CHENNAI: The all-white structure which proudly upholds the neo-classical architecture and the nuances of history from 1913, opened its gates to the past on Sunday to an era where Chennai can be seen while travelling on horse-drawn chariots. At the event Ride with #madrasmemories organised by The New Indian Express in collaboration with the Greater Chennai Corporation and with associate sponsors VIT, Noizzy Box, Minister White, AhaGuru and cake partner The Cake World, Chennaiites, especially kids were invited to join in for the Madras Week celebrations.
Holding flags with messages ‘Happy Birthday Chennai’ on them, the kids enthusiastically travelled in the three horse chariots adorned with banners and decorations that gave away the spirit of celebrations. “I am extremely delighted that The New Indian Express is doing a different programme to celebrate Madras Day. The Ripon building is an old building and it has a lot of history. Today it is surrounded by a lot of young people and we are together celebrating the city,” shared IAS officer J Radhakrishnan, additional chief secretary/commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation. Radhakrishnan along with Priya Rajan, mayor of Chennai, Lakshmi Menon, CEO, TNIE Groups, J Vignesh Kumar, senior vice-president marketing, TNIE, and staff members of TNIE inaugurated the event by cutting a cake.
A ride to remember
Almost 60-100 kids, including those from Shrine Trust, MKB Nagar, gathered in front of the building during both morning and evening hours to experience the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A few parents also accompanied the children making it a family affair to celebrate Madras. Priya and Radhakrishnan interacted with the kids, sharing with them interesting facts about the importance of Madras Day.
Addressing the audience, Priya shared, “This year for Madras Month, we scheduled a lot of activities. Today, we are collaborating with The New Indian Express to conduct the chariot ride. This takes us back to the past years. Chennai has a lot of iconic buildings and places of historical importance. A lot of organisations like TNIE are coming forward with the aim to celebrate the city in all its glory. Our aim is to celebrate the city together.”
While the first set of kids enjoyed the ride along the road that housed the Ripon Building and Chennai Central station, the second round involved taking the kids around the Ripon Building premises. On their way, the kids sang songs, listened to the historical facts their parents told and were awed in wonder at the experience they were having. The traffic police ensured that there were no disturbances.
Agasthi Karthikeyan, a class 3 student of DAV School, Gopalapuram said, “We are celebrating Madras Day. It was nice to ride on a horse (carriage). I got a lot of friends from this event. This is my first time riding on a horse and it was amazing.” Echoing the same sentiment, four-year-old Sivan said that he enjoyed the ride a lot. Ezhilarasi Karthikeyan, parent of Agasthi, spoke about the importance of events like this. “Even though I am a Chennaiite, I had never visited the Ripon Building before. This event gave us an opportunity to celebrate Madras Day together with our family and the officials of the Corporation.”