Parantharami Mani

     First line Beach with the Bentick Buildings and Cenotaph Cupola outside  it. The Arbuthnott building and GPO towers(1884)can be seen in the far end. The picture must have been taken around 1900s since the tram lines are already in position.         The First Line Beach  was developed in early 1800s  when the sea customs was shifted out of Fort St George by the  Governor  and the Supreme court was established in Bentick building in the  around 1817.  Other Commercial establishments followed suit and there was a row of buildings two to three storeyed èxtending from Parry House  to Clive Battery  in the North. For  a Englishman landing for the first time in Madras it would have been a pleasant sight from the Sea to watch  these row of beautiful buildings with the towers of Temple, Mosque and Churches of Black Town in the background. In the  second half of the 19th century the Madras ...

     This happened in July 1832 at Parthsarathi Temple in Triplicane.  The  temple elephant mistakenly took revenge on a man and killed him thinking that he was the same person who played mischief with it two years back at a native festival in San Thome  (may be Kapaliswar Temple ). The man at Triplicane was killed since he was dressed in a similar manner as that of the person who played mischief at Santhome. Elephants have a strong sense of memory.  A first hand account of the event published in Madras Courier Pic: Temple in 1890 Del Tufo & Co

A British family crossing a forest river in one of their excursions somewhere in Madras Presidency with a Mattu Vandi taking care of their personal effects.

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.