Parantharami Mani

A meeting  was held on 29th September 1836 at the office of Binny & Co Armenian Street for the formation of Madras  Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported in the "Herald"  on 1st October.  The  participants include Who's Who of Madras society of those days  including   Arbuthnott, (Arbuthnott & Co)William  Dare(of Parry  & Co fame) Pugh ( Of Pughs  garden fame) Ouchterlony( Of the Spectator fame).        This  Chamber acted as a pressure group/lobbyists for  many modern development of  Madras

Kapaliswarar Ther Thiruvizha     The  old picture is dated 29th March 1912 and present one today  28th March 2018.      Nothing has changed in the  last 105 years. Thousands of devoties, same religious fervour,  mixture  of sounds, children enjoying the  atmosphere of festivity. Only change perhaps may be attire of the people. This will continue for hundreds of years to come for future generations to come. Photo : getty images

    The  accounts of the Madras Club for the year 1835. The Club was started in 1832 in the present express estates. The club had membership of 1416 then  and out of a balance of Rs.15846 at the end of the year Rs.10000 consists of stock of wine.  It seems Madras History is interlinked with  Kudi Magangal and it's no surprise now.

       This happened in August 1827. The  Governor of Madras Henry Sullivan Graeme(Acting)(of Greams Road fame) on a tour of Tanjore district was not able to cross the river due to flooding of its branches. South west monsoon must have been very  active .  Compare with the present situation.

Origin of Indian Rupee        The  East India Company by a proclamation in 1818 abolished the  Pagoda coinage and introduced   the  "Rupee " which was to continue as our standard coin till now.  A news item about it and the  beginning of  of Poongal feast 200 years ago on 13th  Jan 1818 as reported then. All public offices were closed then which continues even now.

The  statue of  Sir Thomas  Munro  which  lies in the  middle of the Island was erected in 1839. Munro was one of the most lovable governors of  East  India  Company.  After his death  in July 1827 a subscription was opened for erecting a suitable monument to  him. All English men including native inhabitants of Madras contributed. Many of the low paid government servants of the company were by force made to contribute so as not to incur their masters displeasure. "The other side of the story ".  A letter written to a magazine at that  time :       " A meeting took place on the  21st for taking into consideration steps for handing down to posterity the memory of Sir Thomas  Munro. As is usual on such occasions there were one or two fine speeches extolling the character of the deceased after which the proposition of a subscription for erecting a monument was announced. It was immediately en...

C.M.S.Chapel , Black Town or CSI Tuckers Church         The missionaries of Church Missionary Society,  London landed in Madras in 1814. By the  year 1817 they acquired a piece of land for building a Church in Black Town. However since there was some objection to the construction of the Church by the  Natives Hindus  of the  Neighbourhood the work was stopped in December 1817 by EIC government after an inquiry by Superintendent of Police. The  Government then took the intiative for the construction of the present church and spent an amount of around 30000 rupees including compensation for the building in the old place. The church was consecrated on 11th October 1820. Since the soil was loose Wells were dug for the foundation. The  most famous chaplain of the church was Rev.John Tucker (1830-1846) who was able to  attract a good congregation of European,  Eurasian and Native Christians by his attractive sermons. T...