IF THE MUDICHUR RAMAR TEMPLE DEMOLISHED YESTERDAY (December 10, 2022) WAS AN UNAUTHORISED ENCROACHMENT ON A CITY WATERBODY, PERHAPS ONE MAY ASK IF THE VALLUVAR KOTTAM, A TOURISTIC PUBLIC SPOT NOW BUT ERECTED BACK IN 1975-76 RIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE CITY WAS AUTHORISED ENCROACHMENT?
I came across this interesting and rather nostalgic blogposted lamentation (read below) on the internet by an alumnus of the Padma Seshadri Higher Secondary School in Chennai wherein he rues the loss of the vast empty lake area around his school that was once a lake, became a dry lake bed , then became a city dump-yard and finally ended up as a Government-built touristic monument to Saint Tiruvalluvar.
If I compare and contrast the blogpost (written in 2006) with the news-report published today (11 Dec 2022) in THE HINDU , I cannot help but quietly surmise that in the city of Chennai Lord Rama and Saint Tiruvalluvar are not … cannot be equal citizens.
Sudarshan Madabushi
Valluvar Kottam: Those were the days when….
The area where the Valluvar Kottam now stands was actually an irrigation lake that was used to water the fertile fields beyond its ‘bund’ in what is now T Nagar. Now you know why the area behind it is still referred to as ‘lake area’! Kodambakkam High Road runs atop the Southern part of the bund, while what is now Valluvar Kottam High Road leading to Village Road runs atop the Eastern part of the bund. In fact Valluvar Kottam High Road used to be called ‘Lake Bund Road’ in those days.
I studied in the original Padma Seshadri school in the Lake Area in its earlier days (for all of one year!), when the lake still existed. The lake was, like many other lakes in Chennai (think Chepet lake) seasonal, filling up during the monsoon, then slowly drying up to leave a large, low open area during summer. So the lake bed became our playground in summer for all kinds of games; cricket, football, flying kites, kabbadi etc.
When the rains came down, and it started getting muddy, the game of choice became holly golly! Why? Because you had the added pleasure of not only hitting the other guy with the ball, but leaving a muddy, wet outline of the tennis ball on his clothes! Mind you, this was the pre Surf Excel era, so you can imagine what our mothers went through!
As the city grew, and the fringes of the lake (today’s lake area) began to be filled with homes, the deeper part of the lake bed was filled in by the government. When this large piece of land became available for development, the then state government (DMK), decided to build a monument in memory of the great Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar- and Valluvar Kottam created. Visitors to this vast monument would hardly imagine that it stands on what was originally a seasonal irrigation lake!
Posted by che_david on July 21, 2006.
Valluvar Kottam: Those were the days when….