As the clock struck twelve on Friday the 15, 67 years ago, the air in the Old Congress House Grounds in Royapettah resounded with the jubilant cheers of a thronging crowd.
The Congress Party flag bearing the charkha was being lowered, just as the new flag of the Indian Dominion was unfurled to its newly sovereign people. Meanwhile, thousands in other pockets of the city frantically tuned into community radio sets to follow the proceedings of the transfer of power taking place in New Delhi.
Amidst an electric refrain of ‘Vande mataram’ , Madras ushered in the dawn of the country’s independence.
People flooded the streets across the city, participating enthusiastically in elaborate processions heralding a new era. Long parades bearing photos of Gandhi, Nehru and Bose, and accompanied by chariots, triumphantly powered through alleys in People’s Park, George Town and High Court Beach, where a public meeting was observed.
Triplicane beach welcomed another procession bedecked with elephants and camels, and led by K. Kamaraj, under the auspices of the Madras District Congress Committee.
Interestingly, celebrations appropriated varied tones as varied stakeholders of the city made it their own. The mill workers of the B&C mills of the Perambur Barracks celebrated in the hope that ‘freedom’ would also propel independence for labourers.
For the Muslim community in the city, the revelry was marked by the need to pronounce allegiance to the Indian nation at a time when the memory of Partition was still fresh.
The city had transformed into an arena of carnivalesque festivity. The tricolour and festoons competed against each other in leaving every façade adorned.
The merchant communities in the Kotwal Bazaar, Bunder Street and Park Town areas distributed payasam and cooked rice to the needy. Banners reading ‘Long live India’, plastered across roads in Pondy Bazaar and T. Nagar, screamed for attention.
Celebrations, as it were, were not merely land-bound. In Madras Harbour, the sirens of docked ships pierced the air soon after the chairman of the Port Trust, M.S. Venkatraman, hoisted the national flag.
At Meenambakkam, an aircraft of the Madras Flying club piloted by Mr. Tyndale Biscoe wowed audiences by flying low over a flag mast and tipping its wing in salute.
As the sun set, the city was illuminated with a sea of lamps. Public landmarks like Ripon building and Central and Egmore stations were lit up with coloured bulbs.
Madras celebrated the nation’s independence in style. While it may have been one of the first bases to be subsumed by colonial dominion, it sure did pull out all stops to rejoice in its liberation.
