The author, Sriram V, is one of Chennai's leading public speakers – especially on the city's heritage – and eminent author on music and musicians. Sriram's heritage walks in the city of Madras are well-known events.
It all started in 2004, when three wise men of Madras decided to get together and celebrate the city. These were S Muthiah – the well-known chronicler of Madras and editor of Madras Musings, Vincent D’Souza of Mylapore Times and veteran journalist Sashi Nair. They hit upon 22 August as the day, for though the grant for Madras was dated 22 July 1639, historians are almost certain that the month was August and that the recorder of the grant made a mistake. And so 22 August became Madras Day. On that day in 2004, a day-long celebration was held at Rajaji Hall, Government Estate. The response was so good that it was decided that in 2005 this would become a three-day event. The response for that was encouraging that in 2006, the celebrations spanned Sunday to Sunday centering on 22nd August. Madras Week it became and has so remained, though now, Madras Fortnight would perhaps be more appropriate, given the way the number of events has been increasing. And from there, who knows, maybe a Madras month? And making this possible are several volunteers, hotels, restaurants, shops, colleges, schools and Government institutions.
Picture and prints of Old Madras at Vennirul Art Gallery, CP Art Centre.
Was Madras Day/ Week that lasted from 18 to 26 August a success? With about 150 events, a few thousand participating, and plenty of Press coverage getting many more to talk about the occasion, it certainly could be considered a success. Particularly noteworthy, and reflecting wider recognition, was that some of the city's newspapers and magazines had special features or supplements and most devoted columns to the coverage of the events.
Dr Sumanth Raman conducting the ‘Madras Quiz’.
As was another welcome feature. The Coordinators of Madras Week had for some time been wondering whether there was enough spontaneity of what was essentially meant to be a volunteer celebration, or whether many of the events took place only in response to requests from the Coordinators. This year the happy feature was several events being organised without the Coordinators even being aware of them. If this spontaneous participation is a sign of things to come, we should think that Madras Week is a period that is getting embedded in the minds of people and will in future generate its own steam.
Cooking demo by Vipin Sachdev at Burgundy, MRC Nagar.
Heritage walk.
Heritage Tour by Dr Chithra Madhavan.
Walks too were many more in number this year and were, after quizzes, the most popular programmes. If only more volunteers from different parts of the city came forward to be trained on leading walking groups and keeping them interested in history, Madras Week can develop into a month of walks; there is so much of Madras that's unexplored by all those interested in history. We are sure that those already leading walks will be only too glad to train newcomers. There has been some comment that charging a fee was “restricting” participation in some walks. Participation is in no way restricted, but longer walks need vans and with these walks throwing in breakfast the fee charged just about covers these expenses. That the charge has not proved restrictive could be seen by the fact that more took part in a couple of these long ‘walks' than in any ‘free' walk. The venue needs to be interesting and the storyteller needs to be able to build on that interest for walks to be successful, whether there is a fee or not. The police officers and men who accompanied some of these walks were among the most interested participants and couldn't believe how much this city had to offer; they'd gladly, we're sure, support the case for such walks and encourage instant permissions.
Chennai Heritage Lecture by Mohan V Raman. “The Tamil Forms of Sivaji Ganesan”, at Park Sheraton on 25 August 2012.
There has also been some concern expressed by a few that there are too many programmes and that clashes of times have depleted audiences. We would think more the merrier, particularly if they were distributed all over town instead of in a central locality. Programmes in different parts of a large city would enable people in each of these parts to participate in locally-arranged events instead of having to travel long distances to a core area. The secret of success for programmes outside the centre of the city is for local organisers to encourage local audience participation, like Namma Arcot Road and Mylapore Times do. In fact, more local programmes locally supported is what Madras Day/Week should be generating in the years to come.
Tennis legend of Madras, Ramanathan Krishnan and Lalitha Krishnan talking to The Hindu's sports editor Nirmal Shekar.
This is true in the case of exhibitions too. We've heard it said that after the crowd present at the inauguration there are hardly any visitors during the rest of the duration. This is true of almost any of the usual exhibitions, even those in art galleries. Perhaps it is time that some energy is spent not only on organising events but also on drumming up audiences; once you get a reputation for putting on interesting events, a crowd will respond to that reputation.
Tree Walk by ‘Nizhal' at Queen Marys College, Marina Main Gate.
English and Tamil Quiz Winners.
We have also heard it said by some that their efforts did not receive any publicity in the Press. With so many events, the media undoubtedly has to pick and choose what it thinks is most newsworthy, given that it can feature only two or three events a day. Constrained by space they are likely to give many an event a miss. But event organisers should ask themselves whether they are organising events for the publicity or because they want to create an awareness about the rich heritage of Madras amongst the participants in their events. On the other hand, with Madras Week becoming virtually a Madras Month, the Press could do a bit more for events organised outside the core Week, even while being selective.
A continuing disappointment has been the lack of response from North Chennai. This is a cause for concern and has also resulted in a comment that Madras Week is elitist and restricted to South Chennai. It must be remembered that this is a voluntary celebration and unless organisers from the various areas come forward to celebrate, it is not possible for this concept to take root all over the city.
But at the end of it all, what remain with the organisers are the expressions of thanks and enjoyment that unknown people shower them with. It is unknowns like these who keep our faith alive, that Madras Week will generate its own crowds in the years to come, that it will grow year by year and create a greater heritage awareness in the city.