Unique Method: Picture postcards at the Music Academy. The sketch was done by Afrin Fatima. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
Come Christmas Day 2024 and I will enter the 25th year of my legacy walk in Chennai. I have vivid memories of my first walk — to the musical heritage of Mylapore. That great painter, musician, singer, and one of the earliest heroes of Tamil cinema – S. was placed under the direction of Rajam. My dear friend and top ranked singer Sanjay Subrahmanyan supported and encouraged in every way and was present at the event. S. Muthiah gave his blessing, noting that it was a first for the city.
I have, over the years, managed to run a walk each month, but that is not always possible. I still dream of completing and charting 100 different routes in the city, and having completed 80-odd so far, I believe the goal is well within reach. However, I have found that the main city has become increasingly walk-friendly, and as for the suburbs, while they are now my area of ​​focus, the heritage sites are few and far between to cover on foot. However, I am still optimistic.
In the early years, projecting your voice in a group, above the usual day and chaos, was a challenge, but later technology has been a great boon, although it can also be a detriment – my most recent tour, in The Kapaliswarar temple, like the standby Wi-Fi microphone, almost came a cropper after it failed. But some quick thinking by my wife saved the situation.
But enough on me and my experiences. I want to write about my happiness that heritage walks have started to take hold in the city. There are many others who do so – Pradeep Chakraborty and Sudha Umashankar in the early years, Chitra Madhavan, Vincent D’Souza, and Padmapriya Bhaskaran who do special themed walks on occasion, Madras Inherited who regularly do architecture-themed walks, and of course, Story Trails which is available on demand. is And how can I forget the Chennai Photo Walk? I may have left out something else for which I can be forgiven. But lately Srivatsan Sankaran and Tripurasundari Savel have caught my attention.
Apart from being a talented photographer, Srivatsan works to make heritage accessible to people with disabilities. He speaks boldly for being hearing-challenged, and has conducted heritage walks with sign language. He has also done a photo walk for people with such problems, especially children. Tripurasundari was a colleague and when she is not busy with her profession as an architect and live wire at the Madras Literary Society, she works to make heritage accessible to the visually, speech and hearing impaired and even school children. She has worked on many such projects with The Hindu and more importantly with the Greater Chennai Corporation. I hope the civic body will listen to him and make our city’s heritage pedestrian-friendly.
Tripurasundari’s latest project is truly innovative. During COVID-19, she came up with the idea of ​​engraving rubber stamps to make patterns of heritage buildings. When she walks to relevant places, she stamps these postcards and mails them to friends and family of participating children! A post box has been borrowed. This December, I had her make a picture postcard of the building with a rubber stamp at Sangeet Academy and a sketch by Afrin Fathima, another heritage enthusiast. I plan to send it to music-loving friends at the end of the music season.
(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)
published – December 24, 2024 at 10:57 pm IST