Mindless clerical errors are increasingly distorting names of prominent roads in the city
On the surface, it is just a stretch of tar laid by a handful of workers and a roller, but give it a name and the road assumes a life of its own; it becomes an address on which your life hinges — right from birth to death. And yet, how many of us know about the people after whom our roads and streets are named? Even though their names are appended to our identities as long as we live in a city?
Let’s assume you are a long-time resident of, say, Nungambakkam. But do you know who Mr. Anderson of Anderson Road was? Or know anything about Mr. Sterling of Sterling Road? Or why College Road is known as College Road? For that matter, how many in the younger generation will know about Anna of Anna Salai or Rajaji or R.K. of R.K. Salai? That may be an interesting idea for reporters desperate for a story: interview five students each from five schools in the city, and you could be in for surprises.
I’ve always been fascinated by names behind roads, and have already written a couple of pieces (in this paper), unravelling the identities of people who’ve lent their surnames to some of the city’s most important roads. Not only that: I’ve also found out about Mr. Murugesan, the man who gave his name to the street (in T. Nagar) that has been my home for 12 years now. The question — who was Murugesan — had pricked me from time to time and now I am at peace.
But there is something else that pricks me these days: how mindless clerical errors are increasingly distorting names of prominent roads and thereby destroying the few existing links of the city with its past. Graeme’s Road, for example, has already transformed — irreversibly, it seems — into Greams Road. The road was named after Henry Sullivan Graeme, a civil servant from the early 19th century. What on earth is ‘Greams’?
Similarly, what is Shevalia? Well, Shevalia is a gross distortion of Chevalier, the French honour which actor Sivaji Ganesan was accorded with. But the road named after the legendary actor — near Pondy Bazar — identifies itself as Shevalia Road. A century down the line, residents (and passersby alike) will wonder who Mr. Shevalia was. Likewise for Bradies Kassel Road, which was originally Brodies Castle Road.
The list of such mindless errors is getting long. The latest victim of such insensitive carelessness on part of the Chennai Corporation is Murray’s Gate Road. Mr. Murray was the collector of Madras from 1822 to 1831. But the repainted signboard identifying this prominent road now reads: Muresh Gate Road. How long can we allow this?
I have a question for the Mayor. We journalists gracefully admit to an error whenever a reader points out one in a copy: we not only issue a clarification but also rectify the mistake in the online version. Then why does the Corporation choose to remain blind when columns such as this point out errors in signboards? All it will take you is to send a painter over with cans of blue and white paint to restore the rightful names. Unless you want future generations to grow up with names that never existed in history — such as Mr. Greams, Mr. Shevalia and Mr. Muresh.
Keywords: Chennai roads, Chennai Corporation
this is nothing sir, there are five srinivasa street and the postman has instructed us to put it as srinivasa iyer st, iyengar st. pillai st. etc. similarly is the case of balakrishnan street. these are off arya Gouda road in west mambalam.
Years back ,in line with the national policy of eradicating caste system,the state government made the corporation remove the caste
factors in the street name boards.In Nungambakkam chennai,Krishna Iyer street became Krishna st,Rama Naicken st turned into Rama street,
Kumarappa Mudali st changed to Kumarappa st etc.But in their anxiety
they have not realised Krishna and Rama came to stay in the secular state.But the most funny change is that Dr.Nair Road converted into
Dr road when Nair was removed.I would suggest the government to
instruct corporation to name these streets and roads after the great
Tamil poets like valluvar,Kamban,Ilango so on.
chennai
10 th sep
Thanks Mr. Bishwanath Ghosh, nice to read such enlightening articles, hope Mr. Mayor of Chennai will heed to your articles advices for the betterment of the future generations. Thanks once again for writing such articles which will awake many like me from slumbers
My colony name Kannappa Nagar, opp RTO,Tiruvanmiyur is written correctly
as Kannappa Nagar at the entrance to the street and in my compound
wall,which is at the other end of the street,it is written as GANNAPPA
NAGAR
Names of old Roads should not be changed. Can we change history by changing names? Let new roads be named after present pesonalities. Abbreviating names is another flaw.
I used to live on Griffith Road in T'Nagar. It is now named differently, after an eminent Carnatic music singer, but there was a time when the street sign proudly announced "Giri 5th Road". Of course, we didn't get any mail delivered to our home for a while and remained isolated from the world outside (this was the pre-internet era) until Sir Griffith was reinstated with full honours.
Patullos Road is now Patullas Road, Griffith Road is now Kiribith Road, there is a distortion that now goes by the name of Melloni Road. Examples are many. The Corporation has sought novel ways of circumventing this problem by renaming many of these streets and roads after many indigenous personalities (Rukmani Lakshmipathy Road which was Marshalls Road or Ethiraj Salai which was earlier Commander-in-Chief Road). Wonder why we cannot retain the old names of these roads and instead honour these worthies such as VL Ethiraj or Rukmani Lakshmipathy by naming streets in new localities after them. The renaming of Madras as Chennai still rankles within me.
I hope the Mayor would take prompt action to set the names right.
A little thinking should also be devoted to the colors chosen. White text on a dark background would be more prominent.
A name for a road is a remainder of our past and the personality it is
named after. Colonial past is our history. Instead of changing the
existing names, a small note on the sign board about the personality or
its importance in legible words would kindle curiosity in people. After
all, we celebrate 'Madras Day' only because the city has a long history
that every citizen of Chennai is proud of.
What is in a name? could be the probable poser from the Mayor. He may say that after all, these are names, and hence, can be written in any manner.
Great Article and a great observation.
The article reminded me of a story that my professor KR Narayanan
from Madura College used to tell about a certain Bridge in
erstwhile Madras. The story of how Poor Hamilton got
rechristened as Barber
"Hamilton Bridge" became "Barbers Bridge" through a series of
distortions and an unwise translation
Hamilton Bridge .. Aamilton Bridge.. Ambattan Bridge..
Ambattan is a Tamil slang for Barber. then a "wise" guy did the
translation and Barbers Bridge was born.
Poor Hamilton was metamorphosed to a Barber
Vijay Raghavan
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