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Still at it manually

Manual cleaning of hazardous filthy stormwater drains, all over Chennai, using unorganised workers on daily wage basis employed by cont­ractors, with the blessings of Chennai Corporation goes on unabated.

Chennai Corporation says one thing in the High Court, does exactly the opposite on the streets. The Corporation and other municipalities appear to accept defeat in war against ­illegal sewage flow into storm­water drains.

A. Narayanan
Director,
Changeindia (a centre for advocacy and research) & Editor
Paadam Magazine 2/268, Rapid Nagar
Gerugambakkam, Chennai 602 101

Brand Tamilvanan

I have read with interest R.V. Rajan’s Brand Tamilvanan (MM, July 1st) 2016).

Tamilvanan was really a legendary figure with his hat and dark glasses. I read his Kalkandu from the very first issue and cut-and-bound his series on Sankarlal. Someone borrowed from me but it came back to me only when I found it with a second-hand bookseller in Vellore.

Tamilvanan published a piece of mine sent on a post-card and he sent an honorarium of Rs.10. He was fond of Leo Tolstoy. I had sent a translation of one of Tolstoy’s stories which he published. These are still with me in my collection.

Back in 1953, we, SSLC ­students, came to Madras on excursion. Some of us went to the Kalkandu-cum-Kumudham office on Purasawalkam High Road to see him. But he was too busy to see us and we came back disappointed. Years later, in 1972, I was Secretary of the Leather Export Promotion Council, Madras. There was a function in Vani Mahal with Kannadasan speaking, to which I was also invited. After the function, on the lawns, I saw my namesake, a nephew of the famous leather Nagappa Chettiar, with a bald, tall man standing by his side. My namesake introduced him to me as Tamil­vanan. He was without his brand hat and goggles. I ­explained to him, how I could not meet him in 1953. He very humorously replied, “Now you may be all that keen on meeting me!”

Kalkandu was also famous for Q&A, as Babu Rao Patel’s Q&A in Film India and I.S. Johar’s Q&A in Filmfare.

It is good the legacy lives on through his sons.

Dr. G. Sundaram, ias (rtd)
A-001, Dugar Apartments
Keshav Perumal Puram, Greenways Road
Chennai 600 028

Whats’ happening

After reading “What is happening to this famed hall?” (MM, July 1st), I went to the internet to see how it looks now. Here is a sketch of it done by an artist in 2013. It looks tragic. I understand it stands on one acre. It will be interesting to know if it really still stands or has it been encroached upon. Land values being so high, the custodians need to clarify.

After all the freedom movement started in Madras and the hall associated with it has a very high heritage value and needs to be renovated and perhaps used as a museum highlighting the people of Madras; contribution to that movement.

K V S Krishna
kvskrishna@gmail.com

Studying traffic

As a research planner I undertook a series of studies and planning tasks in different parts of the country for over 55 years. Many schemes have been successfully implemented and also evaluated. As the ­findings of some of the studies are of direct relevance to the public, I wrote brief articles on these topics, highlighting the salient findings of the studies, on newspapers and magazines/Journals. I have now prepared a book entitled Planning for the future – Solutions for India’s ­traffic problems containing 30 of the articles published during the past few years. This book is incorporated in the website: www.nssrinivasan­traffic.com for the benefit of the technical community and ­others.

Other books included in the website are:

1. Taking the high road – ­Research on transport in developing economies, (September 2013)
2. Traffic engineering and planning under mixed traffic and other prevailing conditions in India, (October 2014)
3. Transport research in India – Analytical case studies, (July 2015)

I hope these books will be of some use for further research, planning and development tasks in this field in developing countries.

N S Srinivasan
tafsrini@yahoo.com

Where is Presidency going?

As an ex-Presidencian, I am impelled to share some thoughts about my alma mater after reading the write-up on Presidency ­College (MM May 1st-15th).

I spent almost decade (three as an undergraduate in Chemistry and six as a Researcher) in 2007.

Our surviving group of eight Honours ­students resolved to celebrate the golden jubilee of our graduation with a reunion. We asked the Department Head what we could give to the Department in token of our respect and ­gratitude to our alma mater. We were told that one laboratory was out of use because of the eroded gas distribution system. We readily agreed to put it back into operation, but found that this involved calling for tender by the PWD Dept first. Since we had no time for involved procedures, we were alternately asked to ­provide fibre glassboards for the classrooms and books for the M.Sc. students’ library. We ­happily did this. On the reunion day, we had an interaction with the M.Sc. students and after a lunch, we spent some time with the Principal. We then went round the campus.

What we saw pained us terribly. There was litter not only on the open grounds, but even on the laboratory floor! As we climbed the stairs, we could see that the tops of the electrical meter boxes had not been cleaned for years. The 1957 batch of Physics Honours Group also had a ­reunion and their meeting was held in the very lecture room where C.V. Raman had sat and studied. We were invited for this.

In Presidency, the gallery system of wooden benches prevails, i.e. they are in an ascending fashion with the lecturer at the floor level. Thus there is huge empty space between the benches and the floor below. This was full of litter. The bench tops were ornamented with white pigeon shit all over. The reason given for this state of affairs everywhere was that funds received from the Government were inadequate for maintenance.

As an undergraduate student, I used to ­borrow many books from the excellent college library. Now, we were told that only one book can be borrowed in a month! We had an excellent library in the Chemistry Department also. In my research days, every year, Dr. Pai (the Deputy Dept. Head then) used to commandeer my services on Sundays to checked the books in the Departmental Library. Together, we first got back all the books on loan, checked them and got bound those needed binding, thus ensuring that the valuable library stock remained intact.

Distinguished personalities from various fields used to address the students. Dr. C.V. Raman used to give a lecture every year to all the students. I cannot forget the meeting ­addressed by Rev. Martin Luther King. After Martin Luther King’s absorbing talk was over, C. Subramaniam, who presided, requested Coretta King to render a Negro Spiritual which she rendered readily and charmed the audience.

Those were the days in Presidency! Where are we going?

Incidentally, we were told that we were the first batch of students in the Chemistry Department to have come back to the college for a Reunion!

Indukanth Ragade,
A-4, Prabhat Apts.
Kamala Bai St, T. Nagar, Chennai 600 017

The MLS awakens

You will be glad to know that the fortunes of the Madras Literary Society improved ­dramatically in 2015-16, largely thanks to the efforts of just four members – Jaya Mahbbani, Padma Padmanabhan, S. Thirupurasundari, and Rajith Nair. The main factor has been the vigorous outreach strategy they have initiated, covering Madras Week, the Hindu Litfest, events held in the library on the mornings of second Saturdays every month, and soliciting the interest of colleges, institutions and schools.

We hope the monthly events at the MLS will be a draw; you might take a look at the Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Madras-Literary-Society-10536257 98039945/ to see the encouraging response we had for our July meeting (see picture).

It was a reading of Bernard Shaw’s A Dressing Room Secret in which a group of party-goers dress up as for a Shakespeare performance.

Mohan Raman
madrasliterarysociety@gmail.com