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Vol. XXXIV No. 1, April 16-30, 2024
Our Readers Write
Gokhale Hall
Dear Sriram,
Trust this mail finds you in the best of health and cheer.
I am writing this mail in connection with the article on Heritage Watch in the 16-31 March 2024 edition of Madras Musings (Vol. XXXIII, No. 23) on the status of the Heritage Act 2012. Non-implementation of the provisions of the Heritage Act of 2012 by the TN Government is a serious omission.
However, with reference to the case example that the article cites (i.e., Gokhale Hall), the information in the article is not factually correct. Young Men’s Indian Association (YMIA), established by Dr. Annie Besant in 1914, which owns Gokhale Hall, was signatory to a tripartite MoU with IIT Madras’ National Centre for Safety of heritage Structures (NCSHS) and National Council for Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in September 2022 for a project aimed at adapting the heritage structure into a Museum of the Freedom Struggle, with emphasis on freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu. After a thorough study spanning over 8 months, NCSHS submitted a feasibility report for use of the heritage building for the said purpose, and a detailed project report with the necessary structural restoration interventions and ancillary facilities to cater to such an activity in the building.
The Museum layout has been designed by NCSM. While there are segments of the building with severely dilapidated floors, the central domed hall (from which the building gets its name) and the front facade and spaces adjoining these are in fairly good condition. “Roofless for 14 years now and hanging by a thread” as the article sums up the status of the building is not representative.
We have successfully obtained permission from the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) of CMDA last week, after due process of submission of proposed restoration details, discussions and design alterations extending over the period, July 2023 to March 2024. NCSM will now proceed with tendering to rehabilitate the building and put in place the proposed museum, with funds from the Ministry of Culture (GoI). The intent was to start this work in the 75th year celebrations of Indian Independence under the Aazadi ka Amrut Mahotsav scheme.
Thank you for your kind attention and with warm regards.
Arun Menon
Professor (Structural Engineering)
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai – 600 036, TN
and Coordinator
National Centre for Safety of Heritage Structures (NCSHS)
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
Roja – A soft name but an Iron Will
In search of an amazing woman who has defined odds to do what her mind dictated, I acidentally hit upon one, who worried more about the dead than the living. “Dignity to a dead body”, that too an unclaimed or abandoned one, is her calling in life. “No one dies an orphan. Roja is there to bid adieu with respect,” is what Roja has promised to herself, to do till she dies. Roja is an exalted soul who deserves to be the first of the many Empowered Women Adyar Times will be talking to.
Her story tugs at our hearts – she has performed the last rites for more than 11,000 odd persons within 23 years. Once she cried the whole night after burying an abandoned week-old child with its umbilical cord intact but neck wrung to death. The personal problems that Roja faces with grit, to date, is a humongous lesson to all ladies out there who recoil at the slightest tug of fate.
Roja’s work finds her at Kannammapet, Panayur, Thiruvanmiyur, Mylapore or other such burial grounds. Whenever I called her she was at the mortuary doing the shifting of a body into an ambulance or at a burial ground saying a prayer. Not a 9 to 5 job. She is called anytime from dawn to dawn, from hospitals, police stations or even households where no one in the family is willing to do the last rites for a dead relative!
It started when her stomach did a quick churn, at the sight of a dead body being torn apart by dogs. Roja was 14 then; She quickly alerted the police, thinking it was a murder. The constables told her that it was an unclaimed body and it was usual for people to dispose of it in this manner. This drove an axe into her heart and occupied her thoughts the whole day. The image of the human carcass stuck to her mind. She promised herself that she would seek out unfortunate souls and give them a decent burial. Easier said than done. She had no schooling. She did not know anything about rituals for the dead; she only knew what she had seen in the neighbourhood and in movies. But, her mind was made up. She had to volunteer at the right places and do it on the sly. Only her father knew why she was missing from home at different times of the day. He understood her and even helped her monetarily.
Slowly, it came to light that this girl was devoting her life to this service. Police stations sought her our when there was an unclaimed body in the mortuary beyond the waiting period. They allotted the space for the burial and she performed the last rites in her own manner with a small puja with camphor, milk and garland. The police took care of the necessary expenses.
Roja has a 5-year-old son Rohith, whom she has left in the custody of her father in Chidambaram. Her father is a farmer and has been her moral support for 25 years. Her husband, who fell in love with and married her, was shocked when he heard what she was doing in the name of service. They lived separately for a few years. But, he came back to her after realising the magnitude of what she was doing. Her neighbours were troublemakers who did not want to live next door to a girl who casually walked in and out of crematoriums. Roja did not pay heed to their lament that she might bring in some evil spirit. They were worried for their family, she understood.
I asked her slowly if she had seen a ghost in any of the burial grounds. “Not even one,” she says. I breathe a sigh of relief, and she laughs. “I have never believed in such stories,” she remarks. “There are more evil spirits amongst us than in the cemeteries. People who do not care for their own dead are the worst ghosts, I say. I never cared for people’s threats. My only concern is that no one should die without having someone to give them a decent burial. I have a group of friends – Janaki Ramkumar, Kumar, Ganesan, and Anandham Amma – who run a Kaappagam, who always help me with the expenses.” A burial costs a minimum of Rs. 4,000. “I have been managing so far. The rest I leave to God, who always sends someone to help me,” she finishes.
Roja works at a binding press whenever she gets time. But will that alone help her to sustain her family? Yet, she is unwavering in her noble goal and blind to her own material needs. Roja can be contacted at 75501 43974. – (Courtesy: Adyar Times.)
