US Consulate General launches Madras Day events

U S Consul General in Chennai Judith Ravin joined the virtual tour along with Indian Fulbright-Nehru alumnus professor Suresh Sethuraman. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright international exchange programme by the US Department of State.

Consul General Ravin noted that the American Centre Chennai, housed inside the consulate building, has a special corner dedicated to late city historian S Muthiah, who was one of the founders of Madras Day.

Talking about Chennai’s historic links to America, professor Suresh Sethuraman said, “Chennai boasts of several sites, streets and structures that have strong ‘America’ connections - the St Mary’s church within Fort St George where Elihu Yale of Yale University fame got married in 1680, the Ice House on Kamarajar Salai where ice from Massachusetts was stored in the nineteenth century, the YMCA building opposite the Madras High Court built with financial aid from the US in 1900, to name only a few.”

He added that the information about these connections were available in archival records in the United States and Chennai. “The local government authorities and the owners or custodians of these structures/sites could consider putting up appropriate signage highlighting these unique historic connections for the benefit of local citizens, researchers, and tourists,” he said.

On August 25, USIEF, in collaboration with US Consulate General, will hold a virtual panel discussion on ‘Gana, Koothu, Cutcheri: How Chennai rolls as a UNESCO Creative City’ to continue the anniversary celebration of Fulbright programme worldwide and to mark the occasion of Madras Week. To register to join the event, log on to https://bit.ly/Chennai-UNESCO-CreativeCity