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How to learn Chennai's history
A chat with historians, heritage enthusiasts on the eve of Madras Day Celebrations
Mohammed Rayaan
August 21, 2022 • Reading Time: 8 minutes
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Days before the Madras Day celebration on August 22 every year, local newspapers across the city start covering articles about the history of Chennai. Organisations, educational institutes, or libraries such as the Madras Literature Society organise events to mark the occasion.
As newspapers already do a great job in writing about them, I thought to skip doing features about Chennai and its exciting origin story. Instead, I thought why not ask historians or history enthusiasts how we as citizens can learn about our home. For this purpose, I spoke to three different people.
🗺️The explorer and🚲his cycle
If you are someone who is an active cyclist and a member of a neighbourhood cycling group, then there is a high chance you could have at least heard of Ramanujar Moulana who helms Cycling Yogis — “a group for people who have in common, passion towards cycling and respect for heritage”.
I have been his friend on Facebook and it’s a delight to look at the adventures he has as he explores the city’s unknown places. He regularly shares interesting photos of monuments or dilapidated heritage structures along with their description.
In the last two months, Ramanujar has been busier than usual as he is all set to release his new book ‘Global Heritage of Madras’. Earlier, he wrote ‘North Chennai Bicycle Trails’ and ‘Madras By Cycle: Medical Heritage Trails of Chennai’. The passionate cyclist tells me that he pedals over 40 km every Sunday. “Sometimes, I cycle without any destination in mind, or else I just Google about a locality and if I come across something interesting in that place, then I go there,” he tells.
Ramanujar gives an example: “When you consider Triplicane High Road, people think that there is just the big mosque. But you will be surprised that many printing presses here are several decades old, some existing from the British era. You can also find ‘The Musalman’, one of the rarest handwritten newspaper in India.”
Thus the cyclist noted that one should not necessarily start learning about a city’s history by visiting a monument or a famous building as “each locality has hidden treasures and stories”. “But patience and commitment are what you need to get started,” Ramanujar emphasised.
✍🏽📔The history writer
The hype for ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ has spiked ever since the launch of the teaser of Mani Ratnam’s adaptation. Naturally, it has also triggered a wave of interest in historical fiction. And when it comes to this genre, Venkatesh Ramakrishnan is quite popular.
He wrote ‘Kaviri Maindan-The Son of Kaveri’, a sequel to Kalki's ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. Venkatesh is also a columnist for DT Next, writing interesting true accounts of the early days of Madras. His other works include ‘Gods, Kings and Slaves: The Siege of Madurai’. When I had a chat with him a few days back, he tells with a laugh that he has a degree in agriculture but his passion for history was triggered when he read Kalki’s epic novel.
“I first started a Yahoo group where most were fans of Ponniyin Selvan and also history lovers. We discussed Chennai’s history and were passionate to learn,” says Venkatesh. He adds that the group soon expanded and shifted to Facebook to become the Madras Local History Group with over 30,000 members. “People are so active here that they even share school reports of their grandparents.”
This history writer has instilled passion among residents through the use of social media. He kickstarted the Cooum Cultural Mapping Project through Facebook and then a similar initiative for the Adyar river and during the process, many unknown historical facts about these surrounding areas were unearthed and brought under the limelight.
“Social media groups or historical novels are a great place to learn but at the same time, it is important to be careful on social media as false information plagues them,” he tells. “Check for the source as most local history is often recorded by newspapers.”
He is also sceptical of school textbooks. “They have failed us as politicians have been busy rewriting history. Therefore, we must find other authentic publications and primary sources,” Venkatesh says, “'learning history is also a healthy hobby for the brain.”
👣🏠The heritage enthusiast
Chennai has a long tradition of hosting heritage walks in the past several years. Kombai S Anwar, a filmmaker, and a heritage enthusiast is well known for conducting such events, especially the ‘Annual Ramzan Heritage Walk’.
“It is not just about looking at monuments but it is more about looking at the houses of ordinary people and being with that community by trying to eat or learning to live like them,” he says. “People of different communities take part in the Ramzan Heritage walk. Madras is wonderful as people here respect different opinions and we also have active intellectual conversations.”
The filmmaker who directed the documentary ‘Yaadhum’ which traces the roots of Tamil muslims mentions that it's wise to connect with historians or scholars and learn from them. “I write columns for newspapers sometimes. So people read them and get in touch with me,” Kombai says. “They then hear about my heritage walks and get interested to participate.”
When asked if social media is crucial to spreading history, he acknowledges its importance but stressed the need to exercise caution. “So many videos I see on Facebook have loads of misinformation. Also, don't rely on WhatsApp. But there are many heritage groups that are active throughout the year,” he says. “You can connect with scholars here but be aware that they too have their bias.”
In my conversation with the three men, there was one common admiration they all shared: the respect they had for the city's popular historian — the late S Muthiah. “Every city has a great writer who has written extensively about that place. And when it comes to Chennai, S Muthiah has done of a fantastic job by writing some great books,” says Kombai.
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