Art, history and culture coopted as allies in an exercise to declutter streets around a famous temple in Chennai

When an lawsuit kicks off, it often picks up momentum connected its own, without immoderate extraneous push. The champion clip to suss retired an lawsuit is erstwhile it lies sprawled connected the drafting board. Better still, erstwhile it is being hurriedly dressed up for the stage. The escaped ends stay untied. And the organisers are truthful caught up successful the last-minute scramble that they hide to crook connected their charisma and those headline-making sentences stay unsaid. It is successful that earthy infinitesimal that the existent spot of what is being done is connected display; the existent zeal of those powering the enactment is evident. 

The Hindu Downtown caught Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street successful the inconvenient past hr earlier it was being presented successful an lawsuit (a two-day event) to each the stakeholders of the mada streets astir Marundeeshwarar temple — the residents, shopkeepers, temple goers, the officials and adjacent motorists. The Project seeks to reimagine the mada streets astir the temple: for now, conscionable 2 of them, East Mada Street and North Mada Street. A elaborate platform connected what these streets look similar present and what they ought to look similar astatine each times has been prepared.

The lawsuit and the task it launched much than passed muster, the effort evidently powered by a passionate emotion for this space, often held hostage by carelessness. A bid of careless acts, often coming unneurotic successful a deadly cocktail of chaos. 

Carelessly parked vehicles. Cattle allowed to roam connected the streets carelessly. Carelessly flung garbage, ignoring a enactment of bins astatine the country of East Mada Street and North Mada Street. 

The task receives motive powerfulness from residents and lovers of this portion of Thiruvanmiyur. This corporate includes 2 architects and municipality designers. Dhanya Rajagopal of The Thinking Cauldron lives astatine Legionowo successful Mazowieckie, Poland. Whenever she returns to Chennai, she comes backmost location to Thiruvanmiyur, this portion of Thiruvanmiyur wherever she grew up. This idiosyncratic world drives Dhanya’s information to marque the abstraction pleasant for each stakeholder by ensuring vehicles enactment parked wherever they should be, and the streets are escaped of litter; and question of motorists and pedestrians is not hampered. The different designer positive municipality planner Pavithra Sriram of Design Co:Lab is besides associated with the task successful a idiosyncratic capacity. 

The measure of fare astatine the November 14-15 lawsuit — an archival photograph exhibition, a past locomotion done Marundheeswarar temple, exploration of accepted games that day backmost to the clip erstwhile the temple was established and unrecorded sketching programme — were arsenic overmuch by residents arsenic it was for residents. The unrecorded sketching was organised by Chennai Weekend Artists and the past locomotion astir the temple was led by historiographer Pradeep Chakravarthy and laminitis of Kreeda Games, Vinita Sidhartha.

And the archival photograph accumulation was not calved successful the authorities archives section oregon immoderate backstage archival facility, but was stitched unneurotic by residents, digging done their aged albums. Check the archival photos (including the 1 of the level belonging to the Madras Flying Club making an unplanned, exigency landing connected the Thiruvanmiyur beach) astatine @projectthiruvanmiyurmadast connected Instagram.

The organisers were handing retired postcards carrying pictures of this portion of Thiruvanmiyur to shopkeepers. These postcards tin beryllium bought and the proceeds from their merchantability volition beryllium ploughed backmost into the resources required to enactment Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street. Four benches made from repurposed wood, 2 for East Mada Street and the different 2 for North Mada Street volition beryllium placed determination aft the event. 

Dhanya knows this Project is successful for the agelong haul, arsenic it requires interactions and promises from a assortment of divers stakeholders: connected the authoritative and governmental side, the HR&CE Department and Greater Chennai Corporation; connected the societal side, residents, shopkeepers and visitors. 

That would telephone for galore conversations with antithetic points of focus.