How Best to pay Tributes to people like Randor Guy?

 

'Other famed dramatists who staged plays at Rasika Ranjani Sabha ( in Mylapore) were Dr. V. Ramamurthi and V. Seshadri.

‘Dr. Ramamurthi, with his impressive physique, singing skills and acting talents was a popular resident of Mylapore and son-in-law of V. C. Gopalratnam. He excelled in roles in historical plays and built up great fame in plays like ‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’ and ‘Parthiban Kanavu’. Ramamurthi also led bhajan groups around the Mada Streets during margazhi.

V. Seshadri, fair and handsome, was a lawyer and son-in-law of one of the greatest lawyers of Madras, K. Raja Iyer. Seshadri donned female roles and for this reason, V. C. Gopalratnam called him an actress!

These are the concluding paras of one of the early parts of a column titled ‘Mylapore Musings’ published in Mylapore Times in the 1995/’97 period. There were some 180-plus parts.

The column was written by Randor Guy. 

Madras’ well-known story teller and historian passed way last Sunday. He slipped away peacefully in the arms of caring nuns off the East Coast Road.

Randor was prodigious in his writings, be it on cinema, the legal world and on crime in the Madras Presidency and later. Mylapore was his favourite chomping ground. So when Mylapore Times came of age, he was keen to write a column for us. And my former colleague at the desk, Raji Muthukrishnan, co-ordinated Randor’s contribution.

He wanted to be published all over. And he valued the income; freelance writers are still paid small. But he respected even junior journalists and he was great company too.

And all that he wrote and collected was valuable.

His daughter Priya, a Mylaporean, told me that the Film Institute in Pune had recently collected all the books, cassettes, CDs, papers, clippings and stuff at his Ayanavaram residence and it had dedicated this collection to Randor in its archives. Even the Carnatic music tapes of vintage artistes got in there. 

This showcase is one way of celebrating a wonderful person. For all men and women of our city who have made signal contributions, what else can we do?  A bit more?

Can we not have an informal group of citizens who host a Tribute meeting, open to all, for all these men and women when they say good-bye? Perhaps have this meeting at a venue that offers itself for this unique purpose?

Can we have a two-member team that can post the life and work of all these people online so the record survives long, long after the cremation and decades roll by; because while we may have on Wiki and elsewhere, the records of the rich and famous and decorated, where would you find a Tribute to Madras’ first set of restaurateurs or city league cricket stars or feted school Heads? 

I would love to get your suggestions here!

Did you say 'Good Morning' to Thatha on his Walk?

 

Father L. Balaswamy rests in the graveyard now. 

This is a quiet place in the campus of the church in Luz. 

When I spoke to him many weeks ago, he was exhausted from the long hours at a hospital’s dialysis unit. A donor kidney didn’t come his way.

I couldn’t suggest a meeting. Not in the physical and mental condition he was in.

This Catholic priest of the Madras-Mylapore diocese had retired after some five decades of service. Retired to the quiet Vianney Home in San Thome.

I should have met him then. The conversations on the phone were not enough.

Personal meets would have also relaxed him.

I am not the kind of person who visits graveyards, places some flowers on graves of people I know and sit and talk to them.

Though I may visit Balaswamy’s grave when I am in Luz the next time. Graveyards are really quiet spaces.

Balaswamy was the parish priest of our church zone where we used to reside, off Mount Road. Those are faint memories. We re-connected after he retired; and spoke long. I was keen to understand local church history and he had loads and loads of stories and less-known facts to share.

Oftentimes, retired people enjoy story-telling - when they have people to listen to them.  Perhaps, they also enjoy the company. And time is spent usefully.

My co-traveller who is no more, D. Hemchandra Rao would light up at the suggestion of a road trip. He would do his home-work for the trip and bounce it on me and off we went. To all corners of India’s coast - as he documented light houses.

It took some time for the vibes to set right.

Understanding seniors is key to a fruitful relationship. 

Rao was old school; he marked time for refreshments, washroom calls and checking into hotels to call it a day.

Once the vibes got strong, Rao was ready for any road trip - to the Natyanjali dance circuits in Tamil Nadu to a cultural festival in coastal Karnataka’s Honnavar.

There are lots of seniors living amidst us. And they need some warmth and conversation. 

Even a ‘Hello, good morning!’ as they take baby steps on a morning walk, can light them up, make them smile.

<< Photo used here is of Fr. Balaswamy.

This Summer, send your Kids to Work at a Mylapore store. Or train with scientists off Adyar estuary.

 

We know this. Our children need all those lessons and lectures in the classroom.

But the hands-on training is priceless.

Summer time holidays can be learning and earning time.

In school, Dad invited me to a fortnight’s work at his company’s godown of medicines. Pasting stickers on bottles. It got me some pocket money. I also learnt how to interact with contract labour. Lessons that held well when I ran my business.

In college, training at a rag of a weekly newspaper, my Ed sent me down to the print shop floor. Two lessons learnt - the mental outlook of press staff and the ideas that the pre-press team had about layouts suggested by the Ed.

And just after college, at The Indian Express, assigned to produce the weekly Cinema page, many lessons learnt on the pre-press floor. You allowed the staff to feast on the film stills and then worked hand-in-hand in designing the page. And here, I learnt the importance of ‘white space’ in design - from those veterans.

There are many ways in which our teens can spend some days this May, on hands-on education. For example, turn to some institutions whom we must request to ‘open’.

Can our Mylapore zone colleges let their laboratories be learning zones for seven our ten days for schoolers?

Check in with The Zoological Survey of India, the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, and The Sanskrit College. Would they admit schoolers to short-term training on campus?

Sign up for some real shop-experience. For all those whose interest is management, finance, accountancy and retail.

Send your sons and daughters to say, Vivek or Giri Trading. Send them to the neighbourhood restaurant or pharmacy. Offer your young one’s services to the local bakery like Winners or a supermarket like White Rose.

Imagine the amazing experience the young ones will have across seven days. The education and the challenges. And perhaps they will also be paid some pocket money! And be give a certificate of experience.

Any sensible educator and employer will appreciate this record of a young one.

This takes me to an anecdote my colleague Parameshwaran shared sometime ago. Walking down a Mylapore inner street, he heeded a ‘Saar!” call; he turned and recognised a youth sitting behind the cash register of a pharmacy. 

This boy had attended a course on the basics in computers at a school that Mylapore Times Charitable Trust runs in a local school. He had discontinued studies and his basic skills got him this job.

What do you think of the ideas I have bounced here? Share your thoughts here!

<< Photo: Stella Maris College art/design students at Nageswara Rao Park, curating an event

Local Stories: A Cake for Appa

I started in journalism working in the field.

There were these loosely-strung lessons from my gurus and these were at the desk.

You did not get distracted even if your Ed bent down to one side, picked up a bottle and took a swig at noon.

Off you go now, would be the order.

And off we went - to the Madras Zoo, Mount Road, Egmore. Looking for stories.

My second guru had lovely combos - he wrote on cinema and investigated the dark. 

V. Shekhar took me on his film studio rounds. I just had to hang close to him and he went about chatting between deep smokes. He never took notes. But soaked in everything to pen columns for ‘Star & Style’. 

When I began to write on cinema - just the news - one of my first copies was on actor Silk Smitha. It got published in ‘Sun’ magazine. 

42 years in this profession and I still work in the field. This is where the real stories are.

And like V. Shekhar, I have been blessed with lovely combos - coverage of the neighbourhood, and assignments across the country.

So when I walk around the Mylapore neighbourhood, I talk to people. And they tell me their stories. Even if they do not know who I am. They talk. 

Recently, I dropped in at Winners Bakery in Alwarpet, opposite our office: for a bite.  I spotted three Chennai School boys fiddling their fingers.

They had ordered a cake.

It was Charan’s dad’s birthday. He is a driver.

He told me he saved his pocket money to treat his father. Rs.325 was the bill.

The cake arrived. Decorated with ‘Happy Birthday Bhagyaraj’.

‘Please add Appa there,’ Charan told the baker.

Wish him for me, I told him.

Your name?, he asked me.

Just wish him, I said.

5 Places to Check Out in Mylapore. This Summer.

This summer, would you like to take your family and your kids to some less explored places in the Mylapore zone?

Here are a few destinations. Personal recommendations.

They are not exotic: they are very engaging spaces and some can even surprise you, if you have an open mind.

- Destination No.1. Has to be the Marina. Take the Marina Loop Road, that runs alongside the Light House and motor some 200 mts south, away from the bustling fish market. The sands here are clean ( thank you GCC), the area quiet. 

If you are curious, trail the fisherfolk as they come home with their catch, clean their nets and sales begin. They can tell you a bit about the fish and of their outing. Some education and some fun.

- Destination No.2 - Tholkappia Poonga / Adyar Poonga. Register online, admission is limited. Explore the rugged terrain, the vegetation, flora and fauna and be surprised by creatures you wouldn’t expect to spot in our city! Tarry by the waterbodies and look for bird life. 

The Poonga also allows people on long morning Walks, for a small fee. Great place to shoot pictures. More at - https://www.chennairivers.gov.in/

- Destination No. 3 - Explore the real, old Mylapore. Take a walk starting 6 a.m. from, say the entrance to Mundagakanni Amman Temple road from Kutchery Road, and go into all the small streets and lanes - shrines, tiled-roof houses, kolams, goli-soda carts . . .

- Destination No.4 - Long Walk off the Marina. To gaze at a grand line-up of vintage buildings and their campuses. Start from the All India Radio end and walk north. 

Go as far a your legs take you. Perhaps as far as the PWD headquarters. Best done at 7 am or after 4 p.m.

- Destination No.5 - Visit the Museum of Possibilities, located north of the Vivekananda Memorial and Museum campus on the Marina road. This is a demonstration centre for assistive technology for people with disabilities. And it also offers solutions to seniors who need accessories and home facilities. 

This is a place that you and I must go to, to be better educated in life, and better our outlook towards less abled and senior citizens. And these lessons start early. Open 11 am to 8 pm ( Tuesday is a holiday). Call 28447297.

I have five more to offer. But if this list can motivate you, your family and your children, I would have earned my reward.

Where would I pause this summer in this zone?, you ask. If you know me well, it has to be close to water.