MADRAS NOSTALGIA, Curzons Showroom: Survivors of time - Of time and tables!

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Asha Sridhar & Anusha Parthasarathy, The Hindu / CHENNAI, August 23, 2011.

Curzons showroom. Photo: M. Karunakaran - The Hindu.

Wrenn Bennett and Curzons are two legendary furniture shops in Chennai. Pieces crafted by them adorn several historical institutions in south India and had also made it to the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

Wearing its age on its sleeves, the past hangs heavy from the high-ceilings of some of Chennai's oldest surviving furniture shops. Walk in and you might find the famed rosewood rolltop desks and teak furniture — not just in weary photographs on the walls.

Walk down Wallajah Road from Mount Road and you will stumble upon a solitary colonial-style building bearing an aging signboard, ‘Curzons'. This landmark furniture shop is now run by B Gautham, a member of the fourth generation and one of the partners in the family business. With an imposing arched doorway, many pillars and the luxury of space that the generously sized rosewood cots, teak tables and a colonial sofa enjoy, what could be a worthy incentive for this historic store to keep pace with time?

The shop was started by Chimato Alavandar Chetty in 1898, and its furniture was known for its superior quality and was strictly for those who could afford it. It also supplied ammunition boxes during the war years; and its furniture as dowry was believed to bring good luck to the bride. “Curzons delivered the best, whatever the requirement was at that time,” says Gautham.

When Alavandar's son C. Seshachalam took over, his association with the father of Indian library science, Dr S. R. Ranganathan, led to the company specialising in library furniture. “Our name is engraved on the library furniture of institutes like Madras University, Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Madras Medical College, Bishop Heber College (Trichy), Madras Institute of Development Studies, and Pachaiyappa's College,” says Gautham. Curzons also made furniture for the Raj Bhavan and for private residences of people like M.S. Subbalakshmi. Many of the government offices in Kurnool, the first capital of Andhra Pradesh, were furnished by Curzons.

Rest at,

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2388588.ece?homepage=true

         

MADRAS NOSTALGIA, Curzons Showroom: Survivors of time - Of time and tables!

For LEED Consultancy / IGBC Certifications, Green Building Design, Green Homes, Green Factory Buildings, Green SEZs, Green Townships & Energy Audits - www.greentekindika.com

Asha Sridhar & Anusha Parthasarathy, The Hindu / CHENNAI, August 23, 2011.

Curzons showroom. Photo: M. Karunakaran - The Hindu.

Wrenn Bennett and Curzons are two legendary furniture shops in Chennai. Pieces crafted by them adorn several historical institutions in south India and had also made it to the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

Wearing its age on its sleeves, the past hangs heavy from the high-ceilings of some of Chennai's oldest surviving furniture shops. Walk in and you might find the famed rosewood rolltop desks and teak furniture — not just in weary photographs on the walls.

Walk down Wallajah Road from Mount Road and you will stumble upon a solitary colonial-style building bearing an aging signboard, ‘Curzons'. This landmark furniture shop is now run by B Gautham, a member of the fourth generation and one of the partners in the family business. With an imposing arched doorway, many pillars and the luxury of space that the generously sized rosewood cots, teak tables and a colonial sofa enjoy, what could be a worthy incentive for this historic store to keep pace with time?

The shop was started by Chimato Alavandar Chetty in 1898, and its furniture was known for its superior quality and was strictly for those who could afford it. It also supplied ammunition boxes during the war years; and its furniture as dowry was believed to bring good luck to the bride. “Curzons delivered the best, whatever the requirement was at that time,” says Gautham.

When Alavandar's son C. Seshachalam took over, his association with the father of Indian library science, Dr S. R. Ranganathan, led to the company specialising in library furniture. “Our name is engraved on the library furniture of institutes like Madras University, Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Madras Medical College, Bishop Heber College (Trichy), Madras Institute of Development Studies, and Pachaiyappa's College,” says Gautham. Curzons also made furniture for the Raj Bhavan and for private residences of people like M.S. Subbalakshmi. Many of the government offices in Kurnool, the first capital of Andhra Pradesh, were furnished by Curzons.

Rest at,

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2388588.ece?homepage=true

        

Once Madras, Chennai turns 372!

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IANS / ibnlive.in.com / Posted on Aug 22, 2011 at 05:43pm IST.

Chennai: It was on this day in 1639 that British administrator Francis Day along with his superior Andrew Cogan struck a deal with the Vijayanagar Empire to acquire a stretch of no man's land. That stretch of land went on to be become Madras, which is today known as Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

The British first built a fortified 'factory' on this land which was named on St George's birthday April 23, 1640 as Fort St George, which is now the seat of power in the state, according to historian S Muthiah's "Madras-Its past and its present".

In his book, S Muthiah says that before British, there was no Madras. And after Madras, half the area in the world map was marked with the English flag.

However, it is not that there were no towns and villages before the British built their fort on the Coromandel Coast.

There was thriving civilization along the coast, the proof of which is the existence of temples dating back to eighth century like the Padampakkanathar temple in Thiruvottiyur, Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane, Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Marundeeswarar Temple in Thiruvanmiyur.

Outside the walls of Fort St George developed what is called George Town, from where the British carried out their trade.

  

Slowly, the East India Company began acquiring villages, and in the process the city grew.

  

For three years between 1746 and 1749, Fort St George fell into the possession of the French. It was restored to the British under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

After that, there was no looking back for the East India Company which laid the foundation of the British Empire in India.

     

Full Story at,

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/once-madras-chennai-turns-372/177703-3.html

WORLD's FIRST CERTIFIED LEED LEGISLATIVE COMPLEX: Going to be a multi-super specialty hospital for the poor!

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B. Aravind Kumar & T. Ramakrishnan, The Hindu / CHENNAI, August 19, 2011.

A VIEW FROM THE HINDU: From the seat of power to a centre for public healthcare. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan - The Hindu.

Against the backdrop of growing public demand that the abandoned Assembly-Secretariat complex be put to productive public use, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that her government had decided to house a multi-super specialty hospital-cum-medical college in the complex on the Omandurar Government Estate.

Ms. Jayalalithaa told the Assembly amid thumping of desks by members that facilities in the proposed hospital would be comparable to those at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

Conceived by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime, the Assembly-Secretariat complex project consisted of two blocks — Block A to accommodate the Assembly and offices of Chief Minister and Ministers and six departments, and Block B for other departments.

Estimated to cost Rs. 1,092 crore totally, the project had other components. Its execution came to a halt after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, which took office three months ago, announced in June that a Commission of Inquiry would be constituted into the alleged irregularities in the construction. At the time of suspension of work, approximately Rs. 480 crore was spent on the seven-storey Block A of 97,829 square metres. Around Rs. 80 crore was spent on Block B with eight storeys and 73,399 square meters.

Reading out a statement under Rule 110, the Chief Minister said the hospital would come up in Block A and the medical college in Block B. The decision to locate the hospital in Block A, she said, was made with a view to putting the building, which now remained unused, for the benefit of the poor.

The proposed hospital will be thrown open to the public soon after carrying out suitable modifications to the building, appointing medical experts, nurses and technicians and the procurement of the state-of-the-art equipment.

The Chief Minister explained that the building — Block A — was inadequate to house the Assembly and 36 departments, which were now functioning at Fort St. George. Its space was very limited and the design unfit for official work. The secretariat could not be functioning from two different buildings. This was why the Assembly and the secretariat were located at Fort St. George (again), she added.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2372798.ece?homepage=true

Chennai police to hotels: Ban Lankans!

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August 8, 2011 / By Sindhu Kannan, DC, Chennai.

The Chennai city police has in a shocking move instructed hotels in the city not to accommodate pilgrims from Sri Lanka after two attacks on visitors from the island nation.

The knee-jerk reaction by the police has led to pilgrims cancelling their plans to visit the Maha Bodhi Society in Chennai.

“A few hotels and lodges in North Chennai are denying rooms to the pilgrims from the Maha Bodhi Society, citing orders from the police,” said officials of the society.

With season for pilgrimage commencing from the end of July, the Maha Bodhi Society, a religious centre which can accommodate only 250 people, is now struggling to find place to accommodate the overwhelming pilgrims. Now that hotels are turning them away, the pilgrims say they have no place to stay.

The Lankan nationals say the police action is like insult added to injury.

When contacted, additional commissioner of police (law and order) Thamarai Kannan denied that the police had issued instructions to hotels not to take Lankans as guests.

Hotels say they were ordered by cops

While the Chennai police has in an outrageous step allegedly instructed hotels and lodges not to provide accommodation to Sri Lankan pilgrims and then denied that any such instruction had been issued, officials at a hotel in Egmore who refused to give rooms to the pilgrims last week told them that they were acting on the directions of the city police.

01)  Attacking Sri Lankan Pilgrims in Chennai is like Islamist Terrorists angry with U.S. hegemony killing innocent and unconnected people, most of the time their own!

02)  It is a fact that under Rajepakshe's leadership, Sri Lankan Army has indulged in mass-scale genocide against Tamil Citizens of Sri Lanka and the common Sri Lankan citizens have no role in that massacre!!

03)  Now, Chennai Police instructing Hotels not to accommodate Sri Lankans is an insult to injury and a gross inhospitality to the visiting tourists!!!

04)  I, firmly, believe, this kind of selective discrimination against Sri Lankans is a grave violation of Constitutional Provisions accorded to the visitors to India!!!!

05)  Hope, Jayalalitha would stop her Police committing such inhuman violations to vent their anger against the Sri Lankan Administration!!!!!

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/chennai-police-hotels-ban-lankans-185

ENVIRONMENT, 'WOW' Initiative: How students of 30 schools cash in on waste!

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Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

DEEPA H RAMAKRISHNAN / The hindu / CHENNAI, June 23, 2011.

NOVEL ATTEMPT: Workers sorting dry recyclable waste at ITC’s WOW initiative facility in Guindy. Photo: S.S. Kumar - the Hindu.

They collect small bits of paper, plastics, take them to school and get money in return

Students of 30 schools in the city have found a new way to make extra pocket money. They collect small bits of paper, plastics, metal, broken fashion jewellery, cartons and pet bottles and take them to their school to be weighed and get money in return.

“Though each student gets a small amount by collecting 7 to 8 kg of such materials each month, they are happy to get that in exchange for waste which would otherwise be disposed of in the bin,” said a teacher in one of the schools, in Triplicane, which have enrolled in ITC's Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) initiative. Students of classes IV to X are involved in the initiative.

The ITC had, in 2009, initially launched the WOW initiative along with the Chennai Corporation. It had been collecting dry recyclable waste from houses in Kilpauk zone. Over the past six months, it has expanded its services to 30 schools, 10 colleges, several IT majors and gated communities.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/article2126823.ece

Tech World: Chennai tops in online transactions!

Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

June 12, 2011 / By K. Sreedevi / DC, Chennai.

eBay is one of the most sought after website for shopping by netizens - AP.

Shedding its conservative shopping habits, Chennai has embraced Internet commerce with a vengeance thanks to the IT savvy generation.

“Among Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, which together constitute 40 per cent of the total business, Chennai tops the list in the number of Internet transactions,” said Arindam Bose, MD of retail portal Timtara.com.

Most e-retailers have reported an increase in online buying from South India, particularly from Chennai, which they say is up by 15 per cent compared to last year.

A report of eBay says that Chennai is the only Southern city to have found a place in the top five destinations doing online transactions.

“Chennai has always been keen to adopt new technologies owing to its increased awareness of these concepts. Hence, despite its conservative outlook, it has been able to embrace Internet commerce with ease as people here understand the technology better, said a senior associate with Indiaplaza.in.

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/business/news/chennai-tops-online-transactions-889