Chennai’s changing Christmas-scape through the lens of shopkeepers in Parrys and George Town

Shops along the streets of Parrys and George Town are aglow with Christmas cheer. At some of these establishments which have been functioning for at least three decades, managers say that the city’s Christmas-scapes have changed drastically. We find out how

At the Good Pastor International Book Centre, in Parrys’ Armenian Street, S Ragini and her daughter Diana, are sorting through angels to pick one with a pleasant smile. The tradition of keeping Christmas trees is fairly new in their house.

“Earlier, we could not afford it, but we moved to a bigger space about two years ago. Now, we keep a small tree, two candles, a small statue of Mary and Jesus and the Bible, of course. We are searching for a cute little angel and a small statue of Joseph. We’ve been unsuccessful with the latter. Every doll looks like it has make-up on,” says Ragini.

Ragini’s observation about dolls with dollops of rouge is one that Flavian Rodrigo is all too familiar with. This fourth generation proprietor of Thomas Rodrigo & Sons, a 144-year-old store selling Christian religious articles in the heart of Broadway, knows that the faces of famous Christian gods have altered a little over time. Today, there are cookie-cutter versions of the nativity scene with little life. “Chinese products,” he says.

Even until about 30 years ago, many statues displayed at their store used to be handmade using papier mache. The recipe for making dolls life-like lay in their eyes. Skilled craftsmen would pour over these details about three months before Christmas time in factories at the periphery of the city. Now though, the process is less labour intensive as resin moulds push out neatly constructed Anglo-Saxon hands, feet and eyebrows. Flavian Rodrigo however still seeks out his community of painters to prevent the blush of rosy pink on every doll’s face, distinguishing their wares and keeping this business afloat even after a century.

Christmas, even until two decades ago, was a fairly timid affair in Chennai, he says. The community would attend midnight mass, eat a light dinner (idiyappam and curry in his case) and exchange new clothes or presents, the following day. You could count the number of stores selling bells, sleighs, cards and mistletoes in the city.

Today, with the advent of American sitcoms in many more homes, Christmas has become far more secular. Customers seek the trees that they watch in Hollywood films, says Marlena Anto, Sales Head, Evergreen Christmas Centre, which opened back in 1991 on Pantheon Road. With houses, schools and offices sporting endearing decorations atop fake fir trees, the festival has slowly transcended religion. It is no wonder that the winding cul-de-sac of Parrys and George Town end up blinding you with Christmas cheer.

The yule of today has glow-in-the-dark baby Jesuses; inflatable snowmen towering at seven feet; two centimetre long miniature bibles; and hanging bulbs in all the colours of the Pantone catalogue.