Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

The Madras Week Photowalks

Hello all,

Sorry for the terribly short, short notice on the Madras Week Walks. I have been planning the walks, and running behind councillors, corporation commissioners, Public Relations officers and traffic managers at the Ripon Building, the Southern Railway and Central Station offices, the Port Trust of Chennai and other important landmarks.
I am sorry to say that the walks I had planned in these areas will not happen. More, I am sorry to say that this city’s officials have absolutely no regard for or any interest in engaging with the public and with doing the bare minimum requirement of their jobs. Public Relations Officers are rude, lazy and indifferent.

I have been passed from PR departments to Traffic Management, from the senior deputy assistants to the security desk, and up and down and right and left of every building I had to go to. For the last week alone, I have had to do up to 3 trips up and down to each of the offices, and at odd hours.

So, sorry folks. But there won’t be any of the grand walks I did plan.

As a compensation, I have (together with a couple of photowalker friends), come up with a list of what we hope are more interesting walks.

1) Purasawalkam’s back streets (Chandrachoodan)
The legend with Purasawalkam’s name is that there was once a British officer living in this area who had a dog called Porus. One day, the officer (who must not be named for purposes of privacy – see I do respect the privacy of individuals – be they rich or poor), perhaps a little tired said “Porus, walk home!” and thus we have Purasawalkam.
In all honesty, I must say that this legend seems unbelievable to me. But I do have a few stories that are believable. For instance, the back streets of Purasawalkam have some very interesting, beautiful architecture. A mix of art-deco, indo-saracenic and regular colonial/victorian/whatever period. And that (according to V. Sriram of Madras Musings/Chennai Heritage) R.K Narayanan grew up here.
So – walk #1 – Back streets of Purasawalkam.
Meeting point: Traffic light at the junction of Brick Kiln road and Purasawalkam High Road/Ratna Stores.
Date: 16th August 2009, 7 AM.

2) Blue Cross Centre, Velachery. (Narayanan Hariharan)
Narayanan, a twitter and Fb buddy and I met a month ago. Narayanan has been volunteering with the Blue Cross, trying to get them the publicity and awareness they are due. According to Narayanan, the Blue Cross is perhaps the first, definitely the least hyped of the animal welfare/care organisations in the country. In their centre in Velachery, they care for over 200 1000 animals – dogs, cats, cows and stuff.
So the plan is to meet at the Blue Cross centre, and shoot the animals (with a camera of course) and see if we can each drum up some support (awareness, funds, whatever) for them. He is hoping each of us – offline and online – use our networks to make it happen.

So – walk #2 – Blue Cross, Chennai.
Meeting point: Velachery Aquatic Complex
Date: 16th August 2009, 3 PM.

3) Armenian Street – Mint Street (Vatsan, Subah, and in a minor capacity, C)
We thought we’d spice up things a little. For walk #3, what we will do is give you a start point, an end point and a two-three must-shoot subjects and let you all determine your own routes and plan of action. We hope each of have different subjects, different walks and different stories to tell.
So
Walk #3
Date: 22nd August 2009
Start point: Mint Street Jain temple: 4:30 PM
End point: Armenian Church
Must shoot a) Mint Street post office. Must shoot b) Crown Theatre. Must shoot c) (Though, don’t shoot C) Armenian Church. Must drink d) Kakada Ramprasad’s badam milk

4) Markets of Yore, South-ish Madras (Chandrachoodan)
Long time ago, a bunch of people decided that human cause, human activity was better served by exchanging goods, services and gossip in crowded, colourful places called markets. And therefore, these bunch of people set up the Thanithurai market in Mylapore, the Zambazaar market in Triplicane/Royapettah, the Madavelli market in, well, Mandavelli. Now, all these markets have, since their inception, waited for the one day that we all land up to shoot the brilliant colours. And that day is

August 23, 2009, 7 AM3 PM*
Meeting point: Zam Bazaar police station

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A small note. I have been talking to the Freemason’s society, to see if we, the photowalkers, can do a little walk inside the Freemason’s hall in Egmore. For a refreshing change from all the red tape at the government office, I got an in-principle approval from the Masons almost immediately, and am waiting for the final approval from the committee member in-charge of the premises. I am told I will get it for sure. So once I get the approval, we will most likely do a walk inside the Mason’s hall.
The Freemason’s have a 300 year old association with Madras. From what I know, Calcutta was the first city in India to get a Freemason’s lodge, but Madras’s Lodge of Perfect Unanimity was the first lodge to admit an Indian – Prince Umdat-Ul-Umrah to the order. Oh, by the way, the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity is today’s Director General of Police’s offices on the Marina. Yup, the white building was the Mason’s lodge. Today though, the Mason’s are in Ethiraj college.
Anyway, once I get the approval, a walk in the beautiful Mason’s hall is on the cards.

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Update: Small note 2:
Kribs is organising a ‘Wikipedia takes Chennai event’ on the 16th of August. It starts at 9 Am on Sunday, so about the time we finish the Purasawalkam walk. If you guys have the energy left, why not take part in it as well? Details here.
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• Update 2 Change in Walk #4 time.
  I, like the goofball I am, scheduled walk #4 at the same time as Chennai Heritage’s Vivekananda’s Madras walk. V. Sriram of Madras Musing’s conducting that and I’d already paid to join them. So, I am changing the time for the Market walk. It will now start at 3 PM in the evening, as opposed to the earlier 7 AM start. Please take note of the change.