Saturday, June 21, 2008

Part IV An insight into the people of Thiruchendurai (of 1940) - By Sethuraman

Just across the railway line, and right opposite to the lane leading to the Siva temple, stands ‘Madhurasundari Vilas’ a bungalow belonging to Burma M.S. Muthuswamy Iyer – MSM chose this village, for its serenity, comforts and its proximity to Tiruchi town, as his residence, after a long stint at Burma .. His was a large family, and he endeared himself to everyone for his outspokenness, and earnest desire to help and assist everyone to the extent he could. This Bungalow originally belonged to Munsif Ayya Ayyar who played a vital part in the village, particularly during the Cauvery floods of 1924.. It is said that between the two of them -- Munsif Ayya Ayyar and Venkataraman they shared the responsibility of saving the village, by arresting the water flowing into the village by building check dams with sandbags and keeping an all night vigil.



(Venkatarama Iyer in 1982 – Age did not deter him continuing his good work – well remembered by the villagers, this noble soul passed away in 1984 – photo courtesy – family)

The Bungalow had a huge backyard, where MSM planted some teakwood saplings brought over from Burma and one could see those tall trees all the time. All his children moved amongst the villagers with camaraderie, and affection, till they started moving out of the village for better prospects. Ramamurthy the eldest, moved to Tiruchi, where he worked for the Railways – M. P. Haran, also known as Chella, moved to Madras where he involved himself in marketing Insurance. Visweswaran who was friendly with other village lads, passed away in a very young age due to smallpox, as also Baby his younger brother. Patta, who had a good academic career at the Agricultural College, somehow became very quiet, and isolated himself from a family life – but was giving a helping hand in all village activities. Patta remained a bachelor till the end..
Of the daughters Raji got married and settled down in Madras, Rukku married an Engineer who was working at Lillooah (once again a Calcutta connection) but settled in T’Nagar after his retirement...

MSM married again a lady from Nilakkottai ; the family lived in the bungalow for quite a few years and when the Bungalow was sold out, they moved out of the village. .

And there were migrants to this village then, some of whom have adopted the village as their own and continue to reside here.. One such is V. Ramachandran of the Railways, a good friend of Radhakrishnan, took active part in the formation of the St. Johns Ambulance Association, as also in other activities of the village. He was residing in the Periyaam for a while and then moved over to the Keela Theru – family still resides in the village, and a grandson of Ramachandran, Sriram an engineering student at Khargpur, joining hands with Mahesh started the Jeeyapuram blogsite. Coffee Srinivasa Iyer, Panaiyur Ranganathan, were also the other migrants.

And there were some other transients too – a few of them have visited the jeeyapuram blogsite, expressing happiness on the product, and adding that they were also residents of the village for a while in their younger days.

And we also had a number of old ladies in the village, who, during their younger days, must have contributed a lot for the growth of the village in many ways. Because of the many restrictions and orthodoxy of the system, they all
adhered to the strict sartorial restrictions e.g. tonsured head, a brown colour naarpattu saree and vibhuthi on their foreheads.. While Thangammapatti, Chellammapatti, and Gnanambalpatti belonged to the ‘haves’ Pichupatti who lived in a hut just in front of the Srirangam House, under the poovarasam tree belonged to the ‘have not’ as she did not have any close kin to take care of her in her nonagenarian days. The families nearby took care of her meager needs till her death.

A noteworthy migrant in the vellala Street east of the MSM Bungalow, is the Gosain family – Hira Giri Gosain, and Gopal Giri Gosain – It is not known when they moved into the village but the they took a very active part in all happenings of the village. Hira Giri was a trustee of the Chandrasekaraswamy Temple – they must have come down from the North probably in the previous century and chose our village to settle down.

In the western side Vellala Street, the family of Mariappa Pillai and Sangiliya Pillai– later a Panchayat president, was very active in the happenings and made himself affable and friendly to one and all.. The others that are still remembered are Mason Natesan, and his assistant Marimuthu – the village’s builder and architect; Ramu Pandaram who for a long time served the Elampuli amman Temple, across the railway line (which incidentally had a grand Kumbabishegam recently thanks to the interests of all villagers led by Rangarajan) A generous contributor to this memorable event is Dr. Kamala Selvaraj, the very popular obstetrician and gynaecologist and daughter of Gemini Ganesan -- and talking about this Temple, no one will forget the awe-inspiring Potharaju, who, with just a stroke of his sword, severed the head of the lamb, when animal sacrifices were conducted,in the past.

The other people who were actively involved in the village were -- Vasanthu and Muthukrishna Bhattar, the archakas of the Venugopalaswamy Temple in Tiruchendurai. Though not residents in our village, they made a daily visit in the morning to perform poojas at the temple and in the month of Margazhi, and everyone would be eagerly looking forward to their dawn visits. This is the time when ‘margazhi bhajan’ would start from the temple in the wee hours, go around the village, and return to the temple at day-break.. The Bhattar would have brought an ‘arukkanchatti’ full of vennpongal, and soon after the deeparadhana this will be distributed – and it was divine to consume that prasadam.

The nearest maternity hospital was in Tiruchi and in those days most deliveries of babies would take place in one’s house itself. No one will forget Anandam, the ever smiling midwife of the village. She gave a helping hand to the physician at the Clinic, and attended to most deliveries at the village.

And there were a group of loyal lessees who made themselves members of the families of Tiruchendurai and they are – Appavu and Ganesan, who looked after the mango grove south of the railway station, and also lands of a few of the village residents, Perumal who took care of the lands, gardens of T.S.Ramanathan family – it is very difficult to find such loyal persons these days.

In the surroundings of the Railway station, there were shops but one stood out most –it was the ‘coffee club’ of a Sozhiyar family, where Ganesan worked as a ‘sarakku master’ (chef) Ganesan was an extremely nice person, and after a couple of years of hard work at the other restaurant, he opened a hotel of his own just in front of the railway station – to which most village lads were regular visitors. Onion sambar was very famous in Ganesan’s as also other snacks, ravadosai and vadai. It was a small place, with a frontage, and the canal running behind for washing vessels etc. And old residents visiting the village during their vacation made it a ‘must’ to visit the Ganesan’s.

The Municipal Clinic was located in a building opposite the railway station and was under the charge of Dr. Seshadri – in their spare time, Seshagiri and Vaithyanathan, (sons of TNRadhakrishnan), helped the doctor by volunteering themselves as compounders, and dispensed medicines according to the doctor’s prescriptions.

Adjacent to the clinic, and separated by a small stretch of rice field was another bungalow – known as Subbarao’s bungalow, a Swiss chalet type one, with lot of greenery, a beautifully flowering bougainvillea, crotons, other flowering plants and mango trees – Subbarao a retired businessman/contractor occupied this place for a longtime.

And it was here the YOUNG MEN’S ASSOCIATION flourished with most railway employees, villagers, and other office going people as members, doing their little bit of social work in the villages nearby. During the holiday season members from the YMA used to visit some far off villages, to propagate health habits, and clean living, and having a lantern show on diseases, how to prevent them, and treat them.. Sundaresan an advocate from Mall Street in Tiruchi was the president of the association at that time; and they used to stage a drama titled ‘Just a Peg’ to portray the evils of drinking, and the need for Prohibition. Apart from Ramanathan, Radha and others from Tiruchendurai village, a lot of youngsters from nearby Ammangudi, Andanallur, Karuppur and Kulumani, participated in the activities of the Young Mens Association – to mention a few, N.S. Sambasivan and Swaminathan, S. Ramaratnam, V.Ramasrinivasan, V.S.Krishnamurthy, Padmanabhan, Seppu Venkattu, A.E.S. Mani et al.



The first ever St.John's Ambulance Brigade out of Madras and in the south was established in the 1940s by the Nagarajan, Radhakrishnan brothers. Most village lads from Tiruchendurai, Ammangudi and Andanallur as also nearby villages became members of thebrigade.
S.Venkataraman, Dr.K.R.seshadri, T.S.Radhakrishnan, Dr.R.Kalamegham, Krishnaraj and V. Ramachandran were the officers. If you look closely you may find a dear one in this lot -photo courtesy T.V.Ganesan


The youngsters of the village were very active during the national movement days, having their own association, preaching nationalism amongst our own and adjacent villages. Whenever there was a national meet, or Exhibitions to propagate the national spirit, there were willing volunteers.. Later, village youngsters formed the ‘Balar Sangam’ in 1940, the forerunner of the ‘Ever Friends Association’ Balar Sangam was publishing a manuscript magazine, covering the village and national activities – introduced the villagers to Ananda Vikatan, Kalaimagal, Prachanda Vikatan and Kalki. It staged dramas at the Perumal Koil front, and its magnum opus was ‘Bhakta Ramadas’. This troupe went to other villages to stage this drama, it was that popular. When the drama was being staged in Kulumani, in an improvised stage at a Rice Mill, Ramadas was shocked to find some sixty legs dangling from the ceiling (uthiram) of the Mill – these belonged to the audience who could not get sitting accommodation in the theatre !! T.K.Krishnaswamy was the group’s director and makeup artist.



Tiruchendurai and nearby Kodiyalam involved themselves in a big way in the national movement. under the leadership of Kodiyalam Vasudevan a volunteer force served any national event, exhibition, etc. Radhakrishnan and Vasudevan are seen in the picture. Kodiyalam K.S.Gopalakrishnan was another leader in this movement.

While Tiruchendurai village can boast of their ‘Sahasranamam’ meets every evening at the Perumal Koil, V.S.Krishnamurthy resident of Ammangudi started a ‘Thiruppugazh Club’ and this Club used to assemble at the Vadatheerthanathaswami Koil of Andanallur in the evenings, and sang Thiruppugazh songs. Youngsters from our village participated in these recitals.

Not many of the present villagers may know that there used to be a ‘Sandhai’ – a Market – What the present day generation calls ‘one stop shop for all your needs’ – it was indeed that and more – it was a Shop at your doorstep – Held every Wednesday in the vacant area behind the rows of the houses and parallel to the Tiruchi-Karur road it was an attraction and the meet helped all the villagers buy their needs for the week from the sandai regularly.

The binding events of the village,you will see from above, are mostly the temple festivals – starting from ‘Arudra Darshan’ in January, followed by ‘Maha Sivarathri’ in March. On the occasion of the Arudra Darshan, the ‘utsavamurthy’ will go around the village blessing the residents. (It is gratifying to note that this festival has been revived since 2004, thanks to the efforts of the villagers led by V. Srinivasan, a grandson of T.V.Subbaraman, and resident of Chennai. Looking at a picture of the procession, one feels Lord Nataraja has been orphaned, as barring the deity carriers, the street is empty!)

It is Jeeyapuram’s pride that Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam visits this village every year in the month of Panguni, and the village will be in a great festive mood on this day.. Mukkur in his book ‘Kurai Ondrum Illai’ has highlighted this festival, and ‘agathi keerai’ the offering to the Lord Ranganatha.

And there used to be a ‘Kaman Pandigai’ coinciding with the Holy Festival in the North, when Kathan and his group used to entertain the villagers with the folklore and dance.. Not to mention the thappattam and paraiattam of the village folks. During the formative days of All India Radio, Tiruchi, in 1939 the Young Mens Association presented a Folk Dance and Performance of the villagers, under the leadership of N.S. Sambasivan. The village promoted without discrimination all festive events.

Apart from the Temple festivals, there are the annual Bhajan events, the Sita Kalyanam and the Radha Kalyanam, and these have been kept remarkably alive by the youngsters of the village resident and alien. There used to be a Kolattam Jathra of the village belles, but this artful event appears to have vanished !

Reading through, you would have found out that that the very life of the village had centred around the temple festivals, and bhajans, and one is happy to learn that this tradition twinkles still because of the following elders and youngsters:
The Seniors: T.K. Balasubramanian, T.K. Nagarajan, T.K. Murali, T.V. Venkatesan, T. V. Ramakrishnan, T.M. Srinivasan, and T. M. Thiagarajan (all from the Dikshidar family) – T.V. Muthukrishnan, (leader), T.V. Ramamurthy, T.R. Subramanian, Chandrasekaran, R. Adiseshan, T.S. Venkataraman, T.V. Ganesan, Padmanabha Iyer, Ramadas Iyer, D.V.Narayan et al.

The youngsters: M. Balasubramanian (son of TVM), T.R. Venu, T.R. Seenu, T.R. Balu, Jambu, J. Murali, J. Suresh, J. Balu, Srinivasan (Vasu), and P.R. Srinivasan… A prayer and a request – keep the tradition – keep the flag of Tiruchendurai flying high and bright!!---

Just as I am going to post I heard the good news, that the Government High school in Tiruchendurai, the educational institution that had nourished you, me and all others to come up in this world, created a record for successful candidates this year and one with the top score of 481 out of 500 under the leadership of its present head of institution Mrs. Padmavathi..
Congratulations !!

I am grateful to T.M.Srinivasan, V.Srinivasan, N.S.Jayaraman, T.R.Gurumurthy, K.Ganesh, Ramanujam, Mohan, Venkattu, Rajam, R.Sridharan, Ramamurthy and Chandru for their assistance/photographs and contribution in preparing this article

- Sethuraman



The Venugopalaswamy Temple in the Agraharam adjacent to the Judge’s house. The Nandavanam (flower garden is located between the temple, and the house. The Vilva maram appears to be there, but not the Thangarali tree under which we used to play handball (village version of the base ball!)

Note: Click on the photos to enlarge.

P.S: With this entry, "An insight into the people of Thiruchendurai (of 1940)" by Mr.Sethuraman ends. More interesting articles are in the offing, keep visiting.

1 comment:

Nambi said...

Hi,
I'm trying to trace my family roots and as part of that I would like to know If you know anything more about the quote "the western side Vellala Street, the family of Mariappa Pillai and Sangiliya Pillai" of these personnel.

Thanks in advance,
Nambi