@ Chennai - but not a travelogue!

Recently I have been to Chennai with my friend and colleague, Chidambaram.

Had the opportunity to visit few places in Chennai…

i.e. Mugappair, ambattur, Padi, Villivakkam, Mylapore, Central and Egmore…

Visited the beautiful Shiva temple at Padi.  This temple, referred as ‘Thiruvalithaayam’ is one of the 275 Thevara sthalams/ shetrams – shiva temples glorified by Thevaaram hymns. One hymn / padhigam containing ten stanzas has been devoted to the lord of the temple, Valleeswara Swamy by one of the foremost four Saivite Gurus, Thirunganasambantha moorthy of 7^th Century. The temple is ancient, beautiful and well maintained.

The Thiruvalithaayam padhigam describes this ancient place as scenic and full of nature’s bounty in the following terms;

‘மடை இலங்கு பொழிலின் நிழல்வாய் மது வீசும் வலிதாயம்’

‘மந்தி வந்து கடுவன்னொடும் கூடிவணங்கும் வலிதாயம்’

‘மடல் இலங்கு கமுகின் பலவின் மது விம்மும் வலிதாயம்’

‘வண்டு வைகும் மணம் மல்கிய சோலை வளரும் வலிதாயத்து..’

In Padi, rise in road levels are markedly visible as they are re-laid over and over without scraping away the worn out layers underneath.   This is perhaps the phenomenon   everywhere in the state – old structures once at a considerable height from the roadside have suddenly gone below the level of their surroundings.

For example, the two, stone elephant statutes of a metre height at the entrance of Sandhi Vinayagar temple at Tirunelveli-Town on which I remember - I used to climb, in my child hood days have submerged into the ground now. Further I have to descend about 2 feet at the entrance of Swamy Nelliappar temple to get in to the temple. 

Adjusant to Padi, Villivakkam is the neighbouring good old locality, developed around the Agastheeswarar temple precincts. According to this temple sthalapuraanam – the temple history, this locality was once [upon a time if we travel back with the help of Jules verne!] a ‘vilva vanam’ … a forest of the auspicious Bilva trees wherein Sage Agasthiya was in thapas / penance and performed shiva pooja. The sthalapurana information corresponds to an episode in Skanthapurana – as I could recollect from my child hood reading of this story. The sprawling temple tank is full of lotus bloom. The temple is in need of Thiruppani i.e. repair and maintenance.

Also visited the Kusaleswara temple in the next neighbouring locality, Koyambedu – with references to Ramayana period. The ‘oonjal Mandap’ and the magnificent front Mandap are beautiful stone structures worth to be preserved for the posterity. Ko-saalas / cow shelters are maintained in all the above temples.   

The cores of all these three temples and their adjacent localities are ancient. These three localities are adjoining and there is a fair possibility that they were once distinct and separated only by irrigation sources, fields, groves or meadows.

I was fortunate enough to visit my favourite Kabaleeswara Swamy temple at Mylapore near the sea shore - some 15 kms from the above localities.  

Thiruvotriyur, Mylapore and Thiruvanmiyur are the ancient temple townships placed along the Eastern Coromandal Coastline like a string ornament. There are a number of such ancient coastal townships, centered on ancient temples down towards the South such as, Thirunallaru, Thirukadavur, Nagapattinam and Rameswaram. Mylapore Kabaaleeswara temple was shifted to the present location by the resilient people of this locality when the original temple at Santhom in the southern corner of the Marina beach was destroyed and occupied by the Portuguese colonizers in the 17^th Century. Mylapore’s rich and colourful festivities are described in the Sambandhamurthy’s Thevaram hymns. Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvanmyur, Thirukalukkundram, Thiruverkadu and Thirumullaivayil are other prominent Thevara sthalams in Chennai.

Mandhaiveli near Maylapore literally means pastoral land used for cattle grazing purpose. Mylapore should have been an influential and rich locality in the bye gone era.

The Tamil suffix ‘Oor‘, or ‘Pattinam’ indicate influential early Tamil localities. Kulasekara pattinam in Tirunelveli District – named after King Kulasekara Pandya, the ancient city, Kaveripoompattinam in the Kaveri delta as mentioned in Tamil magnum opus, Silappadhikaram and identified by undersea archeological explorations, Visakapattinam and Masulipattinam in the Northern corner of the Cholamandal coastline in Andhrapradesh are examples.

Places ending with suffix ‘oor’ or ‘naadu’ generally also refer the ancient administrative centres of a locality.

‘Pakkam’ and ‘kuppam’ refer to other less significant settlements near sea shore.

But places with the suffix ‘pettai’ like Chrompet, Saidapet or Tenampet which appears to be a non Tamil word [thisai chol?] denoting a trading place is of recent origin.

History points out that Chennai Pattinam which started to expand around St. George Fort, the British imperial seat of power in the South; from 1639, when the British were granted a license to build a fort and trading facilities by a ruler of the locality, Damrala Vekatapathy Nayak on a two years lease. In the lease deed, Venkatapathy Nayak named this strip of insignificant costal land as Chennappa Nayakkan Pattinam in honour of his father. Ancient localities such as Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvallikkeni and Mylapore which formed part of the past ‘Thondai Mandalam’ i.e the political realm of Pallava and  Vijayanagar dynasties radiated from Kanchipuram up to the coastal Andhra were the first to be integrated into Chennai pattinam thus kick starting the urbanization process of a new cityscape. 

This urbanization - juggernaut has bulldozed a number of ancient and vibrant localities / societies like Nunganallur, Alandhur, Sengundram, Thirumullaivayal etc…with innate diversities of civilizational heritage and beauty - thus virtually wiping out their unique individual souls. These localities that lost their intrinsic aura are now merely a part of a mega materialistic neo cultural boom.

Taking the distance from George town near the coastal line to Sholinghanallur in the Southern periphery and by reckoning the distance up to the Chembarambakkam lake / poonamalle in the Western outskirts, a rough working of 25 kms radius in the half circle landscape of Chennai with its coastal line as the base can be arrived [ ½ *pi* r²]  which measures 981 square kms as the city area which comes to about two third area of the entire Kanyakumari District. But there are several satellite township centers already grown beyond this limit which make an arc almost double the size of the present core by touching Chengalpattu – Kanchi – Thiruvallur –Pulicat towns. It is said that Chengalpattu and even Thindivanam in the South would soon be annexed with Chennai. Pace of this geographical expansion is mindboggling.

Vellachery and Madivakkam were once agro lands. Ambatur, Padi and Thirumullaivayal were also once fertile agricultural regions with huge lake systems nearby.

Giant lake systems like Puzal ery, Poondi ery, and Chembarambakkam ery and a number of smaller ery systems like Korattur ery, Retteri, Ambattur ery etc sustain the water table of Chennai, working against the seeping sea water due to enormous ground water usage. The historic indigenous technology and socio-political organizational genius created these systems for the welfare of the people. The study of these ery systems would itself impart voluminous lessons for us. The data says Tamilnadu is the number one state in the ratio of ‘ayacut’ area under ery irrigation to the total irrigated area [it is 1/5^th] and in the number of lakes, it is next only to Andhra pradesh in the entire country.

None of these lakes have been the creation of any PWD of the British or the present era. They were so ancient and created by our visionary forefathers. In spite of so much advancements (?) with clusters of huge factory estates and astounding chains of concrete jungles, the city’s basic water requirement is entirely supported by these good old reservoir systems.

The city accommodating more than one sixth of the State population and burgeoning nonstop day by day is virtually strangling to support its huge populace. Almost every family in Tamil hinterland has at least one relative or friend in Chennai.

The living space, land, water and even pure air apart from other basic resources are under severe squeeze. For example in Ambattur, the ground water is horribly saline. It is said that in Mugapair the land value is around 2 Crores for a ground [i.e. around 5½ cents]! The river systems, Coovam and Adayar crisscrossing through the cityscape have been reduced to mere gutters with unendurable stench.

Mobility of people across different localities within the city is the vital requirement for the very function of this city. Transportation of goods from the hinterland particularly agro goods into the city also is the life breath of the city.  But the resultant traffic congestion stretches the human tolerance limits to the sheer limits.

One auto driver, whom we engaged, driving auto for more than 6 years informed me about manifold leap in automobile population in recent years…

Two wheeler drive appears to be a type of gymnastics on the road…

The dust and smog...!

Trees and even the parked vehicles are completely covered by a coat of dust…It looks like as if the entire city is covered in a thick layer of dust and smog.

The automobile emission pollution is clearly perceivable.

What would be the economic and social cost of bronchial and other diseases to the populace exposed to this poison breath?

How long the affordable section could immunize themselves from this menace by way of air conditioning their automobiles and living spaces?

Metro rail work is going on at a fast pace round the clock to cope up with this transportation requirement - but at fantastic costs. There are also upcoming road bridges, traffic divider bridges, new lines for electric train and MRTS- Mass Rapid Transport System. But it seems, even if the entire state revenue is poured in to create infrastructures, it would not be enough to offset the ever expanding city’s mammoth requirements.

People have no time to live their life as their major time is eaten away by commuting compulsions and their necessity to run after more money to offset their growing pecuniary paucity. One late night auto driver informed me that he was actually a [day time] teacher!

With a population of about 1 Crore, the so called ‘Greater Chennai’ i.e. taking into account the sub-urban outskirts, is the 31^st largest urban area in the World.

Statistics say,

           

Ø  The city generates more than 4000 tonnes of solid waste daily which is accumulated in 10 dumping sites.

Ø  Half a crore people travel by Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses every day.

Ø  About 1500 new vehicles hit the roads of Chennai daily.

Ø  Chennai vehicles constitute one-fourth of the vehicle population of the state.

Ø  There is a vehicle on the road for every two Chennaiites.

Ø  Given the growth rate, it is predicted that Chennai will soon have twice as many vehicles as Mumbai.

Ø  Chennai city’s transport emission levels found by Environmental groups are much higher than Kolkata and even Delhi.

A major chunk of the population virtually lives on the platform and on other porambokku lands under horrible circumstances. It is the women who appear to face the brunt of the malice of this ‘city-civilization’.

If this is not a human tragedy what else could be?

Is this the blessing of the ‘modern temples’ envisioned by the independent India’s forerunners?

What is the reason behind this demographic phenomenon?

There are strong ‘pull factors’ like earning opportunities which attract the hinterland population in to the city. So the city is spreading out, beyond the outskirts and in the course amalgamating a more number of neighbouring localities day by day. However this expansion appears to be unplanned and unregulated and purely driven by the greed of the market forces.

The population pressure and resource crunch in the city should be managed by repositioning the pull factors into the hinterland. For example for what hell of the reason that the archeological or meteorological facilities and their related administrative set ups need to be established in Chennai that too in the present day revolution in communication modes? Why this question should not be asked in the cases of industries, educational and a host of other institutions as well?

This city appears to be a country within a country… with preferred treatment at the cost of the rest of the state. The underdevelopment of the remaining 5/6^th of the population in the hinterland is the direct result of the growth of Chennai City.

The city life is far away from the lap of nature and cuts off the individuals from the intimacy with nature which robs the scope for their spiritual progress. The yuppies neither represent the nativity of their land nor acceptably transformed into any outlandish identities thus are reduced to cultural orphans in their own land.

The Chennai city galvanizes and absorbs talents from all directions. What an abundant pool of talents…  

The entire human talent resources from various facets, of the state is siphoned off and accumulated in Chennai thus impoverishing the rest of the state and causing an internal brain drain.

The ever invading ‘elites’ in to the city, push up the cost of living in the resource crunch cityscape eventually sidelining the vast middle and lower rungs of the populace to the outer most extremities of pressure. The elite are also trapped in this system generated tinsel wheels which in fact further the greed driven pulley network of the market system.   

Equally the ‘push factors’ of this demographic shift also need to be addressed. Agriculture and related activities, which are the key livelihood means of a substantial section of population is in doldrums in the hinterland. The paddy and other grains oriented agricultural pattern is transforming into commercial cropping. Due to myriad reasons like rocketing input costs and luring real estate prices, there is a steady trend of exodus from agro sector. Another demographic phenomenon is that the traditional agricultural communities abandon agriculture and migrate towards city centric elite sectors.

Do we not see a practical dual sector model of economic development nay imbalance here? The dual sector concept propounded by a Nobel laureate US economist, Arthur Lewis and furthered by others, advocates promotion of city based modern amenities and industrialization by sucking the resources out of the primitive (?) sector which would always lag behind the spearheading prima tire region!

How long are we going to buy the idiosyncrasy of measuring human happiness in terms of liters of fuel or meters of cloth that one consumes alone? Is there any measure to measure the cost of social capital or cultural capital that our civilizational heritage has bequeathed to our society however that we are rapidly losing as a tradeoff?   

There goes a saying, commenting on the American progress, that the US is a country which always aims to keep up the pace of reaching but without knowing the destination. Have we not slipped into the same boat?