One evening, this January, I ventured up to the mottai-madi, the terrace, to welcome the onset of darkness. The sun was still an orange-red ball. Flocks of rose-ringed parakeets, whizzed towards their nightly roosts, squawking…
“Luz House,” the very name had gravitas, a certain ring to it. My errand was in Baliah Avenue, only a few steps away from this landmark address in Mylapore. I had little time to linger. Still, the old-Madras style house sign – understated and elegant – made an impression on me. Was it an old house of commerce? Was it connected to the Luz Church nearby, or was it simply someone’s residence? The answer, I discovered, lay buried in layers of colonial history – and also held the key to the origins of cricket craziness in the city.
The Chess Olympiad of 2022 has just ended. We, in Chennai, can be proud of having hosted an international event in style. But believe it or not the seeds for this event may have…
“A well-educated Tamil household will happily spend fifty rupees on an English paperback but will not think of buying a Tamil book," he had said. "As they are the ones with the money, this…
In 1836, T.C. Jerdon, a 25-year-old surgeon, arrived in the Madras Presidency. After training at the General Hospital, he was sent to treat troops battling insurgency in a district nearly halfway to the Calcutta Presidency.…
On a balmy winter’s day in 1954, Paul Dirac a Nobel Laureate in physics gave a lecture at the Senate House in the University of Madras. The hall was packed. Outside, people sat in their…