A Sunday breakfast with Rotarians, and a slice of heritage
Sundays are usually lazy days, at least that is how you feel
in the early part of the morning. So, you don’t expect a packed attendance at a
Rotary breakfast meeting. There were hardly 15 Rotarians when I arrived in time
for breakfast – idli, vada, pongal, sambar, coffee – about 8.30 am. But in the half
hour following, the number doubled and by the time the hosts draped a ponnadai
around my shoulders it was house-full.
The members were made up of a motley group comprising advocates,
professors, builders, teachers, businessmen, students and others. I was
introduced by an elderly member and I noticed she had taken pains to scribble
two full pages, adding copiously to an email I had sent her about my background.
In the event she made several errors, but on occasions such as it is
best to let them pass.
A sumptuous breakfast is unlikely to keep you awake for long when you are seated comfortably and as it turned out there were a couple of heads suddenly dropping on
shoulders and then springing back to attention. But these occurrences were momentary
and by and large the audience was wide awake. That was enough motivation as I
launched into the romance of old – of Andrew Cogan, Francis Day and Beri
Thimmappa, of Madraspattnam, Chennapattnam and George Town ,
of St Mary’s Church in the Fort, the oldest British building in Madras , and of some of
the early institutions established by governors like Elihu Yale.
And then, about how during the height of Queen Victoria’s
reign, the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture was considered the form best
suited to convey imperial majesty in the Indian empire, and about the genius of
Robert Chisholm, Henry Irwin, and Paul Benfield before them.
About Senate Hall, its classic restoration and sad present
state, about Bharat Insurance Building
or Kardyl Building
built for WE Smith, pharmacists, a classic example of neglect, and about the fate
that awaits the Royapuram Railway Station, the oldest in India after the
one at Bori Bunder was long gone. Even as Mumbai’s VT and the Niligiri Mountain
Railway are preserved as heritage structures.
About the Metro Rail continuing to create a stir in the city
on a regular basis – with CSI Wesley Church the latest, and earlier with a
building in the Teachers
Training College
About the need for a comprehensive Heritage Act without
which buildings will continue to be razed. Like a 164-year-old church in Coimbatore was, and how part of the Rangammal
Palace in Madurai was.
I thought I’d get into the details about Khalas Mahal (the
one bright spark now) and the Chepauk
Palace
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