The morning of Saturday, by morning I mean the most earlier parts of the day, the parts to which I have been most unfamiliar with.

I caught the early morning bus to the secretariat complex which normally takes around one and half hours in normal traffic but took us (the driver, the conductor and me the lone passenger) around 25 minutes, a record of sorts.

That morning was also a revelation of hoe madras did look like in 5:30-5:45 period, through the prime parts of the city and more was to be uncovered in the next few hours.

A considerable amount which included a full bus of heritage enthusiasts from L&T, it was good to see the week gaining momentum, an interest which was much deserved by the country.

Around 7, our guide Mr. Suresh an archaeologist questioned the group assembled at the fort car park on how many had actually visited the fort complex, interestingly Mr. Vincent D Souza a major media person and of the few behind the Madras week explained to us that the fort is actually open to public visit, an idea contrary to what many of us believed. We were also asked to think the fort not like the monument but as a city within the city

Now comes the difficult part, as I am quite bad at dates please do forgive me, but the history of the fort is no less interesting as the history of the city, in fact the history of the fort is an integral part of the history of Madras .

As few might remember the white man did not exactly land at this land of ours, two men who might just be called the founding fathers Francis Day and Andrew Cogan were supposedly amazed at the sight of the Cooum mixing with the Arabian sea, the Cooum now is a black thick viscous liquid flowing(in some) and stagnant in many parts of the city for which we are the only ones to be blamed, luckily these people did not come walking down the Marina in 2007 and we would have never had a fort.

So impressed that they were that they used the local dubash as the post was known then Beri Timmappa, who completed the triumvirate who created the city which was just 3miles by 2miles then after which the British started the famed land acquisition policy. The date was august 22^nd 1639 and hence why we celebrate madras week at this time.

The first thing the group realized from Mr. Suresh was that madras has been in existence long before this and showed us some of the evidences dating back to the Greek, Chozhas (there were two important Chozha dynasties, an added info) and Vijayanagara kingdoms but madras had not been a major city or port during the period but neighboring villages have remained since then and some still do.

We crossed the big moat to enter the Fort complex with the sight of the main fort building which was built in a record time of 8 to 10 months to go by the history books, later additions and changes have been made in the years to follow.

We were the witness to the street which did at old times separated the races into white town and black town, the later was the place where we natives were put to work and stay and the other naturally being the offices of the East India Company.

First on the list was St.Marys Church which is the oldest Anglican Church in the country and is also bomb proof, the nature of which is unknown, the church also has a rendition of the Last Supper by an unknown artist and also old photographs. Incidentally this was the church in which Robert Clive got married about who we will see in the next sentence.

And yes, Robert Clive as I promised had a whole one and a half storey house with multiple rooms and a special ballroom which is of course the highlight of the tour, we had the honor of going it, the very fact that Robert Clives house still stands is itself an information to treasure. It merely stands because of the fact that it has been partially been occupied by the ASI (Architectural Survey of India), other buildings are in a state of neglect because of the multiple tenants which include the army, the navy and the state government. Great buildings like the barracks which is the biggest army barracks in the country are in complete distress, the thick ramparts too have fallen at places.

The fort too has an arsenal even now, we could notice the sensitivity of the places when army men started to get uncomfortable probably thinking that we are from some foreign intelligence agency. But the premises do need some looking after because some structures are in a state of almost no repair. We truly hope the city gets its own heritage act very soon.

It was a morning very well spent, a morning with lots of info and tidbits and lesser known facts of the fort and as well as the city

They say you dont get much for free, but this day proved the maxim wrong, credit fully given to Chennai heritage and its organizers.

Satyeki

8/27/2007