“Is this the house of P Theagaraya Chetty?” I ask the security guard at the gate. He nods, but tells me the family no longer lives here. Our eyes travel to his finger that points at the board, ‘MSG Ganesha Nadar and Sons Dal Factory’. The grand house of one of the founders of the Justice Party movement, an industrialist after whom T Nagar is named, was used as a factory outlet selling pulses for a long time, until that also closed down. We climb to the terrace of a house in the opposite block for a better view.
Tucked away in an inconspicuous corner in Tondiarpet near Royapuram and adjacent to the Washermanpet region, is a palatial house, with five green windows and a bridge to the other side of the street. The story is that Chetty had a house at the other end as well, and the bridge connected the two! Chetty was an industrialist, says Govi Lenin, editor-in-charge of Nakkeeran , who along with Prince Ennares Periyar, another journalist, has offered to be my guide for the day. “He was one of those very few who had a horse chariot to himself in those days!”
Chennai, 17/08/2017: For Metro Plus : A view of the Sir Theagaraya College in Old Washermanpet in Chennai. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Chetty was a philanthropist and donated funds for the renovation of temples and schools. Sir Theagaraya College, set up by him, is a testimony to it. On a regular day, when we walk into the college, students are playing volleyball. Inside the green campus are two sculptures of two serious-looking men with walrus moustaches. K Gunacekaran, an official in the administrative department, says the one wearing just white garments is Chetty and the other, his father. “Because of his love for white, he was aptly named, Velludai Vendar.”
This piece of North Madras that borders Royapuram and Washermanpet, marked by characteristic yellow cycle rickshaws even now, used to be the bastion of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
A ride from Chennai Central station, via Wall Tax Road, takes you to a derelict property where once Othavadai theatre stood, where Dravidian leaders such as CN Annadurai, Periyar and Karunanidhi held conferences and MG Ramachandran and MR Radha performed plays. The theatre then restricted the entry of the socially-oppressed classes. Now, its walls are dirty, with the name of the theatre fading away like its memory. “But, the most interesting trivia is that it was here that that EV Ramasamy became Periyar. And, that too, it was women who gave him the name at a Tamil Nadu Women’s Conference (Tamizh Nadu Pengal Maanadu),” says Lenin.
Chennai, 17/08/2017: For Metro Plus : A view of the Sir Theagaraya College in Old Washermanpet in Chennai. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Go further down Wall Tax Road, and you will hit Moola Kothalam, a burial ground for the agitators of the anti-Hindi agitation from 1937 to 1940. Thalamuthu and Natarajan, who sacrificed their lives during the anti-Hindi agitation, have been buried here.
“They were ill when they were arrested. Their health conditions worsened and both died in prison,” says Prince. Today, it is fallow land, frequented by a family of goats, who have made use of the tombstones to bask on a rainy afternoon, chewing on grass, unperturbed by the overwhelming sense of history around them.
North Madras has always been a stronghold of the DMK, says Prince. “For nearly two decades, they held sway. They addressed the working class here, that consisted mostly of the fishing communities, labourers and traders. There was the CPI, but only the DMK could electorally make a mark. Dravidian ideology addressed caste and emphasised on public access for all. And, that drew people to them.”
On Cemetery Road, nearby Stanley College and Monegar Choultry, is another vestige of Tamil Nadu political history, the Robinson Park, now known as Arignar Anna Poonga. Today, it acts as the green lung of Royapuram, with lots of trees, gardens and joggers, college students and children. But, on that day in September, 1949, the air here would have breathed excitement and hope. A big shift in Dravidian politics happened, when CN Annadurai announced the formation of a new party, the DMK, with its separation from the Dravida Kazhagam (DK). All we have as a remnant of this iconic moment is a smiling face of Anna, on an information panel in the park.
Nearby is Arivagam (House of Knowledge), that used to be the first DMK headquarters and official meeting place of party cadres. On top of the building are portraits of Karunanidhi, Periyar and Annadurai, and also the party symbol. But today, it is a marriage hall. Seventy-year-old Thambiran, the caretaker of the hall, opens the gates for us. “The ground floor of the hall is used for the ceremony, while the space on top is for meals,” he recites.
Outside, a few figurines of gods near the wall, a laughing Buddha at the entrance, and a big mandapam with a golden doorway and peacock sculptures add to the festive feel. Would the rationalist party founders have approved of the temple-like decor of their once politically vibrant party building? We can only ask, without hoping for answers in return.
(This is the fourth of a six-part series that looks at various neighbourhoods in North Chennai as part of Madras Week)
