A recent blockbuster movie 2.0 by Akshay Kumar and Rajnikanth had highlighted the ill effects of cell tower radiation on birds. ( I have deliberately listed Akshay Kumar first because he had a bigger role which he carried out with aplomb).
Looking at this tree in Besant Nagar which is always bereft for leaves all year round, one tends to believe that the radiation seems to affect leaves too.
Perhaps gone to school to upgrade his skills.
Though dwarfed by bigger buildings, The George Town Magistrates Court Building on First Line Bach (Rajaji Salai) is an interesting structure.
The ornamental inlaid tiles stand out. They are in fairly good condition making you wonder if they were redone recently.
As Rina Kamath writes in her book, “Chennai, Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram”, the building is ” a structure whose riotous ornamentation might startle those who expect sobriety in a seat of justice”.
This structure is part of the Dhavana Utsava bungalow located just behind the Bharatiyar Illam, Triplicane. It is associated with many utsavams of the Parthasarathy temple.
To me, this crumbling tower looks like a poor replica of the towers of the High Court. Why this odd addition to the otherwise prosaic building is a mystery nobody had been able to explain to me with conviction.
During my younger days, the only Tamil magazine we used to subscribe regularly was ‘Vanoli’, the fortnightly (?) journal of All India Radio. My father referred to it as ‘The Indian Listener’. It contained the program guide for the AIR stations in the South (there were only a few then), articles on music and musicians with pictures and lyrics and notations of a song that was being taught on AIR Trichy that fortnight. My mother also had a scrapbook of pictures of several singers from the earlier issues of Vanoli. One artiste I vividly remember was Dwaram Venkatasamy Naidu -the musician who overcame blindness and the related stigma to become a violin maestro. More on Dwaram. In those days of limited media, his inspiring story did not receive a fraction of the coverage it would have got today.
His daughter, Dwaram Magathayar who used to accompany her father continued his legacy and was an accomplished performer in her own right.
During 2005 while on a heritage walk in Triplicane with my son-in-law, I was pleasantly surprised to see the bungalow where Dwaram and his family lived.
It was early days of digital photography and I was carrying my Pentax Optio S, a 3 Megapixel palm-sized camera, a gift from my elder daughter. These pictures are taken with the Optio S. See DP Review of the camera.
I am not sure if the bungalow still stands or if it has been bulldozed by the development boom. I plan to find out this weekend.
By the way, does anyone have archives of ‘Vanoli’?
The dog seems to be peacefully relaxing under the very mane of a very ferocious looking lion in the Muttharamman Temple. Korattur Lake.
The Chennai Photowalk Retrowalk #56 Koratttur Lake
A hyperactive dog is looking for a lamppost while photographers are waiting for a good photo op.
The Chennai Photowalk. Retorwalk #56 Korattur Lake
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On the banks of Korattur Lake, there is a Muttharamman Temple, built and maintained by one Mr Balamurugan who hails form Kulasekarapattinam. This is the Guardian figure of the temple.
From the Chennai Photowalk Retrowalk #56
An abandoned arm from a mannequin. Probably the victim of some intense marketing warfare in the retail segment.
Madras Nalla Madras. A photo blog on Madras, that is Chennai 