The square route

[V.Balasubramani]

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The square route

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[h=2]As another Mylapore Festival concludes, CHITRA SWAMINATHAN revisits its streets, where the past and present jostle for space[/h]It’s 8 a.m. Sixty-four-year-old Rajendra is in his traditional finery. The three parallel lines of freshly-smeared vibhuthi across his forehead and on his arms and forearms gleam in the soft rays of the sun. Clad in a spotless white panchakachcham , he wears a thick brown rudraksha malai around his neck. His house on East Mada Street, facing the Kapaleeswarar temple, is one of the few remaining heritage homes in Mylapore. Every morning, Rajendra rises early and climbs the rickety wooden stairs to get a glimpse of the gopuram from the narrow balcony hemmed in by a traditional trellis. With its thick lime and mortar walls, Madras terrace roof, carved Burma teakwood doors and chimney, the architecture of his house takes you back to a time when Mylapore was a village. One of the oldest parts of Chennai, it was a thriving cultural hub and port, which played host to the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Celebrated saints Thirugnanasambandar and Arunagirinathar have sung its praises in their hymns.

The annual four-day Mylapore festival (January 8-11, this year) is a reminder of this hoary past and a reflection of its tryst with modernity. The music and dance performances in the mandapam outside the Kapaleeswarar temple and the fair in the narrow bylanes juxtapose the two eras that Mylapore resides in.

Though the temple and theppakulam remain the landmarks of this rapidly growing city, most of the quaint structures in the area have given way to tightly-squeezed-in apartments and new-generation buildings with their bold chunky shapes and colours and façades of steel and glass.

Retired deputy secretary (Ministry of Railways), V. Kedar Rao in his booklet The Mada Veedhis of Mylapore — Reminiscences of a Mylaporean, says, “Our family has stayed in the house, Door No. 30, East Mada Street, in which I was born in 1929. It was bought by my father. In 1997, the old building was demolished and a three-storied building came up in its place. My wife and I are living here with my brothers and their families.”

So if you now have a spa, Café Mocha, mobile stores, beauty clinics, jewellery shops, and restaurants dotting the four veedhis, a few old-time destinations like Rayar’s Mess, Kalathi rose milk shop and Jannal bajji kadai continue to thrive too.


Read more at: The square route - The Hindu