The Making of a Madras Calendar
This is a work of art which celebrates the quotidian life in Chennai, or Madras, if you prefer the capital’s older name. If you are fortunate enough to have acquired one of the 500 copies its creators, the founders of Whoa Mama Design (WMD), handed out for free, hang it someplace where everyone can enjoy the witty illustrations and commentary.
Calendars are usually disposable objects—functional grids of dates, destined to be forgotten once the year is done. Indian‑Bred 2010, created by the young team at Whoa Mama Design, was never meant to be just a calendar. It was a cultural mirror, a playful love poem to Chennai, capturing the city’s peculiar charms and stubborn warts in twelve witty frames.
What makes the project remarkable is not its timeliness but its refusal to follow the tired formula of landmark photography and literal captions. Instead, Shaun D’sa, Anek Ahuja, and Nishant Philip John combined photography with pencil illustration, layering commentary that was both affectionate and sly. Boats, matchbox labels, and movie posters—those overlooked graphics of daily life—were elevated into art.
Each month’s sheet carried a kernel of truth wrapped in satire. September’s Gently down the Sewer depicted rowing on the polluted Adyar River, complete with buffaloes in the sludge and a fantastical bird perched nearby. The humor was sharp, but the reality was undeniable: civic neglect coexists with human ingenuity. December’s Singaara Chennai ended on a hopeful note, imagining a cleaner, more colorful city, where historic buildings are restored and houses painted bright.
The calendar’s real achievement lies in its act of noticing. In a city where residents risk becoming numb to their surroundings, Indian‑Bred 2010 asked them to look again—to see the absurdities, the beauty, and the possibilities embedded in everyday scenes. It suggested that civic transformation begins not with grand plans but with attentive eyes and resourceful citizens.
Though only 500 copies were printed and distributed among peers, clients, and friends, the work resonates beyond its limited audience. It demonstrates how design can reclaim the overlooked, how humor can sharpen critique, and how art can spark civic imagination. In the end, Indian‑Bred 2010 was less a calendar than a manifesto: a reminder that Chennai’s identity is written not only in its landmarks but in its daily textures, its grit, and its wit.
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