Madras Week is here again. The list of events scheduled is given below. There are Exhibitions, Walks, Talks and Quiz Contests. Read on.

 

Exhibitions

August 9-20: Colonial India in the photographs of Wiele & Klein. Among the Western photographers who settled in Madras in the late 19th Century, the Germans E.U.F. Wiele and Theodor Klein were remarkably successful. The Baedeker guide book on India (and other South Asian regions) published in 1914, refers to “Wiehle & Klein, the most famous late 19th and early 20th Century photographic studio in the South of India.” Wiele and Klein purchased a photographic studio in Mount Road, and soon became the official photographers of the British Governor of Madras. Their work was much appreciated by the Indian noble families and the upper class and soon they established branches in Ooctamund and in Bangalore. Other Indian customers invited them to places all over the country and they took pictures all over India. For details: http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/che/ver/en3439339v.htm. (at Taj Connemara).

August 15-29: Madras: Impressions from 18th to 20th Century. A drawing and painting exhibition by national award winning art director P. Krishnamoorthy. (At Gallery Sri Parvati, Eldam’s Road.)

 August 17-22: Exhibition on Madras and the Independence Movement. (At the Roja Muthiah Research Library, Taramani, 10.00 a.m. to 7 p.m.). There will be lectures on most evenings during the exhibition. For details contact: 22542551

August 17-24: Mylapore – A special photo exhibition by the Chennai Photowalkers. These are photos taken on the first eight photowalks in Madras. (At Vanilla Place, Mylapore.)

August 18-22: A Peep into Chennai that was Madras. Inauguration on August 18th, 10.00 am by Randor Guy. (At Asan Memorial School, Anderson Road, Egmore.)

August 19 – 23: An exhibition of Early Portraits of Madras – Etchings, Engravings and Aquatints from the private collection of V. Narayan Swami (at The Art Gallery, C.P. Art Centre, Eldams Road, 10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.)

August 22-25: The Buckingham Canal, yesterday and today, an exhibition by D. Hemachandra Rao (at Rajaji Hall). Will be supplemented by a philatelic and coin exhibition.

Heritage Talks

August 17: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture Series. An audio visual presentation – Early Music Recordings of Madras by V.A.K. Ranga Rao and Sriram V. (At The Park. 6.30 p.m.) Talk sponsored by the Association of British Scholars. 

August 17: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam (15/9, Somu Chetty 4th Lane, Royapuram, Chennai 600 013), – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil) – K.R.A. Narasiah on Chennai Turaimugam (The Madras Port). 6.30 p.m.

August 18: 6.30 pm: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture Series. Some lesser known temples of Madras – a power point presentation and talk by Chitra Madhavan. (At Chamiers (Anokhee), Chamiers Road. 6.30 p.m.)

August 18: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil) – Annaalaya Chennai Kolaigal (Murders in Madras) – by Randor Guy. 6.30 p.m.

August 19: The Greening of Chennai by Shobha Menon. (At the Rotary Club of Madras South, 6.30 p.m.). Hotel Savera.For Rotarians and their guests only.

August 19: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture. Walking with a Camera in Madras – a powerpoint presentation and talk by G Chandrachoodan. (At Goethe Institute, Max Mueller Bhawan, 4, Rutland Gate, 5th Street, Chennai 600006. 6.30 p.m.)

August 19: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil) Tamizh Navalgalil Chennai (Madras as seen in Tamil novels) – talk and readings by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, Charukesi and team. 6.30 p.m.

August 20: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture Series. Kritis and Symphonies on Madras – music accompanied by commentary – Anil Srinivasan. (At Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam High Road, 6.30 p.m.)

August 20: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil). M.R. Radha – Nooravadu Andu Anjali (A centenary tribute to M.R. Radha) – Talk with film clips by Mohan Raman. 6.30 p.m.

August 20: IT Revolution and Beyond – Chennai in the 21st Century. A talk by Kiruba Shankar on the effects of new media. (At Jaigopal Garodia Vivekananda Vidyalaya Matriculation HS School, Anna Nagar. 6.30 p.m.)

August 21: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture Series. Panel Discussion on Marrying into Madras, the Expat view – Radha Gopalakrishnan, Angelika Mandaikar and Eira Doshi share their experiences with Sushila Natraj. (At Ceebros Ecotel’s The Raintree, St Mary’s Road, Alwarpet. 6.30 p.m.)

August 21: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil). Pattonbadaavadu Nootraandu Chennai Pulavargal (Scholars of 19th century Madras) by A.R. Venkatachalapathy. 6.30 p.m.

August 22: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture Series. The Parsis of Madras – power point presentation and talk by Zarin Mistry. (At Chamiers. 6.30 p.m.)

August 22: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil). Chennai Tamizh (Tamil dialects in Chennai) – audio visual presentation and talk by Badri Seshadri. 6.30 p.m.

August 23: Temples of Chennai – a  presentation by Chitra Madhavan. (At Hotel Green Park, Vadapalani. 7 p.m.)

August 23: Two humour talks on Chennai by members of the Humour Club International, Triplicane Chapter. (At the Rotary Club of Madras South, Savera Hotel.) For Rotarians and their guests only.

August 23: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture. Chenglish by Indu Balachandran. (At Taj Coromandel, 6.30 p.m.)

August 23: Chennai Heritage with Avvai Kalai Kazhagam –Madras Musings Lecture Series (Tamil). Talk and screening of film Chennai – Exhibition, Museum and Backyard by A. Srivatsan and B.S. Pandian. 6.30 p.m. August 23: Early Imprints of the Madras Region, a presentation by G. Sundar, Director, Roja Muthiah Research Library. (At Jaigopal Garodia Vivekananda Vidyalaya Matriculation HS School, Anna Nagar. 6.30 p.m.)

 

August 24: Chennai Heritage-Madras Musings Lecture. A Star of Madras – a centenary tribute to Madras Rajagopala Naidu Radha (M.R. Radha) by Mohan Raman. (At Welcomgroup Park Sheraton Hotel and Towers, TTK Road. 6.30 p.m.)

August 26: Singara Chennai by Sriram V. (At the Rotary Club of Madras, Taj Connemara.) For rotarians and their guests only.

August 26: Temples of Chennai by Dr Chitra Madhavan. (At the Rotary Club of Madras South, Savera Hotel). For rotarians and their guests only.

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Other Events

 

August 17: Release of Historic Residences of Chennai; a bilingual book by Sriram V published by Kalamkriya hosted by Madras Book Club (Open to members of the Book Club, their guests and on invitation). (At the Taj Connemara. 10.30 a.m.)  The book will be released by B. Vijayaraghavan, IAS (Rtd.), ,

August 19: Madras Heritage – Live presentation contest for city schools. (At Sastri Hall, Luz. 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.) organised by Mylapore Times.

August 17-24: Food Festival based on recipes of Madras Presidency from the book Simply South by Chandra Padmanabhan. (At Southern Spice, Taj Coromandel.)

August 18-24:  Special spoken word/poetry reading sessions by Sharanya Manivannan and a few others. Along with an open mike. (At Vanilla Place, Mylapore.)

August 19: Release of Dr. K.V. Raman’s The Early History of the Madras Region (first published in 1959) and now republished by the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation. The book will be released by S. Muthiah, the chronicler of Madras, at 11 a.m. (At the Art Gallery of the C.P. Art Centre, Eldams Road, Alwarpet).

August 20: Olde Madras – Live demo of food, clothes, lifestyle, dance, music etc at the Asan Memorial School, Anderson Road, Egmore. 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Valedictory at 2.30 p.m.: Chitra Madhavan speaks.

August August 22: Stories on Madras for children aged between 6-12 presented by Vanilla Children’s Place and Storytrails. 15-20 seats only. 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. For more details, contact 9841050581.

August 23: Wildlife in Chennai. A session on simple puppet-making based on Chennai’s wildlife by R. Bhanumathy, Pavai Centre for Puppetry. (At Hotel Green Park, Vadapalani. 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.).  This programme will be conducted to create awareness about wildlife in and around Chennai, its importance as natural heritage of the city and the role of children in protecting and conserving them. Children from 5-12 years can  participate. Children interested in participating can contact 9444486497.

August 23: A Quiz Contest on Chennai. (At the Rotary Club of Madras South.) For Rotarians of the club with families.

August 23: Madras Quiz 2008 in Tamil  – for Tamil medium schools. (At Sastri Hall, Rande Library, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.). Organised by Mylapore Times.

August 23: Documentary Films Festival (At Sastri Hall, Rande Library, 6.30 pm onwards.) Free admission. Organised by Mylapore Times.

August 24: Madras Quiz 2008 – English. (At Gokhale-Shastri Hall (K.N. Shanmugha Sundaram Hall), Karpagambal Nagar, Luz. 2 p.m.) Open to all. No prior registration required. Organised by Mylapore Times.

August 24: Docu Film Fest. (Sastri Hall, Rande Library, 6.30 pm onwards). Organised by Mylapore Times.

 

Heritage Walks

August 17: Walking tour of Fort St. George. In English. 90 mins. Please report at parking lot opposite Fort (eastern gate). Free. (Option: Fort Museum opens at 10 a.m. so you can check it out on your own. Admission by ticket). 8 a.m.

August 17: Photowalks by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan. From Karneeswarar temple in Saidapet to Marmalong bridge and Little Mount. 7.30 a.m. (at Karneeswarar Temple. To join, just come to the starting point for each walk on the date and time mentioned. The number to call, when in doubt – 9884467463

August 18: Morning: Walking Tour of Fort St. George. For city schools. 90 mins. Start point – parking lot opposite Fort (east gate). Five groups of 30 students each can be taken around. Free. For details contact: 98410 49155.

August 22: Photowalks by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan. Begins at Anna Nagar Tower park. 5.30 p.m. . To join, just come to the starting point for each walk on the date and time mentioned. The number to call, when in doubt – 9884467463

August 23: Photowalks by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan. Starts from Tiruvallikeni Parthsarathy temple to Madras University Senate building. 7.00 a.m. at Parthasarathy Temple. . To join, just come to the starting point for each walk on the date and time mentioned. The number to call, when in doubt – 9884467463

August 23: Men and Women of the Marina. A walk along the buildings of the beach conducted by Sriram V. Walk ends with breakfast and is partly by van. 6.00 a.m. Prior booking needed. Fee: Rs 150 per head. Contact: 98400 24200. Organised by Madras Musings.

August 24: Chintadripet and Beyond. A walk conducted by Sriram V. Walk ends with breakfast and is partly by van. Prior booking needed. 6.00 a.m. Fee: Rs 150 per head. Contact: 98400 24200. Organised by Madras Musings

August 24: Walking Tour of Mount Road (in English, 90 mins.). Starts from bus stop at The Hindu office and ends at MGR statue. 7.30 a.m. Contact: 9841049155

August 24: Walking tour of Fort St. George (in Tamil. 90mins.). Report at parking lot opposite Fort (Eastern Gate). 8 a.m. Free.  Contact 9841049155