Nearly 75 talks, walks, for Madras Week

by A Staff Reporter

Come join the celebration

A striking picture taken during the Ramzan Walk led by Kombai S. Anwar. Pictures by G.V. Balasubramanian.

Madras Week will be celebrating Madras and its achievements from the 20th to the 27th of August this year. Last year saw enthusiastic city-wide celebrations with excellent support from the media, old and new. This year is expected to be no different, The Week, becoming virtually a Madras Month. These voluntary celebrations of our city will include art and photographic exhibitions, food festivals in hotels with Madras cuisine as their theme, a plethora of walks and talks, quiz contests and other events.

Chennai Heritage, publishers of Madras Musings, will again host eight talks teaming with hotels and restaurants in the city. It will also lead several heritage walks during The Week, as will several individuals in different parts of Madras. Nizhal and the Madras Naturalists’ Society have already announced their walks.

INTACH’s Chennai Chapter hopes schools and colleges wishing to organise celebratory activities will get in touch with it (e-mail: Sujatha Shankar at shankarsujatha@gmail.com). Also reaching out to children will be Yocee in Kilpauk, and Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai in Anna Nagar.

A newcomer this year and planning a hectic and colourful programme is the Colours of Glory Foundation which will involve Services units in the city in its programmes that are being planned with the C.P. Ramaswami Centre.

Leading college interest will be Stella Maris with several programmes, including some reaching out to children.

Others whose programmes we have already heard about it include Mylapore Times, the Press Institute of India, the Roja Muthiah Research Library, the Observer Research Foundation, the Madras Literary Society, Rotary and a couple of clubs. About 75 talks and walks have already been scheduled. It is understood that the Madras Bar Association, which recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of the High Court building, will be organising several events in August.

Perhaps indicative of the success of Madras Week as a means of creating an awareness about the City and its heritage is the number of institutions that come forward each year to celebrate the city. The celebrations have also spread to the suburbs such as Tiruvanmiyur, Nanganallur and Tambaram. Private apartment blocks and various societies plan their own events.

Those who are planning events are requested to send in details by email to the following Ids: editor@madrasmusings.com and themadrasday@gmail.com by July 22nd (first call) and August 10th (second call). Details so received will be put up on the web site www.themadras day.in and also the mobile app Madras Week. In addition, a multi-page booklet with programmes will also be published and distributed closer to the date of the event by Madras Musings, whose website is www.madrasmusings.com

Please follow and like us: