Stroll down the streets of Chintadripet — conceived as a ‘village of small looms’ — and you will see how an old neighbourhood has paused, even if hastily, to take account of time.
Buildings with traditional facades punctuate lanes that are fast filling up with modern constructions. A swarming market accommodates both age-old trades and 21st-century demands.
There is hardly a quiet moment in this dense neighbourhood planned by the British as a settlement for weavers. The Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee Report talks about how construction began in 1734. “None but spinners, weavers, painters, washers and dyers, with priests and attendants for the temple will be admitted to the new village, to be called Chintadre Pettah.”
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Dates in History
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| DID YOU KNOW! The shaded garden of Chief Merchant Sunku Rama, with 15-year-old trees and a good supply of water, was chosen to develop the settlement |
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Ask 84-year-old R. Sarojini about the one defining feature of Chintadripet, and she says instantly: “The fish market.”
T. Venkatakrishnan (79) remembers visiting the reading room at the over-100-year-old Goschen Hall as a student. “Few families bought newspapers. We went to the reading room to jot down headlines given to us as homework,” he says.
The neighbourhood is home to a number of heritage structures, including the 19-century CSI Zion Church, the police station, and Chintadripet Higher Secondary School. At least four old temples and families who have been making umbrellas and garlands, among other items, for several temples and festivities find a place in the neighbourhood.
G. Kadhirvelu (78) says, back then only four or five people in the locality had cars. “Now every house has a car. The area is facing challenges which are common to old parts of the city. They were designed for a different way of life,” he says.