweeping up the driveway in yourcar, which is perhaps a good thing as there is hardly any parkingspace in the Fort. You are better off leaving your vehicle in the vastcar park opposite the Fort, crossing the road and then queuing upat the side gate. You will need to enter your name, address andphone number in a shabby register and subject yourself to the man-datory metal detector and baggage scanner. And then you are onyour own, inside the Fort.

Almost the first thing that strikes your eye is a Greek-styledpavilion. In essence it is an Ionic-pillared rotunda surmounted by acupola. This stands all by itself in a grassy plot that also has a shade-giving tree. The only thing missing is the centrepiece and that is ahuge marble statue of Lord Cornwallis that is now within the FortMuseum, which is to your right as you gaze at the rotunda. Betweenthe two of them, the statue and the pavilion have quite a bit ofhistory, going back 200 years or so.

Cornwallis was Governor-General of India twice, the first tenurebeing from 1786 to 1793. During that period he achieved what wastill then considered impossible – the subduing of Tippu Sultan.Assuming direct command over the operations in 1792, hedefeated the Tiger of Mysore. Unlike Lord Wellesley in 1799, he

� By A Staff Reporter

to light upheritage

(Continued on page 8)

Some Cityshowpieces

(By A Staff Reporter)

It is learnt that of Chennai’s800 heritage buildings of

Architectural, Historical,Cultural and Aestheticalinterest. 36 Grade-I heritagebuildings in the stretch fromChennai Airport to Secre-tariat Building, GeorgeTown, will be externallyimproved and floodlit togreet dignitaries visiting andattending the Investors’ Meetscheduled to be held in thecity in September. Govern-ment, it would appear, is atlast waking up to the factthat heritage, particularly itsbuildings, can ‘sell’ a city toits visitors. The following areto benefit from this Govern-ment initiative.– King Institute– Raj Bhavan– Madras Club– College of Engineering– Vasanta Vihar– Brodie Castle– Chettinad Palace– Blavatsky Bungalow– Theosophical Society– Church of Holy Rosary– Leith Castle– Director General of

Police Headquarters– Ice House– Bharathiyar House– Hindu High School– Victoria Students’

Hostel– Presidency College– PWD Building– Chepauk Palace– Senate House– Madras University– Museum Theatre– Connemara Library– National Art Gallery– Opthalmic Hospital– Higginbothams– Bharath Insurance

Building– P.Orr & Sons– Rajaji Hall– Old Government House– Ripon Building– Victoria Public Hall– Madras High Court– General Post Ofice– Maadi Poonga– Secretariat

It is not clear though it ishoped that our State will

benefit economically from theGlobal Investors’ Meet, but 36heritage buildings of our citydefinitely will. As part of thedrive to spruce up the city forthe Meet, it has been decidedthat these structures will be“given a facelift and be floodlit”.As to who will undertake this,the owners of the buildings orthe Government, is as yet un-clear, but what is certain is thatthis is a welcome move that willhopefully lead to bigger and bet-ter things as far as heritage isconcerned.

The list as it has been re-leased comprises a mix of publicand private buildings. It is clearthat whoever compiled it hasdone so with good intentions,but has not gone too much intodetail. For instance, some areenormous precincts and it is not

clear as to how these can befloodlit. Take for instance theMadras Club and the Theo-sophical Society – which partsof these campuses are to be illu-minated? There is also at leastone building in the list, which isno longer standing – we alludeto what is listed as Old Govern-ment House. Was this not the250-year-old building on Gov-ernment Estate that had to beimploded to make way for thenew Assembly-cum-Secretariat(oops! We mean the Multi-Spe-ciality Referral Hospital)?

And then there are somewhose owners may not wantany illumination at all. We re-fer to the Bharat InsuranceBuilding. The LIC, which ownsthe structure, has made it clearthat it does not want to restorethe building. Given the ongoinglitigation, they have made the

Madras Week will be cele-brated between the 16th

and 23rd of August. Last yearsaw the city complete 375 yearsand we had enthusiastic city-wide celebrations with excel-lent support from the media, oldand new. We trust that the376th year will be no different,especially as it is the 375th yearof Fort St. George from wherethe city grew. The Week,which started off as Madras Day12 years ago to celebrate thefounding of the city on August22, 1639, has become virtuallya Madras Month judging by theprogramming last year.

The celebrations this year are,like last year, likely to be spreadthroughout August and willcarry on till the first week ofSeptember. For the small bandof volunteers who catalysed thiscelebration and now help coor-dinate the programmes, the re-sponse from corporates, educa-tional institutions, citizens ofthe city, and even diplomaticmissions, has given enormoussatisfaction.

Participation is purely aVOLUNTARY effort by those

wanting to organise program-mes during the Week. The roleof the informal group of co-co-ordinators is only to encouragesuch participation, try to orga-nise publicity for the events, of-fer advice and, where possible,arrange venues. This is a FIRSTCALL for individuals/ groups /institutions who wish to join inVOLUNTARILY to celebratethe founding of our city.

This year, the hotels of thecity will, once again, be enthu-siastic participants. Some will

be venues for talks, while oth-ers will host art and photo-graphic exhibitions besidesorganising food festivals withMadras cuisine as their theme.Art galleries have also taken tothis event in a big way. And sohave diplomatic missions andtheir cultural centres.

We are certain that thevarious organisations that areactive participants, such as theMadras Naturalists’ Society,Nizhal, the photography groups,the Observer Research Founda-tion, the Roja Muthiah

Know your Fort

better

2 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2015

MADRAS WEEK,AUGUST 16-23

(Continued from page 1)

Research Library, the C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar Centre, ThePress Institute of India, the In-dian National Trust for Art andCultural Heritage (INTACH)Chennai Chapter, MylaporeTimes and Yocee, amongstothers, will be organisingprogrammes. These will includewalks, talks, quiz contests andother such events. As has beenthe practice in past years,Chennai Heritage, publishers ofMadras Musings, will be hostingeight talks at various locations,on subjects related to the city.It will also lead several heritagewalks in the city duringthe Week, as will severalindividuals.

The INTACH ChennaiChapter (e-mail: PadmaSwaminathanpadmaathreya@yahoo. com), in particular,hopes schools and collegeswishing to organise celebratoryactivities will get in touch withit. The last one year has seen aconsiderable increase in thenumber of schools that haveinitiated heritage clubs thanksto INTACH’s efforts. Thecurrent strength of as many as43 schools and 16 colleges willdefinitely add volume andvalue to Madras Week.

Perhaps indicative of thesuccess of Madras Week as ameans of creating awarenessabout the City and its heritageis the number of institutionsthat have come forward eachyear to celebrate the city.

Several IT companies organisedprogrammes last year and areplanning to do more this year.So have several Social andSports Clubs, Rotary Clubs, andcultural centres.

The celebrations have alsospread to the suburbs such asTiruvanmiyur, Nanganallurand Tambaram. Private apart-ment blocks and various societ-ies are planning their ownevents. The Coordinators lookforward to several more partici-pants this year.

North Chennai, however,still appears to remain alooffrom the celebrations. This is acause for concern and it is to behoped that the institutions inthat area will come forward toshowcase their heritage. TheArmenian Church and AvvaiKalai Kazhagam have beentwo staunch supporters. Butmany more are needed. Effortsare on to rope them in and theassistance of volunteers in thiscause would be greatly appre-ciated.

Those who are planningevents are requested to send indetails by email to the followingIds: editor@madrasmusings.com and themadrasday@gmail.com. Details so receivedwill be put up on the web sitewww.themadrasday.in and alsothe mobile app Madras Week.In addition, a multi-page book-let with programmes will also bepublished and distributed closerto the date of the event by Ma-dras Musings, whose website iswww.madrasmusings.com

‘Tis the season when, to quote a former Viceroy

of India, everyone’s “brains aregrilled before 2 pm and don’tget ungrilled till 2 am.” TheMan from Madras Musings at-tributes this to be the sole rea-son for the spate of horrorfilms that are being released.MMM uses the term ‘horror’more for the way the moviesare made than for the subjectmatter. Given that the centralidea of locally made spookyfilms is for the hero/heroine tomasquerade with an extra setof canine teeth, these couldactually be classified underwhimsical comedy.

But before you get the im-pression that you have wan-dered into a column by a cel-ebrated Bald Reviewer (andhere MMM must add that theBR in question, unlike MMM,goes around that way bychoice, meaning he is notnaturally endowed with bald-

fully not in winding sheets.MMM has been denying alltheories of the area being afavourite destination for thespirits, his logic being thatthere is no bar anywhere in thevicinity. He has also been di-recting all callers to the Chief’scolumns only to have them callback stating that they haveread it all, but could MMMplease give them a sound byteon the subject, a request thatmakes MMM grind his teeth indespair. The only option nowavailable to MMM is to sport aset of fangs, sharpen his ears tillthey stick out, don a bedsheetand dance around DeMonteColony in the dead of night.

The residents of DeMonteColony (the still living onesthat is) have, thanks to all thisattention, begun to have delu-sions of grandeur. Thinkingthat they needed to becomeGreta Garbo-like after thispublicity, they have barricaded

Demented over DeMonte Colony

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

ness like MMM), let MMM geton with the subject of this ar-ticle and by now his pet peeve– the story that is doing therounds that DeMonte Colonyis haunted.

Of course, in a city whereevery inch of land is looked atonly for its real estate (akaBHK) possibilities, it must bea surprise for everyone thatthere is a colony of green trees,seemingly abandoned housesand deserted streets. And sothe ghost story is one of threenatural corollaries – if it hasnot been built over, it must bea star-crossed property orhaunted or under litigation. Infact, on days when MMM isbelow the weather, he oftenthinks that the only protectionthat heritage buildings have isthe above-mentioned trio of at-tributes. And he can list sev-eral structures and precinctsthat are standing only becauseof these.

The Chief has writtenreams on how this Demon’s,sorry, DeMonte, Colony cameabout and what are the realreasons for it to remainunoccupied and (thankfully)undeveloped. But those arenot the kind of reasons thatinterest most people. Theyimagine ghosts and, in theabsence of any, have begundemanding them. This isprobably the reason why one ofthe signboards to this road nowreads as Demandi Colony.And the popular press hasbeen going to town on thesubject.

Several of what is known asthe Fourth Estate have beenhaunting MMM’s footstepswanting to hear all aboutDeMonte Colony and its en-counters with the Fifth Horse-man. They lurk in his email,call him from unknown num-bers usually in the dead ofnight, and one or two have alsolanded at his doorstep, thank-

themselves, denying public ac-cess to what is, after all, a pub-lic road. This dementedbehaviour has since beenknocked on the head by thepolice who have opened theplace up once again. MMMrecommends the strewing ofgarlic and the strategic place-ment of some crosses (this is,after all, church property) asbetter deterrents.

Pain in numbers

Do you own a credit card? Ifso, have you received the

latest variety that has a chipembedded in your card andwhich requires you tomemorise a certain four digitnumber that you are requirednot to disclose to anyone evenif you are tied, gagged and havelighted matches stuck betweenyour toes? No, no, before youimagine that The Man fromMadras Musings has turned acredit card salesman, let himassure you that he has not. Allhe wants to know is if you havereceived the latest in creditcards or, to tell you the truth,the not-so-recent but definitelythe most painful complicationto life in addition to passwords,PAN Number, PIN Number,DIN Number, UID Number,and 16 digit account numbers.

MMM received such a cardseveral months ago and forgotall about it till there came a day

when he was seated in a restau-rant and, on handing over hiscard for payment, was told thatit was not valid. Fortunately forMMM, he had the cash andthat saved him from doing timewashing dishes or grinding thebatter in the restaurant’skitchen. Having reached home,MMM fished out the new card,duly memorised its four-digitnumber – ABCD – and placedit reverentially in his wallet.

Then came a day whenMMM was once again at a res-taurant (he does eat out rathertoo often, does he not?) and, oncompletion of the meal, airilyhanded over the card. Conver-sation continued at the tablefor quite a while before a mancame rather deferentially and,having coughed, stood holdingout MMM’s card. A hush de-scended on the table. Had thecard been rejected, wonderedMMM. The man then askedMMM if he would kindly step

in to the manager’s office.MMM could have gladly

sunk through the floor. He feltas though every eye in the res-taurant was following hisprogress. And what of hisguests? What would theythink? In the manager’s sanc-tum, however, MMM could de-tect an air of excessive fawning.The manager was most apolo-getic. The hotel, he said, didnot have a portable card swip-ing machine and so they had totrouble MMM by getting himover. Could he please enter hisfour-digit number? It tookquite a while for MMM to re-gain his composure and recol-lect the number. The transac-tion went through eventually.

The whole idea behind theP(A)IN number is apparentlyto reduce the incidence ofcredit card frauds. But it mayin the process reduce the life ofthe cardholders. Next time youare at a restaurant and areasked to step into themanager’s office, do not panic.It is your PIN number calling.

Tailpiece

The intersection of Eldam’sand Mount Roads is a par-

ticularly messy spot. Conceiveof the joy of The Man from Ma-dras Musings when he discov-ered this signboard with theFreudian slip right there.

– MMM

OUR ADDRESSES

For matters regarding subscriptions, donations, non-receipt ofreceipts etc.: CHENNAI HERITAGE, 5, Bhattad Tower, 30,Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 14.Madras Musings now has its own email ID. Letters to the editorcan be sent via email to editor@madras musings.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 othercirculation matters: Madras Musings, C/o Lokavani South-ern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greames Road, Chennai 600 006.On editorial matters: The Editor, Madras Musings, No. 5,Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600014.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 appoint you less.

ñ THE EDITOR

MADRAS MUSINGS ON THE WEBTo reach out to as many readers as possible who share our keeninterest in Madras that is Chennai, and in response to requests frommany well-wishers – especially from outside Chennai and abroadwho receive their postal copies very late – for an online edition.Madras Musings is now on the web at www. madrasmusings.com

– THE EDITOR

June 16-30, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

LIGHTING UP HERITAGE(Continued from page 1)

edifice over to the elements,thereby speeding up its eventualcollapse. If this is to be illumi-nated, what will be seen will bea roofless shell, peeling orna-mentation and plenty of vege-tation on the building. We areglad, however, that the lightingup will bring to the open thisprecious piece of heritage.Hopefully someone in LICwill also feel the same after thefloodlighting and will have achange of heart. The same goesfor Victoria Students’ Hostelwhich is in such a bad waythat the students there have

The giant Banyan tree in Anantapur District today.

The board that tells the Banyan’s story. A pathway through the heart of the Banyan.

The review of Nizhal’s splendid publication Living Landmarks of Chennai referred much to thebanyan tree.

Thimmamma Marrimanu is the name of a banyan tree – marri means banyan and manu meanstree in Telugu – in Anantapur District, about 25 km from Kadiri in Andhra Pradesh. Its branchesspread over 5 acres, and has a canopy of 19,107 square metres. It is recorded as the biggest tree inthe Guinness Book of World Records, 1989.

A small temple dedicated to Thimmamma is under the tree. A Telugu record in the shrine saysthat she was the daughter of a Setti Balija couple, Sennakka Venkatappa and Mangamma, and wasborn in 1394 CE. She was married to a Bala Veerayya who died in 1434 CE. Thimmamma commit-ted sati. The banyan tree is believed to have sprouted at the place where she ascended the funeralpyre. The people of the area believe that if a childless couple worships Thimmamma they will havea child the very next year.

A big jatara is conducted here on Shivaratri and thousands of people flock here to worshipThimmamma.

– Ramineni Bhaskarendra Raobhaskarrsd@gmail.com

Thimmamma Marrimanu‘Non-mixing’ waste

The answer to your question“Can garbage problem be

sorted out at home?” (MM,May 16th) is a resounding YES.

The widely used phrase“Segregation of waste” is a mis-nomer, because 99.9 per cent ofthe degradable waste in anyhouse is generated in thekitchen and 90 per cent of thesolid waste problem is solved ifthis is not mixed with the de-gradable waste generated, bykeeping two containers in ahouse and putting all degrad-able waste generated in thehouse in one of them. “Non-mixing” is therefore the appro-priate phrase to be used.

If the easily available smallplastic dust bin, which isopened by pressing a pedal atthe bottom with the toe or thethumb, is kept in the kitchenwith a few holes in it made witha hot rod or screw-driver, de-gradable waste can be retainedin it for four or five days with-out generating any smell be-cause of the aeration providedand this can then be put intothe composting drum.

Some years ago, Exnora in-troduced a plastic drum withholes in the sides and 80 percent of the bottom cut off forcomposting. I have tried thismethod in my complex andfound it to work with minimaleffort and it yields fairly goodmanure. The composting drumcan be kept in any corner of thegarden and there will be nosmell or flies generated by it.The only precaution is that gar-den waste should not be putinto this, as it is voluminous un-like kitchen waste which is verycompact.

In this context, the pioneer-ing effort of the Pune Munici-pal Corporation deserves men-tion. They have made a rulethat they will clear only thenon-degradable waste frombuildings constructed from2007 onwards. The residentshave to retain the degradablewaste within the premises andcompost it themselves. The All-India organisation calledKKPKP (Kach Kaagaz PatraKaashtakaar Panchayat) ismade up of rag-pickers and hastrained its members in compost-ing and they do the job in thecomplexes involved. For thispurpose, they have formed aspecific joint venture calledSWACH with the Corporation.They now cover 3,20,000 pre-mises. The rag-pickers get regu-lar employment and lead ahealthier life! They have nowstarted the effort in Bengaluru.

Indukanth Ragadeisragade@yahoo.com

Food for the poor

The Senior Citizens’ Groupof Besant Nagar (SCGO-

BN) plans to start a campaignagainst food waste in Chennai.

An enormous amount offood is wasted by hotels in Che-nnai, especially the star hotels.Enormous amounts of food arealso wasted after marriages andother festive meals.

There is no organised meansby which this food (which canbe eaten) can reach the poor.

There are thousands ofbeggars and pavement dwellerswho go without even onesquare meal a day in Chennai.They sleep on the pavementson a hungry stomach.

SCGOBN plans to create

awareness about this sorrystate of affairs and plansto work closely with the bigfood-wasters like star hotels toensure edible food reaches thepoor.

Those who wish to be part ofthis campaign please contactProf V. Chandrasekhar, HonyPresident, SCGOBN, at senior-c i t i z e n s o f b e s a n t n a g a r @gmail.com or mobile 9884224480.

Corporate houses interestedin helping may also con-tact SCGOBN. We do not

accept any monetary dona-tions.

Prof. V. ChandrasekharPresident, SCGOBN

B, 12/4, 25th CrossBesant Nagar, Chennai 600 090

Corrections

I regret that the following errors (corrections indi-

cated) occurred in my article‘The City’s green landmarks’which appeared in MM, June1st.

In the example of ‘Arsikere’,‘kere’ refers to lake and not‘arsi’.

‘North Canara’ should be‘South Canara’.

Ficus benhalensis or. krishnaeshould be Ficus benghalensis var.krishnae.

Dr. A. Raman(Charles Sturt University)

Orange, NSWAustralia

been protesting against itscondition.

The selection of the build-ings has been done rathercleverly too. Most are on prin-cipal thoroughfares that theGlobal Investors will take dur-ing their stay here. Some, suchas Bharati Illam, though not onthis route, have been selectedpresumably to highlight ourliterary past. Now what if someof these investors wander off bythemselves and see someneglected heritage structures?Will they not wonder as to whyso progressive a State as oursdoes not have legislation toprotect heritage? If you run your

eye over the list, another aspectmay strike you – most of themare British era built structures.Now, was this not the heritagethat most of those in powerused to deride as remnants of acolonial past? Was it not whythey did not want to participatein Madras Week celebrations ororganise a suitable event tocommemorate 375 years of theFort? Global investors evidentlymake the powers-that-be thinkdifferently.

That said, the present moveto illuminate and showcase ourheritage is a commendable one.We also hope that the Govern-ment’s heritage consciousness

will not cease with the InvestorsMeet and live on to generatemore concrete results such asspeeding up of conservationand restoration work in heritagebuildings in its possession. TheState should also think aboutmaking its Heritage Act a rea-lity before the Investors Meet byforming the Heritage Conserva-tion Committee that is nowmerely on paper. The Commit-tee needs to have a broad-basedmembership that is not restri-cted to Government servantsalone. Only if all this is donecan we truly claim to the Glo-bal Investors that we seriouslyintend to protect our heritage.

June: Photography/art exhibitionby Gita (at DakshinaChitra).

Till June 29: Art exhibition byN.S. Manohar (at Dakshina-Chitra).

Till June 29: Art exhibition byN.S. Manohar, Kumbakonam(at DakshinaChitra).

Till June 30: Baramasa, an exhibi-tion of contemporary artists’work exploring the moodsinspired by different seasons (atApparao Galleries, Nungam-bakkam, and The Leela Palace).

Till June 30: The Art of Chess, anexhibition of chess sets createdby contemporary artists (atApparao Galleries).

Till June 30: Paintings by Raja (atDakshinaChitra).

Raja’s painting.

4 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2015 June 16-30, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

His aim: To save our

classical wealth

Memorablefor cartoons –& his ads too

Page 1 of a 1922 prospectus.

Views on the Sri Vani Vilas Press

The national conscience ofour people, their love for

their dear motherland andindeed their great veneration fortheir ancient heritages havenever before manifested them-selves in such a high degree asthey are today. This noble spiritof national pride and love whichis sweeping over the land at thepresent time is as deeplypenetrated as it is widespread.There is not one branch of ouractivities – political, social, reli-gious, artistic or literary – whichit has not affected in some mea-sure at least. While politicallythis national conscience hasbeen roused to a remarkable highdegree it is to be very muchregretted that it has not shownitself to the same satisfactoryextent in the preservation andspread of those priceless andrevered heritage inheritances,those countless books andwritings in Sanskrit and in othervernaculars by that noble band ofsages, rishis, poets and kingswhose footsteps we have thegood fortune to follow today inthis dear land of ours. Thesebooks which were written whenother nations were either notdreamt of or were still barbariansare the wonder and amazementof the nations of the present dayand have been the fountain, theperennial fountain, from whichmodern society and moderngovernment have to drink deep.It is of the utmost importanceand, indeed, it is the nation’sduty that it should lose not a

A Gopulu contribution to a Tamil journal on the tradition of the half-yearlycastor oil dose.

Gopulu.

� Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Judge, High Court, Calcutta: I have for manyyears past felt the deepest admiration for the excellence of the Workaccomplished by the talented founder of the Sri Vani Vilas Press andI have felt it my duty to visit the institution during my brief stay atTrichinopoly. I feel convinced that all Indians may legitimately takepride in the manner the great task has been carried out and the self-sacrifice it has involved. The Memorial Edition of the works ofSankaracharya would, by itself, justify the hightest approbation of allscholars.� Babu Bipin Chandra Pal: Through the kind courtesy of Mr.Balasubrahmanyam the Proprietor of the Sri Vani Vilasa Press, I wasable to look over the numerous valuable works published by it. Theselection, compilation, and arrangement of the publications speakhighly of the education, culture, and critical discrimination of the Pro-prietor who is also the editor of most of the publications, while the get-up speaks very highly of the printer’s art which the Press evidentlycommands.� Rao Bahadur V.T. Krishnamachariar: I have this day renewed myacquaintance with this Press. For years Mr. Balasubramania Iyer hasbeen, at great self-sacrifice, publishing our classics in a style whichwould do credit to the best publishing firms in the West.� Mrs. Annie Besant: All lovers of Sanskrit know the exquisite printingof this press, and know also the devotion and the self-sacrifice whichmake sacred its work.� Dr. F. Otto Schrader, Ph.D: Mr. T.K. Balasubrahmanyam, Propri-etor of the Sri Vani Vilas Press at Srirangam, is one of the most promi-nent publishers of Sanskrit Works in Southern India. His MemorialEdition of Sri Sankara Acharya’s Works (20 Vols) is really admirable.

The veteran cartoonist, S.Gopalan, popularly known

as Gopulu, who passed away re-cently at the age of 91, had agreat sense of humour. When afriend came visiting him in hos-pital in 2002, to which he hadbeen admitted after a paralyticstroke, he joked, “Maybe it wasmy obsession with strokes thatled to my brush with a stroke.”The stroke left his right hand pa-ralysed. But Gopulu was not theone to give up. He taught him-self to draw with his left hand (hewas 78 then) and became an am-bidextrous artist.

Born in the temple town ofTanjore in 1924, he studied atthe Kumbakonam School of Art.In 1941, He met the legendaryartist Mali of Ananda Vikatan,who commissioned a number of

paintings by Gopulu for themagazine‘s Deepavali specials.He also used him as a freelanceartist. Gopulu formally joinedAnanda Vikatan as a cartoonist in1948. Gopulu’s creativity en-compassed jokes, cartoons andillustrations which were social,historical and mythological innature. His series of silent jokes(cartoons without captions)appeared regularly in AnandaVikatan from 1951 to 1968,delighting readers week afterweek.

As a humorous illustratorGopulu worked on several popu-lar serials in Ananda Vikatan, in-cluding Thillana Mohanambaland Washingtonil Thirumanam.He teamed with the legendaryeditor Devan of Ananda Vikatanto create the famous caricatureof Sambu in Thuppariyum Sam-bu, the story of a bumbling de-tective penned by Devan andserialised in the magazine. It waslater performed on stage by StageCreations with ‘Kathadi’ Rama-murthy playing the role ofSambu. And still later it wastelecast as a serial in Doordar-shan.

As a humorous critic, Gopulualso did political cartoons. Butsome of his cartoons hurt politi-cians who started complaining tothe editor of Ananda Vikatan,which eventually led to his quit-ting the magazine and seekgreener pastures. He chose tomove into Advertising.

After a brief stint withMadras-based advertising agen-cies like Efficient Publicities andF D Stewart’s, he started his ownadvertising agency, AdwaveAdvertising P Ltd. in associationwith Mrs. Vimala, his erstwhilecolleague at F D Stewart’s. Hewas to be actively involved inAdvertising for more than threedecades. However, he continuedto do freelance illustration workfor magazines. His full pagecartoons and paintings were aregular feature in the Deepavalispecials of some Tamil maga-zines.

As an advertising man, he de-signed logos for Sun TV andKunkumam magazine. And, ofcourse, the emblem of the little

man with a briefcase in onehand for the Madras-basedShriram Chits was his crea-tion and is still being used by theShriram Group. His associationwith Shriram Group continuedfor over three decades.

One of his most memorablecampaigns was a corporate cam-paign he did for Lakshmi Mills of

hand to create his drawings tillthe end.

Among the many awards thatGopulu won during his long ca-reer was the Kalaimamani Awardby the Government of TamilNadu in 1991 and the lifetimeachievement award in 2001 fromthe Bangalore-based Indian In-stitute of Cartoonists.

But the one award he cher-ished the most was the Distin-guished Service Award that Ad-vertising Club, Madras, con-ferred on him during its GoldenJubilee celebrations in 2006.This I learnt when I met him at afunction held last year to honourhim.

He told me, while we chatted,“While I have got several awardsfor my drawing abilities I wastouched by the gesture of theAdvertising Club, Madras, torecognise me for my long asso-ciation with the advertising busi-ness.” I was happy to hear thisfrom Gopulu because, as theChairman of the Golden JubileeCelebrations Committee of theClub, I had a role to play in in-cluding his name in the list ofawardees.

At the end of the meeting, heasked me to drop in his house fora chat sometime. My regret isthat even before I could fulfil mypromise to him, he passed away.

Gopulu for all his talent as acartoonist, for all the name andfame he achieved, remained tillthe end a humble, jovial andfriendly person. He was humilitypersonified. The world of art andartists and advertising will surelymiss him.

moment’s opportunity in makingevery effort to save this mostvalued of gifts which is sure to belost and forgotten through theravages of time.

The various other nationswhich have grown up since ourtime have developed their owninstitutions and their own lite-rature, art and thought. A com-parative study of these is essen-tial to us today if we desire thatour knowledge of the world andits peoples should be founded ona wider and more solid basis.

Lastly it is necessary that wemay keep ourselves abreast of thetimes a great deal more of assimi-lating the thought and works ofother nations. The achievementsof the world’s nations in science,technology, arts and philosophyhave got to be familiarised to ourcountrymen by means of trans-lations of books in foreign lan-guages on these subjects.

The preservation of ournational culture and heritages,the comparative study of inter-national thought and literatureand the assimilation of foreignachievements in the sciences andarts are thus the three veryimportant duties which havefallen upon our countrymen atthe present time and which offera wide scope for that abundantnational activity which is seekingnewer and newer channels everyday along which to flow. Exceptfor the spasmodic and occasionalattempts of this or that IndianState, of this or that provincialGovernment whose sympathies

often varied according as this orthat man who was at the helm ofaffairs, there has been no organi-sed and central body in this landof ours to do these, the mostimportant, the most noble andthe most patriotic of dutiesthough organisations with far lessnoble and much less pretensionsto a national cause have sprungup of late and have found readysupport.

To meet this desideratum thislimited liability Company isformed with a capital of threelacs of rupees divided into 4000shares of Rs. 50 each and 10000shares of Rs. 10 each with a viewto start a big central All-IndiaPrinting and Publishing Housewhose sole concern will be to ful-fil the above-mentioned threevery important duties.

The promoters in their effortsto found such a central organi-sation have made their labourseasy by resolving to purchase as agoing concern the Sri Vani VilasPress of Srirangam, that well-known firm of publishers andprintes of ancient and nationalliterature founded eighteen yearsago, who have laid all Indiansunder a deep debt of gratitude bythe zeal and enormous amount ofwork they have exhibited inbringing to light many hithertounpublished classics in Sanskritand Tamil which have won theapprobation and even the admi-ration of eminent scholarsthroughout the world, a selectionof whose opinions is appendedhereto.

preparation will be about aquarter lac of rupees. The valueof the plant together with all ap-purtenances is about Rs. 65,000and the value of the stock ofunprinted paper on hand is aboutRs 20000. The goodwill, copy-right etc. may safely be valued atRs. 1 lac.

While thus the value of thePress, its publications, goodwilletc. is estimated at about Rs.3,35,000, the proprietor, as a truenationalist and in considerationof the patriotic work undertakenby the Company, has agreed topart with the whole concern forjust Rs. 1½ lacs which is exactlyhalf the capital with which thepresent Company intends doingwork and which barely coversthe value of the printed booksand the stock of unprinted paperon hand. The gain which thusaccrues to the Company at thevery outset is not one of anysmall measure as practically thewhole plant is obtained withoutany cost especially during thesedays when machinery is veryscarce and dear.

The Press at present is foundto earn Rs. 1,500 a month anddeducting the working expensesit is not too much to expect adividend of at least 6 per centfrom the very commencement onthe capital of Rs. 1½ lacsinvested on it. The Press is alsorunning a weekly, the HinduMessage, an independent journalwhose chief aim is to preserve theIndianness in the Indian. TheCompany is free to run theJournal on the same lines eitheras a weekly or as a daily.

An agreement will be enteredinto between Mr T K Bala-subrahmanya Aiyar the propri-etor of the Sri Vani Vilas Pressand the Hindu Message, on the

His “Sastra Series” the latest volume of which is Venkatanatha’s ex-tensive and valuable commentary on the Bhagavadgita, contains onlynoteworthy and hitherto unpublished works and is edited very neatlyand accurately.

� Hon’ble Mr. P.S. Sivaswamy Aiyar, C.S.I., C.I.E: Your edition of theKutuhala Vritti is a scholarly work and the get-up is worthy of thereputation of your press. It goes without saying that your publicationsare excellently well got-up, quite unlike the coarse unattractive styleof Sanskrit Publications generally.

� Rao Bhadur M. Rangacharya, M.A: I am glad that you are continuingthe labour of love in bringing out worthy and valuable Sanskrit Publi-cations. The accuracy and artistic get-up of the publications of theSrirangam Sri Vani Vilas Press are widely known and recognised; andthe help you are rendering through them to the development ofSanksrit Scholarship and the unearthing of buried literary treasures ofthe past is indeed very considerable. The fact that unaided you havedone so much so well, is convincing proof to me that your hands de-serve to be strengthened by adequately bestowed aid. I think you oughtto seek aid from all those who are interested in the cause of India’sancient learning and are in a position to give the needed aid.

� Mr. S. Kuppuswami Sastrigal, M.A.: I am glad to be able to beartestimony to the excellent work which the Sri Vani Vilas Press,Srirangam, has been doing for the past ten years. The Press has con-ferred on the world of Sanskrit scholars an inestimable boon by bring-ing out correct and critical editions to many rare and hitherto unpub-lished Sanskrit works, with the co-operation of many eminent San-skrit scholars.

� Hon’ble Mr. T.K. Seshagiri Aiyar: You are doing excellent service tothe cause of Sanskrit Literature. You are yourself a good scholar andyou have resolved to devote your life to the work you have taken inhand. I know personally some of the men who assist you and the workof discriminative editing cannot be in safer hands. For neatness andtypographical accuracy, there is none in the whole of India which canexcel yours and I say this with complete knowledge of the variouspublications from all parts of India.

� The Madras Mail: The Sri Vani Vilas Press of Srirangam has beenhelping the cause of the advancement of Sanskrit Literature, and itsadmirable publications of valuable classical works have been the meansby which Sanskrit knowledge has been more widely disseminated. Sev-eral ancient works, chiefly on Mimamsa and Vedanta, of great literarymerit and value, which were hitherto supposed to have been lost, havebeen unearthed by the energy of Mr. T.K. Balasubrahmanya Aiyarand the Pandits associated with him and made available to the Public.

� The Hindu: That this extremely useful work (Kutuhala Vritti) isnow brought to light for the first time is due to the untiring efforts ofthe Sri Vani Vilas Press at the resuscitation of all that is rare andprecious in the field of Sanskrit literature.

The Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, have published this edition(Kavyalankarasutra Vritti) and their name is a guarantee for every-thing excellent in publications of this kind. The publications are nocommon literary critics.

� Louis H. Gray, Esq., Newark, USA: I can very conscientiously saythat it (Vasavadatta) is one of the most admirable editions I have overseen from an Indian Press.

The Press is fully equippedwith the latest machinery in ev-ery department of the printingand publishing line and has gotits own process, electro, stereo-typing, gilding, dye-stamping andother allied departments.

It has till now published sev-eral rare and valuable books andthe present stock of the pub-lished works on hand is aboutone and a quarter lacs of rupeeswhile the vlaue of the works inthe Press and of those under

one hand, and the Sri Vani VilasSyndicate Limited on the other,whereby the former will conveyand transfer the goodwill of andall his proprietory rights in the SriVani Vilas Press (exclusive of thebuilding) and the Hindu Messagewith all their assets including allexisting contracts to the SriVani Vilas Syndicate Limited inconsideration of the sum ofRupee 1,50,000 only to be paidin cash...

It is earnestly hoped that ev-ery Indian with the least spark ofthe national spirit in him whodesires to preserve the culturalunity of his race will find his wayto subscribe for at least one sharein the Company and, thus, par-ticipate in a scheme which is asnoble as it is national, which is aspatriotic as it is profitable.

(Sd.)N.D. Subbarama Iyer

M.R. SeturatnamS. Rm.M.Ct. Pethachi

S. Sivaramakrishnan IyerT.K. Balasubrahmanyam

(Managing Director)

29.7.1922

� by R.V. Rajan

Coimbatore. The series ofadvertisements in newspapersand magazines featured carica-tures by him of heroes from ourepics, like Mahabharata,Ramayana etc. Other notablecampaigns he did were for KaliMark beverages, Narasu‘s Cof-fee, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, SPIC,Madras Cements (Ramcobrand), etc.

Restricted by his talent for aspecific type of humour and hu-morous drawings, his agency wasalso restricted to handling workonly for Tamil Nadu-basedadvertisers.

It is significant to note thatAdwave was the first advertisingagency in Madras to have its ownbuilding in the city. CalledAdwave House, it still houses theoffice of the agency now beingrun by a group of old staffmembers.

While Gopulu was not averseto the use of technology and de-vices by the young illustrators todraw cartoons and illustrations,he himself preferred using his

6 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2015

An affection forChennai

‘Once a stranger cameto the door. He was lost,’recounted Indu. ‘As heheld out the paper withthe address, I saw a scor-pion near his foot. Had Iwarned him, he mighthave stepped back on it.So without saying a word,I held his hand and pulledhim in. He was alarmed!Then I pointed to thescorpion and he got evenmore scared. When Icalled Krishnan, insteadof shooing it away, he gotout his camera while thegreat botanist Dr. Swamy,who was visiting, said itwas so magnificent hewould take it home. Mrs.Swamy said, “I am notcoming home with you ifyou do that.” Then Iasked Krishnan, “Wereyou not surprised to find atrembling young man?”He replied, “It’s hardly anunusual thing to findhere”!’

Those of us who loveChennai know that it is

unique. It is like no other Indiancity in that, despite being a me-tropolis, it displays none of theextremes or eccentricities of theaverage metro. It is a level-headed space that allows you togrow (or regress or remain inone place) at your own pace.You can go pubbing, party, leada frenetic social life. You can,on the other hand, be your con-servative Madras self – drinkingfilter coffee, reading The Hindu,listening to cutcheries, or visit-ing temples. Nobody is judge-mental about either lifestyle. Itis a reasonably safe city, as manysettlers from elsewhere willvouch. Its drawbacks are its hu-mid weather, lack of civic aes-thetics, and the increasing mad-ness of its traffic. Despite that,ask any sweating, puffing, curs-ing Chennaiite whether hewould like to live anywhere elsein the world, and the answerwould be an unequivocal ‘no’.

There are many ways of de-scribing a city. Tulsi Badrinath’sMadras, Chennai and the Selfdescribes the city through itspeople. A string of profiles ofwell-known, and not-so-well-known residents of the city

cleverly threads descriptions ofChennai through her ownmemories and experiences ofthe city and those of the peopleshe has interviewed.

Madras, Chennai... is alsoabout the changing face of this375 year old city. Tulsi portraysthis change by seeing the citythrough the eyes of the peopleshe has interviewed and observ-ing how they have coped withthese changes. Take K. Sesha-dri, the amiable priest of theAshtalakshmi temple in BesantNagar.A small-town boy, hehad been trained by his fatherfrom childhood to serve as atemple priest. Yet, after hemoved to Chennai to serve inthe Ashtalakshmi Temple,Seshadri, always fitness ori-ented, became curious aboutkarate after watching a demon-stration on TV. He found ateacher and practised with himin gruelling sessions that even-tually paid off by getting him aBlack Belt. His father wasaghast, people around himwere tickled by the idea of avegetarian priest mastering theart of self-defence. Thefisherfolk in Besant Nagar be-gan affectionately addressinghim as Japan Iyer, and he was

suddenly the darling of the me-dia. Seshadri continues to serveas a priest in the same templeand still practises his Karate.That makes sense in a citywhere, ever since the dawn ofthe rationalist movement,Brahmin priests have often

been the victims of casteist at-tacks.

There is also the story ofSaravana Sakthivel, whostruggles to run his family’ssnuff factory in an atmospherethat is distinctly hostile to to-bacco use. Known as ‘PatnamPodi’, snuff was once the mostpopularly used form of tobaccoin Chennai. Not that many useit any longer – it’s pretty messyto begin with, and, with increas-ing governmental taxation ontobacco products, it is no longerprofitable to manufacture it.From a remarkably lucrativebusiness, snuff-making hasshrunk to the level of a cottageindustry and Sakthivel contin-ues with it only to keep up thefamily tradition.

Integral to the history of Ma-dras are the Nawabs of theCarnatic, who began ruling overmuch of this area when it wasbestowed on them by EmperorAurangazeb. Their present-dayrepresentative, the Nawab ofArcot, however, presides over aterritory that has shrunk to thecompound walls of the ArcotPalace, his elegant home inChepauk. The British took awaymost of the land under the ArcotNawabs’ command. “Sab cheenliya. They looted us and left uswith nothing,” the present–dayNawab says sadly. A courteousand elegant man, he talks fondlyof the excellent Hindu-Muslimharmony that existed and, to agreat extent, still does inChennai.

Everyone knows howcricket-crazy Chennai’s resi-dents are. In the profile oncricketer, writer and editorV.Ramnarayan, Tulsi acknowl-edges the city’s passion for thissport in nostalgia-soaked remi-niscences of cricket in the citybefore the advent of IPL andTwenty-Twenty matches.

In profiling the renownedlate photographer, M. Krishnanand his wife, Indu, Tulsi recallsa Chennai that was slower ofpace, more gracious and wherepeople had time pause, observedNature and chatted leisurelyover cups of filter coffee.

Tulsi’s affection for Chennaiis obvious and so is a steady ele-ment in all her writing. Her lan-guage is simple and evocativeand perfectly suits the personal-ity of the city she describes –multi-layered and unadorned.In describing the personalitiesshe has profiled, the author alsobrings in the history and topog-raphy of the places they inhabitso that the reader gets a com-plete package – environmentand inhabitants.

If there is anything at all tocomplain about in this delight-ful book, it is the lack of mate-rial about North Madras, thebustling and dark underbelly ofthe city. But, then, that is a sub-ject for a whole new book.

– J.V.

Madras, Chennai and the Self byTulsi Badrinath (PanMacmillan).

THE MERCHANTS OF MADRAS– As recorded in the Journal of the

Belisarius, 1799-1800

(Continued fromlast fortnight)

The Europeans reside in thecountry, a few miles from

the Fort, coming in daily totheir business, about 9 a.m. andcontinuing till 5 p.m. They eata tiffin or luncheon at twelve orone, dine usually by candle lightand, after drinking wine tilleight or nine, have tea. The richlive well and at great expense,have a great variety of dishes ontable, and drink much wine.Wild fowl, poultry, beef, pork,

fish, etc. are found here, someof them very good. Of wines,English claret is most fashion-able – it comes charged fromEngland as high as sixty-threepounds sterling per dozen, andsells now twelve to fourteen pa-godas*. Much Madeira also isdrunk. Of fruits, I saw pines(pineapple), oranges and

shattucks (large citrus fruit) –none of them equal to those Ihave seen brought from theWest Indies – plantains andother fruits. There are very goodgrapes brought here fromPondicherry, but they are few inquantity and very dear.

Great numbers of servantsare fashionable, a different per-son being kept for almost everydifferent service. Every gentle-man carries his servant, in go-ing to dine. Men are employedentirely, except in fetching wa-ter, which is brought a consid-erable distance by the women.Some excellent servants arefound here, but all muchinclined to “cheat master”.

There is no theatre, or otherpublic amusement here. Sundayappears totally disregarded bythe Europeans as well as na-tives. Business goes on as usual,and I saw nothing to distinguishthis from any other day. Thegentlemen who live out fromthe Fort have gardens, some ofwhich are handsome and veryexpansive. They all have tanks

or ponds, from which to watertheir gardens in the dry season– without this, their producewould be entirely destroyed.

There are several tavernshere, but their charges are enor-mously high, and it is less repu-table to live at them, than tokeep house. The Americans,whose business brings them tothis place, take a house and fur-nish it and hire a sufficientnumber of servants. The expen-se for a residence of three orfour weeks will be considerablyless on this establishment, thanat a public house.

The merchants of Madrasare principally English in theFort and Portuguese, Arme-nians and natives in the BlackTown. Of the English Houses,Colt, Baker & Co. do the mostbusiness with Americans. Colt,from being a writer in theCompany’s service, has re-turned to Europe with a fortuneof 200,000 pounds sterling.Baker has an office under theCompany, whose legal emolu-ment is 3000 pounds per an-

num. Mr. Hart, the junior part-ner, does most of the businessof the house. This and indeedmost of the English houses arevery rich. The House of Har-rington, Watts & Co. is consi-dered the first here. Chase,Sewall & Co. are a considerablehouse. They have an insuranceoffice, but its reputation forliberal and punctual payment incase of loss, is not very high.

In the Black Town, Satur &D’Monte are undoubtedly first.Satur is an Armenian; D’Montea Portuguese. They are very fair,good men, and much and uni-versally esteemed. They have avery large share of the piecegoods business, supplying nearlyall the demands of the Euro-pean houses in the Fort andmost of the Americans who stophere. D’Monte is secretary andalmost entire director of an in-surance company in which hishouse is interested. This com-pany has a great reputation forliberality and punctual paymentof losses, which gives it a prefer-ence in almost all the businessof the place.

Paulem Yagapah Chitty(called by his seond name) does

(Continued on page 7)

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EXCERPTS

June 16-30, 2015 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Life withthe staff

� An occasional column by a British freelance writer on her eight years in Madras

The arrival of the Monsoon in mid-October fillsIndians with a renewed enthusiasm for life. The

weather in the streets is formidable. A river runs downthe main highway and, while the odd person labori-ously pokes at a drain with a stick, others ploughthrough the torrents dressed in plastic bags, appar-ently impervious to the inconvenience.

I succumb to monsoon fever and lie in bed listen-ing to the sounds of India. The shout of the vegetablevendor, the constant honk of cars, the drawn-out cryof the garbage collector, the twitter of a group of bab-blers flitting across the red roof like a group of gossip-ing old ladies, and the clunk and whirr of theairconditioning units leaking their icy breath, andwhat not! The jangle of Cook Rita’s ankle braceletsreminds me of the daunting task ahead. Do I dare togo down and confront her over the evening dinner?Or will she as usual produce her famous chicken pie?

The first response from English people when I sayI live in India is “you lucky thing, all those lovely staffto look after you”. Both Indians and Europeans willtell you straightaway that this is not the case. Employ-ing, trusting, and retaining a staff in India is one oflife’s biggest challenges.

I soon discovered that if you want anything donein India you have to go through someone else. It wasour driver who proposed candidates for the interviewprocess of Cook, Maid, Gardener, and Dhobi. In mynaivety I employed the first people to come along.

Anyone who has read Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier will be familiar with the wicked housekeeper,Mrs. Danvers. From the moment Rita presented hertattered references from “That Madam”, she had theupper hand. She traded on my inexperience of Indiandomestic staff and took advantage of my gullibility,but she made me laugh, and laughter is the best medi-cine for living in India.

For many hundreds of years, until the Great War,employing others to do your domestic duties was con-sidered by the middle classes to be normal. In England,with the advent of World War II, all this changed andnowadays only 10 per cent, the elite, can afford topay someone to clean their house. I was unfamiliarwith a houseful of servants and it took me a monthbefore I had the courage to leave the environs of mybedroom to confront the low level snipping and smallbut daily crisis that occurred between the differentmembers of my household employees.

The Cook and the Dhobi were at war. The Dhobiwas a cadaverous man, who biff, banged and wallopedour clothes. During the monsoon season, the laundrywas pale khaki, damp, limp and musty smelling. Hehad a huge charcoal iron, curved like the bow of aboat, the point of which could rip through myhusband’s shirts in a most alarming way. It was notlong before both collars and tempers were too frayedand the maid took over the laundry duties. Victory tothe Cook.

The Cook and the Gardener were at war. He was aHindu and she was a Catholic. She was a snob and hewas from a lower caste. The staff lunches I had so clev-erly instigated to bring all the staff together proved tobe a dietary and social minefield. So, it was the rollingpin versus the scythe. The Cook had to go! The Gar-dener stayed.

Ramsi (I think that is his name) arrives at six-thirtyevery morning and drifts around the garden like a spec-tre, hacking the heads off the Bougainvillea when it isin flower. I have long since given up trying to imposemy wishes on him and now that he has finally mas-tered the lawn mower we have the shortest lawn inMadras. He speaks no English and my Tamil is limitedto a few words, one of which sounds distinctly like“Sorry” in English. Confusion over language can leadto many misunderstandings. Recently, when I askedhim to paint one garden pot blue he took up the batonand ran with it. Next time I looked he had painted twohundred pots blue and seemed very pleased with hisingenuity.

The security guards, although technically not em-ployed by us, have remained the same during the lastten years. When caught asleep they spring to attentionand rush to the gates. I rather doubt their efficacyshould an intruder appear. They do however refuse towalk our dog ‘Spicy’. This is pure snobbery becauseshe is an Indian street dog. I receive stares of amaze-ment as I walk her around the block, mainly from se-curity guards dragging reluctant basset hounds orthick-coated retrievers and other pedigree pooches.

The staff regard us as their family and as such weprovide for their families. We pay their children’sschool fees. Help with their daughters’ dowries. (In anattempt to keep them out of the hands of rapaciousmoneylenders.) Assist with medical bills, and give timeoff for suspiciously numerous family fatalities.

The English have always been obsessed with classand taken a keen interest in the welfare of their staff.

The runaway success of Downton Abbey is anexample of the snobbery that is inherent in both theEnglish and Indian middle classes, but the mostfamous of all master-servant relationships is PGWodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster. It is clear thatJeeves controls his master’s life, despite Bertie’sincompetent attempts to assert his independence.Most of us enjoy the interplay between the Toffs andthe working classes, and in many cases the workingclasses are portrayed as having more brains and savvythan their aristocratic, vacuous employers.

Servant is an unpalatable word; it has too manyconnotations with slavery, but it is an old English wordfor domestic worker. Employment of servants reachedits peak in the Victorian Era and by the Edwardiantimes of the Raj in India and Imperialist Africa therelationship between staff and employer had becomecomplex.

At this peak of employment the English establishedan elaborate sense of the etiquette between servantand employer, providing ostentatious costumes fortheir staff to define their role in a household. We nolonger impose any of these restrictions on our staff;we provide new clothes at Diwali and treat them withthe respect that they deserve as invaluable membersof a working household.

Of course, the object of staff is to leave you free todo something more valuable with your time, like makemoney, or develop intellectual and creative talents.For many of the wives of the civil servants duringthe time of the Raj in India running the staff provedto be an all-consuming mission, and to a degree it stillis.

Having permanent help initially meant relinquish-ing my own high standards of cooking, gardening, andnot least hygiene! Gradually I was able to incorporatemy skills and their labour, and we both benefited fromthe experience.

When I arrived in India I was one of those foolishpeople who wanted to be liked (a very English trait),doing imaginary good deeds in a land of people, for-eign in looks, language, religion, standards of livingand ideals and customs. I am a guest in this ‘Incred-ible India’, but I will never understand its complexi-ties.

My driver once said to me, “Mam, you and Sir arelike my Gods.” I was horrified, for although I respecthis loyalty, we are as fallible as the next human being.On one occasion we were forced to suspend him. Heignored the suspension. He still turned up for workevery day, and every day I sent him away, until aftertwo weeks I relented. Sometimes dealing with the staffis like having children; you need to be cruel to be kind.

Living together in one house we all share the dailyburden of life in Madras, with its many contradictions.The delights and the disasters, the tears, and thelaughter, but whatever the future brings, these peoplewill have a special place in my heart.

THE MERCHANTS OF MADRAS(Continued from page 6)

a considerable share of the busi-ness with Americans. He is acontractor with the East IndiaCompany for piece goods and issaid to be rich, but we foundhim much in want of money. Heis a Gentoo, and appears a fairman. He cannot give such dis-patch, or be so much dependedon as D’Monte’s house. PaulemMutiah Chitty, brother ofYagapah and compared withhim, is not so good a man as theother.

“Shopkeepers” are consid-ered of a very inferior grade tomerchants, though more re-spectable in wealth and charac-ter than some of those who rankso much higher. Thus theGovernor’s public invitations tothe principal inhabitants of thesettlement include all the mer-chants but no shopkeepers.

Some of them are rich and doconsiderable business withAmericans. Hope, Reynolds &Griffith (formerly Hope, Card& Co.) are the first, and arevery good men. Their store islarge and handsome, with com-modious go-downs (ware-houses) on the lower floor.They purchased several Euro-pean investments while we re-mained here – one, extremelywell assorted, of 12,000 poundssterling cost, at sixty-five percent advance. This was consid-ered very high. Waddell,Rannie & Gibson (formerlyWaddell, Stuart & Co.) aresecond.

The Europeans who come toIndia do it to make an immedi-ate fortune, to be spent athome. They have, therefore,none of those feelings, whichmen have who are to close theirlives and leave their families on

the spot (i.e. men who aremaking a home for themselvesand their descendants). Withan object in view, they pay littleregard to the means of accom-plishing it. The natives are con-sequently oppressed and de-frauded. Their money is bor-rowed without probability orexpectation of repaying it – andwhen the Company’s servantsare their creditors, they some-times permit them to oppress intheir turns those under them.There are some exceptions tothese observations – and tothose who form good connec-tions here, it does not appearnecessary to resort to fraudulentor improper measures to acquirea competency in a short time.The merchants and othersthink, however, a verylarge sum is necessary for afortune.

Every mercantile house in

Madras employs a head dubash,or broker, who is a native anddoes most of the active businessof the house. Some of them arevery rich and faithful to theiremployers, even in joining inany fraud or oppression theymay practise on the country-men of the dubash. One En-glishman, on quitting Madras,after adjusting all his businesswith his dubash, and settling allhis concerns with him, gave himas a mark of his confidence andesteem a real estate renting at600 pounds sterling per annum.The Americans who trade herefind it necessary also to employa dubash. There are two menwho devote themselves to thisbusiness, Vincaty and Villapoy.Neither of them deserves highcommendation. The former ismore immediately in D’Mon-te’s, the latter in Yagapah’s in-terest. From employing the

former, I believe him at least asgood as the latter. They requiremuch looking after, and are notto be depended on, having theinterest of the merchant fromwhom they expect futurefavours at least as much atheart, as that of their immedi-ate employers. It is absolutelynecessary to employ a dubash,whose clerks (or conicopolies)attend to receiving, weighing,and shipping goods, etc. whichon the part of the merchant arealso attended to by natives. Themore the whole of them can beoverseen, and the less dependedon, the better. – (From YankeeIndia – American Commercialand Cultural Encounters with In-dia in the Age of Sail 1784-1860by Susan & Bean)

– Dudley L. Pickman

* 2.5 pagodas = one pound sterling

(Concluded)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS June 16-30, 2015

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had always made it clear that his intention was neverthe elimination of Tippu and so imposed severe termsfor peace. These included, among other things, an in-demnity of Rs. 6 crore (later reduced to Rs. 3.3 crore),and the handing over of two of his three eldest sons ashostages for the due performance of the terms.

The princes were given two residences – PaulBenfield’s house in the Fort and the other on the GreatChoultry Plain – and remained in Madras till 1794 bywhen Tippu had paid up in full. In the meanwhile,given that he had achieved an impossible task, the offi-cial and unofficial European inhabitants of Madras,started a fund-raising drive to erect a suitable memo-rial for Cornwallis, to be housed in the Fort. By then hehad returned to Calcutta. A year later he resigned fromthe post of Governor-General and sailed home.

The subscription for the memorial was remitted toEngland and, to quote from Sir Charles Lawson’s Memo-ries of Madras (1905), “someone there was authorised tonegotiate with a sculptor for the production of a statueof his Lordship. Then it was that the services of ThomasBanks were enlisted…(He was) the first of his countryto produce works of classic grace.” Those who visitedthe studio when the statue was being sculpted wereamazed at the resemblance to its original, to the smallestdetail, including “the outward cast of one eye in suchstartling detail.” To this Banks retorted that the “eyeslooking to the right and left at the same moment wouldimpart the idea of an enlarged and comprehensivemind.” A few generations later, we would dismiss theGovernor-General as being pop-eyed.

The pedestal of the statue, also sculpted by Banks,has the figures of Britannia and Victory flanking a bas-

relief of the definitive moment when Cornwallis re-ceived the two boys as hostage. An inscription at thebase reads that the statue was erected “by a GeneralVote at the Joint Expense Of the Principal Inhabitantsof Madras, and of the Civil and Military Servants of theEast India Company Belonging to the Presidency ofFort St George As a General Testimony Of the HighSense they entertain of the Conduct and Actions ofthe Most Noble The Marquis of Cornwallis During theTime he held the High Offices of Governor Generaland Commander In Chief of All the Forces in India.”

The statue arrived in Madras in 1800. According toMary Ann Steggles, in her book Statues of the Raj(2000), “The marble portrait statue of Cornwallis forMadras was the first publicly erected monument ex-ported to India.” Early in May that year, M. Turing,Aide-de-Camp to Governor Lord Clive, bade the prin-cipal inhabitants of Madras to be present at 5.45 am onthe 15th for the unveiling of the statue. A breakfastwas arranged at the Exchange Building for all theinvitees. The statue was placed under this cupola, lo-cated then at the Parade Square of the Fort, and un-veiled by the Governor, after which the assembledtroops presented arms, the drums beat a march and asalute of honour was fired. “The attendance of ladiesand gentlemen, as well on the parade as in the houses,balconies and terraces of the square was,” according tothe Asiatic Register, “unusually numerous and the con-course of natives was proportionally great.” ParadeSquare was ceremonially renamed Cornwallis Square.

The statue remained within the cupola long enoughto be seen by Cornwallis himself. This happened in1805, when in an “unwise moment” having again ac-cepted the offer of a Governor-Generalship, he em-barked on the HMS Medusa and arrived in Madras enroute to Calcutta. Here the Governor Lord WilliamBentinck received him on May 6. The troops formed aceremonial carriageway from the Sea Gate to ParadeSquare where an address bearing the signatures of 214principal residents of Madras was presented to him. Inresponse, Cornwallis made a speech, according toLawson, “probably in front of the statue of himself thatthen occupied as it still does, the most important placeon the parade ground of Fort St George.” This prob-ably gave rise to a subsequent legend, quoted in full inNirmala Lakshman’s Degree Coffee by the Yard, thatCornwallis was present in Madras to welcome his statuein honour of which he organised a grand parade andduring which he saluted his own image.

The ceremony over, Cornwallis departed for Ben-gal. He died on October 5th the following year of “Ben-gal liver” at Ghazipore and was buried there as per his

dictum, “Where the tree falls, let it lie.” The news ofhis passing reached Madras on the 31st. On November5th, at the instance of the Sheriff of Madras, JohnOakes, a meeting was held at the Exchange Building ofthe Fort to consider “proper measures for erecting aCenotaph” to commemorate Cornwallis. The resolu-tion was adopted, a long list of subscribers gave inplenty and, shortly thereafter, a large rotunda toppedby a Burmese pagoda-like super-structure was erectedin Teynampet, then the city boundary. The road thatled from it to Adyar became Cenotaph Road. Lawsondoes not, however, mention that the statue moved tothe Cenotaph and when he wrote his book in 1905, itwas still at Parade Square in the Fort.

The Cenotaph itself was, however, shifted. By the1880s it had moved to First Line Beach, “opposite thePresidency Post Office” according to Lawson. Thisgives rise to some confusion as it is now located notopposite the post office but in the compound of whatwas Bentinck’s Building, then the Supreme Court (andfrom 1862 till 1892 the High Court) of Madras, whichwas demolished in the 1980s to make way for theSingaravelar Maligai, the Chennai Collectorate. Did theharbour works of the 1880s necessitate one more shiftof the Cenotaph within First Line Beach? Or wasLawson’s memory playing tricks? Photographs from the1880s show the Cenotaph as it stands today.

In 1925, the Cornwallis statue moved out of ParadeSquare to the Cenotaph. It stayed there for just threeyears, moving in 1928 to the Connemara Library as thesalt and moisture-laden air of the sea at First LineBeach began attacking the marble. The statue re-mained in the library till 1950, when it made its lastjourney, this time to the Fort Museum. The cupola inParade Square remained where it was till 1935 when,at the orders of the then Governor, Lord Erskine, it wasshifted to where it stands now. The Cenotaph on FirstLine Beach remains where it was, an empty shell nowdoubling up as a convenient urinal.

– Sriram V.

KNOW YOURFORT BETTER

Cornwallis in his cupola at Parade Square in the Fort.(Courtesy: Vintage Vignettes)

The Cenotaph opposite Bentinck’s Building on North BeachRoad (Rajaji Salai).

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