The epicentre of Madras's cultural connect

CHENNAI: Chennai has grown beyond the aspirations of its citizens. It started as a fort for the British and a black town for their native workers.

Soon there came textile towns like Chintadripet. The British moved to large garden houses in Kilpauk and Egmore. At the turn of the 20th Century, the city had a burgeoning middle class amongst the natives, many of whom did not like the cramped and crowded parts of the migrant space.

There was a need to live in large airy spaces to justify their social status. Thus was formed the first of the nagars – Thyagaraya Nagar.

Its success soon led to other nagars which today house most of the population whereas the original black town is desolate of residences.

NAMING PLACES

Planning T Nagar was a delight for planners who liked honouring people by naming streets after them. There were hundreds of streets, main highways, parks, markets and other paraphernalia associated with a newly built town.

With the Justice Party in power, they named most of the streets after their own leaders.

The entire Nagar was named after Pitti Thyagaraya, who was the grand old man of the party politics. Dr Nair and Thanikachalam also got roads named after them.

Raja of Panagal and Dr Natesan, whose Dravidian hostel was the seed of Justice Party, got parks. Many corporation officials, some Englishmen and a few labourers, who died during construction were also honored with road names.

There were opportunities for naming and renaming roads and new constructions. In the late 60s, two new subways in T Nagar – Aranganathan and Dheeran Sivalingam (Duraisamy Road subway) – were named after martyrs of anti-Hindi agitation when excavated during the DMK rule. Pondy Bazaar may have been named after WPA Soundarapandianar, though some sayit was named after a merchant from Pondicherry who opened many shops.

WHEN GANDHI ARRIVED

Gandhi spent 10 days in T Nagar during his last visit to the city. He had come to celebrate the Hindi Prachar Sabha’s silver jubilee, which had to be postponed until the World War ended.

This was the time Gandhi waved a company bus down and boarded it on Thanikachalam Road. Gandhi awarded diplomas to students who excelled in the Hindi exams.

When a lady named Baby, a common south Indian name, was invited to the stage, Gandhi remarked, “But you’re a woman?” This was a somewhat-relaxed visit for Gandhi, as Independence was very close.

The Governor had dispatched his automobile to T Nagar twice to pick him up and have dinner with him at his palace.

The British parliamentary teams visited Gandhi when he was in T Nagar. The structure where Gandhi stayed has been designated as a historic landmark.

RETAIL CAPITAL

T Nagar was originally planned as a residential area. But its central location, wide roads, and of course, the railway access, made it an ideal space for shopping. Proximity to Mount Road and Kodambakkam boosted the business.

With the same railway ticket, a person could alight at Mambalam, shop for their vegetables and groceries and hop back on to the next train home.

The roads next to the station, mainly Ranganathan Street, are crowded with thousands of shoppers on any given day.

Nalli Chinnasamy Chettiar, a weaver from Kancheepuram, identified the retail potential of T Nagar and moved here within the first decade. He sold sarees from a residence before starting a retail outlet.

That triggered a retail explosion in expensive sarees (aka silk) and then jewellery. When the controversial Smart City concept was introduced, the main road thinned to a one-way, and sidewalks expanded.

The debatable move had most of the street hawkers shifting to a multi-storeyed retail building.

Small-time shopkeepers selling low-priced goods seem to have been severely short-changed while larger retail units burgeoned.

NAGAIAH’S VANI MAHAL

On a rainy night in 1944, Telugu character actor Chittoor V Nagaiah saw a group of people waiting at a bus stop in Mylapore without a shelter or an umbrella.

Drenched in the rain were T Nagar residents, who had come to attend a Carnatic kutcheri in Mylapore.

Nagaiah gave them a lift in his automobile and subsequently felt the need for an auditorium in T Nagar.

In cinema, Nagaiah played the soft hero or the long suffering father too many times to get out of that mould. But he had several other facets too.

He had a deep knowledge of music and was actively involved in the freedom fight as well.

To culturally satiate T Nagar residents, Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha was formed, and an auditorium – Vani Mahal – was constructed. Nagaiah was later honored with a statue within a corner of the Panagal Park close to the auditorium he started.

The Vani Mahal flourished and nurtured art for decades. However, the huge traffic at the crossroads where Vani Mahal is present made life hell for the artists who had to be heard above the din. Only when air conditioning and acoustic support were given, did it get back its preferred status.

LITERARY CENTRE

Some of the best and award winning literature of 20th Century Tamil came from T Nagar. Kalki, one of the earlier residents, wrote his Sivagamiyin Sabatham and Parthiban Kanavu here.

Rajaji wrote his Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Chakravarthy Thirumangan from the area.

This was the retelling of the Ramayana for the common man and used words like ‘chakravarthy (emperor’s) son’ to denote Rama.

It was also pointed out that Rajaji’s father was Chakravarthy and he had cleverly punned the title to signify himself. Poet Kannadasan spent his later years in T Nagar and has a road named after him.

He wrote hundreds of exquisite poetry masquerading as cinema songs while living in T Nagar, and also his magnum opus – Arthamulla Hindu Matham (meaningful Hinduism). Kannadasan, an atheist, embraced spiritualism while living in T Nagar.

Tamilvanan wrote his detective Sankarlal series while residing here. Thanks to the Quit India Movement jailbreak hero Chinna Annamalai who started his Tamilpannai, a publishing venture, a stream of publishers made a beeline to T Nagar.

Even today, it’s the nerve centre of Tamil publishing.

PANAGAL PARK

Though not in the geographical centre, the green lung space was designed to be the hub around which T Nagar developed.

The park was named Panagal Park in honour of the then first Minister of Madras, Panaganti Ramarayaningar (also known as the Raja of Panagal).

An important politician, Ramarayaningar was elected as the first President of the Madras Dravidian Association from which the Justice Party and the Dravidian parties came forth.

He was of zamindari stock and the Raja was an honorary title. His statue was placed in the corner of the park named after him while the king emperor’s statue (now missing) occupied the centre-stage. In a patriotic act post Independence, the switch was made.

The eight-acre park had more than 200 trees and plenty of lawns and walkways.

Just a decade back, the corporation had spent a few crores on renovating the park. However, due to the construction of the Metro Rail, which is supposed to run under the park, the land has been temporarily requisitioned and most of its trees have been cut down.

THE LAKE

T Nagar and a substantial part of Nungambakkam was created by filling a lake. The long tank on the outskirts of the then Madras was 5.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide.

The lake had silted and was shallow. It was very close to the Cooum and the Adyar river at some points. It had long overflow channels like on KB Dasan Road (where SIET college is).

This stream took the water during excess rainfall up to Mylapore temple tank.

The Boat Club used to have its annual regatta on the lake. The festivities attracted most of the British population to have a picnic on its shores.

Some names of places have become pointless as a result of the disappearance of a lake such as Lake View Road, tank bund roads and Lake Area.

The Aalaiyamman Temple on the original lake bund has been expanded and is now a popular landmark in the area.

PLANNING NEW MAMBALAM

The city was bursting at its seams post the Great War. The Justice Party then in government wanted to create a middle and upper class neighborhood mainly for Indians.

The scheme was called the Mambalam Town Planning Scheme, Eastern Section. It was initially called New Mambalam by the locals after the ancient village from which it came (Marmalong to the British).

It was an expensive area to live in even at that time, though those prices seem ridiculous at today’s levels.

2,400 square feet of land was called one ground and it was available at Rs 500. In 100 years, the price has gone up by 100,000 times.

T Nagar was a planned settlement shaped like the rising sun. It connected Mambalam and Puliyur villages to the rest of the city.

The four borders were Mount Road, Mambalam High (now Usman) Road, Burkit Road and Bazullah Road. It had schools, temples, auditoriums, and shopping districts. And the now-famous T Nagar Social Club provided the space for social dealings.

EARLY LIFE

The original T Nagar had large houses with big gardens. Neighbours, unlike earlier habitations of the city, were well-spaced and hence, there was a general feeling of nervousness initially.

There was no movement of people after 8 pm. Foxes moved in from nearby lake beds to eat the garbage and lifted chicken and goat kids as well.

Surprisingly, what is now predominantly a shopping district had very few shops.

Private radio sets were still a luxury and residents of T Nagar would assemble at Panagal Park to listen music and news on a communal radio. There were unwanted residents too.

The lake was not closed fully at one time, which made it an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Malaria and elephant leg disease (elephantiasis) were quite common. Mosquitoes of Mambalam were famous with literary and dramatic mentions of that time.

There was even a league cricket team called Mambalam Mosquitoes. Temples in West Mambalam were popular till new temples came up in T Nagar, but devotees had to wait for a long time for the railway gates to open.

TINSEL TOWN

With large garden houses and plenty of privacy, film stars found it ideal to settle down in T Nagar. Also, its connectivity to all the studios in Kodambakkam helped.

With cinema becoming the main entertainment and its stars sometimes reaching demi-god status, T Nagar became a go-to spot for tourists.

Cinema fans would come from Andhra to make a beeline to NT Ramarao’s residence. NTR, by then, was famous for his divine roles.

It was common to see hundreds of fans prostrate themselves on the road ahead of his gate, as NTR, who’d be ready with makeup by 7 am waved to them from the balcony.

Sivaji Ganesan built his Annai Illam on North Boag Road, with its own exclusive Ganesa Temple.

For a few years, an elephant was housed in this property. Other actors like TR Rajkumari and Nagesh started theatres and many preview theatres and cinema-associated businesses also came up.

Legends like comedian NS Krishnan and lyricist Kannadasan have statues on the main roads.

HINDI PRACHAR SABHA

Ironically surrounded by roads named after the Justice Party and Dravidian leaders, whose philosophy of ‘Hindi opposition’ drove its political goal, is a building called the Hindi Prachar Sabha.

It offers examinations in Hindi proficiency for a million people every year.

Gandhi’s deepest desire was a common language for Indians to unite and fight.

“Would you not spare one hour a day to be understood by millions of your countrymen?” he’d ask the south Indians. He made his son Devdas, a Hindi pracharak, take the first Hindi class in the city which both he and Annie Besant attended. Gandhi headed the sabha till his death. It was one of the very few posts he held. After name changes and locations at George Town, Mylapore and Triplicane, the Hindi Prachar Sabha reached its own seven-acre premises in T Nagar.

WOMEN’S EDUCATION

Girls’ education was always a matter dear to the principles of Madras. The city took educating its women very seriously.

T Nagar, as a representative of the new order, was lavished with governmental support for women’s education.

Three important schools started within the second decade. The Holy Angels School which began in Santhome for Anglo-Indian pupils was relocated to T Nagar in 1934.

During the World War II evacuation, a portion of the Madras High Court relocated here because it was deemed safer.

Sister Subbalakshmi, a child widow, started Sarada Vidyalaya, a school exclusively for girls.

She turned over the school to the Ramakrishna Math in 1938. Vidyodaya School started with 6 students and ace-writer and journalist Kamala Sathiyanadhan, who was the first woman graduate of south India, became its Principal and moved into T Nagar in 1938. Vidyodaya’s T Nagar campus was opened by Lord Erskine, the Governor of Madras.