The heritage walk was titled ‘A Pond, A Tank via a Canal’. And, not surprisingly, it kicked off at the main gate of Nageshwara Rao Park, which was once a pond.
“If you notice, the park is about four feet below road level… that’s because it was originally a pond and called ‘arathu kuttai’,” says historian Venketesh Ramakrishnan, as he leads a posse of enthusiasts on a bright Sunday morning as part of the Mylapore Festival, “There was a bigger tank in T. Nagar, at the same place where sari shops are today.” The comment elicits a few laughs, but the focus is, primarily, on the riches and variety that the neighbourhood of Mylapore had in the past. “I’ve spoken and interviewed members of the influential MLM family, who live right behind. Some of them have seen this place as a pond, and now as a park,” he says, before moving on.
A stroll across the road leads us to the magnificent Luz Church, built in 1516. “This is a unique building that has Baroque-style architecture, commonly found in churches in Goa,” explains the writer, before letting the crowd tip-toe into the place of worship that has just witnessed a Sunday morning mass.
The walk’s next major stop is the illustrious Mylapore Club, but not before briefly checking the place where the Travancore Sisters lived, and the landmark Amrutanjan campus. “In the past, the balm was apparently distributed outside music concert venues as part of a marketing exercise,” says Venketesh with a smile. The well-known brand is situated in a campus that has seen historical incidents; the famous Sribagh Agreement that led to the founding of Andhra Pradesh was signed at this very place.
Cinema and entertainment were part of yesteryear Mylapore as well, as enthusiasts discovered at Kamadhenu (now a wedding hall, then a theatre). “The first owners were in the textile business and wanted to get into the movie industry by setting up a theatre,” says Venketesh. “There was a lot of apprehension about how it’d fare as it was away from Mount Road. Over time, the owners couldn’t repay debts and it changed hands.” The launch of the theatre, however, saw the who’s who of tinsel-town. “It was inaugurated by N.S. Krishnan, just out of jail after serving time for the famous Lakshmikanthan murder case,” he adds.
The wedding hall is situated quite close to Luz House, now a popular venue for events. It was at this very place, several years ago that Buchi Babu worked on his game of cricket, then dominated by the British. “He was singularly responsible for introducing it to South India,” explains Venketesh, as he leads the group into the magnificent more than 200-year-old house.
After a quick visit to the Vidya Mandir school and a peek into the life of Potti Sriramulu (who fasted to death for the formation of a Telugu-speaking state), the historian shifts his focus to transportation. “We have the MRTS today, but even the British wanted to connect the Fort with Mylapore. They had two plans of doing so; via the Buckingham Canal and along the Marina Beach. Due to many circumstances, both plans were dropped,” he reveals, wrapping up the walk off Kutchery Road.
