"Kanchipuram Dhokla", my incredulous eyes read as the ticker goes by a fourth time. A snack shop proclaims this with confidence. I have not heard of this apparent delicacy in my twelve years of living in a small town near Kanchipuram, called Chennai. The closest thing I can think of is Kanchipuram Idli, whose resemblance to dhokla ends with both having holes. You know how they say people discover themselves when they travel? It seems I will be discovering my home state.
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While Chennai celebrates Madras Day, I decided to treat myself to a bit of local history here, by attending a heritage walk in the Esplanade area. Conducted by Khaki Tours and led by a Mr Farrok, the walk wound through some old, broad streets (with relatively recently changed names!). Below are some highlights.
"Esplanade" refers to an open ground, and the area known as Esplanade was the open ground around the Fort. Eventually, the fort became overcrowded, so the walls were torn down and the open grounds became occupied by various structures.
Capitol Theatre, earlier Gaiety Theatre, which evolved from a drama stage to a silent movie theatre to a talkies theatre. It is the site of Dadabhai Naoroji's first - and only - stage performance, where he was booed off the stage. Who knows what turns history would have taken had he stayed in the acting business?
Another theatre, Empire Theatre, was built in the Victorian Gothic style but later remodeled to an art-deco style featuring geometric patterns.
Elphinstone Cricket Club, where Indians watched the British play cricket. (Reminds one of Champaner?) Things must have come full circle when we watched them play in Lord's last month with much enthusiasm though it wasn't an India match. Later, we saw the Bombay Gymkhana, where the first India v England Test match took place in 1933. Unlike Champaner, India lost, but the stakes probably weren't as high.
Fort Dispensary (below), built in the 1870s mainly to stock medicines for women and children and still the site of women's organisations. Notable are the triangular roofs with Mangalorean tiles.
Bombay Gas Company, established in 1862 by the Governor-General. Interestingly, optic fibres now run where gas lines once did. Opposite stands the telephone building (below), where the telephone was brought to Bombay within six years of its invention!
Parsi Lying-In Hospital (below), founded exclusively for delivering babies, with an emphasis on hygiene and isolating the new mother in order to reduce the number of deaths during childbirth.
Schools - the Young Ladies' School, the J.B. Petit School (below), the Cathedral School and the Alexandra Girls' school.
The ENT Hospital, where the Bombay City Improvement Trust was founded following the Bombay Plague in the 1890s, for better development and sanitation of the northern areas that were being planned and built.
The Esplanade Estate (above; this image shows the passage between the main house and the servants' quarters) and the Tata Palace (below). The former is now occupied by a philanthropic organisation, while the latter now houses Deutsche Bank. Both show French influences in the architecture. Esplanade Estate, guarded at the entrance by a sculpture of a St Bernard, was renovated in 2013 in a manner that preserved the spirit of the construction, and hence won a UNESCO award.
The walk concluded opposite the TCS House, earlier known as the Ralli House. The inside was completely overhauled, resulting in a building that appears to have four storeys from the outside but really has six! A board above the entrance states, in Greek, "Walk the Straight Path". This walk took a path with many turns (reconstructed below, as best as I could remember!) but I hope to do it again sometime with more leisure.
And finally here is a shot of VT/CST with clouds looming behind - exemplifies what this city is known for.
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While Chennai celebrates Madras Day, I decided to treat myself to a bit of local history here, by attending a heritage walk in the Esplanade area. Conducted by Khaki Tours and led by a Mr Farrok, the walk wound through some old, broad streets (with relatively recently changed names!). Below are some highlights.
"Esplanade" refers to an open ground, and the area known as Esplanade was the open ground around the Fort. Eventually, the fort became overcrowded, so the walls were torn down and the open grounds became occupied by various structures.
Capitol Theatre, earlier Gaiety Theatre, which evolved from a drama stage to a silent movie theatre to a talkies theatre. It is the site of Dadabhai Naoroji's first - and only - stage performance, where he was booed off the stage. Who knows what turns history would have taken had he stayed in the acting business?
Another theatre, Empire Theatre, was built in the Victorian Gothic style but later remodeled to an art-deco style featuring geometric patterns.
Elphinstone Cricket Club, where Indians watched the British play cricket. (Reminds one of Champaner?) Things must have come full circle when we watched them play in Lord's last month with much enthusiasm though it wasn't an India match. Later, we saw the Bombay Gymkhana, where the first India v England Test match took place in 1933. Unlike Champaner, India lost, but the stakes probably weren't as high.
Fort Dispensary (below), built in the 1870s mainly to stock medicines for women and children and still the site of women's organisations. Notable are the triangular roofs with Mangalorean tiles.
Bombay Gas Company, established in 1862 by the Governor-General. Interestingly, optic fibres now run where gas lines once did. Opposite stands the telephone building (below), where the telephone was brought to Bombay within six years of its invention!
Parsi Lying-In Hospital (below), founded exclusively for delivering babies, with an emphasis on hygiene and isolating the new mother in order to reduce the number of deaths during childbirth.
Schools - the Young Ladies' School, the J.B. Petit School (below), the Cathedral School and the Alexandra Girls' school.
The ENT Hospital, where the Bombay City Improvement Trust was founded following the Bombay Plague in the 1890s, for better development and sanitation of the northern areas that were being planned and built.
The Esplanade Estate (above; this image shows the passage between the main house and the servants' quarters) and the Tata Palace (below). The former is now occupied by a philanthropic organisation, while the latter now houses Deutsche Bank. Both show French influences in the architecture. Esplanade Estate, guarded at the entrance by a sculpture of a St Bernard, was renovated in 2013 in a manner that preserved the spirit of the construction, and hence won a UNESCO award.
The walk concluded opposite the TCS House, earlier known as the Ralli House. The inside was completely overhauled, resulting in a building that appears to have four storeys from the outside but really has six! A board above the entrance states, in Greek, "Walk the Straight Path". This walk took a path with many turns (reconstructed below, as best as I could remember!) but I hope to do it again sometime with more leisure.
And finally here is a shot of VT/CST with clouds looming behind - exemplifies what this city is known for.
