CHENNAI: It was a red-bricked magnificent building with a central dome, corner quoins and rich heritage in Madras that gave a tough time to architect and INTACH convener Sujatha Shankar. While trying to draw the architecturally rich heritage of Madras in her book Madras Inked... Impressions of an artist and an architect, it was the Government Engineering College, Guindy, that was challenging her. She had turned every page in the history books and called up all the academicians to find out the name of the architect who had built the college.
Finally, she found a PhD thesis by a researcher Shanti from the University of Madras, but before she could learn the name of the architect, she came to know that the researcher had passed away. With a heavy heart, she continued contacting the professors. After crossing many hurdles, she found that it was designed by Nicholls and Wilson. In her book, it was just another addition of words, but for Sujatha, it was a contribution to society. The talk between Sujatha, retired Justice Prabha Sridevan and artist Manohar Devadoss, on the Madras Day eve at the Press Institute of India, Tharamani, illuminated the hardships faced by Sujatha and Manohar in their journey of writing and sketching Madras.
Overcoming the hurdles
The idea of the book which shows the metamorphosis of Madras was conceived in 2016 and a year after that Sujatha began researching. After seeing the greeting cards with hand drawings and reading the Multiple Facets of My Madurai by Manohar Devadoss she couldn’t think of any other artist to illustrate the buildings of Madras. The process continued for three years and was delayed because of the pandemic. Finally in 2021, it was released during the Madras Week, by the then governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Manohar also had his struggles while diving into the project. Suffering from a rare genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, he detailed the intricacies with a diminishing eyesight. “Compiling the exquisite sketches of landmarks of the city, done over a period of six decades with varying levels of deteriorating eyesight was a task. Since I am blind and I live in a large house, few of the people don’t value the artwork, undersell it and do not return it. Thus, finding everything (sketches) was the greatest challenge,” Manohar shared, while wittily remarking that after the collaboration with Sujatha he has stopped sharing his artworks to people and has become more conscious.
The book also holds an introductory note from late S Muthiah on the city’s Heritage. About Muthiah’s involvement in the process of writing the book Sujatha said, “He was very happy about something culturally and historically rich that was being created. In April 2019, a few weeks before he passed away, he saw the mock-up of the book and even went through the script. I used to call him even when the smallest tasks were completed. He was also curious to find out the architect of the Guindy College but I couldn’t update him with the name before his death.”
Into the heritage
Through the colonial structures and places like Cottingley, Mahabalipuram Shore Temple, Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane, Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Chepauk Palace and so on, the book covers centuries of Madras and narratives on the subject of the sketches. Justice Prabha Sridevan highlighted the need of protecting each crumbling building and said, “We should put more focus into conservation of buildings as saving a prestigious old creation is more important than creating new monuments from scratch.”
The book is available for purchase at CP Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, bookstores like Higginbothams and Amazon. The proceeds of the book will aid children with cancer, visually impaired people and children with disability for their education.