Home of Innovation
Simply Chennai speaks to a few people who have grown off the Chennai soil and given back to it in ways that have come to define its social and cultural character, provoked discussions and inspired youth.
Art That Reforms
DEBORAH THIAGARAJAN, 71, FOUNDER, DAKSHINACHITRA
Deborah Thiagarajan is the kind of cultural icon with whom interviews seamlessly turn into inspiring conversa-tions. Thiagarajan set up the Madras Craft Foundation in 1984; it was only 12 years later in 1996 that she was able to start a functioning museum under it, which is what DakshinaChitra is today. "We had no land, collection or money. I almost gave up around 1991 and that's when we got the land and subsequently a grant that helped us raise money," she says.
SUSTAINABLE HERITAGE Today, DakshinaChitra is one of the city's most refl ective and resourceful centres for art and heritage conservation, with living mod-els of 18 exquisitely constructed historic homes from South Indian states. Their latest addition is a magnifi cent Chikma-galur Muslim bungalow, complete with a remarkable conceptual exhibition inside. DakshinaChitra also has a bazaar and centres for over 18 traditional craft activities including kolam-making, block printing and palm leaf work. AT East Coast Road, Muttukadu.
A Healing Home
SUBBU MANIAN, 52, CEO & FOUNDER, MANTRA VEPPATHUR
THERE ARE LUXURY resorts and then there are homestays. But when you wish to get a little more personal with your hospitality, there is Mantra-a sprawling 15-acre heritage home, with 30 cottages designed to remind you of the goodness of the Indian countryside. Some 250 kilometres away from Chennai at Kumbakonam, Mantra gives you everything that you potentially forget in a fast-paced urban life-an ethnic kitchen that serves organic vegetarian food, traditional crafts like pottery and bullock cart rides.
Its excellent location on the banks of river Veera Chozha on one side and the Cauvery on the other offers great proximity to some of Tamil Nadu's best temples.
RURAL RETREAT "When you want to take a break, you don't have to always head to a bar and unwind. Life in the rural rejuvenates you and that was the main impetus behind Mantra," says Subbu Manian, CEO and founder of Mantra Veppathur. In order to complete your retreat, Manian has conceptualized Punarjenma-a fully equipped spa overlooking the river. AT 1 Bagavathapuram Main Road Extension, 536 / 537 A Sri Sailapathipuram Village, Veppathur
All Roads Lead to Mylai
VINCENT D'SOUZA, 54, CURATOR, THE MYLAPORE FESTIVAL
WHILE CHENNAI may be capping with music, dance and theatre gigs marking the city's biggest festival of arts through December and January, Mylapore owns up and shows us why it deserves a celebration of its own.Year after year, the Sundaram Finance Mylapore Festival has exuberantly taken this spirit of festivity onto the streets that line one of the Chennai's most pre-dated and archaic neighbourhoods-Mylapore. With the iconic Kapaleeshwarar temple at its centre, the ceremony shoots out into the adjoining Sannidhi Square, North Mada Street, Sundareswarar Street, Nageswara Rao Park and the eastern zone of the temple with its main stage for live performances.
THEN AND NOW "We started out in the year 2001, as a kolam contest. But it has grown into a full-fledged festival with phenomenal participation from people and a growing number of volunteers," says Vincent D' Souza, the festival curator. Chennaiites will be familiar with the festival's most notable events-the heritage walks, folk dances and the spectacular kolam contest that has the ladies of Mylapore dot the entire stretch of the North Mada street.
WHAT'S ON THIS YEAR The four-day festival has about 25 fixed events, with a few new ones that may also be roped in impromptu, promises D'Souza. "Our purpose is to have heritage places and open spaces for events and performances that are of significance to those zones," he says.
ON January 8 to 11 AT Across Mylapore
Mission for Life
VANDANA GOPIKUMAR & VAISHNAVI JAYAKUMAR, 43, FOUNDERS, THE BANYAN
TWENTY-THREE years ago, Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar were young social work students when they found a mentally ill woman running amok nude on the streets of Chennai. She not only tugged at their heartstrings, but gave them an opportune moment to put theory into practice. And The Banyan started.
HEART OF THE MATTER What the girls had really done by giving that woman shelter was sow the seeds for what was to become a movement in mental health awareness "and the crux of it, we realised, lay in three key reasons-society space, inequity and poverty," as Gopikumar puts it. "If you don't fix poverty, inequity and the harshness associated with it-not just as a condition but also on the part of all the silent observers, including the government-mental ill-health is going to be on the rise," she adds.
Mental health is an area of expertise, The Banyan can rightfully claim to ace, being one of the country's foremost organisations to acknowledge the multi-leveled dynamics that it involves. It's as a result of this that the organisation, which started off as a shelter and transit home for homeless and mentally ill women, has now expanded to include community mental health projects for urban and rural mental health services.
SHOW AND TELL "In 2002, nine years after we started The Banyan, we decided to demonstrate what could be done by innovating around a comprehensive set of services offering primary, secondary and tertiary care, not just mental hospitals where people with varying levels of mental illnesses, languished," says Gopikumar, who has been offered a chair professor position at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). AT 6th Main Road, Mugappair Eri Scheme, Mugappair West
The Margazhi Kitchen
R MADHAN, 29, OWNER, GNANAMBIKA CATERING SERVICES
WOULD YOU BELIEVE us if we told you that the fragrance of melting ghee on a bed of steaming hot pongal with crushed black pepper could make a Keeravani sound more divine? You would, indeed, if you held particular interest in sabha hopping.
Long after they had earned the reputation for serving a no-nonsense traditional fare for Upanayanams, weddings and Sathabhishekams (80th birthday celebrations), Sree Gnanambika Caterers decided in 1993 that it was time to complete the cheerful, family-friendly Margazhi music and dance season with some heartwarming South Indian food. And so when they set up their very first canteens at Narada Gana Sabha and then Vani Mahal, the response was spectacular.
FOOD AND BEYOND "We're offering a concept that's way more than just food. It's tradition that's much-loved and indulged in, especially during the season-some amazing Carnatic music, a lovely social gathering and plate after plate of freshly prepared tiffin and filter coffee," says R Madhan of Gnanambika, who's one of the third generation heads of the service.
NO-FRILLS DINING At the Narada Gana Sabha, the provisional canteen is crowded to the brim almost religiously day after day. Everyone is here to binge on some lip-smacking comfort food after a long day of work. Other than dosa and parotta varities, on the menu are age-old items that are on their way out of our collective culinary conscience-Thattu idlis, Mor kali, and the elai saapadu. "In the 20 days to a month that we set up the canteen, we see about 800 people a day on week days and over a 1,000 people on weekends," says Madhan. AT 26/3, Thambiah Reddy Road, West Mambalam