A serene place once has become a hotspot in Chennai

M.G. Raju reflects on the transformation of Anna Nagar East from individual houses to high-rise apartments over four decades.

When M.G. Raju moved to Anna Nagar East from the neighbouring Shenoy Nagar in the early 1980s, he never thought that individual houses in the buzzing locality would transform into high-rise apartments and commercial complexes within a few decades.

“I hail from Maruthanallur near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district. My association with Madras is more than five decades old. After having completed my undergraduate degree at Kumbakonam, I came to Madras in 1970 to join Pachaiyappa’s College to pursue post-graduation. My initial days were at Shenoy Nagar before I moved to Anna Nagar East in 1983.”

“This area was once a deserted place and I never imagined that Anna Nagar would undergo such a transformation in the last four decades. Over the years, several restaurants and eateries have mushroomed at Anna Nagar and Shanthi Colony. Needless to say, all are packed with people at breakfast and lunch hours. The scenario was not the same in the 1980s. The stretch between the Anna Nagar arch and New Avadi Road often wore a deserted look, with only one restaurant not too crowded. It was peaceful to hang out,” recollects the 75-year-old retired Associate Professor who taught Zoology at his alma mater — Pachaiyappa’s College — for 36 years.

Following the World Trade Fair in 1968, the government developed Anna Nagar as a residential neighbourhood of the city with wide roads, residential plots, and green space. The entire area was developed with a standard addressing system having avenues and main roads cutting across the locality in a grid.

“In the last four decades, I have seen vacant plots transforming into individual houses, then undergoing demolition to take a new avatar of multi-storey buildings. The radius of the Anna Nagar roundabout was smaller. The height of the roads was raised by nearly a metre in the last few decades. The residential plots were relatively cheaper in 1980s and early settlers reaped the benefit. Given the large-scale improvement in civic infrastructure and Metro Rail services and the presence of many educational institutions and greenery, more and more people are willing to purchase houses in this buzzing locality,” says Mr. Raju.

Otteri Nullah flows right in front of Mr. Raju’s house. “I have seen freshwater flowing in the Nullah. It is a major rainwater outlet for areas such as Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam, and Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar, and the rainwater drains into the Buckingham Canal near the Basin Bridge. I have seen the Nullah flowing to its capacity during the 1986 and 2015 floods, but it never breached. Because of this waterbody, the groundwater level was high in the residential areas on either side of it. The inflow of sewage from residential areas and industrial effluents from the Ambattur Industrial Estate has turned the waterbody into a dump and drainage. Mr. Raju, like any other Anna Nagar resident, is hoping for the rejuvenation of the canal.

(As told to N. Sai Charan.)