Madras Day - Lecture series

Hearty congratulations to the organizers for having successfully conducted yet another Madras Week from 17.08.08 to 24.08.08.

There were around 60 events this time spread over a wide area of Madras ie Chennai.Here I write about few events that took place in South Madras.

The lecture series :
I Would like to mention about the two lectures that took place in Chamiers, one ‘ Some lesser known temples of Madras ‘ by Chitra Madhavan and the other ‘The Parsis of Madras’ by Zarin Mistry.

Chira Madhavan, being a research scholar could authentically give details like the period, history, location, stala purna, architecture etc of all the temples she presented. Some very rare like Kodandaramar Temple at Vunamanjeri, a village near Vandalur still preserving its rustic beauty and Temple at Madambakkam under the care of ASI. The audience remained spell bound.

Zarin Mistry, not a historian, not a regular in giving lectures, but sounded very natural and fluent. As introduction she gave the history of Zorastrians, their migration to Gujarat first, then to Royapuram, Madras as traders. She gave the list of famous Parsis who made a mark in the history of Madras., like Mary Clubwala of Guild of Service, Dinshaw Tehrani, audiographer, Minoo K.Belgamwala of motor sports, to name a few.The audience participation was excellent and the entire process was very informal.

If I compare Chitra’s lec to Kanchipuram intricate Pattu saree, Zarin’s was a beautiful cotton saree, well starched and worn gracefully. Both had the real grandeur and charm.

The walking Tours and Quiz programmes will follow in the next posts