WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXII No. 6 July 1-15, 2012

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• Local history focus

•Madras on the AIR

• Suzuki, then the boom

•Actor in the shadows

Still no solutions to

Appa, you always don’t have todress up in your 70’s clothes every timeyou watch the ‘angry young man’movies!

The Stat(us)E ofbeing

You open your email.

Let’s see now....delete, delete,boorrring, delete immedia-tely.

Your eyes stray to the left handcorner.

Wow – lots of green. Youobviously know a wholebunch of cyber-space goof-off-ers.

Then you see it.

A ‘status’ message peeping outfrom under a name, stating:‘Stepping on eggshells of thinice...’

Offered such delightful hokum,you abandon email for thisfar more promising avenuefor imaginative speculation.

Status messages can be such fun– and intriguing.

Like the one that goes: ‘I’m thelost cause I was warnedabout...’

A line like that offers some fasci-nating opportunities to re-think long held opinions,especially of people you thinkyou know.

Another preaches: ‘Reach for themoon, you may at least bagsome stars'.

Hmm....this has addicted-to-self-help-books all over it.

A martyred one sniffles: ‘I’mgoing just so you’ll miss me.’

Now that’s just sad – silly sad, atthat.

Status messages may have begunas a mere means of instantindicators, but they’returning into an art form.

Is it a little like peeping intosomeone’s mind?

Or offering people deliberatelytantalising glimpses of yourlife?

Perhaps.

But hey – it’s a whole new worldof ‘speaking’, ‘seeing’ and‘talking’ these days....and‘reaching out to touch some-one’.

Ranjitha Ashok

How do we curb cell-phoneuse on the roads?

woes causedby parking

(Continued on page 8)

(By A Special Correspondent)

(Also see page 3)

Chennai adds around 400 new vehicles each day to its roads. While this may beheartening for those who consider it an index of prosperity, it is a matter of worry

for those concerned with congestion and its accompanying problems of pollution.And above all, there is the issue of parking, for which there appears to be no solutionin sight. The Government has once again dusted and put out its idea of multi-levelparking at five spots in the city. But is this to be followed up with action? Past expe-rience does not indicate this.

A recent meeting of town planners saw discussion on the subject and it is reliablylearnt that a consulting firm, which has been involved with many infrastructureprojects in the city, has recommended revival of the multi-level parking schemes.

No country has taken to thecell-phone the way India

has. And it would be no exag-geration to say that Chennai isa true representative of thattrend. It has been a great con-venience leading to its rapidlypenetrating all strata of society.But at the same time, it hasproved to be one of the majorcauses of road accidents. Thetemptation to answer a call, nomatter in what situation a per-son is, appears to be irresistible,resulting in mishaps which haveon several occasions causedavoidable casualties.

This report is, of course,prompted by the recent top-pling over of a bus as it roundeda curve on the Gemini Flyover.While the exact cause of theaccident is yet to be established,rumours are flying thick and fastthat the driver had a cell-phonein one hand while trying to steerthe bus round a sharp curve athigh speed. This may not betrue, but the likelihood is quitehigh, given the past record ofseveral accidents in the city. Itis time to take stock of whatdamage irresponsible usage of

These are to be located at theMUC Ground, the BroadwayBus Stand, Government Estate,T’Nagar and Gandhi Nagar.The last two will be single-levelparking lots while the otherswill vary between five and sevenfloors. Overall, these will havecapacity to accommodatearound 1500 cars and 600 two-wheelers. It is a mere drop in theocean when you compare itwith the number of vehicles ply-ing in the city.

What is more, there is noguarantee that these projectswill ever take off. The Broadwayparking facility saw the tenderprocess being repeated fourtimes over as many years andsuccessive relaxing of norms be-fore a bidder emerged. Thereare considerable doubts overthe commercial viability of suchlots. However, there has beensome progress in the past coupleof months with soil-testing be-ing concluded and work ex-pected to begin shortly.

In a related development,the CMDA relaxed its normsfor multi-level parking spaces inhighrises. The concession tobuild multi-level parking whichwas available for IT buildingshas now been extended to allhighrises and this constructedspace will not be included incalculation of FSI. This has

the cell-phone can cause andsee what can be done to avertsuch tragic happenings in thefuture.

The rules are all in place.The Madras Motor VehiclesAct, Rule 250A, clearly statesthat usage of cell-phones whiledriving is a cognisable offencethat can be penalised by theRTO. The Motor VehiclesAmendment Act of 2007, en-acted by Parliament, enhancedthe fine for usage of cell-phone

while driving to Rs 500 for afirst-time offence. Subsequentoffences were to be fined atrates varying from Rs 2000 toRs 5000. Yet, there appears tobe no abatement in the usage ofphones while on the go.

What is interesting is thatthis is done by users across thewhole cross-section of society.Car drivers are perhaps themost visible offenders as areprobably two-wheeler users.

The imbalance caused to cyclesand motor-cycles when the useris trying to cradle a phone andtalk into it is a very commonreason for accidents. It is alsovery often seen that those driv-ing two-wheelers hide theirphones inside their helmets andcontinue talking into it. Themost recent trend is the use ofheadphones. There is a viewthat this is safe enough. Butwhat is overlooked is that thevolume of sound is often setvery high and this drowns outthe warning signals that arecoming from surrounding ve-hicles. This is also the reasonwhy pedestrians overlookspeeding vehicles and walkright into them.

The police have been doingwhat they can to curb the men-ace. Campaigns have been con-ducted. Counselling sessions atstreet corners after apprehen-ding a certain number of defaul-ters is a common sight acrossthe city. But none of these hashad the desired effect. Thereappears to be a general feelingamong individuals that such

(Continued on page 7)

� By A Special

Correspondent

As Biswajit, our cartoonist, isout of town, his cartoon doesnot appear this fortnight.

How to cross a road!

2 MADRAS MUSINGS July 1-15, 2012

maid-of-all-work will goback to the Victorian era andwill be an Abigail. The driverwill be Pilot.

Games drivers play

Talking of drivers, a coupleof friends poured forth

their woes to The Man fromMadras Musings. And ironi-cally both incidents had to dowith the convoys of politicalbigwigs.

The first story involved adriver ferrying two of hismaster’s young children. Thecar in which they were travel-ling came into collision withone of the outlying cars in apolitical bigwig’s convoy.Security men promptlysurrounded the vehicle but thedriver, showing remarkableagility, managed to jump out,leap into a passing auto-rickshaw and vanish to no oneknows where. The youngerchild burst into tears but theolder one had the presence ofmind to summon his fatherwith a phone call. MMM’sfriend paid for the damagesand all ended well, thoughwhat happened to the driver isa bit of a mystery. MMM fullyexpects to see him at a For-mula 1 race pretty soon.

The second story involves asmart alec of a driver who afterdropping his master at the air-port was in a hurry to returnhome. On the way he found aconvoy of cars escorting one ofour VVVVVVVVIPs anddecided to tag along. This wassoon detected and he was

It’s fascinating tocatch up withlocal historyEvery summer, I am coaxed to take a group of holiday makers on

a tour. A summer of 40 plus degrees is certainly not the besttime of the year to go on picnic tours. But then the outdoors alwaysbeckon you when it is holiday time for young people.

This year my offer was a tour of the neighbourhood forts. Andthough history is not everybody’s favourite subject, my themeseemed to delight the group.

There are a string of forts you can explore from a base in ourcity if you set aside a weekend for this tour.

Start in the north, with a tour of Pulicat to explore the rem-nants of Dutch history, with traces of Portuguese presence here.

A cemetery, churches, old houses and a huge waterbody by thesea are must-see places in Pulicat.

Fort St. George in north Madras is Stop No. 2. To me this is afascinating place waiting to be explored many times over and it isbest done on a Sunday. This was the seat of the English East IndiaCompany and the fort of the British.

San Thomé is Stop No. 3. In the 16th Century, it was the hubof the trading Portuguese and they built their own little fort look-ing out on to the sea. Nothing remains since the British flattenedthe place to end all headaches of challengers. But if you sneak inthe sea side of the Leith Castle area, you may be lucky to see fragileremnants of what must have been the walls of a fort.

The campus of Taj Vivanta Fisherman’s Cove in Covelong offthe ECR preserves a slice of a wall of what was once a little fort.

Further south, Stop No.4 has to be Sadras, a fort of the Dutchand another trading post. Located on the seaside, it lies in the vil-lage at the end of a road that branches off from the ECR in theKalpakkam Atomic Power Plant region. Chambers, tombstones,tablets and the ramparts must be explored here.

And if you still have the energy, then your final stop can be FortAlambarai, some 40 minutes from the Kalpakkam point on theECR. Muck, tourist waste and massive fortified walls greet you.The fort, built in the 17th Century and in the Mughal era, wasgifted to the French for services rendered by them to the localNawab but was demolished by the British after they defeated theFrench.

It offers spectacular views of the sea that washes into a lagoonand the local kuppam.

There are lots of places to explore in our city and on its fringe.Basic info and how-to-do guides and rough guide tips on the Webare required for the wanna-be city travellers.

* * *

Narasingapuram is a small colony off Mount Road, now calledAnna Salai.

Its more famous landmark is Ritchie Street. Once the biggestradio market, it is now a buzzing hub of the electronics, computersand peripherals trade.

Prof. Paul Montgomery from the UK is keen to know lots moreabout Narasingapuram because he has an Anglo-Indian ancestryand this will be part of his book on his family.

One thread in his genealogical spread leads to this little colonywhich has been over-run by the computers market.

Prof. Montgomery assumes that the lady who married a Scotssoldier, the male progenitor, must have been born in'Nursingpooram' and that her dad got pensions from the FINS(Friend in Need Society), located on the busy Poonamallee HighRoad.

FINS is yet another vintage institution of our city. Started in1822 by the merchants and community leaders of the city for theless abled, it has provided shelter to mostly Anglo-Indians.

FINS and the Anglo-Indians who once resided inNarasingapuram may provide leads for the professor's research.

And since I had written about Narasingapuram in an earliercolumn, the World Wide Web made the connection and I havebeen relooking at a colony that was once my backyard.

Revisiting the past in small neighbourhoods can be a fascinat-ing exercise.

To help the UK professor, I will also make a trip to ChristChurch and try to delve into the wedding registration recordsthere.

This Church, which has for its neighbours the Devi Cinemascomplex (it celebrated its 42nd anniversary in May) and Cosmo-politan Club, also has a unique history.

(Continued on page 6)

The Man from MadrasMusings is not a snob. He

believes in mingling with theprols (short for proletariat) asoften as he can and when theyinvite him for events, he usu-ally makes it a point to attend.But of late, given the kind ofinvitations that do land on hisdesk, MMM has been sendingout regrets left, right and cen-tre. For, there is much in theconduct of these events thatMMM objects to.

The first concerns an ob-noxious anachronism that isreferred to rather euphemis-tically as the ‘turmeric bath’.This is celebrated when a girlattains puberty. MMM isalways at a loss to understandas to why he is invited forwhat is evidently a women’sevent. And when he does passby venues where such eventsare held, MMM does noticethat there are many men inattendance.

But is it really anyone’sevent? Does a girl’s physicalprocess of growth need to becelebrated with such publicgusto? What does the childfeel like to see her photo put

ground. Some photographer isclearly laughing all the way tothe bank and a couple has justmade a complete ass of itself.Too often these pictures arethen compiled into an albumwhich is brought and exhibitedto those who did not attend theevent in person.

From the wedding to babiesis but a hop, assuming thebride had her turmeric bath atthe right time Babies meansear-piercing ceremonies andbirthdays and these too havebecome big events. Cakes arecut, posters pasted in the sur-rounding areas, raucous musicis played, and banners invok-ing the proud father’s favouritefilm star/political leader areput up. The last-named some-times attribute the birth of thechild to the film star/politicalleader! A Freudian slip?

Crisis of domestics

The Man from MadrasMusings believes in cast-

ing his bread on the waters. Hedoes not expect them to be re-turned. That is his attitude, atleast as far as the pieces he

dinner, MMM’s pal repliedthat he and his brood hadtaken to living at the Club un-til his household acquired itsdomestic staff, the earlier in-cumbents having exited enmasse. Apparently it all startedwith the cook and the maidwho did not see eye-to-eye.Both quit at the same time,but not before the cookpublicly accused the maid ofer... going out regularly withthe chauffeur, who immedia-tely felt it necessary to resign,not out of any sense of hon-our, but out of fear that hiswife, who was not on the rolls,would get to know of it fromthe watchman who was withinearshot. That cleared theplace of all the staff barring thewatchman in whose custodythe house was placed even aseveryone moved into theClub.

We live in difficult times.

Such road names!

Regulars of Madras Mus-ings will doubtless recall

the Chief and some of hisassistants putting up a case for

writes for this column are con-cerned. Some, which he feelswill see a flood of rejoinders,are met with stony silences.Others that he just shoots offthe cuff, hoping nobody willnotice, sometimes raise thehackles of or touch a readychord with some of the faith-ful and then the letters nevercease until the Chief appliesthe guillotine by way of a stonystatement to the effect that allcorrespondence on the topicwill cease thereafter.

In recent days, one topicthat has caught the fancy ofmany is the shortage of domes-tic servants. MMM, if you rec-ollect, wrote about it. Severalpeople, varying from captainsof industry ensconced in theircorner offices to the lowly be-ing who drives his own car towork, have expressed theirfeelings on the subject. Allagree that the domestics arenow rising above their stationsand soon a time will comewhen the average Chennaiitewill have to perform his/herown domestic chores. Theonly task that will be sparedwill be that of mowing the lawnand tending to the garden andthat is because of the fact thatthere won’t be any lawn or gar-den, what with our construct-ing highrises on every availableplot.

But to come back to thesubject. The other day, MMMwas at his Club and perceiveda fellow-member who was driv-ing up en famille. Upon beingasked as to whether it was for

Of turmeric baths, nuptials & birthdays

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

up on outsize banners aroundthe venue announcing to theworld that she has come ofage? MMM put this questionto some of his close friendsand the stock reply was thatthe child probably delights inthe attention. MMM begs todiffer. He also strongly objectsto the invariable positioningof the photos of leading politi-cal figures just above the pic-ture of the heroine of the hourin all the banners. And some-times, there is even a linewhich attributes the girl’scoming of age to the politi-cian! Wonder how our leadersfeel about this prowess thatthey are credited with? Intheir position, MMM wouldhave squirmed and vanishedfrom public sight. But that iswhy MMM is not in politics.

From the turmeric bath tothe nuptials was but a step inthe old days. Thankfully, thathas now changed. But thesedays, weddings have becomegrander and noisier than everand those who are of finan-cially straitened means invari-ably have the most garish andsound-filled bashes. MMMoften wonders as to where thefinance comes from. Cards getbigger and bigger and, as forthe venue, unless it is deckedout in the best cinematic tra-dition, everyone is dis-appointed. A recent trend isthe putting up of pictures ofthe betrothed and to-be-wedsin all kinds of suggestive andintimate postures, set againstan impossibly sylvan back-

retaining some street namesthat commemorate our erst-while British masters. Thatplea was heard and the namesremained. But none can pro-tect them from the manglingthey undergo at the hands ofthe Electricity Board. Thataugust body publishes itspower shutdown schedule inthe dailies and The Man fromMadras Musings reads the listjust to get a good laugh out ofthe names. And so have youheard of the following?Makkees Gardens –

Mackay’s Gardens

Prathapat Road –Breithaupt Road

Tadandar Nagar –Todhunter Nagar

Jermaiya Road –Jeremiah Road

Everady Colony –Eveready Colony

Cirucular Road –Circular Road

Ammer John Street –Ameer Jan Street

Stingkar Road –Stringer’s Street

Iron Manga Street –Ironmonger’s Street

Border Thorram –Borders Thottam

Also have you heard of thePachchayappa’s Thrush?Must be quite a bird!

And so on… The list (andthe humour) is practicallyendless. Let this be a lesson toyou, Chief, to let them wellalone.

– MMM

July 1-15, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

In MM, April 16th, you reproduced what the lateN.S. Jagannnathna had forwarded on Tamil Brah-mins. When I first came across this a few months ago.I sent it to my friend S. Krishnan, himself aTambrahm and who was the former Director ofFinance, BEL. He, while acknowledging the contri-bution of Tambrahms, cautioned against sterotypedcharaterisation of communities by narrating his ownexperience when he joined the Railway AccountsService. He has approved its publication.

Captain S. Prabhala9/8, Haudin Road

Bangalore 560 042

The Tambrahms article is interesting. As isusual with such articles, it is only true in

parts.Regarding the discussion about intelligence

and intellect, I would only point out a few facts.Of the four Indians who have won Nobel Prizesin Science, three are Tambrahms. The onlyIndian who figures in the list of the world’sgreatest mathematicians is a Tambrahm. Theonly Indian who has won the world champion-ship in Chess (and that too in all its threedifferent formats) is a Tambrahm. And theIndian who was ranked highest in the world inTennis (No.3) was a Tambrahm. I think thatfor a community that is 0.01% of India’spopulation, that is a fantastic record.

Another fact that is relevant is the overlapbetween Tamil Brahmins and Telugu Brahminsand between Tamil Brahmins and Kerala(specifically Palghat) Brahmins. There is somuch intermingling that it is difficult topinpoint the foci of excellence, particularly inthe Arts. For example, two out of the threemembers of the Carnatic Music Trinity areTelugu Brahmins. While the Telugu pedigreeof Tyagaraja is well known, not many are awareof the Telugu pedigree of Shyama Sastry. Thatis because of the dates of immigration of theirfamilies.

Here is an article I had written for the IRASGolden Jubilee Souvenir. It gives my views onthe subject of ethnic stereotypes.

‘The Unified Gauge of IRAS

I would like to highlight an aspect of IRASthat is perhaps not unique to it but is neverthe-less of great importance to me personally. My

batch of IRAS, the 1955 batch, consisted of 19officers. It had a highly skewed linguistic distri-bution. It consisted of six Punjabis, a Kashmiri,a Sindhi, a Bihari, an Oriya, a Keralite, anAndhraite and six Tamils.

Like so many of us, I too had been fed severalprejudices based on the supposed qualities ofparticular linguistic groups. I was told thatPunjabis were go-getters but often tended to sac-rifice scruples in their quest for success. I hadalso an impression that they were not as religiousas some other groups. (I found that my owngroup, the Tamils, were no angels in others’eyes. We were supposed to be a bit more cun-ning and calculating than others!)

But my experience with the fellow membersof my batch exploded these myths. I found thatVed Prakash Dang, with whom I shared mylodging at Calcutta, was perhaps the most up-right one among us. And when I accompaniedthe mother of Prithpal Singh Bami to theHarmandir Sahib almost every day during myweek’s stay at Amritsar, I was moved by hergenuine devotion and her transparent goodness.

My Bengali friends had led me to believe thatthe Oriyas did not have particularly great artis-tic and aesthetic sensibilities. But when NimaiCharan Mohapatra revealed to me the sublimebeauties of Gita Govinda and the spiritualheights of Sri Aurobindo during a long moon-light walk by the riverside at Garden Reach, Ifelt ashamed that I should have allowed my mindto be polluted by baseless prejudice.

I can go on and on about this subject but Ithink I have made my point. In the very firstsession I take while teaching any course forMBA students I make it a point to tell the stu-dents that if they wanted to become good as wellas successful managers, they should not allowstereotyped group prejudices to influence themat any time in their career. I would tell them thatthey would be interacting with Banerjis, Zahirasand Johnsons in their career, not with Bengalis,Muslims or Christians and each one of them wasas likely to have the virtues and vices they them-selves had in them.

This awareness, I think, is the greatest giftthat IRAS has given to me. I also feel that it is ofspecial relevance, particularly for our post nine-eleven and post seven-seven world.’

Only true in partsCell-phone menace

It is gratifying that the TamilNadu Legislative Assembly

has banned the use of cellphones by MLAs in the Assem-bly premises. This has been longoverdue and others shouldemulate this example.

The cell phone has becomea menace. Its use in workspotsincluding factories and offices isaffecting the smooth flow ofwork and work culture. Even inplaces of worship, where peopleare supposed to go and pray toget mental solace, the use of cellphone is increasing at an alarm-ing rate. The priests doingpoojas in temples and homes areoften seen suspending the poojasin the middle to attend to theircell phone calls, causing greatdistress to the devotees. Someplaces of worship have now putup notices that cell phones arebanned. Before commencingmeetings and workshops, re-quests are made to switch offthe cell phone. But, peoplerarely listen. During meetingsand conferences, chatting overcell phone is not uncommon,disturbing the proceedings. Iwonder what these cell phoneenthusiasts did in earlier dayswhen cell phones were notavailable!

There is no difference be-tween the educated and the notso educated, the rich and thenot so rich people, men andwomen, the young and the notso young. All use cell phoneswithout bothering about the lo-cation, unmindful of circum-stances, causing disturbance tothose around.

It is not as if unavoidable dis-cussions take place. Most of thecalls are for trivial matters andexchanging pleasantries whichcan well be postponed.

The conditions have deteri-orated to such an extent thatmany organisations think thatdisciplinary proceedings shouldbe initiated against employeeswho use cell phones during of-fice hours and in workspots.

The cell phone culture issomething that well-meaningpeople should fight against.

N.S. VenkataramanM 60/1, 4th Cross Street

Besant NagarChennai 600 090

Auto answers?

The letter in MM, June 1st,contains commendable

suggestions towards solving thecurrent autorickshaw impasse.However, two of the sugges-tions evoke some comments.

The suggestion to compelthe sale of autos to drivers isimpractical. Why should thepresent owners kill their goose,which lays them golden eggswhen, on a single outlay, theyare gaining a sizeable (tax free)cash return year after year?There is no legislation/authorityto compel them to do so.

Second, the suggested cons-titution of the 6-member Em-powered Fare Fixing Board,widely variant in its member-ship as suggested, does not lenditself to frequent meetings tochange rates.

Having said that, this appar-ently elusive problem that hasbeen plaguing the aam admi allthese years (including frequentoctogenarian auto-users likeyours truly) is not insoluble.The solution lies only or mainlywith the government.

As a first step, with resolutedetermination, it should, inconsultation with auto drivers’associations and the public (in-cluding the suggested 6-mem-ber Fare Fixing Board, if neces-sary), fix reasonable rates, tak-ing into consideration the cur-rent living costs and reasonablereturns to the auto drivers/own-ers, acceptable to all. Havingdone so, the law enforcementagencies, including traffic po-lice and magisterial authorities,should then regularly monitorand rigidly enforce complianceby the auto drivers with a warn-ing of stringent penalties, in-cluding suspension of driving li-cences and auto permits. A fewexamples, to start with, willhelp bring offenders quickly tobook. A responsibility also vestswith the user-public, who mustnot fail to help bring violators

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No personal visits or telephone calls, please. Letters received will besent from these addresses every couple of days to the personsconcerned and you will get an answer from them to your queriesreasonably quickly. Strange as it may seem, if you adopt the ‘snail mail’approach, we will be able to help you faster and disappoint you less.

– THE EDITOR

to book by taking the trouble ofreporting the violationspromptly to the enforcing bod-ies.

It is only thus that this long-pending vexatious issue of fleec-ing by auto drivers can besolved. If trouble-free, honestmetering can work in othermetros, why can it not be madeto do so here with some effortsby the authorities?

The other suggestions of thewriter are worthy of implemen-tation.

K.P. Mahalingam6-B, The Peninsula

778, Poonamalle High RoadChennai 600 010

Implementation needed

Reader K.R. Baliga (MM,June 1st) has scripted rules

for Chennai autos. We haveenough ordinances to keep autodrivers in check. But there ishardly any implementation.‘Meter podu’ is a non-entity inChennai.

When fuel costs are diffe-rent, Government must fix ratesaccording to fuel utility and en-force them. Corrupt traffic po-lice personnel must be booked

for their behind-the-screen sup-port for auto drivers. Stronggovernment machinery alonecan make auto drivers behavebetter.

S.R. Rajagopal7/12, Peters Colony

RoyapettahChennai 600 014

Yaanais in Sangam times

Apropos the review articleon Elephants (MM, June

1st), I wish to point out the fol-lowing:

1. It is incorrect to say thataanai of Tamil Sangam timeshas become yaanai of contem-porary usage. Sangam texts ac-tually contain no less than 350clear references to yaanai. Sepa-rate references to kaliru (malepachyderm) and to pidi (femalepachyderm) have not been in-cluded in this count.

2. One particular Sangamtext (Akam 169) is of someinterest.The text says that theleft-over flesh of an elephant af-ter being devoured by a tiger issaid to have been carried awayby the Maravar of Paalai zonefor their own consumption.

3. The veryattu referred to in

Sangam texts has nothing to dowith elephants.

4. No Sangam text to datehas been corroborated by anycopper plate grant!

5. John Sullivan, Collector ofCoimbatore (which then in-cluded the Nilgiris), in one ofhis notes (1821) has distin-guished between South Indianelephants and the Ceylon ones.

Rev. Philip K. MulleySt Luke’s Church

Kotagiri 643 217, The Nilgiris

Another overlooked

Your pieces on Iyengars andcricket seem to have over-

looked the granddaddy of themall – K. Seshachari who was thewicket-keeper of the Indianteam that went on an unofficialtour of England in 1911. T.V.Parthasarathy kept wicket forIndia in the Calcutta Testagainst the Australian Servicesteam captained by A.L. Hassettthat toured India in 1945 afterthe World War. While I am notsure, he too was probably anIyengar.

K.V. Ramanathanramganga10@ymail.com

4 MADRAS MUSINGS July 1-15, 2012

A newcomer’s search

for a home

� Looking back

� V. THEETHARAPPAN

recalls his days with ALVITONE

(Continued fromlast fortnight)

From 1953 to 1957 I was verybusy with the foundation

work for ALVITONE, thebrainchild of Thangaraj Nadar,a person from the rural interiorwho brought out a food productequivalent to Ovaltine!

Thangaraj Nadar’s interestin establishing an energy bever-age factory was due to an un-happy incident in his life. In1952, when one of his childrenwas seriously ill, he went to pur-chase a tin of Ovaltine andcouldn’t get one as the productwas in short supply. A friendsuggested that if he were to visitSpencer’s he could get a tin. Onreaching Spencer’s (the oldbuilding), which started with aPost Office on the eastern sideand ended on the western sidewith the Bakery Section, hehesitated to enter the complexand stood by the Post Office. Aperson who came out ofSpencer’s enquired why he waswaiting and on hearing what heneeded informed him that if hewere to give him the amount hewould procure a tin for himfrom the relevant department.Nadar gave him ten rupees andwas told to wait for an hour orso when he would return withthe product. After waiting forover an hour, Nadar realisedthat he had been duped by thetrickster. He returned home de-jected, but immediately vowedto start a small factory to manu-facture a product similar toOvaltine.

Kamaraj, the then ChiefMinister of Madras State, didhis best to help us start AlvitoneLaboratories. So did C.T.

Once, Thangaraj Nadar and I, after inspect-ing some work at P. Natesan & Co

(Triplicane), drove to Egmore Station so thatNadar could travel to St. Thomas’ Mount. Onour way, we stopped at Shama Bhatt’s UdipiHotel, which was next to the old Egmore PostOffice and the then famous Account TestInstitute on Commander-in-Chief Road, tohave our breakfast. Shama Bhatt’s restaurantwas famous for its Mangalore bonda andMangalore khashayam. I had known ShamaBhatt during my school days, in the early 1940s,when he had a very small restaurant near theMadras Veterinary College (Periamet). Later,he shifted to Commander-in-Chief Road andthen he built handsome premises on EgmoreHigh Road, which housed the restaurant calledMatsya. Most of the Udipi and Palghat Brah-min restaurants served the khashayam drink inthe mornings.

I also recall that on Bunder Street in GeorgeTown, there used to be a small kiosk (during the1950s) where a portly middle-aged man used tosell a very tasteful yellow-coloured cool drinkfrom 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Many of the British firmson First Line and Second Line Beach, ThambuChetty and nearby streets used to send their or-derlies (mostly Telugus who used to be alwaysbusy with their thakkalis drawing out cottonthread from balls of cotton during their sparetime) to this shop to bring them the yellow milkin flasks. Thangaraj Nadar knew this vendorwell, as they used to meet at the Kirana Mer-chants’ Association when they went to purchasetheir raw products.

Nadar tried his best to get the secret formulabehind the yellow drink from the vendor but,despite all his cajoling, failed. The vendor, dueto his ill-health, closed the shop in 1962 or so,and a wonderful secret was lost.

– V.T.

Search for another formula

Devaraj (CTD), proprietor ofJayalakshmi Industries atBasudev Street, T’Nagar. Hehad been the Private Secretaryof S.B. Athithan (founder ofthe Dina Thanthi group of pub-lications), when the latter wasin Singapore. Athithan was astrict disciplinarian and had alldetails with him whenever hevisited a Government office!Devaraj was trained by him.Devaraj’s father, C. ThangavelMudaliar, was in Singaporeduring the 1940s. They had ahouse in Arcot Mudali Streetin T’Nagar, next to the lateMGR’s house. The AIADMKparty was inaugurated inDevaraj’s house. CTD had anumber of industries in Ma-

dras and in Dindigul. He pur-chased a big unit owned byK.C.P. Ltd. in Virugam-bakkam, developed a mini-industrial estate in the landthat came with it and called itParamount Gardens. He alsohad a big nursery in thisgarden. He was our mentor.

We contacted two brothersin Triplicane who had a pala-tial building in St. Thomas’Mount Cantonment just op-posite the Area Commander’sQuarters. We applied forNOC permission to the Can-tonment Board but our appli-cation was rejected. Then,near the Asarkhana Corner inSt. Thomas’ Mount, we founda big building with a large openarea. The Cantonment was

low in St. Thomas’ Mount.Twenty years later, it movedinto its own building inPallavaram, next to LakshmiTalkies and opposite TTK’sMaps and Atlases.

To the great relief of Than-garaj Nadar, Govindaswamy,Naidu and Theetharappan, theVIPs from the Area Comman-der’s Office and St. Thomas’Mount Cantonment on reach-ing ALVITONE Laboratoriesimmediately went up to ChiefMinister Kamaraj and statedthat the relevant NOCs fromthe Area Commander’s Officeand the Cantonment Officewould reach ALVITONE Labsin a couple of days. Kamaraj hadadvised us to also invite the dis-tributors of rival product, andthey all attended and wentaround the factory along withthe VIPs!

In those days there were bev-erages like Bournvita, Oval-tine, Barlova, Nestomalt,Ovomalt, Potsum and a fewmore. Except Ovomalt, all theothers were imported products.Ovomalt was manufactured byone Ramanujam of Omalur (Sa-lem) and each batch of theproduct took nearly a month tomanufacture as it used fer-mented pulses and the processof the germination took nearlya month. It was indeed a verygood energy beverage, but asRamanujam had certain diffi-culties, a leading press barontook over his concern, butsomehow failed to make a go ofit. The foreign products werecostly and were also in shortsupply. The Defence Minister ofIndia at the time, N. Gopala-swami Aiyengar, helped Ovo-malt and ALVITONE find aplace in the Defence Depart-ment Stores as they were theonly Swadeshi products in theenergy beverage category!

It took from 1954 to 1957 forAlvitone Laboratories to be in-augurated after all the stum-bling blocks in its way wereovercome.

When the first Director ofthe Central Food TechnologicalResearch Institute, Mysore, V.Subramaniam, along with a fewscientists, visited AlvitoneLaboratories at St. Thomas’Mount, Nadar took themaround the laboratory and ex-plained to them in Tamil thesalient features of the machin-ery (all made by him). When Iaccompanied them to CentralStation after their visit, they

spoke about the ingenuity ofNadar making such machineryeven though he was not a tech-nically qualified person!

Nadar’s lack of knowledge ofEnglish and any other languageexcept Tamil, was no great im-pediment for him! He was aregular visitor to the KiranaMerchants’ Association atSowcarpet to make purchasesof raw materials forALVITONE manufacture.The kirana merchants in the1950s were all North Indiansand the main languages theyspoke were Hindi and Gujarati.But Nadar had no problemscommunicating with them.

Nadar, till his death at 62,was constantly on the go, look-ing for new opportunities.

Footnote: In the middle of1956, when ALVITONE wasdoing well, my father, for noreason at all, decided to sell ourOrme’s Road bungalow andasked me to resign from thepartnership of ALVITONELaboratory. I tried my best toconvince him that ALVIT-ONE would be a success and itwould be better if I were to con-tinue. When Father attended afunction at Dasaprakash, M.Bhakthavatsalam, then thePWD Minister, to whom I hadmentioned about Father’s de-cision, advised Father to let mestay on with ALVITONE.Later, during one of his meet-ings with Kamaraj, ThangarajNadar told him about Father’sdecision. A couple of days laterKamaraj surprised Father bycalling on him. My parents anda cousin, S.T. Thiagarajan(Secretary of the George TownCo-Operative Bank) were as-tonished by this sudden visit.Before broaching the subjectwhich he wanted to speak withFather on, he enquired fromThiagarajan about P. Natesan’smethod of working as Bank’sPresident. Dr. Natesan was aleading venereologist in theState and was a prominent fig-ure in the co-operative move-ment also. A few decades laterthe State Co-Operative Train-ing Institute at Anna Nagarwas named after him. But whenhe returned to the main matterfor which he was visiting us,Kamaraj was not successfulwith Father (who was a fewyears older than him) whobluntly refused to allow me tocontinue with ALVITONELab.

(Concluded)

not prepared to give us the NOCeven for this building. In fact, wewere sent running from pillar topost. We felt that someone mustbe causing trouble for us!

Eventually, we met ChiefMinister Kamaraj. Thangarajtold him that he was completelyengrossed in the work of commis-sioning the various equipment ofthe laboratory and thatTheetharappan, who contactedofficials and private concerns,would provide full details. Ipointed out that we had appliedfor a Trade Mark on 23.7.1955and had been given the No.170,133. We also provided all the testreports, including those from theCentral Food Technological Re-search Institute, Mysore. I then

mentioned that we felt represen-tatives of rival products in Indiawere influencing the Canton-ment authorities to refuse us theNOC for a building. Kamarajpromised to help and advised us“to distribute the invitations forthe inauguration of the factory.”

Before setting out to distrib-ute the invitations, we had lunchat Geetha Café in T’Nagar, thenthe leading café there. Thosedays, Geetha Café would alwaysbe full of Telugu film personali-ties. After lunch we went toJayalakshmi Industries to meetour mentor, CTD, and briefedhim on developments and got hisadvice for our future actions!

ALVITONE Laboratories wasinaugurated by Kamaraj on July7, 1957 at Asarkhana, a bunga-

July 1-15, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

When Madras went

on the AIR

� Excerpts from an article by

S. SANKARANARAYANAN

The first regular broad-casting station in the world

is believed to have opened inPittsburgh, USA, in 1920. InEngland, programmes were suc-cessfully broadcast by theMarconi Co. from Chelmsfordon February 23, 1920. InNovember 1922, the BBC, withJohn Reith as its managing di-rector, went on the air withregular programmes.

The Madras PresidencyRadio Club was formed lessthan two years later, on May 16,1924, by a group of dedicatedamateurs led by C.V. Krishna-swamy Chetty. It broadcastdaily programmes from July 31,1924, using a 40 watt trans-mitter. It was later replaced by a200 watt one, with which a 2½hour programme of music andtalks was broadcast every even-ing (with a special morningtransmission on Sundays andholidays). The Club was locatedin Holloway’s Garden, Egmore.

When it had to close downin October 1927 due to fina-ncial difficulties, the trans-mitter was presented to theMadras Corporation whichlaunched a regular service onApril 1, 1930 from Ripon Build-ing. The Corporation Radio Sta-tion broadcast entertainmentprogrammes every day between5.30 and 7.30 p.m. In addition,it also aired music lessons andstories from 4 to 4.30 p.m. forchildren on school days. ‘Gra-mophone music’ was broadcastfrom 10 to 11 a.m. on Sundaysand holidays, and ‘Europeanmusic’ on one Monday everymonth from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m.

Six loudspeakers were instal-led at the Marina, RobinsonPark, People’s Park and theHigh Court Beach, to be opera-ted in the evenings. Smallindoor receiving sets were alsoprovided in 14 Corporationschools. This service continuedtill June 16, 1938, on whichdate the station was taken overby AIR on its starting its opera-tions. The AIR station, locatedon Marshall’s Road, Egmore,was inaugurated by Lord Ers-kine, the then Governor of Ma-dras Province. Nagaswara mae-stro Tiruvengadu SubramaniaPillai gave the inaugural con-cert.

The Madras station on thatinaugural day also had a concertby D.K. Pattammal. S. Rajamgave a concert on the secondday, with Govindasami Naicker(violin) and Madras A. Kannan(mridangam). He gave a con-cert on AIR’s golden jubilee cel-ebration with the same accom-panists. And, as desired by AIR,he sang the same items he hadsung 50 years earlier.

When AIR started its stationin Madras it had the good for-tune to have Victor Paranjoti asits first director. He had a goodknowledge of Western music.He introduced Western musicin the programme, mostlyplayed by members of theAnglo-Indian community. Thiswas before Handel Manueljoined AIR. Paranjoti was res-ponsible for developing broad-cast in its totality.

Paranjoti was deeply com-mitted to the cause of musicand to the maintenance of highstandards. He used to visit the

homes of many listeners to gettheir feedback. In those days,listeners used to throng placeslike Mylapore beach, T’NagarPark and the Marina oppositethe Fort to listen to AIRbroadcasting through kiosks.Paranjoti would frequent eventhese places to get listeners’feedback! Such was his devo-tion and commitment to hiswork.

AIR had an audition systemin place as early as the 1940s.Music supervisors were appoin-ted “to assist the station direc-tors in auditions, rehearsals andtraining of artistes”. Accordingto that scheme, Vidwan S. Raj-am held that position in Madrasfrom 1944 till his retirement in1977.

AIR was shifted to its ownnewly constructed building onSouth Beach Road (now Kama-rajar Salai) near San Thomé onJuly 11, 1954. The programmesin the first transmission on thatday from the new studios com-menced at 6.55 a.m. with ashort alapana in Todi by T.N.Rajaratnam Pillai. At the silverjubilee celebration of AIR in1961, Krishnaswamy Chetty re-ceived a commemoration awardin recognition of his pioneering

made him an ideal boss.”Gopalan later served as sta-

tion director in Madras andthen Calcutta. He retired asDeputy Director General of AllIndia Radio.

When AIR took over theMadras Corporation Radio andstarted its own broadcasting,the Madras station began bring-ing out two programme journals– Vanoli in Tamil and Vani inTelugu. Vani was discontinuedafter six issues, but was re-started on May 22, 1949. Un-fortunately, these journalsceased publication on April 1,1987.

Each issue of Vanoli coveredthe programmes relating to afortnight – one issue for the pe-riod 1st to 15th and the secondfor the period 16th to 30th/31st ofthe month. It gave detailed in-formation on the programmesfor Chennai A and Chennai B,Tirchy and Pondicherry, besidesgiving highlights of programmesof some other stations in theSouth. It also devoted two orthree pages to provide briefinformation on importantprogrammes, the text of talksgiven on the radio, and severalinteresting articles on com-munity and family welfare, such

as education,health, hygiene,home remedies,sports, scienceand cookery.

Music les-sons werebroadcast twoor three days aweek, withmany stalwarts taking classes.In order to help interestedlisteners follow the teaching, allthe details of the song – its raga,arohana avarohana, tala,notations, the lyrics – and alsonames of the composer, teacherand the students were given inVanoli for the correspondingperiod. Noted litterateurChitti edited Vanoli for severalyears.

* * *

A few words about how AIRcame about. In March 1926, theGovernment of India enteredinto an agreement with aprivate company called theIndian Broadcasting Co. Ltd.(IBC) to operate two radiostations – in Bombay andCalcutta.

When the Governmentdecided to draft the services ofexperienced personnel fromBBC to run these stations,Lionel Fielden assumed chargeas Controller of Broadcasting inAugust 1935. Within a shorttime he took complete controlof the Company and he persua-ded the Viceroy, Lord Linlith-gow, to discard the name IndianState Broadcasting Service andadopt the name ‘All India Ra-dio’. In spite of vehement oppo-sition from his own Secretariat,the Viceroy accepted the namewith effect from June 8, 1936. Itbecame the official date of birthof All India Radio.

According to one version,the signature tune of All IndiaRadio was composed by JohnFoulds, Director of WesternMusic in Delhi, together withWalter Kaufmann, his counter-part in Bombay. Another ver-sion had it that it was composedonly by John Foulds. It is alsosaid that it was played by notedviolinist V.G. Jog. The instru-ments played were the tamburaand violin.

On October 24, 1941, AIRwas placed under the newly cre-ated Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting. In February1943, AIR moved to Broad-casting House on ParliamentStreet.

On April 25, 1942, the Di-rector General (DG) of AIR is-sued instructions to all stationsthat ‘All India Radio’ shouldnot be translated into any of theIndian languages. What promp-

ted the Ministry to issue thatorder is not known. In 1946 theDG received a letter from G.T.Sastri, Station Director, Trichy,requesting that ‘Vanoli Nila-yam’ be allowed to be used toidentify and describe his station.The matter seems to haverested there.

In December 1957, the DGconveyed the view of the Min-istry to use ‘Akashvani’ in allannouncements in Hindi andother Indian languages, and toretain ‘All India Radio’ only foruse in programmes (and an-nouncements) in English. TheTrichy Station Director in-formed the DG that the orderhad been complied with, butpointed out that there werevehement and violent agita-tions, and even hunger strikes,against the use of Akashvani inMadras Province. It was thenclarified to the Trichy StationDirector that the word ‘Akash-vani’ had been taken fromKannada – the Mysore stationwhich, when started, was origi-nally known as ‘Akashvani’.The matter went up to the levelof Union Home MinisterGovind Vallabh Pant whospoke to Madras Chief MinisterK. Kamaraj in this regard. Even-tually, the Ministry communi-cated that it had no objectionto the use of ‘Vanoli’ to denoteradio.

The touchy issue was rakedup again in May 1982 by theHindi Advisory Committee ofthe Ministry of Information andBroadcasting which recom-mended that the name All In-dia Radio be changed to Akash-vani in all its non-Hindi andEnglish programmes as well.Unaware of the earlier stormyhistory, Minister of Informationand Broadcasting Vasant Satheaccepted the recommendation.Anticipating serious trouble inTamil Nadu, Chief MinisterM.G. Ramachandran took upthe issue with Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi who was thenabroad. And she promptly rangup Sathe and countermandedhis orders, restoring the statusquo!

Tamil Nadu stations con-tinue to say ‘All India Radio’and ‘Vanoli Nilayam’ – for ex-ample, “All India RadiovinChennai Vanoli Nilayam.” –(Courtesy: Sruti)

Victor Paranjoti

service to broadcasting inMadras.

Madras Province’s secondstation was the TrichinopolyStation opened by C. Rajago-palachari, Prime Minister ofMadras, on May 18, 1939.He inaugurated the stationwith the following announce-ment: “Good morning,Trichinopoly. This is Rajaji.You are hearing the first broad-cast of AIR from Trichinopoly.”The station functioned out of asingle room on William’s Roadin the Cantonment area. Dur-ing its initial days, the stationcovered just 20 km and trans-mitted only for a few hours aday, with a five KW mediumwave transmitter.

The first director of theTirchy station was S. Gopalan.P.G. Sounderrajan, betterknown as ‘Chitti’, worked in theTirchy station during its initialperiod. He described Gopalanas follows: “The station directorGopalan had trained himself inwireless by sheer genius… Theworkers there proudly equatedhim with Marconi. Thoughthere was an engineering sec-tion with a chief as its head,Gopalan’s technical expertise

6 MADRAS MUSINGS July 1-15, 2012

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period June 1st to15th. Questions 11 to 20 per-tain to Chennai and TamilNadu.)1. Which African nation’s oustedPresident was sentenced to life im-prisonment on June 2nd for hiscomplicity in the killing of demon-strators in the 2011 revolution?

2. For what occasion was a flotillaof 1000 ships seen on the Thameson June 3rd, the largest on theriver in 350 years?

3. On June 4th, which sports per-sonality was sworn in a Member ofthe Rajya Sabha?

4. The last such instance of whichastronomical event in the 21stCentury was witnessed betweenJune 5th and June 6th?

5. Name the celebrated author ofsuch Science Fiction classics asThe Martian Chronicles and Fahr-enheit 451, who passed away re-cently.

6. Which country has become thesecond country after the UK in theworld, to introduce binding targetson climate change?

7. What aviation feat wasachieved by Solar Impulse on June6th?

8. The size of which coveted cen-tury-old global award is being re-duced by 20 per cent in order toavoid an undermining of its capi-tal from a long-term perspective?

9. Whose record of six titles atRoland Garros did Rafael Nadalovertake by winning his seventhFrench Open title recently?

10. Oxford University researchershave dated to the first century ADthe remains in Bulgaria of whichinfluential Biblical character?

* * *

11. Who is credited with compil-ing Tevaram which comprised thefirst seven volumes of the 12-vol-ume Tirumurai during the 12thCentury?

12. Sujatha’s Kandalur VasanthaKumaran Kathai deals with whichincident in Chola history?

13. What sensational incidenttook place on General CollinsRoad in Vepery on November 8,1944?

14. If Azim Jah Bahadur was thefirst in the 1850s, then who is thecurrent one?

15. Which edifice in Chennai wasoriginally built for Whiteaway,Laidlaw & Company?

16. Where in Chennai is the Na-tional Centre for Ultra-Fast Pro-cesses, meant for ‘the use of re-searchers in academic institutionsfor time resolved emission and ab-sorption studies in the pico-secondtime scale’?

17. Name the holding company ofSimpson & Company and nearly40 other group companies?

18. Which initiative on the out-skirts of Chennai has been de-scribed by National Geographicmagazine as “...probably the onlysuccessful example of the sustain-able use of a wild species in India”?

19. By dropping which rowdy’sname does Cho make his entry inthe play Madras by Night?

20.Where can you watch a perfor-mance in the quaintly designedKoothambalam?

(Answers on page 8)

Growing fromthe Suzukito the boom

Our Cars, 1962-2011

� When the car market was

opened up to foreigners,

there was a flood. Ford,

Hyundai, Honda, raced

into India with FDI money.

Today, they are perceived

as being more Indian than

the good old sturdy

Amabassador.

1960-61 Update for 2010-11Total production of automobiles 54,800 2.9 millionCommerical vehicles 28,200 566,600Cars, Jeep & Land Rovers 26,600 2,335,100Two-wheelers 900 10,510,300Tractors NA 383,400

It was built in the 1850s on land which housed the stables ofEnglishman Waller when the Eurasians (later called Anglo-Indi-ans) sought a church for the growing community of Protestants inthe Mount Road area.

Christ Church also shared space for an Anglo-Indian schoolwhich survives today. For youngsters who lived in this area, the‘must do’ thing at this school in the 60s and 70s was to attend theannual Shakespeare play put up by its senior students.

Will any of these past students provide a link that the UK pro-fessor will be glad to have?

For me, though, revisiting these places and jotting down fasci-nating threads of people is engaging.

Would it not be a worthwhile effort if a small group in eachlocality recorded local histories? (Courtesy: Mylapore Times)

– Vincent D’Souza

LOCAL HISTORY(Continued from page 2)

Sanjay Gandhi, once heir tothe throne, may have been

guilty on several scores. But hewasn’t guilty of lacking invision. Thanks to him, the firstmajor break came in the 1980s.He dreamt of a small car withhigh volumes. Enter Maruti.The dream did not make muchprogress. After his untimelydeath, Indira Gandhi entrustedthe task to V. Krishnamurthy(VK).

In collaboration with Japa-nese Suzuki Motor Company,VK raced ahead in setting upproduction facilities for 100,000800 cc small cars. LikeE. Sridharan for Delhi Metrolater, VK was given a carteblanche on liberal foreign ex-change for imports and widediscretionary powers. VK, withhis hand-picked team of bril-liant managers, many fromBHEL, delivered on the prom-ise of releasing the 800 cc car byDecember 1983, under threeyears.

With it, India truly enteredthe era of contemporary auto-mobile technology.

In an interview with VK inearly 1994, I asked what gavehim the confidence to marketan additional 100,000 carswhen the annual Indian carsales were just around 40,000.His reply was classic: “TheMaruti 800 is priced Rs. 47,000.The car will be very low onmaintenance. The owner cansave at least Rs. 1000 per monthon maintenance. Thus, in 48months, he will save the priceof a car and will go for a replace-ment!” Brave words, well said.

How true it proved to be!There was an unprecedentedscramble when bookings wereopened with a deposit ofRs. 10,000. 130,000 applicantsdeposited around Rs. 130 crore.The experience was repeatedwhen the company openedbookings a second time forMaruti 800 and later for Maruti

Omni. Each time the collectionwas a staggering Rs. 140 crore.The frenzy hit the roof whenMaruti opened bookings for theMaruti 1000 cc cars: 250,000applications each with a depositof Rs. 25,000 aggregating to Rs.625 crore!

True, many bookings werespeculative, with banks offeringthe deposit monies at attractiverates of interest!

Finance managemnet atMaruti was of a top class. Thecompany paid around 7 per centon the deposits but lent it topublic sector corporations at 15per cent. S. Natarajan, then Di-rector – Finance, Maruti, joked:“For several years in the begin-ning, the company made more

money by financial engineeringthan on product sales!”

VK and the leaders fromJapanese Suzuki transferred theJapanese work culture, produc-tion systems and productivitynorms that helped in a Hanu-man-like jump in automobiletechnology. The 1980s also wit-nessed the advent of the Japa-nese LCVs – Nissan, Toyotaand Mazda and the EuropeanEicher. These products alsomarked a big jump in tech-nology. The Indian consumerstarted looking for better qual-ity and service in automobiles.

* * *

The 1990s heralded liberali-sation. After some initial hesi-tation, global leaders seized theopportunity to enter India with100 per cent ownership. ExceptTatas and the Mahindras today,the industry is dominated by theleading manufacturers of theworld. I recall the reservationsexpressed by a foreign expert.

In 1995, I spent a few weekslooking at several manufac-turing units in the US, includ-ing the Boeing plant at Seattleand Ford headquarters atDearborn. At the Bank ofBaroda office in New York I hadan interesting discussion withDr. Robert B. Hegeman, a se-nior economist advising theBank. He expressed surpriseover the plans of India to

emerge as a significant producerof automobiles (that was thetime Ford Motor Company an-nounced its interest to set up aproduction facility in India andother global players too werethinking on similar lines).

Dr. Hegeman pointed to thelow level of production in Indiaand to the absence of a strongR&D. He was right: at thattime: total prodcution of auto-mobiles, including cars andcommercial vehicles, was lessthan 0.25 million, while the USwas consuming around 15 mil-lion cars annually.

But I pointed out to him thecost advantages which wouldmake India extremely competi-

tive: “Look at the factors of pro-duction: land and building costsin India are far lower than thosein developed countries andcapital equipment costs havebecome comparable after Indialiberalised and permitted im-ports even at zero duty onpromise of export.” Prior to1991, import duties were sohefty. Finance costs becamecomparable when foreign com-panies were permitted to make100 per cent FDI with repatria-tion benefits. Most importantwas the low costs of labour.While in Europe these stood at20-30 per cent of sales and in

the USA 12 per cent of sales, itwas a piddling 2 per cent in In-dia.

Dr. Hegeman wouldn’t be-lieve it. He said: “This looks likecoffee expenses!” I reaffirmedthat in the previous year Marutispent around Rs. 800 million onemployee costs on a turnover ofaround Rs. 42 billion.

After 2000, India witnesseda rapid growth of its automobileindustry riding on the prosper-ity enjoyed by the middle classand on facile financing by banksand finance companies. Japa-nese, Korean, American andEuropean car manufacturers setup shop in quick time and ex-panded volumes. Today, Indiaproduces around 3 millin ve-hicles annually and is slated todouble this over the next fiveyears.

A welcome feature of this isthe attention paid by Indianmanufacturers to research, de-velopment and innovation. Thevolumes gained and the stiffcompetition have aided this.Tata Motors and Mahindra &Mahindra have focussed on de-signing, engineering and pro-ducing newer models of carsand commercial vehicles thathelp them compete effectivelywith reputed global manufac-turers. Ashok Leyland has as-sembled a team of over 1500engineers and scientists to workon newer designs and products.

And components manufac-turers, particularly in Chennai,are thriving. (Courtesy:Industrial Economist)

(Concluded)

(Continued from lastfortnight)

� Driving Down Memory Lane

with

S. VISWANATHAN

July 1-15, 2012 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

The actor in the

shadows

Charuhasan with brother Kamal Haasan.

“C an anyone claim to have seen a film 100times? I do,’’ said lawyer andactor Charuhasan referring tothe 1959 film Kalathur Kanna-mma. The film had brought hismuch younger brother KamalHaasan (Charu is older thanKamal by a good 24 years andwas married before Kamal wasborn) into the limelight as theslightly precocious but well-be-haved 4-year-old son of actorsSavithri and Gemini Ganesanin the AVM production. And,in real life, following the successof the film it was given toCharuhasan, as a father figure,to escort the child actor to thetheatres around the Statewhere, during the intermission,the audiences could see thechild ‘star’ in flesh and blood.

Recently, speaking with ahint of humour on the ‘suppor-ting role’ he has played to hisfamily members over the years,Charuhasan said at a filmawards function in the city that,as a junior lawyer in Parama-kudi in 1952, he was introducedas the son of advocate D.Srinivasan and, then, in 1959 asthe brother of child actor KamalHaasan, still later, in 1980, asthe father of National Awardwinning actress Suhasini, thenas the father-in-law of noted di-rector Mani Rathnam, andnow, after 2008, as grandfatherof Nandan who released apamphlet Contours of Leninismat a CPI(M) summit!

It is not as if Charuhasanhimself has no claims to fame.He is the eldest of the sons withthe Hassan suffix which theirfather D. Srinivasan gave themto remember his jail-mateYakoub Hassan who saved himfrom the blows of fellow-prison-

ers when they were imprisonedduring the Indian freedomstruggle.

The second in the family isChandrahasan (born 1936, sixyears after Charu) who acted inthe 1981 film Raja Paarvai asthe hero Kamal Hassan’s father.Kamal plays a blind violinist inthe film. The film was the 100th

film of Kamal and the first pro-duction of the Haasan brothers.

Nalini, the only sister (born1946) of the Hassan brothers, isthe sibling immediately olderthan Kamal, the youngest of thefour, who was born in 1954.

Now in his eighties, Charu-hasan recalls that he was an av-

erage student, joining Class 5directly at the age of nine with-out being schooled in the basics.He started studying law in 1949and was one among the fewyoungsters in a group of 200working people in class in thethen Bombay State. After quali-fying as a lawyer in 1951, hestarted practising law in

Paramakudi and even appearedagainst his father in a case.

In 1957 he moved a bail pleafor the All India Forward Blocleader, the iconic Muthurama-linga Thevar, in a case conse-quent to followed the murder ofDalit leader Immanuel She-karan. He had representedImmanuel in an earlier case too.During Charu’s days of legalpractice, rebelling against hisparents’ mindset, he was attrac-ted by the honesty of the iconicatheist leader Periyar E.V.Ramasamy Naicker who used torefer to Charu as his sishyan.

Meanwhile, while Charu wasbuilding a practice, their father,

Srinivasan, decided that the 14-year-old Kamal would join mov-ies, discontinuing his studies,notwithstanding Charu’s viewthat Kamal should qualify forthe IAS. Between 1962 and ’63,the child Kamal acted in fivefilms including one inMalayalam and one each ofMGR’s and Sivaji’s films.Srinivasan felt that as an actorhis son Kamal would earn morefame than as the Collector of a

district. Providence proved himright. Later, when Charuhasanwas 46, he was sent to Madrasby his father to assist the actor-sibling. A few years earlier,Charuhasan did get a chance toinfluence Kamal when hedissuaded him from turning afull-time writer and director atthe age of 20. At 17, KamalHassan worked as an assistantdirector in the film AnnaiVelankani in which he alsoacted in the role of Jesus Christ.

Charuhasan’s debut in filmscame when he was 49, in the1979 film Udiripookal made bythe acclaimed directorJ. Mahendran based on a storyby Pudhumaipithan. During theshoot, a not-so-confidentCharu was not sure if his rolewould see the light of day, butthat was not to be. Incidentally,the same director helmed thefilm Nenjathai Killathey whichwon for Charuhasan’s daughter,Suhasini, the National Best Ac-tress Award.

In the 1987 Kannada filmTabarane Kathe, directed bynoted director Girish Kasara-valli, Charu’s role won him theNational Award for Best Actor,and the movie won the BestNational Film Award. The storyis about the struggle of a watch-man, Tabara, who is seeking hispension dues from Governmentto treat his suffering wife. To-wards the climax, he runs to thelocal butcher for help in ampu-tating the diabetes- andgangerene-affected foot of his

A still from Kalathur Kannamma (1960) with Kamal Haasan, GeminiGanesan and Savithri.

wife. The pension finally ar-rives, but Tabara’s wife dies.Tabara berates the staff of thepost office and others for thedelay and the loss of his onlycompanion. The movie madean all-India impact when it wastelecast on the National Door-darshan channel. It is said thatR.K. Hegde, who was then theChief Minister of Karnataka,influenced by the film whichwon eight State awards, passeda law cutting red tape andhastening the process for retiredgovernment employees to gettheir pensions.

Charuhasan has directedtwo movies, IPC 215 (as he wasagainst this law) and PuthiyaSangamam. As an actor, he hasplayed roles in more than 120films in six languages, includingtwo English films. Charuhasanhas had more than his share ofsurgeries, including more thanone he had to undergo when herolled down 39 steps of a build-ing in Paris. When health per-mits, he drives to the Chennaibeach at 5 a.m. for his constitu-tional, stopping at the HotelSaravana Bhavan on the wayfor a coffee.

Others in the Hassan familyto make a mark in films are AnuHassan, Chandrahasan’sdaughter, who also hosts theTV show Koffee, and KamalHassan’s elder daughter Shrutiwho has starred in Hindi,Telugu and Tamil films.

– T.K. Srinivas Chari

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An ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION of just Rs.100 covers only a part of our costs.Corporate support and YOUR support will continue to be essential for ChennaiHeritage and Madras Musings to play a greater role in creating awareness aboutthe city, its heritage and its environment. We therefore look forward to your sendingus your contributions IN ADDITION TO your subscriptions.

If in the coming year Chennai Heritage receives repeated support from those ofyou who have already made contributions, and if many more supporters join thebandwagon, we will not only be able to keep Madras Musings going, but also beable to continue awareness-building exercises on on-going projects as well asundertake one or two more such exercises.

Therefore, please keep your contributions coming IN ADDITION TO YOURSUBSCRIPTIONS. If, say, you send in a cheque for Rs.500, we will treat Rs.100 ofit towards subscription to Madras Musings for 2012-13 and the remaining Rs.400as contribution towards the causes Chennai Heritage espouses.

We look forward to all readers of Madras Musings, and those newcomers whowant to receive copies, sending in their subscriptions.

– The Editor

been hailed by the real estatelobby as a major step forward,but what about the buildingsthat have already beenconstructed with hardly anyspace around and for whichthere is no scope of any newconstruction?

Lastly, there was the much-hyped unveiling of automatedparking meters at select loca-tions in the city. Two yearslater, several of these do notwork, and there are no punitivemeasures for those who simplydo not pay and, above all, the

few meters that do work havenot been upgraded to acceptthe new coins in circulation. Allthis is not indicative of anadministration keen on solvingits parking woes.

Perhaps what is needed issome tough measures akin towhat the Rajasthan High Courthas decreed. It has said that carscannot be sold to those who donot have allocated parkingspace for their vehicles.Chennai would do well toconsider such an option. It willdepress vehicle sales, but it maygo a long way in improvingthe quality of life. Of course,it is unlikely that such a

stringent norm will ever befollowed.

Another option would be toincrease parking fees to a muchhigher amount by way of acongestion surcharge. This toowould prove a deterrent forpeople to travel in privatevehicles for destinations thatcould be covered by publictransport or on foot.

Ultimately, the best solutionwould be to improve the qualityof public transport and providebetter conditions for walking –easily the healthiest option.Can we look at some out-of-the-box solutions in thatdirection?

No answers to parking woes(Continued from page 1)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS July 1-15, 2012

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

Since 1856,patently leaders

— A WELLWISHER

Madras Musings is supported as a public service by the following organisations

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014, printed by T J George at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006, and edited by S. Muthiah.

F.L. Smidth Limited

UCAL AUTOPRIVATE LIMITEDTVS MOTOR COMPANY

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The HinduGroup of Publications

July: Sakti Burman Retrospective,a travelling show by ApparaoGallery on Sakti Burman, a well-known contemporary artist whowas born in India and lives inFrance. There will be over 100paintings, water colours,drawings and lithographs (atDakshinaChitra).

Till July 16: The Interior Landscape,an exhibition of selections fromthe collection and drawings byAmerican artist Grace Weaver.She is a young figurative artistvisiting from the United States.During her time at Dakshina-Chitra, she has assembledeclectic selection of folk artobjects from the Museum’scollection, and responded tothem in charcoal drawings andcollages (at DakshinaChitra).

Amalgamations Group

Answers to Quiz

1. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak; 2. Diamond Jubilee of the reign of QueenElizabeth II; 3. Sachin Tendulkar; 4. Transit of Venus; 5. RayBradbury; 6. Mexico; 7. It became the first solar-powered plane to com-plete the world’s first intercontinental flight; 8. Nobel Prize; 9. BjornBorg; 10. John the Baptist.

* * *11. Nambi Andar Nambi; 12. The situations leading Raja Raja

Chola to invade Kandalur, a sea port; 13. The murder of the ‘yellowjournalist’ Lakshmikantham; 14. Mohammad Abdul Ali, the eighthPrince of Arcot; 15. VGP’s Victory House in Mount Road; 16. Univer-sity of Madras campus in Taramani; 17. Amalgamations Group; 18.The Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society (ISCICS);19. ‘Jambajaar Jaggu’; 20. Kalakshetra.

There’s urgent need to listheritage in 800 towns

INTACH to set upConservation & HeritageManagement Institute

INTACH Chairman L.K.Gupta recently told Union

Minister for Culture, KumariSelja, about the urgent atten-tion needed by thousands ofunprotected sites and monu-ments in the 800-plus cities andtowns of India, in only 152 ofwhich documentation of theirheritage assets has been done todate, “which is like the tip of aniceberg.” Unless more sites arenotified and heritage regula-tions put in place, most of theseprecious sites are bound to dis-appear over time, he said. Herequested the Minister to con-sider making it obligatory forevery State to list its heritageproperties and involve localcommunities in their manage-ment effectively. Protection ofheritage – not for the people,but with the people – heemphasised, could be a newpolicy approach to managingIndia’s vast heritage repositorymore effectively.

During the Minister’s visit toINTACH’s Central Office,Vice-Chairman Tasneem

Mehta announced the estab-lishment of the Conservationand Heritage Management In-stitute proposed to be set up inNew Delhi. It will train a cadreof skilled professionals to ad-dress the issue of current na-tional knowledge and skills defi-cits which are negating the sus-tainable development of India’scultural resources. The Centre,the Minister stated, will boostINTACH efforts to sensitise

and involve a large national au-dience in conserving, protec-ting and documenting thecountry’s precious heritage. AnNGO like INTACH, with itsextended network of Chaptersacross States, is well positionedto reach out to the people moreeffectively than Governmentbodies which function under

several systemic constraints.The Minister also pointed outthe many gaps that needed to befilled, like absence of heritagemanagement professionals inmost 2/3 tier-cites, and the lackof Master Management Planeven for the majority of India’s28 World Heritage Sites. Thebulk of 65,000 heritage siteslisted by INTACH remain un-protected, except for 3675monuments and 41 museums

looked after by ASI, and an ad-ditional 3500 administered byState Governments. MostStates do not even have urbanheritage protection laws, norare they governed by anyheritage regulations. Thatincludes even the capital cityDelhi where flood plains arebeing ravaged by the landlobby.

The proposed INTACHTraining Centre will colla-borate with the University ofYork and the StaatlicheKunstsammlungen DresdenMuseum. It is planning to offershort-term courses, field work,research and internships undera faculty comprising nationalscholars and visiting inter-national teachers to create apool of trained professionals inthe field of heritage conser-vation. The courses will coverpreparation of management

plans, analysis of cultural land-scapes, display of art objects andmuseum management, inter-disciplinary studies, documen-tation methodologies, intan-gible cultural heritage, etc. thusfilling up a major lacunaexisiting in the educational sys-tem, and facilitating creation ofnew job streams.

The Minister for Culture, re-sponding, said, “The more youdiscover, the more you realisehow much remains to be donein the heritage field.” She reit-erated her full support forINTACH activities.

A month later, addressing aConveners’ Conference, theChairman shared his thoughtson the major issues that he hadcome across during his past 16-17 years’ association withChapters, like inadequateinvolvement of members andcommunities in Chapterdiscussions and activities. Healso stressed the basic work thatall new Chapters must under-

accidents happen to otherpeople only. What is over-looked is that by divertingattention, injuries or evendeath can be caused to inno-cent bystanders for no fault oftheirs.

Clearly, need for someintrospection and self-disciplineis indicated, something for

which we are not known as anation. At the same time, thepolice need to be more active inbringing to book offenders andnot letting them off with a lightpenalty or warning. Given therisks involved, it may be best toresort to something drastic suchas the cancelling of drivinglicences. But in the end, it isvoluntary adherence to the rulethat is ideal. And that is up tous, the people.

CURBING CELL-PHONE USERS

(Continued from page 1)

take, i.e. listing anddocumentation of built andnatural heritage, utilising localvolunteers and architecturalcollege students; protectingintangible heritage thatpromotes arts and crafts,tourism, and rejuvenates localeconomy; and, being the eyesand ears of INTACH, reportingheritage at risk. (Courtesy:INTACH Virasat)