CHENNAI: The street names in our city have always been one of the main reasons to muse about our culture, heritage and in some instances our sense of humour. Most streets, which were earlier named after colonial masters, have now been renamed after Tamil scholars, and sometimes the nature of the locality that it once was. In a talk about streets of Madras, historian V Sriram takes us on a journey discussing some glorious street names including Beerkaran Street, Kolaikaran Pettai, Thyphoon Alikhan Street and more.
Talking about the ancient villages in the city which includes Mylapore, Velachery (known as Vedhasherni in ancient times) and Triplicane, he shares, “These are all ancient locations; references by Nyana Sambandhar in the 7th or 8th Century about the festivals that are still being celebrated in Mylapore vouch for the age of this area.”
On the villages which have no record of them existing before 16th-17th century, he classifies them as medieval villages and says, “When the British came here, they started acquiring locality for their own use. Hence, some say the place already existed, but there is no clear record of that.”
He dwelt on the origin of names like Chetpet and Kodambakkam. “Well. This is my favourite story. If people say that Kodambakkam got its name because the nawab had his horses there — Goda-bagh (horse garden), then does Nungambakkam mean nunga bagh? (nudist colony),” he exclaims with the audience breaking into laughter.
As we dissect every well-known area in the city, Sriram also explored the foreign connect to city’s well-known neighbourhoods — Santhome, George Town, Chintadripet, Choolai and Chrompet. “In 1911, Black Town was renamed as George Town in honour of King George V. His statue still stands there and he holds different political flags depending on the procession that happens every day,” quips the historian. Shedding light on the first planned area in the city – Chintadripet (China thari pettai), which housed the weavers community, he says, “It was a hub for making looms and the weavers community stayed there. Similarly, potters were located in Choolai and then later shifted to what’s now called as Choolaimedu.”
A plethora of history and anecdotes in a 60-minute talk is sure to overwhelm anyone, but Sriram’s tongue-in-cheek humour kept us engrossed until the last minute as we finally walked through the modern areas — from Theyagaraya Nagar (which was east Mambalam) and Broadway to the very recent industrial estates. On the perennial congestion at Broadway he says, “Broadway is neither broad nor there is a way.”
He moved on to trace the origins of ancients streets like Mathala Narayanan Street, Bread Godown Street, Mylaporan Street in Royapettah, Alwarpet Street in Cenotaph Road, Kathipara junction and Parish Venkatachala Iyer Street with a lot of historical facts and interesting elements throw in. “I am intrigued by a Mylaporan Street in Alwarpet and an Alwarpet Street in Teynampet. Why? Still remains a mystery and I don’t have answers,” he laughs.
Towards the end, he shows a series of misspelt street names with visual presentation. Pilot lane — ‘Polite lane’, Mint street — ‘Mind street’ and Gill nagar — ‘Kill nagar (in English)’. Kolakaranpettai and the infamous double bend road (General Collins Road), the site where the blackmailer Lakshmikanthan was killed in 1944 (a sensational murder case then) make us go screaming “wow Madras”.