1. Henry Davison Love (author of Vestiges of Old Madras)
2. E Talboys Wheeler (author of Madras in the Olden Time)
3. All right Girish, I concede that The Mail deserves a place
4. Sisters Javanthi Singaram (in Chennai) and Chandrika from the UK want Arya Bhawan to be added
5. Ragothaman wants R Krishna Rao who designed the Tamil Nadu government logo, to be added.
6. I am probably biased, but I am going to now add a few who have given us delightful personal memoirs that capture olde Madras – first – Justice WS Krishnaswami Nayudu (My Memoirs)
7. ND Varadachariar whose diaries were published by his children
8. Sir PS Sivaswami Aiyar (The Great Liberal)
9. KV Raman whose Early History of the Madras Region is a treasure
10. VC Gopalratnam for his A Century Completed (100 years of the Madras High Court)
11. Now some other great magazines – Kumudam
12. Kalaimagal
13. Amudasurabhi
14. Gokulam
15. Chandamama
16. Surprisingly Jayakanthan is not on the list and Arasi has suggested him
17. Arasi and Jess have recommended the Arcot twins – Dr Sir A Lakshmanaswami and Dr Sir A Ramaswami Mudaliars
18. Viji Ganesh wants Sangu Dance (funeral processions!)
19. Another fab rec from Urmila – Vanathi Pathippagam and its Tirunavukkarasu
20. and therefore Tamizhvanan as well
21. What about the Book Fair?
22. Govindarajulu wants Exnora
23. Someone has suggested Gandhi Nagar as the first cooperative housing scheme in the country but I am not sure of this
24. At least three people have sent in Somasundaram Grounds. Where or what is it?
25. The great water bodies that keep Chennai happy – Chembarampakkam
26. Chingleput
27. and Red Hills
28. Udavum Karangal
29. The practice of judges being preceded by maces (only in Madras)
30. Velukudi Krishnan!!
31. VL Ethiraj and the eponymous college
32. Ammu Swaminathan
33. Where is Womens Christian College asked Javanthi with a compelling stare.
34. Mary Clubwalla Jadhav
35. Tara Cherian (first woman Mayor)
36. Adyar Poonga and therefore
37. Consumer Action Group (Tara Murali, NL Rajah, Bharat etc)
38. Venkataramana Ayurveda Dispensary
39. Dr Thambiah
40. Dr Tiruvengadam
41. Dr Rangabhashyam
42. Dr EV Kalyani
43. Dr Kanthamani
44. Dr Lakshmi Kumari
45. Dr CV Krishnaswami
46. Dr Girinath
47. Dr Cherian
48. Balu Ulaganan
49. YMCA Nandanam
50. Sowcar Janaki
51. Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Bank (first in India)
52. AG Ram Singh and his family of Chennai Super Singhs
53. BCCI and its Cheeni Mama?
54. Ungal Viruppam of Vividh Bharati
55. Island Grounds
56. Munro Statue
57. St Thomas Mount
58. Stanley Medical College and its specialisation in hand surgery
59. The decision to get transgenders to help in traffic management
60. The Reservation policy (first in India -1921)
61. Madras Terrace
62. Well foundations
63. The Chemplast Sanmar group
64. The Rane Group
65. The CLRI
66. The Central Polytechnic
67. The Koyambedu Bus Terminal
68. Siruseri
69. Olive Ridley turtles
70. KB Sundarambal
71. MR Radha
72. Saravana Stores for inspiring Big Bazaar
73. The brothers Benegal – Sanjeeva, Sir Narasinga, Sir Rama and Shiva Raos
74. Swadesamitran
75. TUCS as suggested by V Srinivasan
That is that. Not by any means exhaustive but truly representative. The number of repeats only went to reaffirm that these are really indicative of Chennai.
And by the way, Happy Birthday Madras that is Chennai!
Somasundaram ground is in T Nagar, near Joyalukkas.
Sriram,
Hats off to you for pulling this off. What a list! Thanks for the opportunity to participate. I am proud to be part of this fantastic group of Chennai afficianados.
Your job is done. Now it is our turn. We want to nominate no. 376.
All those in favor of no. 376, without whom the list is not complete signify by saying aye.
aye
As KosuRu? 😉
Sriram,
Seriously, your lively writing about Chennai and CM keeps also the ex-patriots happy–triggering many memories from our younger days,
Had it been the old Chennaip paTTinam, I would have said you are statue-worthy, but not in these times 😉
Arasi,
At a minimum, ponnadai worthy?
Somasundaram grounds in T Nagar ,is the nursery of TN cricket . Next you’ll tell me you know nothing of the Guru Teams and the YSCA TROPHY …
Of course. That is the only way I get 2 learn more. Pls tell me wot ysca & guru r all abt
YSCA trophy was T20 ,( albeit more entertaining ) about 25 years before T20 . 30 over a side matches ( 2 matches a day ) played in the tiny RKM ground on matting wickets . Highlight of the cricket calendar with test stars like GR Vishwanath playing against 5 division teams .Organised single handedly by Mr Gurumurthy , who also had 3-4 teams playing in the TNCA league ( collectively known as “guru” teams ) , apart from a day job in a bank.
Wow! Tx. Will store it for future use.
Girish,
That poorly spun ADai (which dangerously sounds like a vintage swear word of Chennai), has become as indispensable as bottled water on stage these days 🙁
ChennaivAsis clean out the shelves in the shawl shops as fast as they carry milk out of a dairy booth, it seems!
I wish that the shawl vendors at least do our music some good in following the footsteps of sari merchants in becoming patrons of CM in the coming years. How I would like to see them being ‘honored’ with one of their own fabrications!
Arasi,
Many years ago, Ponnadai pothufying reached a whole new level in a cricket test match between India and Australia at the Corporation Stadium grounds. A fan climbed over the protective wire fence from the stands, ran to the cricket pitch and wrapped a ponnadai around the Aussie captain Ritchie Benaud, who was mildly amused by the whole thing. The climax came when two police constables tried to nab the fan and he out ran them .He got a standing ovation from 30,000 fans. The drama ended with the comical spectacle of one of the constables stumbling and falling down during the chase.
hahahaha!
Hilarious! Is it available on Youtube?