The recent passing away of S Muthiah, legendary chronicler of “Madras that is now Chennai” (the tagline of his paper Madras Musings), is a huge loss to heritage lovers of the city and legions of his admirers and students. Around 30 years ago, I remember sitting in his reporting class at the Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya while I was pursuing a postgraduate degree in journalism offered by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Hands in his pockets he would walk up and down the classroom as he kept us hanging on to his every word elucidating on what news was all about. He knew every student by name long after they had passed out and would take a keen interest in their growth.
He authored many books on the history of Madras, its business houses, educational institutions, etc.—his Madras Rediscovered is a bible for heritage lovers. If today a section of the population has a greater awareness of the city’s history and the need to preserve its heritage it is largely thanks to his body of columns and initiatives like Madras Week.
Even if it was a book chronicling the history of a school, he would set it in a larger context and make sure there was a lot of social history. “Each of us has a story to tell and should write our biographies, if not for publication, then for our children and grandchildren,” he would stress. Awed by his output I once asked him how he managed to be so prolific. His answer: “I write a 1,000 words every day”. Married late to Valli (who was a busy company secretary) Muthiah would joke that his ever-growing collection of paper clippings and cuttings was one day going to push his “young wife” to throw it all out.
A versatile personality, Muthiah acquired an engineering degree in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the US (he often spoke of the community newspaper there) and a degree in international relations. He entered journalism and rose to a high position at the Times of Ceylon until citizenship issues came in the way of his getting the top job, forcing a return to Madras. He got into the production of maps and tourist guide books, which sparked off his interest in the city.
He bore his illness in his final years without complaining and managed to keep writing through it all. Almost everyone who knew him is probably left with the feeling that they could have worked on more projects with him and benefited by the wisdom of the experience.
Sudha Umashanker
Email: sudha.ganesha@gmail.com