Another edition of Madras Week has just concluded. As always, it proved to be an enormous learning experience, the city displaying its layered history to all celebrants.
One of the most relaxed mornings, in what was otherwise a hectic seven days, was that of August 16, when a small group of seven of us, despite a mild drizzle, joined Govi Lenin of Nakkeeran on a tour. Styled ‘The Justice Party and Triplicane’, it began, of all places, at Mylapore, outside the City Centre Mall. It was only when Lenin began his tour that I got to know the significance of the spot. This was once apparently Raju Gramani Thottam, and it was here in 1916 that the Justice Party released its first non-Brahmin manifesto. That marks the formal beginning of the caste struggles of Madras Presidency, which later also became the platform for the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu. This year, therefore, ought to see a centenary celebration; but I suppose that the parties that profess these ideologies are busy otherwise.
Another tour that I learned much from was the one featuring the textile trade of T. Nagar. Led by software professional, heritage enthusiast and shopaholic Sreemathy Mohan, this had the venerable establishments of T. Nagar – Co-Optex, APCO, Nalli and Naidu Hall among others – welcoming the visitors and telling their tale. I have always maintained that if Madras Week is to be a greater success, the trade ought to be involved, and perhaps Sreemathy has shown us the way. The tour began with Co-Optex, which traces its origins to the Madras Handloom Weavers Provincial Co-Operative Society that came into existence in 1935 – 80 years ago, and a first in the entire country. The showroom in T. Nagar had aesthetically displayed the different weaves of Tamil Nadu for the visitors. But to me, the most stunning moment was when T.N. Venkatesh, IAS, the Managing Director, let visitors take a peek into a treasure – this was a bound book, the pages of which were not paper but cloth, each of a different weave of Tamil Nadu.
The book’s origins are most interesting. It was in the 1950s that the Government of India decided to impose a cess on handlooms. The weavers of what was then Madras State decided to represent against this to Jawaharlal Nehru when he came on a tour to South India. Their petition was presented in the form of this book. Nehru was so impressed that he asked that an extra copy be made. The first, he took back with him and the second, he gifted to Co-Optex and this has been preserved carefully.
The T. Nagar tour ended with the doyen of the textile trade, Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty showing such treasures as the Durbar Pet weave of 1911 and the MS blue. He also distributed copies of his book T Nagar, Andrum Indrum to all the visitors.
Who said history was only about kings and dates?
