The institute founded in 1936 was formed to culturally revive the country at that time which was under the British Rule.

Check the details about the celebrations here at kalakshetra

This is the Mamallapuram Guest House inaugurated by erstwhile CM of Madras Mr K Kamaraj 51 years ago and was under the ITDC Management subsequently. Taken over later by the GRT group and rechristened as GRT Temple bay.

the above is a collage of his home where he lived in triplicane & the plaque installed by the TN govt.

Check out more about Bharathi and his works here in the site hosted by the TN Govt.

The Stone in the bridge announcing this piece of history shown below.

Happy Madras / Chennai day and have a blast on the 369th birthday.

Came across this sign board which traces the history about a particular shrine, hillock in Chennai.

Yes, its about St.Thomas Mount.

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,

I am trying to find someone in Chennai to help me. I need someone to take a photo of a house there.My Mother and her family were born and raised in Madras (1935? – 1960ish?), and now they all live here in Vancouver, Canada. They have not been back to India for many decades, and I am hoping one day to visit my Mother’s home country.

I realize that this is not a direct comment to your blog, but it is diificult to find out info from around the globe. If you can offer any help, it would be appreciated.

Her family home was at 56 Pantheon road, the family name was Hussam. My Grandfather used to run a prosthetic business on Broadway in Madras. If you can send me a photo of the house, it would mean alot to my Mom and Uncles.

Michelle

I sent the photographs, sometime in March 2007, to Michelle, of the house in Pantheon Road and she confirmed that it was their ancestral house and sent few photographs of her family which you see in B & W here.Michelle’s  Mother, her two brothers, her parents and grandparents, (many generations) were all born and raised in India.Michelle’s Mother’s family stayed in Madras until 1954, then moved to England after all the changes in India during the early 1950s after Independence. Michelle’s  Mother left England as a young woman to come to Canada in the late 50’s.

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.

While I was reading a book on Chennai Koyilgal, a Vikatan Publication, by B Swaminathan, I found there is a Lahore connection to this temple. Around 1800 A D a sanyasi from Lahore came to Chennai  and started staying in the area where the temple is located. This temple is about 420 years old and the then presiding deity was  Lord Rama.Laldas to facilitate the stay for the devotees coming from North India, constructed a madam called Bairagi madam. Laldas became too attached with the temple and the place and he started residing in the Bairagi Madam.

potum: Via Ravages, aka. Chandrachoodan

History: Muthiah

When I moved into Chennai in 99, my classmate took me to Higginbothams to buy books. It wasn’t strange that we didn’t choose Landmark, which was already a much bigger store. After all, my granddad had fond memories of Higginbothams also because they sold the books he had written and the magazine he founded and edited.

I wasn’t disappointed at all. I spend close to two hours in the classics session. I had no money, so I tried to read.

Today, that bookstore is a pale shadow compared to what Landmark, and to a lesser extent, Odyssey have become. But still don’t you love that building?

The house is located at NSC Bose Road at Sowcarpet very close to the intersection with Wall Tax Road. The house is in a dilapidated condition and presently owned by a Marwari businessman. In the same building there is a shop selling banana leaves

During our conversation with this shopkeeper, we learnt from him that this is the house where MGR lived during his early days when he was aspiring to make a career by acting.

(M G Ramachandran, fondly called by his fans and followers as MGR, went on to become a successful actor in Tamil films. Affiliated to DMK, played an important role in DMK coming to power in 1967. Later on formed AIADMK in 1972 and became the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu in 1977 and remained as Chief Minister till his death in 1987)