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Discovering Madras in the bustle of Chennai
In the run-up to Madras Day, The Hindu Downtown will be presenting a series of articles showcasing Madras as it is ensconced in the everyday things of Chennai. These are not major monuments, but minor markers of the past that are often ignored because they have woven themselves intricately into the fabric of Chennai and are in plain sight.
The piggy bank has been passed on through the generations in this family. Swapna Sridharan says the money box in this picture has its own story of four generations and more. It is made of steel, with compartments for coins and cash.
“A proud possession of my great grandmother, this spans well over a hundred years. I have heard my mother Jamuna Kalyani Sridharan speak of her early memory of this cash box, 75 years ago, when as a five-year-old she had seen her grandmother fish out a currency note from this very same cash box to pay for Dr. Prabhu’s house visit in the middle of the night and for the taxi fare and also for the diphtheria antigen injection to save her five-year-old granddaughter,” says Swapna, managing director of PRICE.
The money box has never been without money and always comes to the rescue of the family members.
Says Swapna, “This money box has always been used to hold funds for the dispensation of monthly expenses and now as a fourth generation user, I am teaching my eight-year-old daughter about management of finances using this very lucky and enduring symbol of thrift.”
A gift from the past
This drawing plan of Fort Geldria in Pulicat is among architect Xavier Benedict’s most prized possessions.
In 2009, his brother gifted him this plan that he picked up from a thrift shop selling old documents.
“This is what kindled my interest in Pulicat Lagoon and later led me to establish a small museum in Pulicat,” says the Nungambakkam resident.
The plan of Fort Geldria in Pulicat
Fort Geldria was the seat of the Dutch Republic’s first settlement in India.
“This was a Dutch fort (1602 -1610) built on top of a Portugese Fort (1502),” says Benedict.
He got the plan authenticated by the National Archives of the Netherlands, and later got it framed.
Passionate about lagoons, the architect says the plan is special in many ways.
“This is where the Indian European administration started (first in Asia, I would say) and it is the cultural heritage of this coastal lagoon,” he says.
His advice to those possessing old documents is: “never laminate them”.
“There is a technique to frame such documents but do not laminate them,” he emphasises.
Readers are invited to write in to [email protected] about such markers of time. It could be a lamppost, a very old milestone marker or an antediluvian bus shelter that has survived time
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Madras Week
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