The Abattoir and Gandhiji

Chennai Online, India
June 26 2006

Closer to the YMCA is the Golf Course of Chennai. A little away
from this is the city’s abattoir. It is a French word and should be
pronounced "abathwa". Do you know what happens here? Daily hundreds
of cattle are being slaughtered for their flesh. Even though this
abattoir or slaughterhouse is located at Saidapet, you can say that
you cannot spot any shop that sells mutton in Saidapet. Can it be
said that the Saidapet residents’ deference towards Gandhiji could
be the reason for this? Gandhi’s birthday will be celebrated in a
very modest way. But you still find about 20 persons who follow in
the footsteps of Gandhiji. Of them, one person runs a tailoring shop
from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening. From 7 to 9 in the morning
and 5 to 8 in the evening it transforms into a library. He runs this
library with the books that he has collected and there are certain
books and collections, which you cannot find elsewhere.

In the old Chennai, the Saidapet market was a very important one.

Today modern markets are functioning in every part of Chennai. But
if you need to buy a mud pot now you should go to Saidapet. A small
trading company went from door to door and transformed the face
of salesmanship in India. That is the VGP Brothers. They made the
"Murphy" radio affordable even to a poor man by their easy monthly
instalment scheme, with which the less fortunate had access to all
radio programmes. It will not be an exaggeration if we say that, the
advent of the VGP Company brought out a new dimension in the daily
life of the Tamil people. After radio, they started selling various
household products in the easy monthly instalment scheme. This grew
up to such a great level and they started selling house sites also.

Today this instalment scheme has become a very common aspect of life.

This VGP Company is also running a large entertainment park today.

The VGP Square at Saidapet was a needed change to that place. The
few metres occupied by the VGP Square are the only modern structure
in Saidapet which otherwise reflects obsoleteness everywhere.

If one boundary of Saidapet is the Adyar River, then a significant
place in it is the Maraimalai Adigal Bridge. It was called the
Marmalong Bridge for over 200 years. The Armenian trader who built
the steps in St. Thomas Mount constructed this bridge. In the 1970s
this bridge was broadened. This was a time when Tamil enthusiasm was
prevalent everywhere and every non-Tamil name was replaced by a Tamil
name. This bridge was also renamed. Even then for many it is just the
Saidapet Bridge. But Saidapet itself is a very big bridge. It is the
bridge that links the South Tamil Nadu and Chennai.

Let us scan Chennai again….

Ashokamitran (Translated by Sujatha Pradeep)

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