How jaali work was preserved at a subway in Chennai

Jalli work at the Anna subway in Chennai displays the facility’s connection with the past, when Chennai was Madras.

Facilities that come with the time stamp of heritage sometimes have to be brought up to date. In that process, they might be recast in a mould that might address the exigencies of the present but causes them to lose their soul which needs the nourishment of the past. However, thankfully, amidst the modernisation of facilities, there are cases of heritage being given its space.

The modernisation of the Anna Subway is an example. Around three years ago, Metro Rail announcements began to echo down the underground corridors of the three-arm Anna subway.

Chennai Metro Rail Limited had carried out the integration of the subway into its space, tasking this facility (born in 1965) with the additional function of leading Metro Rail commuters into its Government Estate station.

The walls, drab from lack of colour and dirty from unwanted colour, received tiles. The flooring shone, having been paved with granite.

The overall picture is one of a 58-year-old facility effectively being smartened up to hide its age.

However, in what is absolutely heart-warming for those eternally in love with the soul of Madras, the facility (whose construction was started in 1965 by the Highways department; and its inauguration was in 1967) retains a feature that places it in the right time-slot.

The restoration steered clear of the jaali work the way a master surgeon keeps the scalpel off flesh that is best left undisturbed.