CHENNAI: There are a number of ways in which one can paint a picture of Madras, the most common being through its iconic buildings. An environmentalist might paint a different picture through an ecological study of the region. But what if one were to document Madras as it exists in the memories of its inhabitants? What picture would emerge?
Thirupurasundari Sevvel of the Madras Literary Society set out to figure this out through a collaborative project with architects Srishti Prabhakaran and Prasanna, and artist Akshayaa Selvaraj.
At a talk titled ‘Mapping the living heritage of Madras - Understanding the Tangible through the Intangible’ held at the Press Institute of India on Wednesday, Thirupurasundari shared the results of the project and acknowledged the contributions of her collaborators, who couldn’t make it.
Thirupurasundari clarified that the word “mapping” did not imply a cartographic activity and that it was more a bringing together of moods, memories, history and nostalgia that made up the total experience of life in Madras.
Impromptu sketches
“The project involved going to places like an auto stand or a beach, and Srishti would make sketches based on conversations with passers-by, who were asked to share their memories and impressions of the particular space,” Thirupurasundari said.
The experiment was held at Aminjikarai, Triplicane, Mylapore, Chintadripet, Parry’s Corner and Medavakkam, resulting in several miniature artworks. One of the images enlarged for display on a screen featured elements instantly identifiable to anybody familiar with the city — autorickshaws, kolams, lighthouses, fishing nets and goli sodas. In fact, it was a collage of 92 elements, she added.
And there were more — one depicted the city’s musicscape as it existed in the minds of Chennaiites, and here, one ran into familiar territory yet again, with mats, ghatams, tharais and so on. Yet another one depicted the sights people saw (or wished they could see) when they looked out of the terrace of their homes.
Speaking of terraces, a heritage walk through one of Triplicane’s last community dwellings brought about a different detail about life in erstwhile Madras, and a photograph from an acquaintance testified to it. The picture featured a group of children on the terrace of one such community-dwelling that was demolished to make way for an apartment. In the background could be seen adjoining terraces, and children back then moved between homes through these terraces, an experience that seems to have faded with later generations — a poignant example of intangible heritage, one that exists only as a memory, yet to be archived.
Piece of history
Perhaps the most significant history lesson came from the Anna Nagar tower. “Even as a student at Anna Nagar, I used to think this place had no historical significance, until I started working on this project,” Thirupurasundari added.
Back in the 60s, when the area was simply known as West Madras, it was decided that the neighbourhood would be a convenient spot to host India’s first international trade exhibition in 1968. Very soon, the area boomed with development, and the tower was built for this event.
Originally called the Panchsheel tower, it was renamed Viswesvaraya Tower and later on took on its present name of Anna Nagar tower. Many of the buildings that were erected for the event like the Kerala Pavilion and Bangkok Pavilion, remain, the latter repurposed as Anna Nagar Ladies’ Club. And yet, the image seemed to have faded from public memory, partly because the expo was never held there since, having moved to Pragati Maidan in Delhi since.
The memory of the event resides for the most part among people in their 70s and 80s, who witnessed the event and lived long enough to narrate it. The whole narrative of the expo was pieced together through these different interviews, which would otherwise have faded forever. The last slide was a photograph from one of the interviewees, a 1960s photograph of Anna Nagar when it was but West Madras. A little girl standing knee-deep in water, after the area gets flooded in the monsoon.
The project, which involved interviews with several hundreds of people, gave but one conclusion. “There is no single identity to Madras; it’s all of them put together,” she said.
Mural magic
Research on the expo led the team to another significant discovery — a mural opposite Kandasamy college, the only one of six murals to survive. Representing at least 43 professions, the mural is yet another piece of history, whose larger context remains unnoticed.