The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : How Madras was a far cry from Chennai

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Friday, Aug 22, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

How Madras was a far cry from Chennai

Staff Reporter

— Photo: R.Shivaji Rao

Adapted: (From left) Radha Gopalakrishnan, Angelika Mandaiker and Eira Doshi participating in a panel discussion on ‘Marrying into Madras, the expat view’ organised as part of the ‘Madras Week’ celebrations in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Coming from diverse cultures, talking different languages and having varied thoughts on life and the world, they came to this city nearly 40 years ago. Over the decades, they neatly adapted themselves to the ‘quiet, laidback’ lifestyle of the Madras.

Angelika Mandaiker from Germany, Eira Doshi from Wales and Radha Gopalakrishnan from England, who got married into families in Madras, recalled how their lives underwent a complete transformation when they came to the country. They were participating in a panel discussion on ‘Marrying into Madras, the expat view’ organised as part of the ‘Madras Week’ celebrations on Thursday.

“In those times the phrase ‘love marriage’ was terrible. I am very grateful to my mother-in-law for the abundant love and acceptance. Though ours was a registered marriage, my father-in-law sent a mangalsutra and sari and after that whenever I was in India, I always wore a sari,” said Ms.Angelika Mandaiker, who met her husband in Toronto, when she was on a world tour.

Ms.Eira Doshi, who married into a Jain family, too met her husband in Toronto. “In Madras, we didn’t have any friends for several years. The two of us would, therefore, go to the movies. Casino and Elphinstone were the places. There used to be an ice-cream parlour next to Elphinstone with tall stools. Dasaprakash used to be another place where we would have dosa.”

Ms.Radha Gopalakrishnan, who married into a Kerala Nair family, recalled how she managed with a kerosene stove. It was also a switchover to idli, dosa and sambar from the Western food. “Even today at home lunch means proper South Indian meal with rice, sambar, rasam, kootu.”

They recalled how there were no telephones, how aruvamanais were used to cut vegetables. It took seven years to get a telephone and the city was quieter, cleaner and did not have any garbage lying around.

The three women also spoke of the advantages of present-day Chennai. Ms.Gopalakrishnan, who was missing the English accent, recalled how she watched BBC World when cable television came into being. Ms.Mandaiker said that she was glad about having autorickshaws instead of hand-pulled rickshaws and Ms.Doshi said that she was happy to have clean provisions in stores.

They shared their experiences with Sushila Natraj, a member of the organising committee of the ‘Madras Week’ celebrations.

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