The Mount Road Round Tana met with its inevitable end for the first subway of the city. And it was over the subway that the statue of Anna installed during his lifetime. The statue of Kamaraj, around 250 meters away from the Anna statue was also installed when he was still alive. A strange coincidence was that both the statues did not augur well for both the leaders. Kamaraj lost his Chief Ministership and Anna breathed his last soon after his statue was unveiled. Another statue was unveiled in the same Anna Salai. Touch wood. He is hale and hearty. But the statue was desecrated.

The area is a flourishing trade centre. Two dhargas amidst poverty. A very large church. And the place where one of the greatest of religious leaders of the twentieth century stayed. It was in an old dilapidated house in a by lane of Chintadripet that Swami Ramachandraji, who established the Sahaja Marg used to stay, with a simple family that lived there. He initiated many to the Sahaja Marg meditation from that house. He helped them to remove what Pattinathar, Thayumanavar and Vallalar used to call as 'malam' (excrement) of the inner self. The only condition was that they should meditate when the Guru meditated.

The Mount Road of those days was a very important trade centre. It has lost its importance nowadays. The biggest market of the city these days is T. Nagar - and that too the Ranganathan Street!

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.