The Lit for Life, My Way - Day 1

The annual 'Hindu Lit for life', literature festival came around for the 9th time, this January. I have only been for 3 so far(2016, 18 and this year's, 19), but having vaguely followed it for the other years of its existence, I knew what a big deal it was - and rightly so. I decided that I would attend all three days this time, and, as it was free, there was no two ways about it.

The first day, I was there by 9:30. I had signed up to volunteer at the Madras Literary Society's stall on the second day, but it would be my base for all three days. I kept my bag stuffed with books, and my camera, behind the stall, whenever I went in for a talk. This year, the festival aimed to reduce waste as much as possible, and so had encouraged people to bring their own bottles, and fill them at the venue. I conveniently forgot mine all three days.

That morning, as I pinned on my MLS badge, and looked around at all the people coming and going I wondered how well the stall would do.  Our stall was by the side of the semi-circular front corridor where all the stalls were, overlooking the entrance and the open space where people moved around from one venue to another. The MLS stall had not been provided a table, and that morning would be spent with volunteers of both MLS as well as The Hindu running around, looking for one, and it would slowly come towards lunch time. When it did, we piled it up with our products, to entice potential members forward(or in other words, made a mess that would make anyone curious).

The co-ordinators of our MLS stall, after we got our table

The first talk I attended that day, was an interview of Lemony Snicket, allegedly Daniel Handler.
Snickets books have been read by most of us of my age group early on, and have been for us the introduction to a non-happily ever after, and ambiguous endings. This was the question the interviewer began with, about whether he was greeted by shocked parents  everywhere he went because of his books. Handler's response set the tone for the rest of the talk. Well yes, he said, but I live in America and people are always shocked and appalled. For the next forty minutes he had the audiences' attention, and was waltzing around with the interviewer's questions, while she tried her best to figure out what he was actually doing, and why was he dancing with her questions?
Most people agreed that she was unable to understand his humour, and that the interview might have gone better if she had been able to understand it, but personally, it was great, and I enjoyed the talk the way it was.
Outside for the signing, he signed my first book of the series with an "with all due respect" . My mother, who was taking pictures informed him that I had intended to bring all my Snickets to sign, but she had made me choose 2. "Who is this woman?" he asked?  "My mother" I answered "Ah yes that explains it," he said. "Have you ever thought about running away from home, Nandan?", and he signed, "To Nandan, who has a suspicious mother, Daniel Handler, <allegedly, L.S >" in the next book.

Daniel Handler 

Giving him my cousins' book, he asked why she wasn't here. I said she and my sister went out for lunch. "Ah well, we wouldn't want to bring that here, now, would we?" he asked and signed, "To an alleged cousin".

After a short stint standing at the MLS stall, I joined my parents for lunch. They shared a biriyani and thayir saadam. I had noodles with momos. The plates and spoons were all eco-friendly as well, and the waste generated was considerably less, something to commend all partners of this Zero waste venture for.

My next session was at The Hindu Showplace. This was a new venue, and I was unsure as to how to get there. A volunteer sent me up a flight of stairs, which took me behind the stage. I retraced my steps, and came all the way around the building, and found my way up.

The Hindu showplace. Sometimes half empty, sometimes overflowing,but never exactly full.

This next session was on "The Literature of Myth: The use of Myth and Legends in storytelling". The speakers were Sharanya Manivannan, who had written a book on Kothai, or Andal, a Vaishnavite poetess from the 9th century. Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni, a writer of the epics from the eyes of women(Ramayana from Sita's perspective, and Mahabharatha from Draupathi's perspective).And Ravi Shanker Etteth. I think he was a political cartoonist who used mythology in his cartoons. The whole session was moderated by Jonathan Gill Harris, an English Professor at Ashoka university.
Sharanya spoke quietly but it had impact. Chitra Bannerjee had a slightly loud voice, with melody in it , and she spoke confidently. Ravi Shankar Etteth tried playing to the audience, in the sense, he tried making the audience like him. After his second response, however, some people began to wonder if he was drunk. After a while people began correcting him from the audience.
A few points that stuck with me from the discussion were: Myths evolve. They are molded by each retelling. It is not sacrilege to retell an epic or a myth. There are many contemporary versions of the same legends like the Ramayana.
Jonathan Gil Harris, surprisingly was much more formal and staid than when I saw him on stage the next time.

Seated: The moderator, followed by the speakers, in the reverse order of their names on the screen

The last discussion I attended for the day was Audrey Trushke's presentation on Aurangazeb. She split the presentation, with a little more than half of it talking about Aurangazeb, his life, and what she had found about him, and a little less than half talking about how he was being used as politically, the making of the book, and what she faced online(trolling, hate messages, anti-semitism). She displayed some of the reviews given to the book that were as unscientific as could be, some of the messages she received on twitter, and some of the insults thrown at her. It seems a talk of hers in Hyderabad had to be cancelled due to protests by a certain group who believed Aurangazeb had been a Muslim extremist, something her research did not agree with.
During the questions session, a man got up,and began to ask what scientific proof she had, and then began shouting, calling her a coloniser, how dare she come here and tell us about our history, and more on that line, similar to what we had just read in the slides about the abuse thrown at her.The man was booed down, and she did answer his question, saying she was a historian, and she used historic tools. She knew Sanskrit, Persian and Hindi, and could read primary sources on Aurangazeb. The man was relentless and continued to shout, and was eventually forced to leave. I was told later that those in the MLS stall outside heard him.
Some people complained that she didn't spend enough time talking about the king, and some complained that she talked too much about herself. I disagree. Though she could have spent maybe 5 more minutes on Aurangazeb, most of what she said was in the book. She has not been called to just promote the book, has she? The making of it was relevant, and was necessary, as this is a lit fest and not a history fest.

When she was signing my book, I noticed to my delight, that she was also left-handed.

Audrey Trushke's illustrated lecture.

That brought an end to my day. I said hello and had a quick conversation with a school friend,and then was off. That was the end of my first day at the 9th lit fest, and there were still 2 to go!

The semi-circular corridor with stalls. MLS's can be seen at the far end, empty at the end of the day. 

Kumbakonam Trip: Day 1

Stop 1: Swamimalai

Stop 2: Nageswaraswamy kovil

Stop 3: Ramanujan's house

Stop 4: Rajaveda Patashala

Stop 5 and 6: Lunch and Seeval factory

Stop 7: Darasuram

Stop 5 and 6: Lunch, and a Seeval factory visit

Kumbakonam Trip: Stop 5: Lunch!:
Well, that was certainly something. After the Patashala, we drove to the Darasuram area, and sat down for lunch at the Paradise resort.
Of course, everyone went to the bathroom first, but once they had had a good discussion with nature, it was time for food.
Priya Thyagarajan called all the non-vegetarians to one side, but strangely hardly 10 people opted for non-veg. Those poor vegetarians missed out on something!
The serving-boys were all completely clued out on what they were serving, and when asked what a dish was, asked each other, until someone ran into the kitchen, or if Pradeep Chakravarthyep happened to be around, got an earful, and sent into the kitchen!
I didn't notice the veg items that much, they were decent. But what really caught my attention was the crab, and Kaadai(pheasant). A whole crab AND a full pheasant was put for all the non-vegetarians, and though the crab was super spicy, it was delicious!
We finished lunch with vanilla ice cream, and then sat around for a whle in food comas.
Pradeep and Priya now had a dilemma on their hands; go to Darasuram, hardly 1km away;go to someone's house in the middle of the city, and finish with Darasuram; or go to a seeval factory(this last option I was not so keen on, but having never seen Seeval before, decided to experience it. ) and then continue with option 2.
The verdict was Seeval. then coffee at the house, and finally Darasuram.

Stop 6: Seeval factory: Not much to say here, so I might as well link these two.
We were greeted by a two story structure, which called itself a 'factory'. I was very surprised. What kind of factory was this? But as we entered, I comprehended.
Right by the door is a basement structure, with the Seeval grinding machine, in a dank dark room. A line of clothes have been hung by the back, and there are bags of Seeval everywhere.
The man who worked the machine demonstrated it for us.
Seeval is pumped into the side, and comes spilling out onto our feet, as finely carved shavings. Before this, it is soaked for a week.
After shaving, it is left to dry for three days, and then sorted. We saw that too. Rows of women sat inside the house, packing the Seeval, which has been sorted into fine, and coarse.
Seeval is an essential part of paakku, an essential part of the Kumbakonam middle aged man. He will have a box of paaku or seeval on his oonjal, and a bit of Paaku tucked into the corner of his mouth, and his lips will always be stained be stained a bright red. We will encounter a few over the next few posts, but they may not feature prominently. Maybe a background appearance.
According to Pradeep Chakravarthy, Devadasi's had to know multiple ways of folding vethilai, as part of their training.




Sorted Seeval ready to be packed.


The sorting room

The Chennai Coin Fair

Numismatics is an interesting field of study. Coins are one of our most constant sources of information about ancient times. From ancient punch marked coins of the mahajanapadhas in the 7th and 6th century BCE, all the way to the machine cast nikel-aluminium rupees of the current era, India has had a variety of coins to showcase, in various materials, shapes and sizes.

A lot of these coins were on display at the Chennai Coin Society coin Fair, held on July 20, 21,22. These three days had loads of sellers of coins from all over India display their coins all over a single building. I went on Saturday, after attending an event at the Madras Literary Society.
The entrance to the coin fair had a stall by CCS themselves, with some of their coins on display, and a small sale section. Then the glass doors opened onto a hubbub of activity, with stalls on both sides, and more on the second floor. I took a quick look at all the stalls before moving around and looking at each stall individually.

The entrance

Ground floor

The first stall I decided to purchase from was displaying  envelop covers, and i purchased three in Tamil. They had had enclosed cheques in them. Now of course it was just the cover I was buying.
Before i could move on however, i came across a known face. Venakataraman Prabhakar. An antique collector, he focuses on bicycles. In his collection is a cycle from World War II.
As I greeted him, he was looking at a photo of a boy on a bicycle. "Who's that?" I asked. "Doesn't matter", he said, "whats important is the bicycle" and laughed.
Most antique dealers at the fair seemed to know him, and had some items reserved for his views. One item that was on display that they were looking at as well was a spoon.
"Made in England", said the seller"Look at the craftsmanship". It was a wooden spoon, except for the head, which had an image of a stag inlaid on a blue background. Below that was a Persian sounding epithet, and on the reverse, strange symbols after which was written England. We spent some time puzzling over what that could mean.
Then i went around the fair, looking at various coins, and buying one or two.
At a particular dealers stall, I struck up a sudden confidence and quoted my own price for the coins. "You couldn't ask for anything lower?" He asked, and laughed. I laughed with him and only managed a small discount.
 A particular dealer was on the phone the whole time that I was there. When I picked up an Arcot paisa, which he'd priced at Rs 350, to look at it he became very nervous, and asked me what exactly it was I wanted. Nothing, I said, I'm just looking around. When i then asked him the price of a coin almost identical to this one he told me 1400! I walked away.

First floor

After this i went to the first floor. This was placed differently. The ground floor had the stalls against both walls. Here, apart from the stalls, there was a display of notes, and envelopes down the centre of the hall. At the far end was another display.

I picked up a few more coins here from various people.

When I had stopped at a certain stall, a family came over. The daughter, not more than 10, showed the man at the desk one of his coins under a microscope."Look how big it is!" She said, enjoying the magnified view.
"That is a coin of Dida Rani of Kashmir". he told her. However, the girl was not at all interested in her history lesson and only wanted to see "how big" the coin was under the magnifying glass.

Seeing as I was so interested in the coins, the dealer offered me some coins of kumaragupta. I looked through them, taking the one he and his associate suggested. I also picked up a coin of the Gujjara Pratiharas.

After completing a circuit of the hall, I returned to their table, said goodbye, as it was almost 3:30, and I still hadn't eaten my my lunch. I walked down to the Vadapalani metro station and took a metro back.

Some flyers they had put out on the main road to attract people

Dara Shukoh's library

To be honest, I was not intending to go here. I was doing a series of college visits around Delhi, and was at the Ambedkar university in Old Delhi. This is just South of the Kashmir gate, walking distance from the metro station with the same name, off Lothian road.
Having gone there, we first went to the management building, which struck me to be very much like a British social building. It was a stone, white building, with a very low ceiling. The college was supposed to have moved there very recently.
We then began to look around. And right behind the management building was a massive structure, older than the previous building, with pillars, large doorways and steps leading to an inside veranda with madras terrace roofing. To the left, the room expanded out, and there were shelves at the back, with a glass display to a side - housing a skeleton. There were curved archways(now sealed) leading into a large room at the back. However, repair work was going on then.
This was the library of Dara Shukoh. Currently housing the state archaeology department, I presumed that the front room and entrance-way were a British addition. The ASI stone plaque provides the various uses of the building. But first, a little bit on Dara and his library.

Dara Shukoh was the eldest, and the chosen son of Sha Jahan. Being heir designate, he lived in Delhi with his father, while his brothers were governors of various parts of the kingdom. Dara was given to philosophy. He would interact regularly with Sufi saints, and Hindus.He is supposed to have commissioned a Persian translation of Upanishads(Sirr E Akbar)as well as commissioning Persian works to Sanskrit. However, Dara had little skill on the battlefield, and that was his downfall. When Aurangazebs armies marched up to Agra in 1658, he, in the middle of battle, dismounted and got onto a horse, from an elephant. Seeing the empty Howdah, his soldiers panicked and ran.

Dara himself fled, but a few months later, lost in an encounter with Aurangazebs men. Fleeing, he was betrayed by a nobleman who offered him protection, and jailed by Aurangazeb. While in jail, a group of assailants killed him and his son.

The library was constructed in 1637, and is said to have housed over 2 lakh books. However, popular legend has it that after Daras defeat in 1658,Aurangazeb had the books in the library burnt. Another version goes that subsequent inhabitors destroyed sections of the library. But at this point of time, there are no books in the library.

Aurangazeb gave the library as a residence to Ali Mardan Khan, the governor of the Punjab.
It was purchased from the family of Juliana, a Portuguese tutor to the royal children, by Safdarjang, when he was in Delhi (aroud 1751 )

Then, when a Residency was established in Delhi, David Ochterlony, the first British Resident of Delhi used it as his quarters in 1803.  Later, in 1844, the Delhi college was established here.  It was ransacked in 1857.

Later, the State Archeology Department  used it as an office, and it still belongs to them, with a defunct museum and shelves, apart from a few artefacts still lying around there.

“Most of the artifacts confiscated by the Customs Depart-ment are kept here. They belong to different eras, and have nothing to do with Dara Shikoh or Delhi,” said an official overlooking civic work at the library.(Indian Express, May 12, 2017)

Location: Dara Shukohs library

Looking around, in the middle of this calm, electric campus, I hoped this fascinating building will become a museum of Delhi artefacts soon, and not be left to crumble. 

Some articles from recent years:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Battling-time-Dara-Shikoh%E2%80%99s-Library-cries-out-for-help/article17205937.ece

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/dara-shukohs-library-to-get-fresh-lease-of-life/articleshow/57980576.cms

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/dara-shikoh-library-embodying-the-citys-history-a-library-and-a-church-pulled-out-of-ruins-4651895/

https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/the-hidden-gem-dara-shikoh-s-library/story-iGW58Dg19VUSXvgwabhS0J.html


Audrey Truschke's book Aurangazeb is another good source for material on Dara's end, as well as City of Djinn's by William Dalrymple

The Velachery walk

Up at 5, but that is typical walk behaviour. Out at 6. And at the venue 10 minutes ahead of schedule. There is Padmapriya Baskaran, the person who is going to lead the walk, waving at us. We go towards her.
The crowd slowly builds as time goes by, and by the time we are ready to move at least 60 people are ready and waiting. We are off. Though we have assembled at the Dandheeswarar temple, it is to be our final stop. This is a temples walk.

The group slowly assembles, a large one, even though it had rained the previous day.

As it is such a large group, Padmapriya is constantly afraid that some of us may overflow onto the road and block traffic and it does happen at times. However, in the end, we get to our first stop, Brahmin street. Here, she talks about how Hari-Hara-Haram (the houses flanking the Shiva and Vishnu temples in a village), with usage, have evolved into agraharam. The Nattar street does not refer to Nadars, but to those who were administrators. Velachery was a Chathurvedimangalam, but that does not mean that it was only occupied by Brahmins and scholars. A village needs every community to survive. Interestingly, there is a 'Telugu Brahmin street; where the Telugu Brahmins lived, as this was a border area between Tamil and Telugu territory.
The first stop we came to was the Vasudeva Perumal temple. The bronze idol from the Pallava time has been moved to a separate temple, and the original, the only temple in Velachery that is a Chola remnant, is a ruin, with a tree merged with it. This had been noted(the ruins) in 1957, but Padmapriya notes that no move has been made after that. (Luckily, or unluckily, who knows?)
As i looked over the sides of the temple, I noticed that there were words, faint, but visible. Inscriptions. I called a few others and showed them. Apparently these haven't been read before!
This temple is believed to be from the Medieval Chola period.

A front view

Location: Vasudeva Perumal  This is just a rough location as neither show up on google.

An agraharam house pointed out to us on the way.One of the few houses from around a 100 years ago.

Our second stop was the Yoga Narasimha temple, where Prahalada is supposed to have seen Narasimha (received Darshan). The temple has been completely modernised, and the only trace of its past is in the inscription stones fused with cement to make the benches.

In the centre, the old pillars can be vaguely made out

She pointed out to us, the word "Chandradittavarai" which means, "as long as the sun and the moon are in the sky.

Location: Yoga Narasimhar

The next stop is a Saptamatrika temple, known as the Selliamman temple, where, though it has been renovated, the inscriptions have been saved and placed against a wall. They are from the time of Paranthaka Chola. However, Padmapriya mentioned, they are missing the phrase, Madurai Konda so they may be his grandsons, Uttama Chola's, son of  Gandaraditya, the younger brother of Rajaditya who died in the Thakkolam war, cousin to Rajaraja.

The inscription stones, now kept carefully to the side.

Location: Selliamman temple

From here we went to the back gate of the IIT campus, where she talked about the temples to be found in IIT. One of them is Jalakanteswara. This is a lingam, found in the campus while digging for construction, and from the Vijaynagar era.
The other is an Amman temple. This is one of the Ellaiamman deities of the village of Tharamani. It was believed that those who were ill were supposed to visit various temples (now) in South Chennai, including this one. The reason for the gate being named Appala Kulam was also explained. The name is actually derived from the fact that a saint, Appaya Deekshitar, had worshipped at the Jalakanteswara temple.

Location: IIT back gate

The next stop was the Jeeva Samadhi of the Chidambaram Swamy. It is quite an interesting story that was narrated to us.
Roughly 200 years ago, a man from South India went around visiting various ancient temples. He reached Velachery one fine day, and saw the Dandeeswaram temple in ruins. An old woman asked him to renovate it, and he took it as a sign from God. However, no one was willing to help him, until they saw a miracle. A cobra came out of the temple, and, as the Swamy slept, covered his face from the sun with its hood. Then they all realised he was a great man and helped him renovate the temple. He is supposed to have paid the workers in Veebudhi, and that converted itself into money.
Finally, when the work was over, he began to leave but the cobra stopped him. So he stayed on.
At a later date, the nawab residing in Madras(maybe the Arcot nawab), fell ill and came to him. As he was cured, he gave him 10 acres of land. (That land is now in the IIT campus). He is supposed to have foreseen his own death in 1858, and died, being buried there. Two of his disciples are buried there, two in Mylapore.

Location: Chidambara Swamy Jeeva Samadhi

The next and final stop was the Dandeeswaram temple.
The legend goes that, Shiva having saved Markandeya from Yama, takes away Yamas powers in his staff from him. As Yama worshipped Shiva here, and regained the power to take lives here, it is called Dandeeswaram. This is also supposed to be the place where the Vedas purified themselves after being retrieved, so the village was called Vedasreni.
The inscriptions here are from the time of Paranthaka I, which provides antiquity. However, a few of the inscriptions have been sandblasted. There are supposed to be 11 inscriptions here, from the time of Paranthaka I(907-955 CE) to the time of Kopperunjingan(1216-1242 CE).However, the temple is very strict about photography inside, so I was not able to take any, except one from the 19th century, after the renovation by the Chidambaram Swamy.

The Gopuram opposite which we assembled.

A 19th century inscription outside, which meant I could take a picture of it.

The temple tank.

Location: Dhandeeswarar temple

Having seen all these sites, with so much history(as well as those with history vandalised and lost) we all went home, though some went on the next Madras day event, as is usually the case in that month.

Community dwellings of Triplicane

When most people say Triplicane, the image that comes to mind is usually of the Parthasarathy temple, and to those more gastronomically inclined, Ratna Cafe.

But one would never guess Triplicane to be an architect's haven, especially not in an age when old buildings are being destroyed at such a rate. This is the story of the walk led by Thirupurasundari Sevvel, and her team from Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai, on the community dwellings of TRiplicane.

At 3pm one Sunday afternoon, I got to the Neelangarai bus stop, and boarded a 109 to the marina. Daek clouds loomed menacingly on the horizon, and over the North, so I gave Sundari a call, to check on the walk. She assured it me it would happen, if the rain, currently pouring in Triplciane, dies down. 

By the time I was at Santhome, the rain got to us, and by the time my stop came, it was pouring sheets, buckets, cats and dogs! I went into the bus shelter, and gave Sundari a call again, and told her my situation. She said I should make my way to the Parthasarathy temple, if possible, where they were taking shelter, and meet them there. I said ok, and stepped out into the storm. 

By the time 

I turned into Bharathiar Salai, and ducked under a tree for shade, my clothes and pouch where I was carrying my change(luckily all in coins) had become thoroughly soaked. I could hardly open my google maps, as each time i unlocked my phone, the rain would double tap on the menu button and open up Google assistant! 

I somehow made my way to the MRTS station of Triplicane, and asked a man there taking shelter directions to the Parthasarathy. Following them, and accompanied by vigorous thunder and pounding rains, I sloshed through ankle deep water (at points) and checking with some others on the way, got the temple, where I found Sundari, the team, and a few others, waiting for the rain to subside. Sundari looked very guilty when she saw me, and asked if I needed a towel. I said no, as I was drying off pretty quickly. 

They then produced some models of houses that would be covered, and proceeded to talk about them. I will be mentioning them as we reach stop, and not here. 

The first house we visited was the Golu veedu, a private owership house, which sells Golu items. The house itself is about 150 years old.



Stop 1:
Golu Veedu

As the name suggests, the house has very strong ties to Golu and Navarathri: It sells plastic and clay idols for the festival. An old mada veedhi house, it was used by a joint family, which has now turned it towards commercial purposes.
The ground floor is one big room, with a set of side rooms locked up. The  stairs are small and narrow, and lead to a large hall upstairs, which has a passage to the back, which connects it to rooms, where the owners currently live.
The roof is completely Madras Terrace, with Teak pillars supporting it, beautifully carved, and cement flooring.
-flashback-
By the time they had finished talking about the different houses we would be visiting, the rain had more or less died down. Sundari then mentioned that according to a Devaram, Triplicane really comes to life only when the lotuses on the temple tank glisten with rain, and the smell of the ground after rain(petrichor) fills your nose. This was the first time she had experience Triplicane in rain, after 8 years of working on restoring its cultural dwellings, and doing her thesis here! The small group(which grew as we walked) followed her out of the temple, while I ran to get my sandla which I had taken off on the other side. Then ran across the temple to join them.
Fast forward to the Golu veedu.
After this, as we left the house, Sundari pointed out a vacant plot, right next to the Golu veedu. This was one of the older houses in the area, demolished just last week. She, and all of us, were very upset about it.





Stop 2: Gomti bunglow: There is a narrow 'L' shaped lane off the mada veedi of Parthasarathy kovil. This lane has about 40 odd houses, with a total of 36 families. These people are proud of their 'bungalow'(actually a set of individual units with common walls, and a common area in the middle) for a couple of reasons: firstly because the land is owned not by a local owner, or the Triplicane temple, but by the Ayodhya mutt. This means their buildings cant be knocked down on a whim, and their rent is very low. 
Secondly because this is not a typical brahmin dwelling unit on a temple mada Veedhi. It houses all communties. They share two wells, and all the land between dwelling units.
This place is about 150 years old







Final stop: Bharathiar's house:

The freedom fighter Bharathi, whose songs and poems inspired the freedom struggle. lived his last years in namma Madras. He lived in what is now a large building, with a corridor running around an open central courtyard. The walls are full of his photos, writings, and things associated with him, He died when he went to receive the blessings of an elephant in musth in the nearby Parthasarthy kovil, and no, did not succumb to his injuries, but caught an illness which killed him.

BUT

According to Thirupurasundari Sevvel, the house was not totally his!

All along the corridors are interestingly caved pillars. These pillars would have had walls built between them according to the number of tenants(an there was also a first floor like this-now houses a library-). The landlord would have built it. Bharathi rented a 7ft by 8ft corner room, where he, his wife, sister in law, children and cow all lived, ate and slept.

The open area in the centre would have been common to all, with washing of clothes, and evening chatting, taking place around it.

With that we finished a walk that had one of the most interesting openings I've ever experienced. By the end of the walk, my clothes were still slightly damp, a talk afterwards at an A/C hall was all that was left for the day!

The wonder that is MLS

The big wooden door
opens without a sound
The fans slowly turn
Look around,  there
The old wooden shelves
Standing majestic
Among the Indo Sassanian architecture

To the left,  books,
To be read
To the right, books
To be fixed
Straight ahead behind the desks
A tall shelf
Rising up to the sky,  with all kinds of books.

It is hard to decide
Where one must start
The old,
Or the new?
Classic, or fiction?
All equally attractive.

The library
with 200 years behind
Looking ahead,
To 200 more.
A treasure trove in the finding
A hive of knowledge in the reading.

A visit to the Connemara Public Library

A whatsapp message proclaimed that the Connemara Library in the museum premises would be open to all, because of World Book Day 2018. At first I dismissed it as maybe a whatsapp forward. But towards the end of the day i realised it was not a hoax, and something to be acted on urgently.
So on the last day of this amazing offer, a Wednesday, I made the trip down to the Egmore museum, and walked in, looking for the Connemara library. I knew clearly where the library was, but no idea how to access the old wing. At first, I just walked around the museum campus, and circled the main buildings once, looking for alternate entrances. Finally, I entered the Anthropology gallery, and asked those who were checking tickets where the old library building was. They said, oh, its the second floor of the library, and  I was confused, but I thanked them, and went to the Connemara library. The library is a depository for the country, which means every book, newspaper and magazine published in the country has to send a copy here. I entered, and went to the first floor. I didnt see any obvious signs for the old wing, and was just about to go to the next floor, when a man stopped me, and said "You're looking for the old wing? " I said yes, and he told me to enter, and to go all the way to the end of the room. I did that, and found a door there, leading onto a passageway. This passage led to a flight of stairs, which when ascended, led to a completely different corridor. The old section.
Built in November of 1896, earlier a part of the ancient manuscripts wing of the Madras Literary Society, and later an independent entity, the Connemara is built in red sandstone, in the Indo-saracenic style of construction, with tall pillars, arches, and keystones carved with various figures. The lintels are also a source of interest. The stained glass here is original and exquisite, and supposed to have been imported from Belgium!
The entrance takes you to a semicircular room, where chairs are set up all around. The door in the centre takes you into a long passageway with old wooden signs on top, indicating what the sections on either side are. Sensus 1981, Sensus 1971,The Sensus of 1961 takes up 3 whole wings!
Finally an open area with tables, and for this time alone, a display of the oldest books in the library under a glass case. The first Tamil publication, the first printed Bible all sit cosily for visitor's satisfaction.  According to the Hindu article that appeared this Monday ( 22nd April), there are over 8 lakh books in the library, 2 lakh of them from pre-independance.
The oldest book in the library on display dates back to the 1600s, and is the Geneva Bible, reprinted by Robert Barker in 1608.Originally printed around 1580 in Geneva.
There are doors leading off on either side, but we'll come to them later. In the middle of the room is a statue of Gandhi.
To one side is a set of stairs. Curved stairs with old bannisters, made of wood. Climbing that takes you to the display area. When you enter the mezanine level, there is a long wall on one side filled with the Madras Legislature, later Tamil Nadu legislatures discussions. These date back to the 20's. From here, you can go in two directions. Next to the steps is a small passageway taking you to one side. Or if you go by the wall of books, you come to the display section. The other area was closed off as it was dangerous to walk there.
The centre opens out onto the ground floor. apparently this mezanine is a new addition,
The display section had books laid out on tables, with people flipping them open, and allowed to go through them. Only about 200 books were said to be on display, but i saw even fewer. To either side of the library is an emblem, the Indian emblem. The British emblem reportedly sat there until it was removed to fit this.
Some of the interesting books that I saw, that caught my eye were: Miniatures from the Mughal times, by a British author, the travels of a Dutchman to various places around the world, and the maps included in that book, from 1662,  studies of various fish species from the 19th century, a biogrpahy of King George V, a book of illustrations on the Mahabharatha, and a book of Mughal miniatures, both compiled by British men. There is also a copy of the Constitution here.
Remember the doors? We're coming to them now. These lead to further collections, one of them being Rai Bahadur Arcot  Dhanakoti   's donation, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887.
He was a Zamindar, who was a bg philanthropist in Madras, and a lover of literature. I was not able to gather more than this on him.

The ceiling 

The entrance passage

The marble floor

The other side, which we were not allowed to enter for safety reasons

A statue of Gandhi

Stained glass. Below you can see the museum premises

The passage connecting the new with the old

The wall of legislative books

The ground floor

People looking at the various books

The stained glass creates an awesome effect

The Constitution of India: The Preamble. Each page has been calligraphed by hand!

With a heart filled with new knowledge, I sorrowfully left the library when they threw us all out at 5.