Mylapore has hosted a series of events for Madras Day 2022, and more are lined up this weekend.
The students of the Geography and Tourism department at Queen Mary’s College made a song and dance of Madras Day, when on August 22, they took out a procession, band music and placards and all from the Marina promenade into the college campus. Small groups had earlier taken part in heritage walks too. ( photo below)
Elsewhere, foodie and Mylaporean, Sridhar Venkataraman kept the focus on the Mylapore Food Walk ( August 20). ( photo below) The focus was on shops that offer yummy snacks. One such was Sri Karpagambal Kapali Sweets Stall on Mathala Narayanan Street. A birdie on this walk says he enjoyed the stuff at Senthil Soft Zone on Kutchery Road, another stop on this Walk.
At the Mylapore Club, veteran sports journalist Partab Ramchand dug into his archives and tomes to quiz the four teams in the final of the Madras Sports Quiz ( Aug.21).
The winners ( seen in Photo 1) took home some goodies and cups that the Club secretary Ravi, a gracious host, offered that evening. Quizzers and guests polished off the potato bondas and Asoka halwa from the popular kitchen here.
Columnist and historian, Alwarpet-based Venkatesh Ramakrishnan has been delivering a talk-a-day the past week. One such was at C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation; the lecture on ‘The Royalty of Madras’ (August 20). The week-long exhibition on ‘The Royalty of Madras’ is on at C. P. Art Centre – open till August 27.
Ranade Library, Luz hosted two events, back-to-back on August 22. The day started with the annual ‘Heritage of Chennai’ contest where city school teams study a subject and present it in public. ‘Streets’ was the theme this year and the team from TI Matric, Ambattur impressed; using land records, visuals and streetscapes, the trio impressed. Only 9 schools of the 30 who were invited turned up.
Later, Revathi Ram anchored the annual Tamil Quiz on the city ( photo above). Over 60 students from local schools took the prelims and the girls team from Rani Meyyammai, R. A. Puram lifted the rolling trophy for winners. SINA provided the space, as it has for many years.
‘Saints of Mylapore’ was the theme for a walk that community activist and historian Padmapriya Bhaskaran led on August 21. ( photo below).
The focus was on the saints of Thirukailaya paramparai, Veera Saiva cult, the nayanmars and the azhwars, a saint who attained jeeva samadhi, Neminatha and the Jains and saint Thomas. A lot was packed into two hours; a tour hosted by Great Cholas Historical Group.
Madhuradhwani, promoted by Arkay Centre, Luz dedicated the past week to talks; two per evening, webcasting and offering it for later viewing. Ramakrishnan and Venkatesh Ramakrishnan teamed up for this series. One impressive lecture was by Kizhambur Sankara Subramanian; the theme – U Ve Sa and Chennai (உ வே சா வும், சென்னையும்.). It is now available on the Arkay YouTube channel. That double-bill evening featured Dr. Chithra Madhavan, speaking on ‘ Some lesser-known temples around Chennai ‘.
Later, T. K. Krishnakumar meshed Madras Bhashai and ‘Cho’ Ramaswamy in his talk which drew a full house.
At Crowne Plaza hotel, still known as Adyar Gate Hotel, a Madras-theme food fest is on at the legendary Dakshin restaurant.
Food writer Ameeta Agnihotri got the hotel’s managers going for a Madras Week special – Chef Shri Bala curated the food, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, drawing from her research while retaining the city food flavours. The fest is on till August 28. ( photo above)
And to kick-off the core Madras Day season, KSA Trust held its annual awards event on August 16. ‘Champions of Chennai’ citations were presented to six persons/groups who have excelled in different walks of life; the event was held at a hall at P. S. School campus and the commissioner of the city civic body, Gagandeep Singh Bedi was the chief guest, dancer Priyadarshini Govind, a guest of honour. ( Photo below)
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