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Vol. XXVIII No. 21 February 16-28, 2019

WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

INSIDE

by The Editor

Short ‘N’ Snappy Eyes of Madras 2.0 In memoriam The fake rupee trial The Indo-Anglians

Faster growth needed to overcome fiscal problems

(Continued on page 2)

Post-Budget extravagance

It was a happy homecoming and emotion-charged reunion recently when SOS Children’s Villages Chatnath Homes, Tambaram, celebrated its 40th Anniversary.

Hugging each other were Siddhartha Kaul, the first Director in Tambaram, and, left to right: Kamakshi, Krithika, and Meenakshi, amongst the earliest residents of the Homes.

Kaul, now President of the SOS Children’s Villages International remembers receiving a distress call from the Social Welfare Department, Tamil Nadu, 40 years ago requesting shelter for three infants, each three to four weeks old. He brought Kamakshi, Meenakshi and Krithika to Chatnath Homes on January 23, 1979.

Today, Kamakshi has a degree in Humanities, Krithika has completed a diploma in Medical Lab Technology and Meenakshi is a B.Com graduate.

All of them are happily married, but keep in regular touch with ‘Home’ in Tambaram. The Homes are part of an international community where underprivileged, neglected and

forgotten children grow up in a family environment and develop confidence and self-esteem.

The recent presentation of the 2019/2020 budget for the State of Tamil Nadu drew guarded praise from many quarters. It appeared that

the Government had at last woken up to the fact that its many populist schemes were being funded at the expense of increasing financial abandon and by cutting off money to essential infrastructure and welfare schemes. The budget recognised the problems facing the State and projected no new doles, which appeared to indicate that focus would be on course correction. Considering that this was in an election year, albeit for the Parliamentary seats, this appeared to be a courageous act. But subsequent decisions have belied such hopes.

Hardly had the dust settled on the budget discussions when the State Government announced that it was going to provide cash assistance to over 60 lakh families that are below the poverty line (BPL) in the State. The quantum of assistance amounts Rs 2000 per family, which means the new dole will add Rs 1,200 Cr to the State’s expenditure. Where is this money to come from in a year when, with a view to keeping the middle classes happy, no new taxes were announced? Obviously through either in-creased receipts and or more borrowings. The former is unlikely to happen as we appear to have stagnated on that front (see other article on same page). If we are to resort to the latter it just means we are once again on our profligate ways.

There is yet another angle to this. If just after a budget presentation in the legislature a State Government were to via a suo moto announcement project a major expenditure of this kind, to what purpose then is the budget itself? The num-ber of BPL families estimated is also hugely suspect as the budget presentation had given a far lower figure. It is unlikely that a state like Tamil Nadu has so many BPL families in it. The announcement is silent on the modalities of the cash distribut ion. Will it be via the Public Distribution System? That was the case when just a month ago, all ration card holders in the State received Rs. 1,000 apart from gifts in kind for Pongal and also to tide over the effects of Cyclone Gaja. This time, the money is being justified on the basis of several parts of northern Tamil Nadu facing a drought. No matter whether it is flood

The tight financial situation of the State, has severely

limited the room for discretion-ary deployment of resources. Till this basic issue is resolved Finance Ministers will have to balance the conflicting pres-sures of popular expectation and economic compulsions. The Budget delivered on Feb-ruary, 2019 for the fiscal year 2019-20 is one such exercise.

Foremost, the Budget should demonstrate concern in terms of policy choices and specific financial decisions that would expand the present narrow fis-cal space, at the least, in stages.

The total revenue is increas-ing at about 9-10 per cent per year which may seem satisfacto-ry but compared with the coun-try’s growth it does not seem so. The State GDP (GSDP)

was 8.03 per cent in 2017-18 (revised estimate), 9 per cent budgeted in 2019-20 but could reach only 8.14 per cent and is predicted at just 8.16 per cent for 2019-20. First, it is a sign of economic stagnation hovering around the 8 level.

Second, when the country as a whole, comprising large parts that are backward, can register 7.3 per cent, it means that the few advanced states have grown much faster making up for the laggards. Tamil Nadu should have been in the fore-runner group clocking close to 10 per cent.

Third, the GSDP being in real terms, in nominal terms,

allowing for inflation, the re-quired run rate of 10 per cent is equivalent to, say, 16 per cent at current prices. Corresponding-ly, revenue growth must be at 16 per cent or even higher because in an enlarging economy more of higher valued goods and services are consumed yielding more tax per unit thereby ac-celerating tax revenue growth.

Therefore, there is reason to be disappointed with the government’s failure to impart a strong growth momentum. Infrastructure-enabling pol-icies, judicious, “self-paying” incentivisation and improved ease of doing business are as-pects that may need critical review. The economy growing at the present rate will be over-whelmed by relentless rise of fixed commitments like salaries.

Outstanding debt has bal-looned from Rs.3,14,366 crores in 2017-18 to Rs.3,97,496 crores, a rise of 30 per cent in three years. In the 2019-20 Bud-get the revenue of Rs.1,97,721 crores, after meeting salaries (Rs. 85,027 crores), subsidies/grants (Rs. 82,673 crores) and interest on borrowings (Rs. 33,226 crores) runs into a defi-cit with nothing left for loan redemptions. Therefore, bor-rowing is necessary to meet a part of the interest commitment and repayment of instalments of previous borrowings. So, only a shrunken portion of the fresh borrowing is available for development.

It is fair to say that the Fi-nance Minister’s concern over the state of finances is reflected

by A Special Correspondent

(Continued on page 7)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-28, 2019

With the Music and Dance season drawing to a

close, it is wedding season in our beloved Madras that is Chennai. Everywhere you see the banns being put up and people being united in holy wedlock. The Man from Ma-dras Musings is simply flooded with invitations. Left to him-self he would hide many of them and not go but his good lady, also known as She Who Must Be Obeyed believes that such invites are inviolate and have to be honoured. And so MMM dons his best and goes about being the typical wed-ding attendee.

Mind you, things have eased as MMM advances in age. He has now reached that stage where he hardly knows the couple tying the knot. The parents, sometimes of the groom, at other times of the bride, in many times both, are the ones who invite MMM and so he hardly bothers to stand in the long queue to greet the couple. A simple wave to the person who invited MMM and then a quick dash to the dinner counter is MMM’s motto. He of course wishes the bridal couple well but such greet-ings are from the heart and

beamed at the father who in all the chaos clearly had no idea as to who MMM was or for that matter who the other guests were. He just smiled at every-one and kept repeating that we had to have our dinner before we left. Did he not know that we had come precisely for that? And so we dined, and departed. Last heard, the newlyweds had still not arrived.

Celebrating a Centenarian

Last week saw the centenary celebrations of S. Rajam, a

great personality in the field of fine arts. He was a painter, a singer, a teacher, a scholar, and a fine human being. The Man from Madras Musings was lucky to have been a close asso-ciate for the last decade of this wonderful person’s life. And so, when events were organised to commemorate his 100th year, there was none happier than MMM.

Now it appears that this excitement had somehow man-aged to penetrate journalistic circles and someone decided that this was newsworthy. They also decided that this is where

Wedding Bells Seasonbeen better for everyone), I am looking for some informa-tion on Sundaram Rajam and thought you could help.

Now, MMM had always thought of Rajam as Rajam and the prefix had him con-fused. (He later discovered that Wikipedia had the name as Sundaram Rajam and so that was where the young lady was coming from).

MMM: I am sorry, I have no idea as to who this is.

T: But sir, they told me you would know. And it is his centenary.

MMM: Do you mean S. Rajam?

T: Yes sir, Sundaram Rajam.MMM: Will you tell me

what you know about him so that I don’t repeat the same information?

T: Sir, he was a great actor. And also a singer and painter.

Opinion is sharply divided on whether MMM ought to have told the Trainee to do her homework before calling and cut the call. MMM still believes he was correct in doing so. Not so said his good lady, when MMM, who has no secrets from her (she would

the young trainee, whom none had any idea as to what to do with, could be of some use. They gave her the name of the artiste and told her that she ought to do some research and come up with a suitable piece. And in case she had any doubts she could always call MMM, who, no doubt in the mind of whoever it was that set up the trainee for this article, was quite jobless and so could be ‘mined’ for assistance, with the bait of a sound byte.

These days research largely means reading Wikipedia and sure enough the young trainee struck gold, or at least what she thought were precious nuggets of information. But then the entry had just one paragraph, which was not enough and so she decided to rope MMM in on the project. A call was made and went like this:

Trainee (T) : Sir (if she had said uncle MMM would have ended the call then and there which would probably have

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

do not require the obligatory shaking of hand, the beaming smile and the posing for the photograph, the last of which always has MMM sporting a dazed look.

But what happens if on arrival at a venue there is not a single person from the bridal parties and the guests just mill around looking lost? That is precisely what happened last week when MMM attended a wedding reception. The invite said dinner would be served from 7.00 pm and so MMM went at 7.30 only to find guests seated around tables, indulging in small conversa-tion and periodically glancing at the buffet counter where there was no activity what-soever. Of the newly weds or their parents there was not a sign.

The father of the bride made his appearance by 8.00 pm. The dinner counter was at last ready. Of the couple there was still no sign. MMM

Faster growth needed(Continued from page 1)

in the following – a 25 per cent rise in the estimate of State’s own revenue compared to the estimated provision in last year’s budget, containing the revenue deficit to Rs.14,134 crores for 2019-20 from Rs.19,319 crores in the revised estimate for 2018-19, reducing borrowing from Rs. 47,350 crores in 2018-19 to Rs. 43,000 crores in 2019-20 and, finally, despite the pressure, providing for a capital expendi-ture of Rs.31,251 crores.

The Finance Minister has done a delicate balancing job by using three strategies: using likely revenue buoyancy of indirect taxes to reduce reve-nue deficit, limiting the sum to be borrowed indicating concern, not cutting capital expenditure under financial pressure and wisely dovetailing the State’s pro-poor schemes with the Cen-tral government’s Yojanas get-ting “more bang for the buck”.

It is, however, disappointing that subsidies and grants are left to remain as high as Rs.82,673 crores which absorb as high as 40 per cent of total revenue. It calls for a critical study to iden-tify outflows that are no longer necessary or would make no significant impact if withdrawn or drawn down. Items like free or concessional supply of power, VAT refund subsidy to industry, marriage assistance scheme and Amma two-wheeler scheme, may offer scope for savings. It may also be possible to save money by screening out fake claimants. The mounting salary costs without corresponding productivity and improvement of service delivery is a difficult problem. The Government showed political will to resist the recent movement of teach-ers for higher compensation. The same will is needed to go for cutting dead wood in establishment wherever there is scope.

Claim that the government has remained within prescribed limit for fiscal deficit should not lead us to conclude that all is well. For instance, exagger-ating for effect, if borrowings are within fiscal limits and all of that borrowing is used for repaying old borrowings and interest, is such “conformity” of any use? Borrowing funds must supplement own resources for capital development and building social assets which facilitate creation of wealth, employment, welfare and tax revenue for more develop-ment in a virtuous cycle. In the State budget, the portion of fiscal deficit that goes for these purposes is thinning with time.

The Budget does address

problems of congestion, pol-lution, ease of movement, flooding in rainy season but overlooks the annually repeat-ing water crisis – parking lots for 4 lakh vehicles to relieve congestion and prevent chaotic parking, Oratthur anicut that may offer token support to the City’s water supply and more as defence against floods, a comprehensive solid waste management project, remediat-ion and reclamation of waste landfill dumps and plan for ordering 12,000 BS-VI buses and 2,000 electric buses at a project cost of Rs.5,890 crores, for Chennai and other cities. The provision for 7,964 km of interior rural road network would generate employment.

The Tamil Nadu govern-ment has consistently, year after year, been allocating sub-stantial sums to Healthcare and School education. Health gets Rs.12,563 crores compared to Rs.11,638 crores in 2018-19. School Educations gets a size-able increase over the previous year, that is, Rs.28,578 crores versus Rs.27,205 crores. On the basis of creating infrastructure on these fronts, the State has been scoring high ratings in national surveys by indepen-dent bodies. Grass-root surveys, however, present a not-so-good state of service delivery; schools and higher institutions churn out unemployable graduates. Enforcing accountability, close monitoring and, in general, micro-governance are needed to derive good outcome from infrastructure. Teachers, for example, being well paid by current standards, there is no reason why qualified, trained and committed candidates can-not be engaged if the system ensures impartial selection free of corruption.

One justifiable criticism of the budget format by lay citi-zens is that it does not give an account of the projects that were assigned large sums in previous years. In other words, there is no visible continui-ty and direction. There were excellent projects for increasing productivity in agriculture, by extending drip irrigation to 35,000 acres under sugarcane, diversification by increasing the area under highly remunerative horticultural crops and innova-tive supply chain management for perishable commodities to reduce post-harvest losses. Oth-er examples are the restoration of Pallikkaranai marsh-lands and flood control measures for the North and South of Chen-nai, the latter with an alloca-tion of Rs.3,298 crores. There is no easy means of knowing what happened to them and

with what result. It is time the Budget had an annexure to give the status of past projects and their outcomes.

The annual State Budget is increasingly becoming a pre-dictable exercise. The salaries and pensions are known and so are interest payments and loan repayments. Borrowing limits are known or knowable. With the advent of GST indirect sources of revenue are outside

the states’ control except the levies on petroleum, die-sel and alcohol. In such a situation, it seems to make sense to present a five-year projection, co-extensive with the term of office and annu-al presentation on progress and corrective measures to be taken. That would have the advantage of holistic continuity and productive allocation of resources.

find out anyway), duly related the story to her. What got MMM’s goat was the listing of actor before singer and paint-er. Rajam acted in just three films and while they were early, and therefore pioneering movies, they do not make him a superstar who also sang and painted. It was only later that MMM read the Wikipedia entry and it listed Rajam as Actor, Painter and Singer, in that order. Meanwhile, the Trainee is yet to return with her homework done. The centenary celebrations went off well and are no doubt no longer newsworthy.

Courting ControversyIf you thought the troubles

of the Man from Madras Musings as regards that cen-tenary had ended with that call you are grossly mistaken. The next caller, another jour-nalist, asked MMM his view of the centenary. MMM said he was delighted. The man at the other end was clearly disappointed. He asked MMM if he, MMM was really de-lighted. When MMM said yes, the journalist asked MMM as to why he, MMM, was delighted. To this MMM did not reply. He sensed that the caller was fishing for a con-troversy where none existed. No doubt it would have suited the journalist if MMM had spewed venom on the events. And so that ended yet another conversation.

–MMM

February 16-28, 2019 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

In memoriam

George Fernandes and the Madras connectAnd so old George (Jaarj in

Delhi parlance) is dead. Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease and I am happy he is freed from its clutches. It is a merciful release to a man who was bed-ridden for the last several years of his life. The unsightly battle between his former wife and son on the one side and his com-panion on the other for control over him, even as he was unable to have a say, only made his last years most poignant.

At one time, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, he was all over the place and, what’s more, India’s firebrand. It helped of course that those were the years of labour unrest and in George Fernandes the unions found a great leader. Later, he rose to become Cabinet Minister but in my view his finest hour was already over.

you that even Cooum water was pressed into service. I remember as a nine-year old climbing up a ladder to the top level of our two-storied house in Mylapore to see the sky coloured a bright red. Madras was a city with no high-rises then and such things could be observed. Years later, it would transpire from Wikileaks that Fernandes claimed to the Americans that he and his team that was working closely with Naxalites had masterminded the fire. This was perhaps noth-ing more than a tall story about a multi-story for investigations

revealed that the fire had bro-ken out due to mere technical reasons.

Such claims could not have endeared him to Mrs. Gandhi and so as soon as the Emer-gency was declared, George Fernandes went underground. My researches for the biography of Dr. Mathuram Santhosham revealed that he surfaced in our city and first knocked at the door of the former who lived on Spur Tank road. Here he was sheltered for a while and later, when the police began to close in, was secreted away to Express Estates on Mount Road. There, in that vast cam-pus, he remained for quite some time before resurfacing and then courting arrest somewhere else in India. His going away picture, showing him raising his handcuffed hands, will remain an everlasting memory.

In later years , George Fernandes became a familiar figure in the city as mediator between the NDA and the local parties. In this he was always closer to the DMK and most cordially detested Jayalalithaa for which attitude the latter was responsible entirely.

An interviewer once asked him as to why he was always so shabbily dressed. I too had wondered over this. Even the Bong Socialists (Chochalist in Bihari parlance) were always nattily turned out. His response was immediate – he washed and ironed his clothes himself and he invariably had no time for the latter activity. Said to be India’s best Defence Minister, he was unfortunately named in some scandal, which I now forget.

The years leading to the Emergency were when he became a household name. Magazines used to feature him on their covers. And he was strongly against Indira Gandhi.

In July 1975, the LIC Build-ing in Madras went up in flames. The fire lasted for the better part of a night and the subsequent day. The entire fire-fighting force of the city was deployed in putting out the fire and you can imagine the level of desperation when I tell

by Sriram V

My f r i e n d s h i p w i t h Charukesi spanned over

a period of 50 years. Our first meeting, if I remember right, was at the Ilakkia Chianthanai forum, piloted by the busi-nessman, P. Laskhmanan, and his brother P. Chidambaram (former Finance minister).

After the monthly meetings, during which the best Tamil sto-ry would be picked by a reviewer from the ones published in Tam-il journals the previous month and a companion lecture on any current topic would be de-livered, the writers, artists and the rest of the audience would spill out to have informal chats. Charukesi might not stay long, for he had several irons in the fire. He would dart like a hyper-active butterfly from one person to another and then vanish in a jiffy, as was his wont. He was like a bespoke basketball player, always alert, and here, there on the court.

An executive in a multi- national pharmaceutical giant, he was to me a walking com-pendium of the Who’s Who of physicians and surgeons in Madras. Whenever a medical issue visited my family, which was (and is) unfortunately of-ten, the names of specialists would come out of his mouth with addresses and phone num-bers. He also had very good contacts in the fields of mu-sic and education. I should record with gratitude his help in getting my son admitted to a prestigious school (mind you, for free) and also arranging a young and upcoming quartet in

Carnatic music for the recep-tion at my daughter’s wedding.

He always had interesting tidbits to share about many of the great personalities of Madras, but not the risqué or juicy. When I was stuck while finalising my copy, regarding the veracity of a bit of information for my weekly column in Tamil or my articles in English, a phone call to him would clear the doubt before those omniscient Google

Music critic who spun like a top

He was so self-effacing that for long I never knew his real name. It was only

while signing Madras Musings’ cheques for articles he occasionally wrote for it that I learnt that Charukesi was Viswanathan.

I made his acquaintance at one of the sabhas; it could have been NGS where he was a fixture. He, of course, had a stature as a writer, but it was in the Carnatic music world, that I got to know him well. He, like that other angel – ‘Nadopasa-na’ R. Srinivasan – was a regular at many concert venues, but mostly at the Sastri Hall, and in later years at Ragasudha. Like Srinivasan, he focused on young talent. Like S. Rajam, Charukesi too addressed all men as ‘Sir’, irrespective of how-ever many years they were younger than him.

He never threw his weight about or claimed proximity with sabha secretaries, all of which he could have. He was a true gentleman who did not indulge in the standard predatory be-haviour that is so typical of so many Maamas in the Carnatic Music world who claim abilities to fix concerts for the young and aspiring. A very sincere member of Natyarangam, the dance committee at the Narada Gana Sabha, he was one of the key creative brains that came up each year with an inspiring ‘Bharatam’ series.

As a reviewer, he was most diligent and fair-minded. His critiques aimed to get the artiste to rise to greater heights and not feel despondent. And he never gave advice unless he was asked for it. His humour too was gentle. Among my favourite reads was a short story

about a squirrel that regularly made it to the Sastri Hall to lis-ten to performanc-es. Like the squirrel, Charukesi Sir too made it to various sabhas. In fact, you invariably ran into him at the Alwarpet signal where with a slight characteristic stoop, he hurried to some venue or the other. Among his other writings on music is a detailed biography of Palghat T.S. Mani Iyer. He was also a regular contributor to Sruti magazine.

I had the privilege of being of some small assistance in one of his projects. My mentor K.V. Ramanathan had edited a two-volume work on S Satyamurti’s letters and this was published in English. Charukesi Sir worked on the Tamil ver-sion and for this I gave him a set of Satyamurti photos and cartoons, all acquired by me from the Ragami Collection. When they were re-turned, it was in typical Charukesi style – neatly wrapped and numbered, with a ‘thank you’ note.

The last couple of years were not kind to Charukesi Sir and I am happy that his suffering is over. He did not deserve sorrow of any kind. I am sure he will be looking down from wherever he is and observing all our quirks and making notes about them.

– Sriram V.

days. It was a Charukesi habit to abruptly terminate a conversa-tion and push off, unlike many who would go on and on, worse still holding your hand, prevent-ing escape. He always gave the impression that he was urgently required elsewhere. This time the ‘elsewhere’ is neither here nor there but to the unknown ‘elsewhere’, who knows where?

– J.S. Raghavan

Farewell, Charukesi Sir

4 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-28, 2019 February 16-28, 2019 MADRAS MUSINGS 5

On the fake rupee trial

Sadr Gardens located off Kasturi Ranga Road, Alwarpet. (Courtesy: Mylapore Times.)

Once upon a Law Court

LOST LANDMARKS OF CHENNAI– SRIRAM V

Who would believe that Alwarpet was once home

to a vast court complex? And yet this is where the highest institution of the law functioned from, for almost 60 years. What is even more puzzling is that hardly any descriptions survive of the buildings that once housed these courts of justice. What is sadder is that at least two of the principal structures survived for long, one till late in the 20th century and the other till two years ago and yet photographs of them are rare.

The Mayor’s Court was the first to dispense justice under the British. In 1796, this was super-seded by the Cutcherry Court, which in turn was replaced by the Recorder’s Court in 1798. Sir Thomas Strange was the first Recorder and he arrived in 1798. All the Courts of Justice mentioned above functioned from Fort St George. There were frequent complaints about the premises provided and lengthy minutes were written about the state of the buildings.

In 1801, the Recorder’s Court was merged into a Supreme Court of Judicature. Sir Thomas Strange became the Chief Justice with two Puisne Judges to assist him – Henry Gwillim and Ben-jamin Sullivan. This Supreme

Court initially functioned from the premises of the Recorder’s Court, which was in Choultry Gate Street of the Fort. In 1817 it moved to what was later known as Bentinck’s Building (another lost landmark!), constructed on the site of Marine Yard on First Line Beach/North Beach Road (now Rajaji Salai). The Singara-velar Maligai, the collectorate of Madras, now stands on this site.

In 1802, additional courts were established. These were the Zillah Courts for civil suits in the districts, the Provincial Courts of Appeal for cases judged by the Zillah Courts, and the Sudder Adawlut or Chief Court of Civil Judicature for appeals from the Provincial Courts of Appeal. The criminal cases were tried in Courts of Circuit and the judgements went on appeal at the Foujdary Adawlut or Chief Criminal Court.

The Sudder and Foujdary Ad-awluts were set up at the western end of Luz Church Road, namely present day Alwarpet. In area it would appear that the build-ings occupied much of what is today Bashyam Basheer Ahmed Road, Ambujammal Street and Sriman Srinivasa Iyengar Road. I am basing this assumption on the fact that a stately bungalow set in a vast compound stood

till the 1990s on the western side of TTK (Mowbrays) Road very close to where the Sir CP Ramaswami Iyer Road flyover runs today. This bore the name of Sudder Gate on one of its gateposts. For long rented by a Coimbatore-based company, it had a rejuvenation of sorts when a Frenchman with interest in textiles ran his office from there. It was demolished in the late 1990s and a residential block of flats stands in its place today.

The principal Sudder Ad-awlut was housed in a huge gar-den house that stood at the end of Ambujammal Street and ex-tended all the way to neighbour-

ing Bashyam Basheer Ahmed Road. Known as Sadr Gardens, this became in the mid 20th century the residence of Basheer Ahmed Sayeed, the legal lumi-nary who later became a Judge of the High Court of Madras and is remembered today for the ed-ucational institution he helped found – SIET College. The Sadr Gardens property, together with its huge bungalow complete with giant granite pillars, remained with the family till a couple of years ago. It has since been de-molished and a high rise is being constructed on the site.

There was yet another, and more grisly reminder of the Sud-

der Courts. According to VC Gopalratnam, writing in his book A Century Completed, a History of the Madras High Court, 1862-1962, “in the vacant land opposite, across the Mowbrays Road, there existed until about 50 years ago a dismal and dark corner overgrown with shrubbery with a gallows tree standing in solitary impressiveness, on which capital sentences passed by the Sudder Courts were executed one hundred years or more ago.” This site, together with its tree had become history even by 1962 and so there is no scope of locating it today.

In 1862, the Sudder Courts were abolished for the Supreme Court itself was replaced by the High Court of Madras. The new institution continued to occupy Bentinck’s Buildings until 1892 when the present High Court buildings were completed. As for the erstwhile Sudder Court properties it is not clear as to who or what occupied them until they were eventually auctioned off. Ambujammal, freedom fighter and daughter of Sriman Srini-vasa Iyengar had clear memories of Sudder Gate when she wrote her memoirs in 1973. She bought land in this area piecemeal, out of her savings and one of her properties housed the Srinivasa Gandhi Nilayam. She lived close to it. The streets that came up on the Sudder Court land soon had several residences and the houses on these thoroughfares had Mowbrays Road addresses as the original property holder, namely the Sudder Courts, was on that road.

To think that this quiet set of streets once housed a busy Courts of Justice with all the hustle and bustle of plaintiffs, de-fendants, witnesses, lawyers and the full complement of the Court staff – Judges, clerks, translators, writers and the rest.

Towards the end of 1959, a few cases of counterfeit hun-

dred rupee currency notes were reported in Coimbatore. The counterfeit notes came to notice in the Pulliampatti Shandy, near Coimbatore. The District Police were unable to make any head-way, so the Crime Branch CID, Madras, was ordered to take up the investigations.

R. N. Krishnaswamy, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, CID, commenced the investigation in April 1960. He found the case files relating to 1959 and 1960 revealing that the counterfeit hundred rupee note had been issued on 16 different occasions in Coimbatore district and that business transactions in that district were considerably impeded, as hundred rupee notes were not being accepted as legal tender for fear that they might be counterfeit. It was also clear from a scrutiny of the notes that had been seized that a single agency was responsible for their manufacture. They were seized under series H19 and A20, under the signature of B. Rama Rau, Governor of the RBI.

To start with, only one lead was available. The 11 notes which had been circulated in the Pulliampatti Shandy belonged to Varadaraja Chetty, a Munic-ipal Councillor of Ootacamund. During interrogation Chetty stated that he had been a victim of a currency doubling trick in December 1958, in which he had lost Rs. 50,000 to P.C. George of Gandhipuram in Coimbatore. After the loss, Chetty continued to pester George to return the money or to obtain for him a consignment of counterfeit notes in lieu thereof. Finally, in March 1960, George and another came to him at Coonoor and hand-ed over 150 counterfeit hun-dred-rupee notes of A20 series. It was out of this consignment that Varadaraja Chetty issued 32 counterfeit notes at Pulliampatti Shandy towards the purchase of a large number of bags of chillies. Having heard that 11 of those notes had been detected, he burnt the remaining counterfeit notes. He, however, did not know the agency that actually printed the counterfeit notes.

The investigating officer found that Geroge was a shady character, frequently indulging in doubling currency tricks and who was also in touch with some of the lower ranks of the police force in Coimbatore. It was decided not to arrest George at this stage but to maintain an un-obtrusive watch over his move-

ments with a view to track the agency that manufactured the notes. In May 1960, the investi-gating officer made an attempt to purchase counterfeit notes with the help of an informant. It was ascertained that the counterfeit-ers were not prepared to negoti-ate the sale of the notes unless they first tested the solvency of the buyer. The investigating officer posed as a rich man, regis-tered in a top-class hotel and had with him a bundle of genuine hundred-rupee currency notes to the value of Rs. 25,000/-. The trap failed at the last moment. It was obvious that information had leaked somehow.

Some time later, the inves-tigating officer rented a house and posed as a rich film producer and in that capacity, set a trap for the counterfeiters. He again failed. A careful check of the arrangements made for the trap on both occasions showed that the only person who could have passed on the information to the other side was Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan of Coimbatore, who had volunteered to help the investigating officer. He was, therefore, sent back and the investigating officer made further attempts to trap the counterfeiters. He finally locat-ed one Narayanaswamy Asari, who offered to procure coun-terfeit hundred rupee notes. In the course of the negotiations, Narayanaswamy Asari stated he had been commissioned in 1958 by G. Krishnan, a textile mill magnate of Coimbatore, to prepare a block for printing counterfeit notes. The block had been actually prepared in the guesthouse of Krishnan and was later destroyed as it did not come up to standard.

The investigating officer decided to act and arrested Narayanaswamy Asari as well as George and Balasundaram, who was a confidante of Krishnan. The three made statements de-tailing the existence of a conspir-acy headed by textile mill mag-nate G. Krishnan and assisted by Sub-Insptector Padmanabhan. George further stated that he had received a consignment of counterfeit notes from one Mani who was also in the conspiracy. It was from this consignment that he had given counterfeit notes to Varadaraja Chetty of Ootacamund.

In June 1960, Krishnan and Padmanabhan were arrested in Coimbatore. A search of the latter’s quarters resulted in the

seizure of counterfeit hundred rupee currency notes to the val-ue of Rs. 6.7 lakh. These notes were of the H19, A20, Q12 and Q16 series bearing the signature of B. Rama Rau and had been hidden in the kitchen. Further investigation showed that the other conspirators were K.S.B. Mani, K.R. Antony, M.C. Kuria-kose, K.A. Hameed, Thambu, Periasamy, Marudachala Gound-er, Balakrishna Muralidhar and K. Sridharan Nair. All of them were duly arrested.

Further investigation revealed the following picture:

In 1957, G. Krishnan, the owner of C.S. & W. Textile Mills Limited, purchased a number of other textile mills in rapid succession, paying an advance in each case. Unable to raise the remaining amount, he was

was set up in the rented house by a mechanic sent by the East Asi-atic Company Limited and the erection certificate was signed by Mani, who was not an employee of Pullicar Textile Mills Limit-ed. An Indian cutting machine purchased by Antony in Madras and paid for by Krishnan was also installed in the rented house. Soon after this, Mani proceeded to Bombay on the instruction of Krishnan and purchased 208 reams of 17th Reserve bond paper and despatched it to Coim-batore. There was documentary evidence to prove the purchase and movement of the paper from Bombay to the rented house in Coimbatore.

The printing then started but it was found that the paper pur-chased in Bombay was not quite suitable. It was, therefore, sold in the local market and a fresh stock of SKAGERACK paper was purchased in Coimbatore. This paper was cut to the size of hundred rupee currency notes after eliminating the watermark portion of the paper. During this period, Padmanabhan supervised the work and kept Krishnan in-formed of the progress. At about this time, the Sub-Inspector went on casual leave for 10 days without informing the other conspirators. The latter took fright thinking that the Sub-In-spector would let them down and so shifted the machinery to the guesthouse of Pullicar Textile Mill Limited in Salem District, which also belonged to Krishnan. The Sub-Inspector returned from leave and was able to con-vince Krishnan and the others that he had not betrayed them. He was, therefore, once again admitted into the conspiracy.

The printing at Pullicar Mills was found unsatisfactory and some of the mill workers were also making enquiries about the strangers they had seen in the guesthouse. It was, therefore, decided by the conspirators to shift the printing machine to Coimbatore again. This was done and this time, the ma-chinery was installed in the guesthouse of Janardhana Tex-tile Mills Limited, which also belonged to Krishnan.

Since Antony found the Ger-man printing machine difficult to operate, he asked for a replace-ment. Krishnan arranged for the purchase of a Russian T.C. Heavy Platen machine from Madras. Antony and Hameed then pro-ceeded to Bombay to purchase Indian-made Sunlight Offset pa-per for Rs. 1,718 and transported it to Janardhana Textile Mills

Limited. When Antony visited Bombay, he booked personal trunk calls to Krishnan, which were duly traced by the investi-gating officer.

Having secured a new print-ing machine and fresh paper, the printing of counterfeit notes started in right earnest. Printing was completed between March and May 1959. The nominal value of the counterfeit notes printed was Rs. 15 lakhs. The printing in March 1959 was ac-tually inaugurated by Krishnan at an auspicious time by turning on the printing machine.

The bundle of notes were delivered to Krishnan by Antony and Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan on the morning of May 4, 1959 and Antony received a payment of Rs. 2.5 lakhs in genuine cur-rency. This money had been withdrawn by cheque from the Punjab National Bank on the date by Krishnan. Thereafter, Antony and his assistants left for Kerala by car and were escorted by Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan.

Krishnan lost no time in issuing the counterfeit hundred rupee notes. The same evening, he paid Rs. 10,000 to Palani Gounder of Karmadai as payment for the supply of yarn. The next morning, he paid Rs. 60,000 to a number of cotton merchants to whom he owed money. One of them detected the forged notes and returned them to Krishnan through his clerk Ranganatha Rao. This upset Krishnan very much and he arranged to get back all the counterfeit notes that he had paid out. He then sent the entire lot of counterfeit currency notes to the house of Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan through Thambu and Periasami. Sometime later, Padmanabhan sold counterfeit notes worth Rs. 3 lakhs to Marudhachala Gounder of Thudialur. In January 1960, he sold Rs. 50,000 worth of counterfeit notes to George.

When the investigation start-ed, Krishnan got alarmed and ordered the destruction of both the German and the Russian printing machines as also the Indian cutting machine. He sent the machines to a couple of engi-neering works in Coimbatore to be broken to pieces and melted. On the information given by

Some famous crimes recorded in various Tamil Nadu police

journals.

tempted to get over the financial difficulty by printing counterfeit currency notes. He sent his con-fidante Balasundaram to Kerala to get into touch with known counterfeiters.The latter took the assistance of Mani. They failed in their mission in Kerala and later pitched on Narayanas-wami Asari whose work was of poor quality and, therefore, de-stroyed. In the early part of 1958, Mani contacted K.R. Antony of Kottayam, who was known to be a counterfeiter and was the proprietor of a photo studio. The latter agreed to manufacture hundred rupee notes provided he was handsomely paid. Mani was a good friend of Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan who arranged for a meeting with Krishnan for some consideration. The Sub- Inspector joined the conspiracy.

Thereafter, Antony and his assistants Kuriakose and Hameed came to Coimbatore and commenced manufacturing the blocks in the guest house of Krishnan.

In the meanwhile, Krishnan ordered the East Asiatic Com-pany Limited, Madras, to supply a German Heidelberg printing machine while Mani and Pad-manabhan rented a house in Coimbatore on a monthly rent of Rs. 100. The German printing machine was duly delivered at Coimbatore and the invoice was sent to the Pullicar Textile Mills Limited, which was owned by Krishnan. The printing machine (Continued on page 8)

Till February 28: Invisible Truth – an art exhibition organised by the interns of DakshinaChitra. The exhibition will showcase the hidden truth behind nature and the rituals followed through installations, sculptures, reliefs etc. and the importance of the five elements in human life (at DakshinaChitra).

Kalasha Trishool

February 23-24: Workshop on Spanish tile making hosted by the ceramic centre, DakshinaChitra. The sessions include making tiles with Indian drawings and the use of decorative technique on clay surfaces for raw glazing, or bisque fired surfaces (at DakshinaChi-tra). For more information and to register for workshop contact Potrarasan @ 98406 72154.

Till February 24: Haryana Festi-val. The festival aims to bring together the rich and diverse traditions of Haryana culture, highlighting the dance forms and crafts of the State. Navyug Art and Culture Centre will perform Phaag, Ghumar, Bhamlehari and Dhamal dance forms. The dance is a combination of songs involv-ing vibrant dance movements which conveys in a capsule the true essence of Haryanvi folk. As part of the festival, craftsmen from Haryana will display and sell wooden crafts and textiles (at DakshinaChitra).

February 23-March 4: Interlace by Sonamou-Korean Artists’ Collec-tive in collaboration with INKO centre Chennai.

Thirteen members of a group called Sonamou, a Korean Artists’ Collective based in Paris, France, along with French artist, will present an exhibition at Dakshi-naChitra and a workshop at InKo Centre. For further details call: 9841266149.

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6 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-28, 2019

V.K. Parthasarathy (VKP) turned 80 recently. Much

about him was remembered at a celebratory function. Pachu, as he’s known to all his friends, accomplished much in tennis and for tennis. He was Junior Singles South India Hardcourt Champion, won the Stanley Cup as a University student, was Madras University Cham-pion, captained the Univer-sity and the State teams, was singles champion of Madras and neighbouring States, and played under the aegis of the International Lawn Tennis Club of India against visiting teams of veterans from Australia, Holland, France and Belgium. He was, for many years, the Honorary Secretary of the Tam-il Nadu Tennis Association and Vice President subsequently. VKP, along with Ramanathan Krishnan, N. Sankar and oth-ers, trained under the legendary T.K. Ramanathan, the country’s “tennis ancestor”, who inspired generations of talented youth to take to the game and achieve international recognition.

Krishnan recalls how he and VKP visited Pakistan to play matches there in 1961 when Pa-kistan invited Krishnan to take part in their National Champi-onships. Krishnan chose VKP as his doubles partner for the tour. Playing there, they won all the three doubles tournaments, including the Pakistan Nation-als held in Rawalpindi. VKP reached the finals in the singles tournament, losing to Krish-nan. Krishnan still remembers

how the two of them were pro-vided bodyguards throughout their stay.

N. Sankar, industrialist, sports patron and VKP’s tennis mate, says that it was at the suggestion of VKP that prize money was introduced in 1994 for the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association League. In the beginning, the prize was only in the thousands, growing to a few lakhs over time and neces-sitating external financial assis-tance which the Sanmar Group provided to sustain the League’s role in encouraging talent.

ball with me at the National Sports Association courts. From consistently hitting every shot into the net, I started hitting them consistently over the net – the improvement was so ma-jor that every ball soared over the thattis behind the baseline of the opponent court!

Those who came into con-tact with VKP remained his friends for life. His large num-ber of friends in tennis circles would speak of his on- and off-court virtues. What may not be as well-known as his tennis is the fact that he was also a champion corporate manager. I was privileged to have had a ring-side view of his managerial phase. The secret of his success, as a professional manager, was his human qualities and natural humility. He was a dream boss. This did not mean that he was tolerant of shoddiness in order to be popular. In correcting the errant, he was stern but constructive, without hurting confidence. To his boss he was an indispensable asset and to colleagues, a pro-active team member.

Succeeding an Englishman as manager of the Cuddalore branch of English-owned Par-ry & Co., he lorded it over the whole historic complex of buildings along the coast that had once housed Robert Clive. VKP was managing the ship-ping operations at that port. Handling the then difficult labour, he could ensure speedy turn-round of discharging ves-sels and extend a high standard

of on-shore services to them. Under VKP, ship owners and importers preferred Cuddalore for discharge of their cargo to other ports.

In charge of the Company’s Public Relations in Delhi, in dealing with senior government officials, he was exemplary. In the 1960s, licenses, permits and allotments were required for almost everything. Produc-ing more than the declared capacity was not applauded but frowned upon as violation of Law. In such an atmosphere, PR persons of firms all over the country were viewed by the

government with suspicion. VKP, by his dignified conduct, honesty and strict conformity with rules and etiquette, was one of the few readily accepted by the bureaucracy with re-spect. He raised his employer’s stature and acceptance in gov-ernment circles. In his post-re-tirement phase, VKP served, with distinction, the Group owned and managed by Sankar, his old tennis partner.

VKP had a clear vision of right and wrong and never hes-itated to voice his views when moral values were involved. More even than taking a stand on such issues, admirable was the way he could do it with no trace of damage to rela-tionship.

VKP has simple pleasures that make him a supremely contented person. Free of jeal-ousy, he can and does rejoice in and celebrate others’ successes. With his puckish humour, he drops jokes with a poker ex-pression that seems to challenge you to spot them – like his deft, angled drop shots.

The humility is natural, not feigned, and perhaps even ge-netic in the sense that it runs in the family, evident to those who have known VKP’s bothers. VKP’s wife Hema is well known as a Professor of French and honoured by the French Gov-ernment for her services to the cause of French culture. She has been VKP’s support all the way, now standing by him to fill in for the inevitable weakening of his faculties with age. Knowing them both, from their courting days, and having run errands between them, it can be said that, to this mixed-doubles pair, goes the Game, Set and Match.

A Tennis champion at 80

Age was never a factor, but passion was in Rajiv Red-

dy’s involvement with squash. He had taken to the sport when he was 36 years old, just after he had become member of the MCC in 1987. It did not take long for him to learn the nuances of the sport, take in the rigours and begin excelling in it. In 2000, Rajiv went on to win his first national champi-onship title in the over-45 years category. Success beckons more and Rajiv has gone on to win six more national champion tags thereafter, including the latest this year in the over-65 years group, instituted only this year at the championship. And if his enthusiasm is anything to go by, this young-at-heart man has no plans to stop there.

Enthusiasm is the other name for enterprising Reddy, who doubles up as a Squash Referee thanks to N. Ramach-andran, who made the Indian

Squash Academy a reality in Chennai. Rajiv’s involvement with squash grew many times from that historic moment at the turn of the millennium. Closely associated with Ram-achandran, currently patron of the Squash Rackets Federation

Multi-talented veteran squash championsibility on him grew. Suffice to state, Rajiv rose to become a World Referee and, today, he is the Director of Referees with the Squash Rackets Federation of India. As a World referee, he has had lot of globe trotting to do for major championships and tournaments in various countries. In fact, after his vic-torious outing in the Nationals in Delhi, Rajiv had to leave for Pattaya in Thailand to officiate in the Asian junior squash championship.

For some one who also dab-bles in hockey and tennis – and in both of these sports, he rep-resents his club, the MCC, in the league – it is admirable that he finds time for squash play and work. “Not a moment to lose,” has been Rajiv’s refrain as he hops from one sport to the other with ease. But nothing has given him the kind of status that squash is now providing him. The recent national cham-

pionship title he won, beating Rajan Gupta, was well fought right till the end, with games going to extra points.That he withstood the rigours and emerged victorious is testimony to his fitness, of which he is jus-tifiably proud. Well connected in society because of the nature of duties he does (Rajiv runs his own business), this veteran is but another example of the continuing success of squash in Chennai and Tamil Nadu.

by S.R. Suryanarayan

of India, Rajiv was encouraged to take to the refereeing aspect of the sport as well. In fact, he was not only until then a player alone but a coach as well, who went on to coach the national junior girls’ team with distinction in the late 1990s. At one time, he had under his tutelage, the top junior players of the time, Vaidehi Reddy and Pia Abraham. When that phase ended and even as he kept sharpening his skills as a veteran, the refereeing respon-

Rajiv Reddy.

V.K. Parthasarathy.

by N.S. Parthasarathy

Ever willing to help the cause of tennis, when the first synthetic tennis court in South India was being laid out at the Madras Club in the early 1990s, VKP identified the technical consultants and contractors and helped the Club supervise its satisfactory completion.

VKP is so well known for his role in tennis that it is necessary to have a tennis link to be eligi-ble to speak about him! We met over fifty years ago working for the same employer and struck an immediate rapport. In 1967, when he was 28, he was still an active participant on the Indian circuit. He saw me playing a game that vaguely resembled tennis and took upon himself the task of improving my game. He would find time between his tennis engagements to bat the

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Indo-Anglians– and their consumer behaviour

by Sajith Pai

(Continued from last fortnight)

As the Indo-Anglian popu-lation grows, several businesses and sectors have emerged to tap their distended wallets, most notably the media (as a native of this segment, I won’t dwell much on it) and the ed-ucation sector. The education sector is important as it both creates and is in turn fashioned by Indo-Anglians. What is particularly interesting is the creation of a distinct education pathway for the children of Indo-Anglians by Indian edu-cation entrepreneurs over the past decade or so.

Let me elaborate. New-age schools began across most cities in India in the 1990s, promising a less stressful, inquiry-oriented teaching method. Parents who had grown up on hyper-com-petitive, rote-oriented learning and teaching styles were happy to acquiesce. The children who emerged through the system were soft, well-rounded kids, not the battle-hardened tigers that their parents were. This was all fine when they were to go to US or UK for their under-graduate education. Those who stayed behind in India went to “prestigious”, though less competitive, institutions, such as the National Law Schools, Srishti Design Institute, Symbi-osis International and Manipal University.

Over t ime the number of students from progressive

schools increased, and even the law schools and other safe options such as Symbiosis be-came competitive. This has now led to the emergence of a new wave of corporate-backed universities such as Shiv Nadar, O.P. Jindal, B.M.L. Munjal, etc. Thus, an entire alternate hypo-competitive education pathway has emerged to cater to the needs of Indo-Anglians, stressing on holistic learning, exposure to liberal arts and building a rounded personality. Admission is driven not by hard cut-offs or performance on entrance tests but via holistic assessments and intentionally fuzzy metrics.

Similar to the education and media sectors, other businesses too have emerged to tap these Indo-Anglians and English First households. The most notable of these are organic/healthy food and cosmetics brands – think 24 Mantra, Forest Es-sentials, Kama Ayurveda, Raw Pressery, Epigamia, Paperboat, etc. Restaurants are another category that is aiming hard for these segments – Starbucks, So-cial, Hoppipola, etc. That said, brands which target themselves too sharply to this psychograph-ic also run the risk of plateauing out in growth, given that this segment is only 25-30 million large.

The rapid emergence of or-ganic food brands over the past few years such as 24 Mantra, Conscious Food, Pride of Cows is particularly interesting. These

are really expensive products compared to their non-organic counterparts, but Indo-Anglian households are happy to pay the premium for the health benefits they confer. In paying this pre-mium, they are deviating from the traditional scrooge mindset of the Indian middle-class. One clear reason for this willingness to pay the premium is because these products are akin to signal products. Usage or possession of cultural products also signals status about yourself to the wid-er world, much the same way as driving a Tesla or Prius conveys something about yourself.

Indo-Anglians love signal products, since the usage and

tervention via think-tanks, influencing media coverage etc., are favourite routes for In-do-Anglians and English Firsts to impact policy. The ceding of legislative space to judiciary which has happened in India is in that light desirable for the Indo-Anglians/English Firsts, for that is how they are able to influence policy and decisions in India today. Judicial inter-vention has thus developed as a counterpoint to legislative pow-er, even as Indo-Anglians and English Firsts have retreated from legislative politics entirely. Another area from which In-do-Anglians and English Firsts retreated is the IAS and other bureaucratic offices; but they continue to influence policy by entering through the “pro-fessional” route into influential policy-making bodies such as Niti Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission.

The only exception to In-do-Anglians’ legislative irrele-vance may be Goa. It has about 10,000 Indo-Anglian house-holds as per my estimate (out of a population of 1.8 million). In-creasingly Indo-Anglians from outside the state are investing in a second house in Goa, at-tracted by the Westernised culture, popular restaurants and beaches, as well as the presence of other Indo-Anglians. It is also emerging as a popular retirement destination. Over time – perhaps in two decades – I see Goa transforming into an Indo-Anglian stronghold. The only other State I have similar hopes of is Meghalaya, though its distance from the urban centres mean that it is unlikely that elite Indo-Anglians will move there.

Gurgaon is the only city where I think Indo-Anglians could emerge as an influential voting block that can swing elections. In other metros, there will be pockets (equivalent to assembly or even parliamen-tary constituencies) such as Mumbai’s western suburbs or Powai, a Koramangala or In-diranagar in Bangalore, that will emerge in the future. Still, given their ability to influence policy through non-legislative routes, Indo-Anglians aren’t likely to

display of these products and brands helps bolster their iden-tities. Their identities help them select products, and then those products shape their iden-tities. Some such brands that are important to Indo-Anglians include (in no order) – Ap-ple, Netflix, FabIndia, Anokhi, Good Earth, Neemrana, Star-bucks.

* * *Indo-Anglian or even the

broader English Firsts segment is not sizeable enough to in-fluence elections, not even in cities or relevant constituencies where they are concentrated. I suppose time will make them relevant in some of these con-stituencies and one state (Goa, which I address below) over the next decade. That said, they will still be inconsequential as far as legislative intervention is concerned. So how do they influence policy and politics?

Judicial approaches and ac-tivism via NGOs, policy in-

lose sleep over their inability to wield electoral clout.

* * *Indo-Anglians are a para-

dox. They are both India’s most visible and yet invisible class. I use the latter phrase in the con-text of their emergence as a dis-tinct category in Indian society, yet one which is not apparent to most. They get lumped with the elite and are commonly de-scribed as the English-speaking elite class. Yet, as we know, not all the elite or affluent classes speak English. And there are many Indo-Anglians who are not necessarily affluent in the strict sense of the term. In-creasingly, they are emerging as a cultural class or caste, with their own distinct and evolving set of preferences, behaviours, concerns and needs.

While Indo-Anglians do not view themselves as a caste, they do fulfill the key condi-tion for being considered a caste – restricting marriage to members of their caste. The criteria for entry into the caste is superior English-speaking skills and confidence to nav-igate Indo-Anglian circles. It helps that most members are from privileged (or savarna backgrounds) which lends that confidence. But there is no hard wall, and enough members of the Indo-Anglian caste today were from castes that are tra-ditionally considered as lower castes. Once in the Indo-An-glian caste, typically through an inter-caste marriage, members subsume their traditional caste identities to the Indo-Anglian identity. They then become People Like Us.

Indo-Anglian identity is not entirely fixed or stable yet, but is evolving as the numbers of this community swell, which is happening rapidly. It will be fascinating to see how this community evolves, and shapes (and is shaped by) the trans-forming Indian Republic. — (Courtesy: scroll.in.)

(Concluded)

This article first appeared on the writer’s Medium page. His Twitter handle is @sajithpai.

BALANCED BUDGET(Continued from page 1)or drought, the political class knows how to make capital out of the situation.

The Opposition is under-standably quiet. Which party in an election year is likely to criticise a decision to give money to people below the poverty line? That would be tantamount to political hara-kiri. In fact die-hard political opponents have welcomed the move. They have

to. What is being forgotten is that eventually, sometime in the not-so-distant future, there has to be a bitter awakening and the Government then in power will face the music, as will we, the tax-paying public.

Lastly, are such doles really helping the BPL families come out of their financial stress? His-torically, such gifts actually be-come detrimental, only making them more dependent on assis-

tance. Even the High Court of Madras has recently comment-ed that the freebies have only made the people lazy. It would have been far better if the mon-ey committed so far – Rs 3,200 Crores (Rs 2,000 Crores in the first round and now Rs 1,200 Crores) – had been spent on some long term poverty allevi-ation programmes. But in an election year, who is bothered about such things?

8 MADRAS MUSINGS February 16-28, 2019

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Eyes of Madras 2.0There was not a cloud in the

January sky when I stepped into the C.P. Art Centre, the venue of the photo exhibition Eyes of Madras 2.0. But thanks to a few vivid streetscapes in dis-play, it soon felt like monsoon. There was a photograph of a tar road glistening with rain. Would the passing autorickshaw, fea-tured in the same frame, soak me with water? I waited in deli-cious anticipation. The very air seemed to grow cooler.

Have you heard that tired old joke on the three seasons

of Madras? Hot, Hotter and Hottest, goes the punchline. A series of images served as a won-derful rebuttal to that cliché. An autorickshaw emerging like a barge from a flooded street. A scooter making a gleeful splash and boys dancing in the resul-tant spray. A dutiful mailman walking through the knee-deep water to deliver letters. Famil-iar scenes that recalled gentle rains, devastating cyclones and, ultimately, how the people of the city bounce back from their travails.

Chennai Photo Walkers will have you convinced that there is never a dull moment in the city, rain or shine. Since 2007, this band of amateur photogra-phers has documented scenes, featuring people and buildings, ranging from the quotidian to the classic. There is no dearth of subjects in this metropolis with a population close to ten million. In the eyes of the cam-era, as in the eyes of the law, all of us are equal. Whether it is the sparkling Aruna Sairam sitting on a colourful striped dhurrie at the Music Academy or the vegetable vendor who has set up her stall under a plas-tic umbrella, both impress with their dignified miens.

Since ours is a city by the sea, the camera-toting group has captured some of the best images right by the shore. A few seashore shots which grabbed attention: The pair of white bulls reluctantly bathing at the Marina, a hand from a giant clay statue bidding the city one final goodbye, a group of girls from a dance class leaping high on the sandy beach.

Then there was this image of men turning work into play while unloading the catch of the day. “This was at Kasimedu, where unloading big fish was done as a ‘catch-the-ball act,’

images was that of a beaming small store holder checking out images of himself and his store-front, taken only a few minutes ago. “People are always keen to see how their photos turn out,” he says. This is, perhaps, a uni-versal phenomenon.

An estimated two thousand people dropped in to see the three-day show, which, the organisers say, was an event to encourage passionate amateur photographers. Will it inspire its members to explore this “wildly photogenic city” as Londoner Whitehead calls Chennai? At present, the Chennai Pho-towalk Group has over 16,700 members on its rolls in Face-book. They go out as a group, in and around Chennai, on the first and third Sundays of each month. “All Are Welcome,” meaning, of course, the mem-bership is free of charge.

What will a newly-inspired bunch of weekend photogra-phers focus their lens on? We’ll know when the next edition of this exhibition comes out. The first edition was held in August 2017 during Madras Week. Hopefully, the next edition won’t be another two years in the making. I can’t wait for Eyes of Madras 3.0.

– Vijaysree Venkatraman

says the photographer Naveen Kumar, a chartered accoun-tant, one of the four organisers behind the show. He realised that a call for photos under the usual themes of Architecture, Landscape, and Natural Heri-tage of Chennai would only lead to submissions of repeat images of the LIC, catamarans, banyan trees of Adyar and so on. “I wanted every theme to have a story, or some drama and hope we achieved what was intend-ed,” he says modestly.

The eight broad themes, which made for witty and mem-orable pictures, were: Chennai Does Not Only Have Summer, What does Chennai Celebrate, Passion at Work, Madrasa Suthi Pakka Porom, Storytell-ing through Mobile, Chennai in Black and White, Palavannag-alil Paravaigal Poochigal and Chennai Rich in Arts. Much thought went into the caption-ing as well. “If the captions were inappropriate or if they lacked punch or drama, we went in and made changes,” says Kumar.

Veteran BBC correspondent, Andrew Whitehead, who is in the city to teach at the Asian School of Journalism, says the images were of exceptional quality. Some of them made him laugh out loud. His favou-rite from the two hundred plus

the accused Thambu, broken unmelted parts of the printing machines were recovered from the firms and were identified by the mechanics of the companies that supplied them.

A strange incident took place at the height of the inves-tigation. A registered parcel was received by the investigating officer and when opened, it was found to contain Rs. 1.19 lakhs of counterfeit notes of the same series together with an anonymous letter which stated that the sender had purchased the notes from Marudachala Gounder. The author of the let-ter could not be traced in spite of searching enquiries.

On completing the investi-gation, the evidence was placed before C.K. Daphtari, Solicitor General of India. The prelim-inary enquiry was taken up by

the IX Presidency Magistrate Madras. He committed all the accused except Vadivelu Pillai to Sessions for trial. A Special Sessions Judge was appointed by the Government and the trial took no less than 80 days when exhibits were filed. The deposi-tions recorded in the open court ran to more than 3,000 pages of typed matter.

The Special Judge delivered Judgement on July 27, 1960 convicting eight principal ac-cused, including the textile mill magnate Krishnan and Sub-Inspector Padmanabhan, who received sentences of ten years’ rigorous imprisonment. On appeal in August 1962, the High Court of Judicature at Ma-dras upheld the judgement of the Special Sessions Judge but reduced the sentences to seven years rigorous imprisonment.— (Courtesy: The Madras Police Journal).

(Continued from page 5)

Fake currency trail

Some of the exhibits.