This years Madras Week Celebrations in commemoration of 374th Madras Day had two heritage rides on bicycles to offer and the double bonanza kick started with an Heritage Ride to Royapuram on 18th August 2013, cycling enthusiast from different walks of life gathered on a Sunday morning at the entrance of Madras University relinquishing their precious early morning slumber and even before the arrival of twilight with the accompanying welcome drizzle a peleton of 30 plus cyclist took off from this starting point to explore and relish the past vestiges of Madras. The first place to visit was the Plaque at High Court Compound Wall Judges entrance the Plaque mentioning Bombardment of Madras on the night of 22nd September 1914 by the German cruiser "Emden" and how the missile fell at this spot and took away the portion of the compound wall. Next on line was the nearby Obelisk adjacent to Dare House (Parry's Corner) it mentions the Boundary of Esplanade as on 1st January 1773. Soon we rode past a series of Heritage buildings located on this part of Rajaji Salai earlier called First Line Beach, the SBI Local Head Office and the GPO, then came the Cupola of Lord Cornwallis in front of Chennai Collector Office an empty cupola consisting of the Statue of Lord Cornwallis till 1925 which was later moved to the Museum. After these came the HISTORY in making a visit to the Royapuram Railway Station the oldest operational Railway Station in India which became functional in June 1856. The station was the gateway to Madras and it was at its grandest when Prince of Wales Edward VII visited it on 17th December 1875. Now entering Royapuram our next stop was the St.Peters Church built in 1829. The finish point of the Heritage Ride was at Parsi Anjuman, Royapuram which houses an 100 year old Heritage Building and nearby is located the Parsi Fire Temple called Dar-e-Mehar it was built in 1910. At the end there was a vote of thanks to the sponsors of the ride, all the participants, a group photo session and distribution of refreshments.
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| History at Royapuram Railway Station |
On 25th August Madras Day Heritage Ride to Triplicane and Mylapore, the route was a replica of the Madras Day Heritage Ride 2012 and around 25 of us began from Madras University proceeded to Sri Parthasarathy Temple, this ancient Vaishnava Temple has its earliest inscription reference to Pallava King Dantivarman (795-846 AD) apart from the songs of Vaisnava Saints the Alvars nearby is the Bharathiyar Illam where the national poet Subramaniya Bharathiyar spent his last few years of his life during early 1920's. Next was the Vivekanander Illam known as Ice House which was built by Frederic Tudor in 1842 and used as an ice storage facility it was purchased by one of the Mandyam Iyengars living in Triplicane, Swami Vivekananda who stayed in Triplicane for some time owes much to these Iyengars for his presence at the Chicago Parliament of the World Religions (1893). Riding through the Marina Beach proclaimed to be second longest beach in the world owes its name as well to its first beautification project with promenade in 1884 by the then Governor of Madras Elephinstine Grant Duff we reached Santhome Church built over the Tomb of St.Thomas in 16th Century by the Portuguese and later rebuilt by the British in 1896. Zipping past Dabba Chetty Shop famous for its country drugs and herbal medicine since 1885 we halted for some time at Pey Alvars Birth Place where the 6th Century Vaishnava Saint Pey Alvar was born, The finish point was Sri Kapaleeswarer Temple Mylapore built in 7th century by the Pallavas, to the famous Saiva Saints of Tamilnadu called the Nayanmars the temple was located on the sea shore setting aside the debate we ended the ride with a cup of coffee at the nearby popular mess.
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| At Vivekananda House |
The bonhomie, camaraderie and most importantly the feeling of bliss in getting transported to our wonderful past was what all of the participants would have cherished to take back as memories on return and trust these two heritage rides which were orchestrated to perform those tasks with efficiency would have accomplished. Once again thanking all those who were involved in making the Madras Day Heritage Ride's 2013 a grand success. Till next time ...
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