It was a trip to north Chennai. The occasion was the Madras Week. The school was Sri Sankara Vidyashramam, Tiruvanmiyur.
On Aug. 21, a group of 37 students belonging to the Heritage Club and two teachers of the school boarded the Fun Bus offered by Ashok Leyland for the trip.
Ms.Swahilya, a reporter, writer and a speaker in Human Resources joined the group at the Fort St.George. She gave a lot of information about the fort and continued with the story of George Town, the place where Indians lived during the British period called by the British as Black Town.
The group got to see the Port Harbour office, High court, General Post Office and Chennai Port Trust. The group saw many places of heritage value and the harbour from a distance on their way to the Hanging Garden. The hanging garden is a very old park and not cared for long. Tthe Government has later reconstructed it and it is a beautiful Maadi poonga now.
They passed through old Washermanpet area and had a look at the Robinson Park, now known as Aringar Anna poonga on the Cemetery Road an went to Tiruvottiyur.
The Thyagaraya Swami – Vadivudaiyamman temple is the oldest landmark in the area. Next stop was at the Chennai fishing harbour. After getting permission from an officer at the entrance the group moved in. Fishing boats, people building boats and water on all sides and so much of fish swimming in the waters was a beautiful sight.
Ms.Swahilya informed the group about one of the major problems of north Madras – sea erosion. To prevent this many groins are constructed which are sponsored by the IIT Madras. The group then went to a small beach near the groins formed by soil deposition.
On the way to the Pattinattar Samaadhi is a bunker built in 1910, when the German ship Emden attacked Chennai. The Pattinaththar temple is a Shiva temple and is located in the midst of fishermen settlements. The temple was so calm and so serene.
It was lunch time and stop was at the Kavi Bharathi Vidyalaya School. On the way to the school is a containers freight station of the Harbour. The school too has a history. It was converted into a school building from the Balakrishna theatre that existed on the same location earlier.
It was then time to return to the school. Though a short trip, the guide packed so much information and told the story of north Chennai in a nutshell. The heritage club students were earlier briefed by the school teachers which helped the students to follow the explanations by Ms. Swahilya better.
>>The photo above shows the team at the Fishing Harbour, escorted by a police official, who ensured safety of the kids at the harbour. Photo by Swahilya.>>