Writer Devakantan is a resident of Choolaimedu. It is from Choolaimedu that he is creating his stories dipped in melancholy. He was also running a small magazine called ‘Ilakku.’ There was another writer known as Rajarangan who lived in Choolaimedu and was writing in magazines like Kalaimagal, Manjari, Kannan etc.

There was a magazine devoted to cinema that carried the name ‘Tamil Cinema’. M. A. Kareem was its editor. He was a nationalist to the core. The cine magazine that he was running had an eye on quality. Then came an era of agitations. Anti Hindi agitation, pro Tamil agitation, anti Nehru agitation - in fact agitations seemed to be the order of the day. Well, the current of these agitations gained such a force that Tamil Cinema was drowned under its power. Kareem was running the journal from a very small room and the printing press of the magazine was also very small. I have met him in his ‘office’ once. It was amazing that ideas of such high values emanated from this personality.

Life in Chennai is so full of surprises, wonders and amazements.

                                                                                                       Ashoka Mithran

Retro Chennai from Asoka Mithran looks back at Chennai, in fact the Madras as it was known and existed. The column traces the city's lifescape at various points of time.