Names Clash in Madras

Madras was renamed as Chennai in 1996. But, even now there are many who still prefer to call it Madras. For many, it's still 'Madras, Nalla Madras'.

Even many prominent educational institutions decided to keep their old name – the name by which they were recognized worldwide. Renaming them would have caused a lot of confusion. These included the University of Madras, IIT Madras, Madras Medical College and Madras Institute of Technology. The Madras High Court also didn't change its name. A number of other organizations also chose to do the same. So, we still have the Madras Medical Mission, the Madras Race Club, Madras Boat Club and so on. In fact, even Chennai's auto-drivers are better known notoriously as the 'Madras auto-kaaran'.

Keeping in sync with the tendency to clear the city of its colonial remnants, the names of many roads were also renamed. However, it's often found that after the renaming is done, only one of the names catches the public's fancy while the other is usually forgotten. One notable exception is in the case of Mount Road where both Anna Salai and Mount Road are recognized equally well.

In most other cases, while some of the new names have caught on; other roads are still referred to by their old name. One prominent new road name that has caught on is T.T.K. Road. How many of us know that T.T.K. Road, now named after former Union Minister T.T. Krishnamachari was once named after an Englishman called Mowbray? In fact, even now, there's a tiffin center on the road with the name 'Mowbray's Tiffin Center'!

Similarly, how many of us know that Sardar Patel Road was once Elliot's Beach Road and Radhakrishnan Salai was once Edward Elliot Road? Or, for that matter that Rajaji Salai was once First Line Beach Road?

In other cases, the old name is more popular. One prominent example here is L.B. Road (Lattice Bridge Road) which was renamed after dividing into two parts as Dr. Muthulakshmi Salai (Adyar side) and Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai (Thiruvanmiyur side). This road is almost always referred to as L.B. Road. Once, to test an auto-driver, I asked him to take me to Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai from a spot hardly a kilometer away. He demanded two hundred rupees because he mistook it for some other road in another corner of the city. I have always noticed that auto-drivers have a fascination for English names. But, I hadn't expected him to be so ignorant.

Some roads named after places also don't seem to fade away from public memory in spite of their being renamed after some notable people. Probably because it's easier to associate the road with the place it leads to. For instance, one can see the name Mahatma Gandhi Road only on signboards. Almost everyone still calls it Nungambakkam High Road. Same is the case with Poonamallee High Road which has been renamed as EVR Periyar Salai. Likewise, Inner Ring Road is preferred over Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Old Mahabalipuram Road over Rajiv Gandhi Salai.

Sonu Niigaam at Saarang

This is and will be my last Saarang as a student in IIT Madras. As always, I am a bit nostalgic about this fact. On Friday night, we had Sonu Niigaam (yeah, that's his new spelling as per numerology) perform in the OAT.
In spite of a couple of hiccups like Sonu lambasting the sound department for some problems on stage right in the middle of his first song and the power going off in between for a couple of times, Sonu kept the audiance enthralled as he churned out hit after hit.
He even demonstrated how music is made in the industry. He asked the audiance for four names of vegetables. He got aloo, bhindi and mooli. Then, one of the guitarists (if I'm not wrong) on stage suggested mutter paneer. Initially, Sonu was reluctant since mutter paneer is a dish made of peas and paneer and not a vegetable. However, he accepted it later on. He then proceeded to attach a tune to these four words and sang a couple of lines as well. It was fun.
Sonu also reached out to two mentally challenged persons in the audience and displayed his emotional side as well. He was quite down-to-earth throughout the show and was much better than the Sukhwinder Singh we had two years ago. Towards the end, he even bared his biceps by removing his jacket. Thankfully, he didn't remove the vest.
After his performance was over, we had another guy called Benny Dayal. However, I left after his first song Dil Se, which he claimed was a tribute to A. R. Rahman for his Golden Globe.
My only disappointment was that Sonu did not sing two of the songs I had wanted him. Though he hummed the tune Kal Ho Naa Ho from time to time, he never sang the song in full. He also didn't sing Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte, his recent hit from Rab Ne Banadi jodi. But other than that, all his other songs were funa and had the audience clapping, dancing and jumping.

A New Year wishlist for Chennai

Disclaimer: I have referred to Mumbai as Bombay and Madras as Chennai. This is intentional. However, this is not hypocrisy. This is the way people generally talk about the two cities. Just yesterday, I heard someone talking of a Bombay-Chennai flight. I'll be happy to have someone enlighten me on this issue.

Here's my new year wish-list for Chennai

1. Get a good drainage system - In 2009, please do not let rains that are hardly 10% of what one gets in Bombay paralyze the city and let the politicians have a field day offering relief when a good drainage system would prevent any of this from happening in the first place. It's time civic officials went to Bombay and learnt!

Picture: A flooded street in suburban Chennai (28 Nov 2008) after Cyclone Nisha {Note that the rains were not even as much as Bombay usually receives}

2. Build flyovers, not underpasses - Do not sanction any new underpasses (famously called subways) to connect either side of the railway tracks. Sanction flyovers. A little rain and people living in on the wrong side of the railway tracks such as West Mambalam and Nanganallur are cut off from the rest of the place.


3. Build wide roads, free of potholes - Hope the corporation of Chennai is listening. I repeat. Build wide roads, free of potholes. If you cannot, at least do not call them 'High Roads'. It really sucks. Call it just a road.

Picture: An manhole on the arterial Sardar Patel Road in Chennai

4. Implement the law on auto-drivers - This one's last on my list because I know the impossibility and the impracticality of such a suggestion. But, a faint hope in my heart makes me root for this. Bring the auto-drivers, who are a law unto themselves only in Chennai to book. Send them to Bombay to see their counterpart return the Re 1 change!