Heritage walks in Chennai, then, and now

Celebrating 25 years of heritage walks in Chennai, V. Sriram reflects on the city's rich cultural history and future prospects.

Come Christmas Day 2024 and I will step into my 25th year of heritage walks in Chennai. I still have vivid memories of my first walk — on Mylapore’s musical heritage. That was put together with the guidance of the great painter, musicologist, singer, and one of the early heroes of Tamil cinema — S. Rajam. My dear friend and top-ranking singer Sanjay Subrahmanyan helped and encouraged in every way and was present at the event. S. Muthiah gave his blessings, remarking that it was a first for the city.

I have, in some years, managed to conduct a walk each month, but that has not always been possible. I still dream of completing and charting 100 different routes in the city, and having done 80-odd so far, I believe the goal is well within sight. However, I do find that the core city has become increasingly walking-unfriendly, and as for the suburbs, while they are my area of focus now, heritage spots there are too few and far apart to be covered on foot. However, I am still hopeful.

In the initial years, projecting one’s voice to a group, above the general din and chaos, was a challenge, but then technology of late has been a big boon, though it can be a bane too — the most recent tour of mine, at the Kapaliswarar Temple, almost came a cropper as the Wi-Fi microphone failed, as did the standby. But some quick thinking by my wife saved the situation.

But enough on me and my experiences. What I want to write about is my joy at the way in which heritage walks have caught on in the city. There are many others who have done so — Pradeep Chakravarthy and Sudha Umashankar in the initial years, Chithra Madhavan, Vincent DeSouza, and Padmapriya Bhaskaran who do special themed walks on occasion, Madras Inherited which does architecture-themed walks on a regular basis, and of course, Story Trails which is available on demand. And how can I forget Chennai Photo Walks? I may have omitted some others for which I may be forgiven. But of late it is Srivatsan Sankaran and Tripurasundari Sevvel who have caught my attention.

Apart from being a brilliant photographer, Srivatsan works on making heritage accessible to persons with disabilities. He speaks boldly on his being hearing-challenged, and has conducted heritage walks with sign language. He has also conducted photo walks for people with such issues, especially children. Tripurasundari has been a collaborator and when she is not busy in her profession as an architect and the live wire at the Madras Literary Society, is working on making heritage accessible to those with visual, speech, and hearing impairment, and also school children. She has worked with The Hindu on many such projects and also more importantly with the Greater Chennai Corporation. I hope the civic body will listen to her and make our city heritage walk-friendly.

Tripurasundari’s latest project is really innovative. During COVID-19, she came up with the idea of getting rubber stamp engravers to make moulds of heritage buildings. When she conducts walks at the relevant places, she gets these stamped on postcards and has the participating children mail them to friends and family! A post box is brought to lend verisimilitude. This December, I got her to make a rubber stamp on the Music Academy and picture postcards of the building with the sketch by Afreen Fathima, another heritage enthusiast. I plan to send them out to music-loving friends at the end of the music season.

(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)