19th March
2017.
AVVAI
HOME
Even
though the walk was called Greenways Road Heritage Walk, most of the places
covered are on the Besant Nagar Gandhi Nagar. One of the historic and
heritage places covered is the Avvai Home. Avvai Homes was started by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first lady Doctor in India from Madras Medical College (
1907 – 1912 ) and the founder of the Women’s India Association ( WIA
also runs the Cancer Institute Adyar since 1952, ). She held many
positions as a Member of the Legislature and Vice President of the legislature.
She
founded the Avvai home for abandoned women and orphans. The required land
of 50 grounds on Besant Avenue was leased for 50 years from Thiruvannamalai Sri
Arunachaleswarar temple @ Rs 10 per month. The Home was constructed between
1934 to 1936. The Avvai Home started an Elementary School which was later
upgraded to a Higher secondary school in 1978. They also started a
Teacher's Training Institute, which was closed due to lack of infrastructure.
After Dr Muthulakshmi’s demise, in 1965 her daughter-in-law Mandakini Krishnamurti, took over the home and orphanage, brought
to the present level, and passed away in 1980.
Avvai Home east side entrance
Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi’s residence gate Pillar name board the founder of Avvai Home
RAMALAYAM
PALACE AND BALARAMA VARMA STATUE
It was a
disappointment that we could not peep into the Ramalayam palace, previously
owned by Rajas of Travancore. From the gate, we could not see the palace due to
trees which obstructed the view. Understood that the property is under
litigation between the sisters. Then we moved to Anantha Padmanabha
Swamy temple where Balarama Varma's Statue was installed ( This was originally
installed in front of Rajah Annamalai Mandram ) Esplanade. The details of
Balarama Varma’s statue were written in my previous post along with Sri
Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.
Ramalayam Palace
Balarama Varma statue
Balarama Varma statue's base inscription
ELPHINSTONE
BRIDGE.
Elphinstone
Bridge was constructed between 1837-42 CE during the period of Lord
Elphinstone, who was the Governor of Madras. This bridge connects Santhome and
Mylapore to the South of Madras. After the construction of a new bridge in 1973
the old bridge was abandoned for traffic and used for the crossing of sewage
pipelines and covered with concrete slabs.
Elphinstone
Bridge from where we can see Whale Island, Broken Bridge, Theosophical
Society, Chettinad Palace, etc. ( It was planned to renovate the bridge to use
for the walkers, but the project was shelved and this bridge has become a
suicide spot ).
Elphinstone bridge
Sewage
line on Elphinstone Bridge
The
view of Whale Island from Elphinstone Bridge
MUNDAKA KANNI
AMMAN TEMPLE & Dr MGR JANAKI ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.
MUNDAKA
KANNI AMMAN TEMPLE ( It was a
part of Dr MGR
Janaki College) During the Navab period the temple was built, with the Vimanam
looking like a mosque dome. The present caretaker had won a legal battle
with MGR for the Temple land gifted by Nawab.
NEPTUNE STUDIO was started in the present place of Dr. MGR Janaki
Arts and Science College on the northern side of Adyar River
by C V Raman, a lawyer, and A Narayanan from Sivagangai District. They entered
making films after taking training under Raghupathy Prakash. Raman started a
Limited Company in the name of ‘Lalitha Cinetone’ with Kasi Chettiar. He got 25 and odd acres of land with some superstructure on
lease from Arcot Nawab and the monthly rental was Rs 150.00.
After Lalitha
Cine's tone drowned in crises, C V Raman started another Company called
‘National Theaters Limited’. With great difficulty, they produced the first
silent film ‘Vishnu Leela’ in the year 1932. NTL too went into trouble and
Raman started another Company called ‘Meenakshi Cinetone’ with Nattukottai
Chettiar AL.RM. Alagappa Chettiar. They included C
V Raman and produced
the hit film Pavalakodi in the year 1934, with M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
and S
D Subbulakshmi.
After the talking
film Kalidas produced by H M Reddi in the year 1931, Alagappa Chettiar re-entered the field with Letchumanan Chettiar alias Lena, a Drama
contractor. During 1940 – 50 successful films were made in Tamil and Telugu,
like Krishna Bhakti, by Lena. The property after changing many hands finally
passed on to the MGR family and called after MGR’s mother Sathya Studios. After
MGR’s demise, the Studio was converted into Dr. MGR Janaki Arts and Science
College for Women.
The office room still bears the name board of Sathya Studios
Dr. DURGABAI
DESHMUKH HOSPITAL AND ANDHRA MAHILA SABHA.
Dr. Durgabai
Deshmukh joined the Swadeshi movement with Gandhi in the year 1921, when she was 12 years old. At
the age of 12, I dropped out of School and started to teach
Hindi to Congress Volunteers of Kakinada. When Gandhi ji was on tour in Andhra
Pradesh she acted as a translator to his speeches. In the Salt Satyagraha
movement, in the year 1930, she also participated, so she was
lodged in jail for a year and continued teaching Hindi to her co-prisoners. She became a Dr and a Criminal lawyer later. During her life, she held various positions like Member of Parliament, Member of Parliament
Steering Committee & Planning Commission ( 1952).
In
Madras, she
started many institutions including Andhra Mahila Sabha for which the foundation stone was laid by Gandhi ji. The many blocks of Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh
Hospital were opened by eminent personalities like Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan, who runs the Hospital and nursing School ( for the accommodation of
students the adjacent Garden House called Yerolyte was purchased from the owner
for Rs 1 lakhs through then Union health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, which
has an interesting story) etc,.
There is a
Baobab tree the biggest of its kind on the premises is an added attraction.
LOCATION OF THE DR.DURGABAI DESHMUKH HOSPITAL: CLICK
HERE
THE
GRANGE
During the British period, there were many Garden Houses built
for the Britishers and business people of the UK on
the north bank of the Adyar River. The building was
built by a Lawyer John Bruce Norton in the year 1853 and called Norton’s
Garden. Temples of Kadari & Kumaresa and a chavadi were demolished and the
Norton’s Garden was built over that. The name Norton’s Garden was renamed Grange by Percy Macqueen ICS, collector of Nilgiris in the year 1907.
The
ownership was transferred to many hands and presently runs by the Tamil Nadu
Government to train officers, under Anna Institute of Management and named Kanchi. A SHORT
FILM is available on the website shot by Lady Stokes and Hoptoum on
Grange in 1930.
VASANT VIHAR
The
Krishnamurti Foundation India ( KFI ) headquarters functions at Vasantha
Vihar, which was set up in 1928 as a Charitable Institution by J Krishnamurti,
Dr Anne Besant, and other 5 founder members under the name of Rishi Valley
Trust. Later the name was changed to Foundation for New Education in 1953. The
Vasanth Vihar was previously known as Bishop Gardens. This White
building was designed by renowned architect Surendranath
Kar in a 6.5-acre square plot. Later trees belonging to South American origin,
were planted.
J Krishnamurti
stayed here during his annual visits and gave public speeches sitting on a rock
under a tree. He delivered his first talk on December 1936 and his last talk on
January 4, 1986. The building houses a library where J Krishnamurti’s books are
kept for public reading, which is inclusive of a book written and prefaced by
Anne Besant at the age of 14, by Krishnamurti. In addition to this facility has
been provided to see & hear his speeches. The ground floor consists of a
200 seater hall and office rooms.
The stone in the Garden where J Krishnamurti used to sit and
deliver his speech
The first book – at the Feet of Master written by J Krishnamurti at the age of 14. prefaced by Anne Besant
Library
Library
J Krishnamurti
THE TEAM
In front of Avvai Home
Avvai Home
In
front of the grange – Kanchi
The first book – at the Feet of Master written by J Krishnamurti
at the age of 14.
in front of Vasanth Vihar
