I recently met with a chennai veteran who told me this interesting backdrop to the Burma Bazaar of Chennai, which accounts for most of our media hightlights, that I thought I’d share it with y’all.

So, here’s how the story apparently goes. Back in the days, around the time when we had just gotten our independence, there were quite a few people from the region who were working in plantations in Burma. There was a sizeable working population that was from India, and life went on. When a new emperor/king took over Burma, as a means of doing what Srilanka started off to do as well, the government wanted to increase the chances of locals getting employed, so kicked out all the non-burmese population out of the country. Quite a few countries interfered and so did India, especially TamilNadu.

Out of humanitarian concern, the govt of tamilnadu setup a strip of land, where the refugees could sell whatever posessions they had - most of them were plantation equipment, so that with that money they could start a living. This was around 1962. The selling still goes on :)

How much of this is true, I am not sure, but it certainly rings true from whatever research I’ve done. Have you heard any other story? Can someone add to this, if they do more?

This city has such a rich heritage of the past. Would love to dig up more stories like this.

Photo Credit: The Hindu.

In one of the posts of Vinod Subramanian “Zyng – been there yet ?”, there was a comment by Michelle Binkley  

Hi Vinod, (more…)

During the Third Chennai Photowalk on January 13, 2007, we came across Bairagi Madam Arulmigu Thiruvengadamudayan Venkatesa Perumal Thirukovil in General Muthiah Mudali Street at Sowcarpet. Though some snaps were taken we did not go inside the temple. (more…)

potum: Via Ravages, aka. Chandrachoodan

History: Muthiah
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During the Third Chennai Photowalk, we came across the residence where MGR lived with his mother and brother during his early days when he was a small time actor.

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New Indian Express in its City Express supplement dated 23/01/2008 carried a report on the Chennai Photowalk
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The Azaadi Express (a mobile exhibition covering India’s history from 1857 to present day) is here. Today, the central station was crowded with a different kind of population. A whole lot of people without baggage, one their way from office, long queues of school children. The Azaadi Express exhibition seems to be drawing crowds. The exhibition includes original vintage photographs, pictures, exhibits etc from India’s history. The idea has been conceived by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to mark the 150th anniversary of the ‘First War of Independence’.
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Old Madras! What a multitude of associations are called up by the simple words.What curious picture of the past flash before our eyes”

Those are not the words of a nostalgic old man today. That is the opening sentence of the book, Madras in The Olden Times - A history of the Presidency 1639-1702, compiled by J. Talboys Wheeler, Professor at the Madras Presidency College, in the year 1861. Somethings never change I guess.

Google’s Library project has digitized a lot of books from various libraries across the world. On a whim, one day I searched for Madras in Google Books. And felt like a kid in a candy shop. There are tons of books about old Madras, and though most of them offer only snippet views, there were some that offer the entire book. That is how I landed up with the History of the Presidency book mentioned above.
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The right answer to my old question (which, I realise now, could have been phrased better to avoid the ambiguity) is
2

There are two bridges on Mount Road, as it leaves the Teynampet/T.Nagar area and comes to Saidapet. The most famous and visibly seen, of course, is the Marmalong bridge built by Coja Petrus Uscano, and which bears the now not-so-visible and badly treated plaque.

The other bridge, and the one that concerns us in this post is the one that was built over a small canal (which subsequently became home to a hutment). A friend showed me this particular bridge and the memorial pillar that marks one end of it, a few years back. I’d since then tried finding out as much as possible. So, here’s what I know. But first, the photos.
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With Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan announcing The Second Chennai Photowalk on December 9, 2007, I thought its time to post the concluding part of the First Chennai Photowalk. (Earlier posts on The Chennai Photowalk figure in the Best of Metroblogging )

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