Art, history and culture coopted as allies in an exercise to declutter streets around a famous temple in Chennai

When an event kicks off, it often picks up momentum on its own, without any extraneous push. The best time to suss out an event is when it lies sprawled on the drawing board. Better still, when it is being hurriedly dressed up for the stage. The loose ends remain untied. And the organisers are so caught up in the last-minute scramble that they forget to turn on their charisma and those headline-making sentences remain unsaid. It is in that raw moment that the true strength of what is being done is on display; the real zeal of those powering the activity is evident. 

The Hindu Downtown caught Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street in the inconvenient last hour before it was being presented in an event (a two-day event) to all the stakeholders of the mada streets around Marundeeshwarar temple — the residents, shopkeepers, temple goers, the officials and even motorists. The Project seeks to reimagine the mada streets around the temple: for now, just two of them, East Mada Street and North Mada Street. A detailed deck on what these streets look like now and what they ought to look like at all times has been prepared.

A glimpse of the archival photo exhibition conducted by Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street on November 14 and 15.
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK

The event and the project it launched more than passed muster, the effort evidently powered by a passionate love for this space, often held hostage by carelessness. A series of careless acts, often coming together in a deadly cocktail of chaos. 

Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street featured traditional games. Photo: Prince Frederick 
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK

Carelessly parked vehicles. Cattle allowed to roam on the streets carelessly. Carelessly flung garbage, ignoring a row of bins at the corner of East Mada Street and North Mada Street. 

The project receives motive power from residents and lovers of this piece of Thiruvanmiyur. This collective includes two architects and urban designers. Dhanya Rajagopal of The Thinking Cauldron lives at Legionowo in Mazowieckie, Poland. Whenever she returns to Chennai, she comes back home to Thiruvanmiyur, this part of Thiruvanmiyur where she grew up. This personal reality drives Dhanya’s motivation to make the space pleasant for every stakeholder by ensuring vehicles stay parked where they should be, and the streets are free of litter; and movement of motorists and pedestrians is not hampered. The other architect plus urban planner Pavithra Sriram of Design Co:Lab is also associated with the project in a personal capacity. 

The bill of fare at the November 14-15 event — an archival photo exhibition, a history walk through Marundheeswarar temple, exploration of traditional games that date back to the time when the temple was established and live sketching programme — were as much by residents as it was for residents. The live sketching was organised by Chennai Weekend Artists and the history walk around the temple was led by historian Pradeep Chakravarthy and founder of Kreeda Games, Vinita Sidhartha.

Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street has made sure four benches made of repurposed wood would be installed, two on East Mada Street and another two on North Mada Street.
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK

And the archival photo exhibition was not born in the government archives department or any private archival facility, but was stitched together by residents, digging through their old albums. Check the archival photos (including the one of the plane belonging to the Madras Flying Club making an unplanned, emergency landing on the Thiruvanmiyur beach) at @projectthiruvanmiyurmadast on Instagram.

The organisers were handing out postcards carrying pictures of this part of Thiruvanmiyur to shopkeepers. These postcards can be bought and the proceeds from their sale will be ploughed back into the resources required to support Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street. Four benches made from repurposed wood, two for East Mada Street and the other two for North Mada Street will be placed there after the event. 

Dhanya knows this Project is in for the long haul, as it requires interactions and promises from a variety of diverse stakeholders: on the official and governmental side, the HR&CE Department and Greater Chennai Corporation; on the social side, residents, shopkeepers and visitors. 

That would call for many conversations with different points of focus.