WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXVII No. 16 December 1-15, 2017

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Doubting Thomas

• The culture divide

• A cancer patient’s search

• Chennai’s new hope

CMYK

Social progress in TN needs speed-up

(By The Editor)

� by A Special Correspondent

So indifferent to heritage

� The Madrasa-e-Azam today (above) and (below) as it was in the 1980s. (Today’s photo: Shantanu Krishnan)

Falaknuma Palace inHyderabad is a splendidly

restored heritage structure. Itsmost distinctive feature is itsstairway – a pair of curving stepsin front which, aerially, gave thebuilding the look of a scorpion.Our city too had one and amuch older building at that –the building presently known asthe Madrasa-e-Azam and onceUmdah Bagh, a property of theNawabs of Arcot. If the Gov-ernment has its way, the build-ing will soon make way for awedding hall.

Located on Mount Road,this is a historic property. In1816, Colah Singanna Chetty,a dubash, owned it. The Arme-nian millionaire Edward SamuelMoorat later bought it. GhulamGhouse Khan, the last of thetitular nawabs, who died in1855, subsequently acquired it.From him it passed on to HerHighness Azim Un NissaBegum, nikah wife of theNawab. Though owned by her,the house was rented by theprincipal wife of the Nawab,Khair Un Nissa Begum and be-came the social epicentre of theMuslim aristocracy in Madras.This was where luminaries suchas Sir Syed Ahmed Khan,founder of the Aligarh MuslimUniversity, and His ExaltedHighness Mir Mahbub AliKhan Bahadur, the Nizam ofHyderabad, stayed when theyvisited Madras. The curvingsteps of Falaknuma could wellhave been inspired by UmdahBagh, for the Prime Minister ofHyderabad, Sir Vicar UlUmrah, who built the palace,was also part of the Nizam’s en-tourage.

In the late 19th Century, theproperty came to be owned bythe Gujarati business family ofLodd Krishnadoss Bala-mukunddoss. In 1901, the All

India Muslim Educational Con-ference was held in Madras anda request was made that theMadrasa-e-Azam, founded in1849 and functioning till thenat Chepauk, be given the prop-erty. The Government acquiredUmdah Bagh from the Loddfamily, who were kind enoughto sell it at less than marketrates on coming to know that itwas to be used for an educa-tional institution. The Mad-rasa-e-Azam, then, came to behoused in the original UmdahBagh palace, which is now in aserious state of disrepair. TheDiwan Khana of Firuz HussainKhan Bahadur, principal agentto the Begum, became the resi-dence of the Principal of theschool. A mosque was built inthe campus in 1909. In the

Who will save the

Madrasa-e-Azam?

(Continued on page 2)

same compound was set up theGovernment MohammedanCollege in 1919, which ac-quired its handsome set ofbuildings within the compoundin 1934. The institution becamethe Government Women’s Col-lege after Independence and,subsequently came to include

The Institute for SocialCompetitiveness, India,

has published a Social ProgressIndex for individual States andfor the country. Tamil Nadu,with an overall score of 65.34for Social Progress has donemuch better than the countryscore of 54.90. India itself ranks98 out of 133 listed countries,which is not something to crowabout.

Social Progress is divided inthe Study into three dimen-sions. The first dimension is Ba-sic Human Needs comprisingnutrition, water, sanitation,shelter and personal safety. Thesecond is Well Being Needsunder which are included basiceducation, access to informa-tion and communication,health and pollution-free envi-ronment. The third dimensionis Opportunity comprising per-

sonal rights, freedom of choiceand inclusiveness.

From the scores for 2016, itis seen that, generally, smallerStates have done well, record-ing good scores although theirGDP size is smaller. Their scoresare as follows – Goa 63.39,

ways. You could be a very goodperformer but low in rank be-cause the class is made up ofexcellent performers. One be-ing only just above averagecould shine in a class of medi-ocrity. Looking at the absolutescore of 65.34, it is just above

but baffling is the high score of91.28 on water and sanitationthat does not tally with our ev-eryday observation and experi-ence.

On Well Being, the State’sperformance is 58.84, fallinginto the average category. WellBeing comprises environmentalquality, health issues like lifeexpectancy, prevalence of respi-ratory infections, unsatisfactorylevel of enrolment in primaryand secondary schools, schooldrop-out rate and gender parity.Greater attention in terms ofinvestment and raising institu-tional efficacies at thegrassroots is necessary on thesefronts.

On Opportunities, we justemerge out of the average cat-egory at 60.92. The compo-nents that offer scope for

Himachal 65.39, Kerala 68.09,Mizoram 62.89 andUttarakhand 64.23. Contrastthese with traditionally well ad-ministered bigger States likeMaharashtra at 57.88,Karnataka at 59.72 and TamilNadu at 65.34.

Within the country, TamilNadu tops the list, not takingsmaller States into reckoning.Ranking is misleading in some

the “middle” category. So, wecannot rest on the distinction ofbeing near the top in the coun-try.

Deeper analysis of the com-ponents of each of the three di-mensions of the Index providesinsight into what our Stateneeds to work on to improve itssocial progress record. On Ba-sic Needs, we seem to be doingvery well with a score of 76.25, (Continued on page 2)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2017

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

An evening at MuseumTheatreNow, Chief, The Man from

Madras Musings knowshow touchy you are on mattersconcerning heritage and, so,let MMM inform you upfrontthat he has nothing against theMuseum Theatre per se. It isan excellent piece of architec-ture and its round form makesit stand out. And it is one ofthe few heritage buildings inour city that has been pre-served rather well. But what ofthe amenities, Chief? Don’tyou think these could do withsome improvement?

It was just the other daythat MMM went to attend aplay at the place. Havingdriven up to the gate he wasinformed by a watchman thathe ought to proceed to theright and park. When asked ifthere was a specific place topark in, the man simply wavedin a wide sweeping manner,thereby indicating that MMM

specialist in case you did notwatch out which you Chief,had not, and twisted ankle aftertaking a tumble.

MMM had barely seatedhimself when he realised thatin all the struggle to get in andfind his seat he had not both-ered to use the toilet. Therebeing a few minutes before thecurtain rose, MMM decided togo and relieve himself. Hemade his way to the door andwandered around the curvedcorridor looking for signs thatcould direct him to the toilets.Having found none, MMMasked a man who was clearly onthe Museum payroll andlooked as though he had beenaround since its inauguration.He looked surprised that some-one was actually asking for a

toilet and then deigned todirect MMM. You had to godown the steps, take a right,cross the portico and thenplunge into what looked like aplace of eternal night andsomewhere out there was a toi-let. MMM wondered if it wasreally worth all the trouble.What if he slipped on some ofthe oatmeal and hurt himself?Nobody would notice till themorning and then it may be toolate. MMM slunk back into thetheatre.

At the University

The Man from MadrasMusings happened to re-

late this experience to a friendwho immediately replied thatthis was nothing compared tothe travails people experienceat the University CentenaryAuditorium. MMM reflectedon this and had to agree withhis friend. The Museum The-atre at least has ample parkingspace. That is not somethingthat the University campus canboast of.

And as for the auditorium,the less said the better. MMMis not sure if you have everbeen there, but in case youhave, you are sure to agree withhim. There is, firstly, the seat-ing, which is most peculiar –rows in three different axeswith a distant stage. The ar-rangement makes sure youhave a better view of what ishappening in rows op-posite you than of thestage itself. Then youhave the seats whichwere clearly made for adifferent era. Theyhave no idea about therequirement of modernposteriors and, ratherlike academics who arethese days accused ofinappropriate beha-viour, rather prone to pinch

could park anywhere in thevast and, may MMM add,rather ill-kept compound.MMM duly drove right andfound that there was really noearmarked parking space andhe could do so anywhere. Heselected a suitable spot locatedbetween two trees and, moreimportantly, rather close tothe gates. This was in case theplay was a complete frost andMMM had to make a quickgetaway. Too often in placeslike this where parking spacesare not demarcated clearly,you cannot leave until the endof the programme. Cars arebound to block your way.

There was no fear of thishere for the driveway was justa few inches from MMM’s carand so nobody could reallyblock MMM in case he de-cided to do a bolt. It was onlyafter MMM had switched offthe headlights that he realisedthat there were no lamppoststo guide MMM from car totheatre. Or, to be precise, noworking lamppost. MMM hadto get down and literally gropehis way to the theatre. True,the lights from the building didguide MMM, but they did notallow him to detect soft soil atvarious spots in the garden. Insome places, the mud, to-gether with fallen leaves, hadformed a rather rich oatmeallike substance and that clungto MMM’s shoes like glue. Itwas thus that MMM staggeredon and reached the theatreproper.

He was ushered in and onlythen did it strike him that thesteps here are rather steep.And, so, MMM was doublycareful. As he walked towardshis seat he did notice that insome places there was a sharpdrop of at least six inches bet-ween the chairs and the aisle.A wrongly placed foot couldturn you into a somersault

you at odd spots. And whenyou get up to leave, they snapback like an irate Universitydon asked a particularly sillyquestion by a student. In caseyou don’t move away in time,a part of your rear can actuallybe retained by the seat andlater no doubt used for build-ing the ’Varsity’s DNA bank.

The air-conditioningsystem here too is of a timeperiod when cooling meantlots of attendants withhandheld fans. Apparently, orso MMM understands, theoriginal system designed forthe hall no longer works andso they have several banks ofairconditioners that are stat-ioned at the rear of the halls.Those who are unfortunate tosit near these are bound to befrozen to death, also, given thenoise these machines makecan hardly hear any of thespeeches that are delivered

here. Of course, on the threeoccasions that MMM didattend an event at this audito-rium, the speeches were so badthat he did consider the noisyACs to be something of ablessing.

As for the toilets here,these too are of a sound vin-tage. But hardly anyone usesthem. This is more becausethe Uni’s auditorium is invari-ably used only when some top-ranking VIP chooses toaddress lesser mortals. Thatmeans security and that inturn means the unfortunateaudience has to be in place atleast a few hours before theactual event. And once seated,nobody is allowed to get upuntil the VIP comes, speaksand leaves. Consequently,people are afraid of evengetting up to answer calls ofnature. This, of course, issometimes a blessing for giventhe condition of the loos here,you may be better off not us-ing them, or even getting toknow them.

Tailpiece

The Man from MadrasMusings is aware that

medicine is a science and, as iswell known, Alfred Nobelthought so too. So too didthis pharmacy evidently, ascan be seen from the picturebelow.

–MMM

Social progress in TNneeds speed-up

(Continued from page 1)

improvement are in respect ofchild labour, and access tohigher education, like technicalinstitutes.

In sum, health and educa-tion emerge as critical factorsfor social progress and this iscorroborated by other studies aswell. Funds assigned for healthand education are good indica-tors of policy priority and can beascertained by comparing Bud-get allocations for the years2010-11 and 2017-18 as cited inBudget Speeches. Health re-lated issues were earmarked forRs. 7265 crore in 2010-11 andRs. 32,231 crore in 2017-18 re-flecting a 4.44 times increaseand, in terms of share of totalexpenditure, it grew from ap-proximately 9 per cent to 16 percent. Even allowing for inflationand corresponding reduction inreal value, the increased impor-tance accorded to the healthsector is indeed remarkable. OnEducation, the correspondingnumbers are Rs. 11,899 croreand Rs. 30,762 crore, 2.6 timesincrease and share remainingconstant at 15 per cent.

Overall, the readjusted pri-orities under the new Govern-ment cannot be faulted. It istime, therefore, for the Govern-ment to focus on improving theproject selection process toensure higher impact and effec-tive implementation. A bot-

toms-up participative approachto project identification wouldensure that governmentschemes address communityneeds and produce maximumimpact. A pre-requisite for goodgovernance is also a mechanismthat provides for honest feed-back on the effect of govern-mental policies and actions onoutcomes. Feedback publishedat predictable periodicity alsoserves the need for transpar-ency, accountability and citizenparticipation.

Studies such as this oneenable governments to lookback objectively on the impactthey have been able to create interms of actual experience atthe recipients’ end. But, spe-cially focused outcome evalua-tion studies at regular intervalsshould be commissioned; gov-ernment should not wait forsurveys of external agenciesdone in a larger context. Quan-tified findings help to identifyareas for increasing public in-vestment and areas where in-vestment has been adequatebut not effective, calling forstrategy review. Besides beingable to prioritise public invest-ments, findings of such studieshelp sectoral and geographicalidentification of projects for pri-vate sector participationthrough CSR funding. Compa-nies with CSR funds are on thelook out for “good” projects andreliable implementing agencies.

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

SO INDIFFERENTTO HERITAGE

(Continued from page 1)

Quaid-e-Milleth in its name, inhonour of Muhammad IsmailSahib, leader of the IndianUnion Muslim League.

Since then, the Madrasa-e-Azam campus has all beensteadily downhill. The Govern-ment did precious little to pre-serve the property. The mainstructure weakened over theyears and parts of it began col-lapsing. Even then nothing wasdone. Then, a couple of yearsago, the main wing came crash-ing down. Still there was no ac-tion. Now, for some reason, theplace is all in the news and a

minister has announced that awedding hall will come up here.The standard operating proce-dure of the Government hasbeen followed in full – do noth-ing to preserve a heritage struc-ture, wait for it to weaken/catchfire/collapse, then announcedemolition.

There is a small ray of hope.The Nawab of Arcot has ap-pealed to be allowed to run theschool and take over the place.This being an institution forminorities, there may be somemulling over the idea on thepart of Government. Given theschool’s heritage, the Nawabdeserves a positive response.

December 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Shrinking wetlands,felling trees

● A READER WRITES

Really deservingof gratitude

We Indians are generally a whining, cribbing, complaininglot. We complain about power cuts, bad roads, stagnant

water, dengue, traffic snarls, corruption. Well, the list is endless.But we fail to see how the Government has taken care of our

mental health and well-being, especially those of senior citizens.Medical journals say the brain cells do not degenerate if keptactive, so your chance of getting senile dementia is much less.Now let me justify my heading.

As a senior citizen I have to prove to the Government thefollowing – that I am not a cheat trying to evade tax, I have notborrowed heavily from banks and am not trying to flee the coun-try, I have not accumulated black money, l am paying my GSTdues regularly, and so on. Now all this keeps my brain activeand agile.

Just as I was feeling complacent about my cerebral powers,something happened that shook me out of my comfort zone. Myincome from rents, interest from deposits, allelectronically transferred, stopped altogether. Did I miss anynew rule announced by our Prime Minister on the eve of hisdeparture to China? All important announcements are made onthe eve of his going abroad. Did he say that unless and until Iproved the house was built with clean money the tenant neednot pay rent? Things took a turn for the worse next week. Myson’s salary was not credited too.

It was left to a septuagenarian tenant of mine to solve themystery. He pointed out that the IFSC code of the Bank Branchhad been changed following the merger of the bank with SBI.Neither the smaller bank nor SBI had informed the clients ofthis fact. Well, to cut a long story short, we had to inform ourcontacts of the new code. Some MNCs insisted on a new chequebook to prove our bonafides. All this took a lot of time, effortand energy.

On a more serious note, the Government is contemplatingmerger of more banks for reasons best known to them. With thebrute majority it enjoys, it can put it through. If and when ithappens, we senior citizens dependent on pensions and interestfrom deposits should not be caught unawares. You should bealert enough to inform the sources of your income about thechange in the bank codes.

By force of habit I am attaching my Aadhar, Pan Card, KYCdocuments in triplicate, my driving license, my GST number allduly attested. If, in case, you want to see the original, no prob-lem I shall bring it to your office whenever you want. If you areon leave when I come or have gone out for lunch and may notcome for the day again, no problem l shall come again the nextday.

After all, the walk and climbing stairs would take care of myphysical well-being as well. With both my mental and physicalwell-being taken care of, what more could l want.

Prema Raman88, Harrington Road

Chetput, Chennai 600 031

� Chennai has lost

much of its climate

resilience due to the

shrinking of its wet-

lands and forest

patches, which has

drastically reduced the

city’s ability to soak up

excess rainwater,

writes S. Gopikrishna

Warrier.

(Continued on page 6)

� Putting Chennai at risk

The Pallikaranai marsh in the southern part of the city with streams draininginto it. (Photo by S. Gopikrishna Warrier.)

It is the network of blue andgreen that provides climate

resilience to Chennai city – blueof its wetlands and green of itspatches of vegetation. How-ever, this combination that hadbeen protecting the city in thepast is today under stress. Theshrinking of blue and green hasdrastically reduced Chennai’sability to deal with extremeweather events.

Just 15 months after amassive flood in November-De-cember 2015 battered the city,the residents suffered a seriousdrought during the summer of2017. Even while sporadic rainsover the city since the onset ofthe Southwest Monsoon inJune 2017 have given respitefrom the drought, residents fearthat there could be floodingwith the Northeast Monsoon.

Chennai, which receives upto 60 per cent of its annual rain-fall from the Northeast

Monsoon expects this year’srains to be at least average orbetter than that. With the city’sability to deal with intense rainsdecreasing, there are chances ofwaterlogging and floods. Evenby its very nature, the North-east Monsoon that brings rainsto Chennai is different to theSouthwest Monsoon. TheNortheast Monsoon is mostly astring of depressions or cy-clones, which bring heavy rainover a few days. The destruc-tion caused by the 130 km perhour winds and rains of CycloneVardah in December 2016 onlyadds to the fear of citizens.

“Unless the city’s landscapeis resilient, the people cannot beresilient,” says Jayshree Vencat-esan, managing trustee of CareEarth Trust. “We are onlycoping because there is no otherchoice. Each extreme weatherevent hits us hard.”

Using historical geo-spatialdata, Care Earth Trust has de-veloped maps that showthe relationship of water bodiesto built-up area in the city and

the green cover within thecity. As the blue (of thewetlands and water bodies) andgreen (vegetation cover)decreased in the past three de-cades over the Chennai metro-politan area, the red of built uparea increased.

“Under the resilience frame-work, megacities are character-ised as uncertain environ-ments,” says Vencatesan. “Wedo not know whether climatechange is causing the uncer-

tainty or whether our messingup of the city’s environment iscausing it.”

The development of themaps is part of a process to un-derstand Chennai’s landscapeand environment, according toher. There is inadequate dataand insufficient understandingof the land use changes in thecity and where population den-sity is increasing. As a result,there is lack of clarity on theconsequences of that change,especially with the ability todeal with extreme weatherevents. “We don’t have thedetailed nuts and bolts under-standing, and unless we havethe data, our ability to deal withthe situation is also not there,”Vencatesan adds.

There is evidence of increas-ing frequency of extremerainfall events (EREs) not justin Chennai but also acrossIndia, even though their directlink with climate change is stillconsidered tenuous. The2012 special report on extremeevents by the Intergovernmen-

tal Panel on Climate Change(IPCC-SREX) stated this forthe first time to policymakers.

Since there are indicationsof an increasing trend in EREsover Chennai, the network ofwetlands and forests is impor-tant to provide resilienceagainst such extreme weatherevents. These have been part ofthe natural landscape overwhich the city was built withrapid speed in recent decades.

For a coastal city with an al-most level gradient, wetlandsand forests serve as the pointsfrom which water rechargesinto the aquifer. They act likesponges on the city floor. Thefour rivers that run from west toeast across the city – Araniyar,Kosasthalaiyar, Cooum andAdyar – serve as the drainagechannels for excess stormwaterto flow into the sea. This net-work is complemented by theBuckingham Canal, which runsnorth to south across the city,and other smaller canals.

“The rivers and canals ofChennai have a clear role asflood control channels,” saysPaul Appasamy, former Direc-tor of the Madras School ofEconomics. “The natural hy-drology of the city was forgot-ten and haphazard constructionand development was done onthe banks of the waterways ob-structing their flow. This ampli-fied the flooding of end-2015.”

There is an added obstruc-tion to the flow of floodwaterinto the sea. Both the Cooumand Adyar have sand banks attheir mouths. Construction ofthe sea wall for the ChennaiPort in the northern part of thecity has resulted in coastal ero-sion north of the structure andaccretion south of it. Thus, overrecent decades, while the seahas eroded in north Chennai,swallowing fishing hamlets andold temples, the Marina Beachhas been growing in width. Thevery same process has beenbuilding sand banks, obstruct-ing the flow of the Cooum andAdyar into the sea.

It was the loss of the wet-lands and forest patches thatdrastically reduced the city’sability to soak excess rainwaterand use it during the leanmonths. Since the opening ofTIDEL Park in 2000, the cityhas radiated out through asouthern axis almost all the wayto Mamallapuram. This hasbeen at the expense of a net-work of wetlands that ulti-mately drained into thePallikaranai marsh.

According to Vencatesan,there were almost 50 waterbodies that were linked to thePallikaranai marsh through anetwork of cascading channels.Many of them have been builtover. The natural forests alongtheir banks have also been re-moved. Radial roads that con-nect the Old MahabalipuramRoad with the Chennai-Trichyhighway have bisected thePallikaranai marsh along mul-tiple axes. Embankments werecreated across the marsh tobuild these roads, therebydisturbing the natural flow dy-namics in the marsh.

“The wetlands in Chennaiare like the arteries and veins ofthe city,” observes RiteshKumar, conservation prog-ramme manager, WetlandsInternational South Asia.“These have been undertremendous stress from devel-opment pressures in the past

two decades and have been los-ing their ability to hold waterwhen needed and control floodsduring heavy rains.”

He feels that the WetlandConservation and ManagementRules (2017), notified by theUnion Ministry of Environ-ment, Forests and ClimateChange on September 26,2017, can help conserve the re-maining wetlands. “There aretwo points of strength for thenew rules. First, it gives powersto State governments to iden-tify wetlands (which are notprotected areas already) and de-velop conservation and man-agement plans and implementthem. Two, it stresses the prin-ciple of wise use for thesewetlands. Most of the wetlandsare not ‘no go’ areas, and theycan be conserved and managedin a sustainable mannerthrough wise use.”

4 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2017 December 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

Doubting Thomas

– SRIRAM V

(Continued on page 6)

CHARIVARI – 8

Who is Ellis Road off Mount Road named after? The competi-tion is between two individuals – Francis Whyte Ellis of the

Madras School of Orientalism fame and Robert Staunton Ellis whohad a long and distinguished career in the Madras Civil Services.

The EllisFlorence Nightingaleinfluenced

Home Government too was lobbied with for release of funds. Butmatters moved slowly (“At present the progress of sanitary works inMadras is nil,” noted Miss Nightingale, which statement could wellbe emblazoned in every Corporation office even now) and it was notuntil the 1870s when cholera swallowed the then Governor LordHobart that drains finally came to Madras. Miss Nightingale lived torejoice at the commencement of the work but not so Ellis, whopassed away in 1877. In any case, his was unlike hers, a very mildpersonality and he was more used to getting his way through diplo-macy and not by aggression. Sanitation however remained Ellis’ pas-sion and he filed many reports on the situation in Madras, several ofwhich still survive in the Corporation archives.

The years left to him saw him rise to the top. On his return fromhome leave in 1867, he was made Chief Secretary to the Govern-ment of Madras. The Governor, Lord Napier and he formed a tightteam, pushing many reforms and ambitious building projects. Hebecame a short-term member of the Governor’s Executive Councilin 1870 and was made a permanent one in 1872. While there hecame into conflict with the dynamic Sir William Rose Robinson,profiled earlier in this Charivari series. He was back in England in1873 owing to ill-health and was persuaded to return to Madras in1875. In 1877, he was made a member of the Indian Council inEngland and so went back, only to die a year later. He was just fifty-two.

While in Madras, Ellis took an abiding interest in the MadrasLiterary Society, whose books he had once forgotten to return. Hewas a member of the editorial committee of the Madras Journal ofLiterature and Science that the MLS brought out. The poor in thecity also knew of his charitable disposition and it was said of himthat he enjoyed nothing more than the spending of his money onthose in need.

AFTERWORD: When I began this series I had written that theIndian Charivari was brought from D’Acres Lane, Calcutta andwondered as to where that was. I had an email from S. Ganesh thatit was a dead end off Waterloo Street in that city. In September thisyear, I had the opportunity to do a heritage tour of Kolkata in whichGanesh too participated, and I did get to see the street. It is justopposite the Great Eastern Hotel’s main entrance. Waterloo Streetis now Nawab Siraj ud Dowlah Sarani. And guess what D’AcresLane is? It is James Hickey Sarani! Yes, the same Hickey whobrought out the Bengal Gazette, India’s first printed newspaper.Clearly someone in Kolkata has a sense of history.

– Sriram V.(Series concluded)

LOST LANDMARKS OF CHENNAI– SRIRAM V

A house called

ChintamaniThe late Raghu Tagat, in a

wonderful series that hewrote for Madras Musings on thehistory of Edward Elliot’s Road(Radhakrishnan Salai), re-marked how most houses on thethoroughfare had Sanskrit orTamil names – Manonidhi, Girija,Kamalalayam, Sudarshan, Su-dharma, Nandana, Mandara,Sadhana, Kaustubha, Srivatsa,Venkatam and Vinnagar. All ofthese and more once graced thisroad. Now there are hardly anyleft barring perhaps Girija, theresidence of the late Dr. S.Radhakrishnan. Another, thatpartially survives is Chintamani.There is very little of the house,but what there is, is impressive.It is an octagonal tower thatprobably encloses the stairway,topped by a dome. The rest of thehouse has given way to a moderntwo-storied building that is nowrented by a bank.

Chintamani was once home toa hallowed family of MadrasPresidency. The progenitor,Thiruvalangadu AppayyaDikshitar, was the official San-skrit pundit at the Tiruva-vaduturai Mutt. His son,Thiruvalangadu TyagarajaSastri, born in 1821, attainedgreat proficiency in Sanskrit bythe age of 18. His talents cameto the notice of Bhaskara-rajapuram Venkoba Sastri, whowas then a pundit in the serviceof the Sudder Courts. The lattergot his daughter married toTyagaraja Sastri and also madehim an apprentice. In thatcapacity he mastered all the lan-guages necessary for the proceed-ings of the Sudder Court –Tamil, Telugu, Marathi,Kannada and Hindustani and, bythe age of 25, emerged as a wor-thy successor to his father-in-law. But service in Court was not

meant for him. Taking up a postin Rajahmundry, he fell in lovewith the veena and began train-ing on it. He became a profes-sional artiste and travelled allover South India giving concerts.

Sastri’s talents came to thenotice of His Highness Briha-damba Dasa RamachandraTondaiman of Pudukottah Stateand, more importantly, the pow-erful Dewan, Sir A. SeshiahSastry. The ruler became a dis-ciple of Tyagaraja Sastri for theveena and also appointed himChief Vakil, Pudukottah,entrusting him with legal reformsin the kingdom. Sastri servedPudukottai well and when thetime came for his retirement, theruler was pleased to appoint theSastri’s second son, GangadharaSastri, to the post. TyagarajaSastri passed away in 1892.Gangadhara Sastri continued thelegal and musical traditions. Like

his father, he too becamea veena exponent and alsocomposed songs. He alsotaught numerous dis-ciples.

Gangadhara Sastri’sson Ganapathy Sastri (GGSastri) succeeded his fa-ther in turn. Born in 1876,he inherited the family’stalents in law and music.Having studied atMaharaja’s College, Pudu-kottah, he later graduatedfrom St. Joseph’s College,Trichy, and got his BLfrom Law College, Ma-dras. Enrolled in thePudukottah Bar in 1900,he became, successively,State Vakil and PublicProsecutor, Puisne Judge,and finally Chief Judge inPudukottah. He was madeDewan of the State in 1929 andretired from service in 1931. TheBritish Government conferredthe title of Rao Saheb on him in1929. GG Sastri built Chintamanion Edward Elliot’s Road. Afterretirement from the post ofDewan he settled in that houseand served on the Senate of theUniversity of Madras thereafter.

His son G. Tyagaraja Sastrigraduated in law and practisedfor a while before joining All In-dia Radio where he rose to be-come its Director General.

F.G. Natesa Iyer, who servedthe South Indian Railway withdistinction but made a biggermark for himself in the field oftheatre, was a brother of GGSastri. He is credited with bring-ing K.B. Sundarambal to thenotice of theatre-loving audi-ences and encouraging severaltalents in classical music such asM.S. Subbulakshmi and PalghatMani Iyer. The ‘F’ in his name isbelieved to have been a Christianname. He was a practising Chris-tian for long and, many years

later ‘reconverted’ to Hinduismat the instance of theParamacharya of Kanchi!Tongues have since waggedabout the initial conversion toChristianity and many theoriesabound.

Today, Chintamani is hardlynoticed by passers by. But thetower, earlier a light cream andnow a bright ochre, is plainly vis-ible from the road. It serves as areminder of the glorious lineagethat once called Chintamani itshome.

The beautiful stained glass backdrop to the altar in San Thomé Basilica tells thestory of the Apostle of India, the Thomas who had doubted and found belief.

� December 21st is the traditional date of

Thomas’s martyrdom. SIMEON MASCARENHAS,

who has spent time in the Portuguese Archives,

reviews the story of the Thomas who became the

Apostle of India.

In December 163 CE, a Chris-tian merchant from Edessa in

Upper Mesopotamia (Iraq today)arrived in the port of Supattinam(possibly Sadras). Hearing thatthe martyrdom of Thomas was tobe commemorated on December21st, the traditional date ofThomas’s martyrdom, the mer-chant went to partake in thecelebration of the Eucharist atthe saint’s grave in Mylapore.São Tomé, or San Thomé, wouldnot be founded until the early16th Century. On his return toEdessa by an overland route, hisaccount of this experience stirredlaity and clergy alike.

Two years later the same mer-chant set out for South Indiawith a bold plan. He sailed toMylapore where, in the dead ofnight, he removed the relics andconveyed them back to Edessa,arriving on July 3, 165 or 166 CE.In 1258, some of the relics weresent to the church of St. Thomasthe Apostle in Abruzzo, Ortona,Italy.

So goes one of the legends ofThomas.

Nobody really knows whoserelics lie beneath the São Tomébasilica, or even if any relics do.Faith and tradition are one thing,hard historical evidence quiteanother.

Although the oral traditionconcerning Thomas’s Indianventure is strong, there is not asingle written account in India.However, it is not wise to dismissthe oral traditions of the East ashaving no historical value. Allthe Syriac sources relating to the

On his return voyage fromChina, Marco Polo visitedMylapore in 1293 and statedconfidently that “the Body ofMesser St. Thomas, the Apostlelies in the province of Maabaarat a certain little town having nogreat population. Both Chris-

a missionary in South India be-tween 1774 and 1789. Amonghis many publications is the firstEuropean grammar in Sanskrit(Sidharubam seu GrammaticaSamscrdamica), published inRome in 1790.

In the church of NossaSenhora da Luz can be seen theFranciscan emblem: crossedarms over a crucifix. Over thelintel of the front door is the date1516, suggesting that this is theyear Roman (Western) Chris-tianity came to the CoromandelCoast. In fact this is the year thatthe building we see was erected,a development over an earlierplace of worship that was minis-tered by Franciscan priests. In1291, the Franciscan John ofMontecorvino entered India andremained at “the church of StThomas”, where he baptisedabout 100 people into the Ro-man rite. Until this time, theChristians of Coromandel hadfollowed the Eastern rite. Theonly conclusion that can bedrawn is that there was a smallbut significant community ofEastern Rite Christians in thearea, with trading links to Persiaand the Levant. The situation ofa Christian village on the out-skirts of the ancient town ofMylapore is consistent with sucha conclusion. Hence the localname for Nossa Senhora da Luz:Kaatu Kovil, or ‘Church in theforest’. These Eastern Rite Chris-tians later subscribed to the Ro-

early Christians in India and thearrival of Thomas contain cer-tain points that emerge as a com-mon pattern: from the Cheracountry he moved to the Pandyarealm, where he continued topreach the Gospel. He was killedby a dart shot by an Embran, orBrahman, or accidentally by aGovi who was out hunting. Hewas buried in the ‘Little Mountof Mylapore’. From there angelscarried him to Uraha (Edessa).

None of the traditions reportThomas as having been martyredin Kerala. They all agree that thishappened in the Pandyan coun-try, the name of Mylapore occur-ring without exception.

tians and Saracens also do holdthe Saint in great reverence.”Franciscan priests ministered toa small Christian community inwhat became Luz. Later,Paulinus do San Bartolomeo(John Philip Wesdin) wrote that“All Christians of the East,Catholics and heretics like theNestorians, Jacobites, Arme-nians, the Catholics of Bengal,Pegu, Siam, Ceylon, Malabarand Hindustan, come to maketheir devotions, and this alone issufficient to confirm the ancientand universal tradition that St.Thomas died at Mylapore.”Paulinus was an AustrianCarmelite monk who worked as

man Rite under the influence ofthe Franciscan missionaries.

For six hundred years beforethe coming of the Portuguese toMalabar, there was a “perfectblank in the history of Christian-ity in Malabar,” according toK.C. Zachariah. On arrival in In-dia, the Portuguese found theThomas tradition commonly ac-cepted everywhere in the South.A report dating from 1517 saysthat they were shown “a half-ru-ined church at Mailapur” andtold that the apostle had beenburied in a grave on the Gospelside of the altar: the right handside as viewed by the congrega-tion. On the opposite side, it wasclaimed, was the grave of a Chris-tian ‘king’ named ThomasMudaliar.

In 1523, the Portuguese, everfanatical about correct docu-mentation, ordered an investiga-tion into the claim that the gravewas that of the apostle Thomas*.Excavations were carried out ona weekend in July. After diggingthrough three spans (about nineinches or 229 mm per span) ofloose earth, four walls of a white-washed brick grave were encoun-tered. The bricks were about 15½ inches long, 8 inches wide and5 inches thick. These measurescorrespond to those of bricksfound at the first century Yavana(Greek or ‘foreigner’) site atArikamedu near Pondicherryfrom the first century CE. Re-moval of these bricks walls re-vealed a layer of bricks and mor-tar two spans thick, then a fur-

ther layer of loose earth, followedby a second layer of bricks thatappeared to be the bottom of thegrave. Breaking through thebrick covering the excavatorsfound three spans of earth, andunder that a layer of extremelyhard cement two spans thick.Beneath the cement they foundtwo stone slabs bound togetherbut with no inscription.

The following day work wasresumed. The excavatorsreached the bottom of the bricklining. Three or four more spansof loose earth were removed.They were now at a depth ofabout 15 or 16 spans – roughly12 feet or 3.6 metres. Here theyfound a bed of sand, and of limewhich had crumbled into dust.Finally they came upon whatmight support the local claims: askull, some ribs, then otherbones, but far too few in numberto make up a whole skeleton.There was also an earthenwarejar with a capacity of an ‘almude’– an obsolete Portuguese unit ofmeasurement of about 16.54litres in the Lisbon standard –filled with red earth, at the footof the grave. From it stuck out athigh bone, and inside was theblade of a ‘Malabaric’ lance orspear in the shape of an olive leaf.This lance tip was perfectly pre-served and had in the shaft apiece of wood.

* Based on the report of DiogoFernandes in 1523.

Given his love for Tamil, I sincerely hope it is the former, but thenR.S. Ellis could well be the man.

The last entry in the Indian Charivari concerning someonefrom Madras is on R.S. Ellis. His father, Sir Henry Ellis, was anillegitimate son of the fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire and rose tobecome a diplomat, serving in Persia, China, Brazil, Africa andBrussels. His career, however, began with the East India Com-pany (EIC) where he served in Bengal as the Private Secretary tothe President of the Board of Control. Perhaps following in hisfather’s footsteps, Robert Ellis too joined the EIC, becoming a partof the Madras Civil Services in 1844. He worked initially inCoimbatore and Tanjore and then went on home leave in 1848,much to the distress of the Madras Literary Society (MLS) fromwhich he had borrowed a couple of books and forgotten to returnthem. The money was duly extracted from him when he returnedand took charge as Assistant Collector of Customs, Madras.

In 1854, Ellis was posted to the Central Provinces and, whilethere, played an important role in keeping the area free of anytrouble during the great Revolt. Much of this was due to the excel-lent relations that Ellis had developed with the widowed Ranis ofNagpur. These women had every right to resent the British, mainlyon account of Dalhousie’s doctrine of lapse, which had preventedthem from adopting an heir to the throne following the death ofthe last ruler, Raghuji Bhonsle. But Ellis ensured that there wasno trouble and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath(CB).

Ellis was of a delicate constitution and we see his career punc-tuated by several bouts of home leave. In 1858 he sailed for En-gland and when he returned to Madras in 1860 he was made Spe-cial Income Tax Commissioner, a hugely unpopular post. He hadto face protests from everyone from the Madras Chamber of Com-merce downward. But the tax was implemented. A year later hebecame Deputy Secretary and was appointed Special SanitaryCommissioner, a post he held till 1862 when he became the Ma-dras Member on the Viceroy’s Executive Council.

In 1865, he again went on home leave. This is when FlorenceNightingale got to know of him. That redoubtable lady had bythen put together the Indian Sanitary Report and among its chieffindings was that Madras was particularly susceptible to cholerachiefly because it lacked proper drains. She summoned Ellis to herhome and then being charmed by his manners invited him to stayas a houseguest. He was sent to barracks, hospitals and otherinstitutions in London to see how drains were laid in that city.Guided by Miss Nightingale, Ellis drafted several proposals onsanitary arrangements and other improvements for Madras. The

R.S. Ellis, MCS.

The building that’s replaced Chintamani.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2017

(Answers on page 8)

DOUBTING THOMAS

(Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’squestions are from November 1stto 15th. Questions 11 to 20 relate

to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. On November 15th, Googlehonoured Cornelia Sorabji with adoodle on her 151st birth anniver-sary. What is her claim to fame?

2. Name the Exchange TradedFund (ETF) launched by the UnionGovernment that comprises 22stocks, including those of centralpublic sector enterprises, publicsector banks and its holdings underthe Specified Undertaking of UnitTrust of India (SUUTI)?

3. In which Asian country did thePrime Minister inaugurate theNarendra Modi Resilient Rice FieldLaboratory on November 13th?

4. Who are the new national singlesbadminton champions?

5. What is Tyrannomyrmex alii (orT. alii), discovered in the PeriyarTiger reserve and named after emi-nent myrmecologist Musthak Ali, anew species of?

6. How did Umlingla Top inLadakh make news recently?

7. Which place of worship in TamilNadu recently became the first towin the coveted UNESCO Asia-Pacific award for its culturalheritage conservation programmein the Awards of Merit category?

8. The Union Ministry of Commu-nications has launched the DeenDayal SPARSH Yojana, a pan-India scholarship programme forschoolchildren to increase thereach of which hobby and whatdoes SPARSH stand for?

9. Which Tamil Nadu art form wasrecently accorded a GI Tag?

10. On November 15th, thisLeonardo Da Vinci work becamethe most expensive painting sold atan auction, going for a whoppingprice of $450.3 million. Name it.

* * *11. Which popular cinema theatrein the city was inaugurated on May23, 1970 with a screening of ShirleyMclean’s Sweet Charity?

12. For what contribution werefellow Asian cities Almaty andDaegu in the news along withChennai recently?

13. Actor Karthi’s latest actionflick Theeran Adhigaaram Ondruwill depict which meticulously-planned operation of the TamilNadu police in the recent past?

14. Which 200-year old centre ofeducation located at the junction ofMount Road and Binny Road is tobe brought down and replaced witha modern building?

15. The new Chandra Metromall atEngineer Thottam, between Vala-saravakkam and Virugambakkam,has come up on the location ofwhich theatre?

16. In 1933, P. ChokkalingaMudhaliar built ten shops in a nowchaotic locality and named the‘market’ after his native place.Where was he from?

17. In 1852, Rev. Robert Carverestablished two schools called theMount Road Male and FemaleSchools. What is present name forthe institution now?

18. All know that R. Natarajanmade the pioneering flick KeechakaVadham. Who wrote the Tamilintertitles and the Hindi intertitles?

19. Name the architect responsiblefor the Ice House and the DGP HQ,both on the beach road.

20. What would you find whereonce Serle’s Garden stood?

The culture

divide

(Continued from page 5)

The orientation of the re-mains were north-south, an Is-lamic tradition. Christians weretraditionally buried in an east-west position. Islam did notreach the Coromandel Coastuntil at least the 7th CenturyCE.

All the fragments of much-decayed bone were gatheredinto a chest, and, with a fewother fragments that were un-earthed during the excavation,placed in a Chinese chest withtwo silver locks.

It was common knowledgein the area that the site was at-tended by a Moor (Muslim),and that pilgrims of all faithscame from ‘all over India’ topray at the site. The eminentPortuguese historian Joao deBarros (1496-1570) places thetown of St. Thomas at 13o 32'north of the equator, whichwould make the site correspond

very closely with present-dayPulicat, not Mylapore.

Nevertheless, at the end ofthe lengthy inquiry that fol-lowed the excavation, it wasconcluded, on the basis ofstrong local tradition and theage of the bones, that the gravewas indeed that of Thomas theApostle. However, the burialcould just as easily be that of anancient Dravidian person ofsome note.

Although the ancientchurch of the Thomas Chris-tians is of immense significanceto Indians, the paucity of his-torical and archaeological evi-dence cannot offer certainty.Much of what is believed re-mains conjectural. However,history can offer probability invarying degrees. There is noclear written evidence thatThomas, the Apostle, preachedin South India, the India of hisera encompassing a vast geo-graphical area. All scholars

agree that Christianity existedin India from between the thirdand sixth centuries CE, the lan-guage of worship then beingSyriac. It is entirely possiblethat the apostle Thomas cameto India in the first century CE;there is as yet no evidenceagainst this possibility.

As with most matters of faithand even history, due to a lackof convincing historical evi-dence, the question remains:who or what lies under sanctu-ary of the São Tomé basilica?Were the contents of that gravethe remains of one of the manyLevantine traders who settledalong the Coromandel Coast2000 years ago? Or a localmegalithic burial? Is there noth-ing beneath the altar of theSanthome Basilica? We areunlikely to ever know. Faithand tradition have blended tothe extent that nobody reallycares to know the historicaltruth.

Nowadays, it would seem ifyou are not outspokenly

“for” something, you are takento be “against” it. The middlepath is pitfalls for the unwary.Express admiration for English,protagonists of Hindi exchangedark and meaningful looks.Criticise Indian films, andpromptly someone within hear-ing dares you to declare thatyou are in favour of “Hollywoodvulgarity”. And so it goes. Sit-ting on a wall (if only becauseyou happen to like the view onboth sides) is a precarious occu-pation, and there is alwayssomeone around hoping to pickup the pieces when you fall.

This instinctive desire to de-fine your loyalties and stick atany cost to your own side of thefence is, I think, unfortunatelybecoming more and more evi-dent in cultural field. It is no ex-aggeration (however much youwish it were) that except for afew uncommitted ones – and, ofcourse those who get free passes– the audience at a BharataNatyam is quite different fromthe one you might encounter ata Kathakali performance. Thetwo are, by and large, mutuallyexclusive, if not antagonistic.And the division is still widerwhen it is a question of, say, aTamil drama, on the one hand,and a local production of an En-glish play, on the other. Evenwhen there exists no problem oflanguage, a self-imposed barrierseems to cut off any mutual in-terest or exchange of ideas.

From the point of view ofattendance, the English playsuffers most – and this is some-times a pity. The Night of theIguana, staged recently by theMadras Players, definitely de-served a larger, if not a more re-sponsive audience. In appeal, itwas admittedly not in the sameclass as Server Sundaram, but, allthe same, you noted with regretthat, from the demure (and,alas, so persuasive) programme-sellers, to the company execu-tive disporting himself in thefront row in a disarmingly infor-mal bush-shirt, local patronagefor the play came almost exclu-sively from what one might callthe “smart set”. No doubt theirloyalties are also fixed. Quiteuncharitably, you felt that agood number of them camethere to like – but only to like –what they saw. The commentsyou overheard during the inter-val were “frank”, and occasion-ally the present show was com-pared to the “one I saw in NewYork last time I was abroad.”Not being in a position to verifythis assessment (but otherwiseonly too conscious of the draw-backs a producer here has nec-essarily to face) you turnedaway, a little sad that local ini-tiative and talent had beenfound wanting.

But in actual fact, local tal-ent did acquit itself rather wellon that occasion – and that iswhy, I think, the productionwould have proved of interestto a larger and more varied au-

dience. In choosing a Tennes-see Williams play, particularlysoon after the film had been ex-hibited in Madras, the producerperhaps revealed a rare measureof courage. It is certainly to hiscredit that, after the show, youcame away with your respect forthat courage still intact. Com-petent (if not brilliant) acting,imaginative use of stage propsand lighting, and deft directionset Iguana free from the limita-tions you normally associatewith “amateur” productions inthis country. Top actinghonours go to Snehalata Reddy,whose sensitive rendering of therole of Hannah won enthusias-tic praise from critic and laymanalike.

I do not mean to imply thatIguana was the most significantcultural event of the season. Itsfailings (apart from your ownreservations regarding indig-enous talent) were obvious. Tobegin with, you felt that thechoice of an open-air theatre(situated almost on the sea-shore) was not a particularlyhappy one in this case. It some-how put you “out of touch” withWilliams, let you escape thatsense of being trapped in a situ-

ation. Whatever advantage theproduction gained from a set-ting remarkably close to the onevisualised by the author, a greatdeal of the impact was de-stroyed by, of all things, astrong, cross-wind from the sea,which distracted the audienceand worse still, snatched awaythe words almost before the ac-tors had a chance to utter them.Even when the script did notwarrant it, the people on thestage seemed to be shouting atone another.

And while the curtainsflapped convincingly in thewind and the lights flashed omi-nously to simulate the stormoutside, too often had you tostrain to catch the rumblings ofthe “inner storm” which givespoint and purpose to the Will-iams play.

Iguana, according to some,is one of the less successful playsstaged so far by the MadrasPlayers. If that is indeed thecase, the contention that thisgifted and enterprising groupdeserves greater attention gainsweight. The Madras Playerspresent an aspect of the theatre,however limited or “alien”,which promises good entertain-ment for the discerning, andworthwhile lessons for manyproducers of Indian plays I canthink of.

K.P. Balaji (1926-76) died in an air crash in Bombay. From

Kathakali in Kerala, he moved to Marg, that cultural journal in

Bombay. JoiningThe Illustrated Weekly of In-

dia, he was with it from 1954 to 1961. He

then got into advertising with S.H.

Benson’s and rose to be one of its

Directors.His son, K.P. Karunakaran,

settled in Australia, put together a

collection of his writings and published

them as a commemoration of his

father’s 40th death anniversary. Over

the next few issues, we publish a few of

Balaji’s Madras-focused articles that

appeared in The Illustrated Weekly in 1964-65.

TODAY’S ARTICLE IS ON

THEATRE IN MADRAS.

(Continued from page 3)

The flood of end-2015, fol-lowed by Cyclone Vardah andthe drought this summer, hasgiven Chennai residents a senseof what it would be like to livethrough a string of extremeweather events. In some loca-tions there has been civil soci-ety action, supported byorganisations and governmen-tal institutions, to conserve andrejuvenate water bodies. Per-haps these could be the initialsteps in the process tostrengthen Chennai’s climateresilience where the network ofblue and green holds the key.

Shrinking

wetlands,

felling trees

December 1-15, 2017 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

� A JOURNALIST WITH CANCER EMBARKS ON ...

An explorationof India

I too, in coming to theashram, had ended up in a

different kind of India. It wasnot the India tourists come totake photos of, nor the oneusually described by journal-ists. It was the seekers’ India,the India of the great mythswhich gave mankind the ideaof God and that of zero, as wellas everything that lies in be-tween. I had lived in Delhi foryears, but I had always movedin political or cultural circles,and always felt I was missingout on something. This wasdoubtless because I had nevertaken any serious notice ofwhat is really Indian: the spiri-tual dimension. It was like be-

ing a Martian who landed inFlorence in the time of Danteand expected to understand itjust by visiting the odd churchwithout studying the Bible.Now I felt I was coming closerto the real heart of India in themost typically Indian manner:by going to live with a guru.

Guru is a beautiful word,which unfortunately has lost alot of its meaning these daysthrough the way we haveabused it in the West, wherewe speak of fashion, healthand even sex gurus. Gu in San-skrit means ‘shadows’ and rumeans ‘to put to flight, dispel’.In other words, a ‘guru’ is onewho dispels the shadows, who

brings light into the darknessof ignorance. His orangeclothing recalls the colour ofthe flame which burns in thedarkness, the force of firewhich consumes matter.

This was the real India. Myguru was called DayanandaSaraswati, and I was a mem-ber of the Arsha VidyaGurukulam, literally the ‘fam-ily of the guru of true knowl-edge’, the knowledge whichcomes from the rishis or theseers. The location was beau-tiful, around twenty milesfrom Coimbatore, the capitalcity of the textile industry inthe state of Tamil Nadu.

The Swami would come in through the northern entrance,accompanied by a young brahmachari who would walk

alongside him, shielding him from the sun with an open um-brella. The Swami would take off his sandals, mount the woodenplatform, climb the three steps up to his podium, wrap the edgeof his orange tunic over his head and sit down cross-legged be-hind a low table covered by a coloured throw. From under thattablecloth, in the course of a lesson, the Swami would produceall kinds of good things with which to illustrate the points hewould make in his teaching, as all gurus have done for centuriesin their teaching of the Vedanta. He would take a clay dish andexplain how its existence depended on the existence of the clay.Without clay the dish would not exist, just as creation wouldnot exist without consciousness. He took out a crystal ball and arose to illustrate the illusory nature of the rose’s colour whenseen through the ball; it is the same confusion created by theself, when it attempts to distinguish between itself and what itperceives. He produced a rope with which to make the classicVedantic comparison between the rope and a snake: to mistakea rope for a snake is exactly the same as to mistake the world ofthe senses for the real world. It is confusion of our own making:could the rope be mistaken for a snake if the snake did not exist?

India may be a poor country, but it is also a country in whichthe people have fewer needs, fewer desires; this is why down,

it is also a happier country than many others. But not for long:globalization is bringing the rest of the world’s desires to Indiatoo, and eroding its contentment and its peace in the process.

The suspension system of the car - another old HindustanMotors’ Ambassador - was on its last legs, and every now againit bounced over the holes in the road and threw me around inthe most terrible fashion. If I had had an attack of some kind ormy hernia had erupted, I imagined the young taxi driver drop-ping me off at one of the many hospitals or rest homes I sawalong the roadside. None of them inspired a great deal of confi-dence: even the letters in their names, such as ‘Shakti NursingHome’ or ‘Lord Krishna Hospital’ were falling off. And thetreatments they were mostly for haemorrhoids and fistulas!

In the end nothing major happened to me, and I was sparedthe experience of being a genuine Anam, a Mr Nobody, in themiddle of nowhere without the protection of my former iden-tity. We arrived safe and sound in Kottakkal. The Arya VaidvaSala was well known and everyone knew how to get there; itwas the only hospital with an elephant parked in the courtyard.

When Tiziano Terzani, ac-claimed Italian journalist

and writer, known for his exten-sive coverage of Asia for the Eu-ropean press, is diagnosed withcancer, he stops to consider hispast life and how he shouldspend his future, if he has one.

“I felt as if my whole life hadbeen on a merry-go-round and

right from the start I had riddenthe white horse. I had gone upand down and round and roundto my heart’s content, withoutanyone to ask if I had a ticket.And, in fact, I hadn’t. All mylife I had bummed a ride! Well,now the ticket collector wascoming through and I’d have topay my dues. But with a bit ofluck I might just get...one moreride on the merry-go-round.”

After being initially treatedwith chemotherapy, surgery

and radiation at the MemorialSloan Kettering in New York,Terzani gets a reprieve. His can-cer is in remission and the doc-tors tell him that he needs to seethem only after a while. Terzanipacks his bags and leaves for anunlikely location for a man re-covering from cancer – India.“Those who love India will

know, they don’t know exactlywhy they love it. It’s dirty, poor,infected, sometimes thievingand lying, frequently malodor-ous,” admits Terzani who had ahome in Delhi. “Yet once youhave met it, you can’t live with-out it... In India I had no needof any remedy to get back myequilibrium... The remedy wasall around me, in every detail ofmy surroundings.”

There follows Terzani’s longexploration of India in search of

not just a cure for his cancer butthe answers to his larger ques-tions about his condition.Terzani travels from Reiki prac-titioners in Delhi to anayurvedic doctor in Kakinada,to the hiving streets of Varanasiand the tranquillity of BodhGaya, and the serenity ofDharmashala. Then Terzani re-turns to America for a check-upand, later, on a visit to SanFrancisco, meets SwamiDayananda Saraswathi, whowas then in the U.S. Deeply in-spired by the Swami’s disserta-tions on the Vedas and Yoga,Terzani sets out for the Swami’sashram in the Anaikatti Hillsnear Coimbatore in TamilNadu.

“The location was beautiful,around twenty miles fromCoimbatore... On the way tothe ashram... I saw a man squat-ting (on the pavement) in frontof two bamboo cages whichcontained sparrows. He waswaiting for someone to buythem and set them free so as toearn good karma. I bought allthe birds he had and releasedthem, delighting in their chir-ruping and basking in the ap-proving comments of thosearound me...“The outline of theAnaikatti Hills could be seen inthe distance – clear, blue andmajestic. There was a timewhen the whole area had beencovered with dense forest andeven to this day in the little

In the ashram in Anaikatti,for the first time in his life,Terzani deliberately loses his

edged, but even so his mind wasnot convinced by all his teach-ings. There was still the hungerto seek and find. “At the end ofthe three months, I felt like aspy who had infiltrated theranks of the enemy in order totry and learn its secrets...,”Terzani muses. Neverthelessthere is a hint of affection as herecalls, “Someone asked theSwami for a last piece of advice.He didn’t disappoint them.‘Live a life in which you canrecognise yourselves!’”

Later, Terzani travelled toKerala and other places whereayurvedic cures were offered.Some years later, when his can-cer resurfaced and was found tobe incurable, he retired to a re-treat in the Himalayas aboveAlmora, where much of thisbook was written and where,Terzani died.

This is a book* written by adying man, whose sensitivity,humour and sheer courage,have much to teach the living.

*One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round by Tiziano Terzani,Harper Element.

� by Janaki Venkataraman

woodland that remained, thetaxi driver informed there are aprimitive people who dress onlyin leaves and have a king astheir leader...”

sense of what he had been all hislife and willingly accepts ano-nymity and silence as a way oflife. Calling himself Anam (thenameless), he falls into thesoothing rhythm of life in theashram for the next threemonths – yoga practice, lectureson Vedanta by SwamiDayananda, meditation andviewing the simple worship ofthe idol of Dakshinamurthy(who, for some reason, Terzanicalls a goddess!). “In theashram... there was time to livelife paying attention to everymoment. We practised acting asopposed to reacting, keepingour minds alert and aware ofeach movement.” (This in-cluded deciding whether or notto kill a mosquito buzzingaround his ear, instead of swat-ting it by reflex!)

Swami Dayananda was, per-haps, the closest entity to aGuru that Terzani acknowl-

EXCERPT

EXCERPT

EXCERPT

Tiziano Terzani receives the blessings of a temple elephant.

8 MADRAS MUSINGS December 1-15, 2017

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1. She was the first Indian woman to practise law in India and England; 2.BHARAT-22; 3. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Phil-ippines; 4. Saina Nehwal and H.S. Prannoy; 5. Ant; 6. The Border RoadsOrganisation recently constructed the world’s highest motorable road there,86 km long at a height of over 19,300 feet; 7. Srirangam RanganathaswamyTemple; 8. Philately (stamp collecting) and ‘Scholarship for Promotion of Ap-titude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby’; 9. Mamallapuram stone sculptures;10. Salvator Mundi.

* * *11. Devi; 12. These three were chosen for their music in the list of 64 cities

designated as UNESCO Creative Cities; 13. The tracking and takedown ofcriminals of the deadly Bawaria gang in UP for murders committed in TamilNadu; 14. Government Madrasa-e-Azam School for Boys; 15. National The-atre; 16. Pondicherry; 17. Christ Church School; 18. Pammal SambandamMudaliar and Devdas Gandhi respectively; 19. Col. J.J. Underwood; 20. Theupmarket housing development Kesavaperumal Puram, Greenways Road.

Answers to Quiz

The new hopefrom Chennai

� byPartab Ramchand

Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Ramkumar Ramanathanhas a huge tradition to fol-

low and it must be said that hehas maintained it. The leadingIndian player has generallyemerged from Tamil Nadu, ashistory has proved time andagain, and the 23-year-oldChennai-born lad, despite thepressures of being in such a situ-ation, is the latest flag-bearer oftennis excellence from theState. Ramkumar is clearly thebrightest prospect in the coun-try and in September this yearhe reached a career-high singlesrank of 150 which he improvedto 146 at the start of Novem-ber. The manner in which he isshaping, a place in the top 100during 2018 is well on thecards.

Ramkumar is a tall and re-markably fit right-hander andhis game is power-packed. Hehas a brilliant serve and volleygame and his smooth ground

strokes are a blend of controland accuracy. Taking to thegame at the early age offive, Ramkumar’s natural tal-ent combined with hard worksaw him make rapid progressand he first attracted consider-able attention when as a 15-year-old he won the nationaljunior (under-18) title inChennai in 2009. He thenmade further headlines when hewon the national title atKolkata in early 2013. It was ayear later that he really causeda sensation. First, he qualifiedfor the main draw of theChennai Open and, then, beatthe leading player in the coun-try, Somdev Devvarman, in thefirst round.

It was clear by now that aspecial talent had arrived on thetennis horizon and over thenext couple of years Ramkumarmade steady progress aroundthe international circuit, play-

ing Futures and Challengers. In2014 he won the Cambodian$10,000 ITF Futures title inPhnom Penh. Later that year hewon back-to-back Futures titlesin Turkey. A month later, heunderlined his ascendancy byknocking out Yuki Bhambri inthe ATP Indore Open. InNovember the same year, hecelebrated his 20th birthday bydefeating Saketh Myneni in thefinal of the Gondwana Cup$10,000 ITF Futures tourna-ment at Raipur. Early in 2015he repeated his victory over

Somdev Devvarman achievedat the Chennai Open by defeat-ing India’s highest rankedsingles player again, this time inthe first round of the $50,000ATP Challenger Kolkata Open.In 2016 he reached thequarterfinal of the ChennaiOpen. It was the first time thathe reached the quarterfinals ofan ATP tour event. In Octoberthe same year he partneredJeevan Nedunchezhiyan andthe pair reached the finals of theVietnam Open.

Ramkumar, who honed hisskills at the Sanchez CasalAcademy in Barcelona for threeyears, made it clear very early inhis career that he wanted torepresent India in the DavisCup, the Olympics and theAsian Games. He has alreadyperformed admirably in theDavis Cup. His other goal at thetime was to be a top 100 rankedplayer by the end of 2017. Andinternationally Ramkumar’s

career really took off this year.In April he reached his firstsingles final at the Challengersin Tallahassee (USA). In Julyhe reached his second Chal-lengers final at the Nielsen Prochampionship at Winnetka(USA).

But it was in between thesetwo events that he enjoyed hisbiggest moment on the pro cir-cuit so far. In the Antalya Openin Turkey, Ramkumar pro-duced a major upset by defeat-ing world No 8 and top seedDominic Thiem in the secondround. This was his first matchagainst a top ten player. Rankedworld no 222, Ramkumar won

in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. He thenprogressed to the quarterfinalswhere he lost to the muchhigher ranked Marcos Bagh-datis of Cyprus in a third set tiebreak. In August, Ramkumarqualified for the first time forthe main draw of a Masters1000 tournament in the Cincin-nati Masters. He won his firstround match but lost in the sec-ond round. It was this resultthat propelled him to a thencareer high rank of 150.

The upward graph is likely tocontinue in 2018, given hisgrowing confidence level, hissublime playing skills and idealbig match temperament.CHENNAI HERITAGE

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