How the Madras Walk went online this year with virtual walks and photographs

“I walked past the streets of Chintadripet. I saw the May Day park, the MRTS railway station, a library, the fish market and Iyya Mudali street — famous for making the Tirupati temple umbrella,” says Sththuti, as soon as she attends our call to talk about the Madras Walk conducted by YOCee organisation.

 

When asked how they were able to walk amid the pandemic, she immediately responds, “The walk was conducted online, but I was able to track the map and walk along with the moderator. I almost visited all the places because I earlier did not even know that Chintadripet had a railway station. The walk was virtual, but at the same time I could feel it. This was my first walk and I felt like it was (in person).”

 

More than 20 children like Sththuti from across Tamil Nadu take part in the Madras Walk conducted every weekend by YOCee. 

 

YOCee, Youth for Chennai, has been conducting walks around the city’s heritage for the past 10 years. This year, they have conducted two online walks on the Chintadripet and Parrys Corner stretch and are planning to conduct one more online walk on Pondy Bazaar. 

 

The Madras Walk is an integral part of Madras Day celebrations to trace and learn the history of erstwhile Madras. Though the organisers were able to conduct the walk only online, they took the help of photographers to tell the story and recreate the walk-like experience. 

 

Madras Week was observed from August 17 and August 24 this year. However, the celebrations and events are lined up till next month.

 

Revathy of YOCee says Madras Day is always special because the Chennai district was formed from many villages like Chintadripet, Parrys, Mylapore, Triplicane among others and hence, it is vital to help children know the past. Every year YOCee used to take the children for a walk, but this year they were unable to do so due to the pandemic and decided to move online.

 

“This time, we were thinking of how to conduct a walk and finally decided that we can hold a virtual walk. I also thought we could share our journey with the children. We choose two photo walks for two weekends. We are going to talk about Panagal park for next week. The children used to click a lot of pictures during the photo walk so we also made a video with the pictures for display,” says Revathy. 

 

Revathy instantly invited photographer Ramaswamy, who was happy to join the board. Ramaswamy was not new to the photo walk since he has also been conducting walks once every 15 days in Chennai. Photographraper Ramaswamy is famous for his posts on social media titled ‘one photo a day’. Ramaswamy has clicked one picture a day for the past 14 years and has been posting it on his social media accounts.

 

The concept of virtual walks was the only new thing for him and he tried to recreate everything virtually. He showed a virtual map of the places they were planning to visit for the day and as they moved from place to place, he also managed to show them the places en route. He says, “I was able to recreate most of the things but the only things I couldn't give to them were touch and feel. Chintadripet fish market is one of the oldest markets and if you cannot give the smell of the place, it’s slightly disappointing.”

 

Yet, he says, “The most important thing is to educate the children and persuade them to visit the place. Once the session was over, everyone told me they will go and visit the place as soon as the pandemic is over. That is the most important thing to impart in children.”

 

Madras is captivating because every place has a history, he says. “Every locality has a hidden and interesting fact. We need to explore them. Even if you say that South Chennai was recently developed, it is false. There was a village called Naduvankarai before Chennai. Every place has a social history that needs to be found and told,” he said.

Explaining about the sessions, 14-year-old Sththuti said, “Ramaswamy took us into Chintadripet through his lens. He showed a virtual map and we followed. There is a railway station in Chintadripet and opposite the railway station is May Day park. The May Day park got its name after the May day revolution. A few meters from there is Zion Church, which has the largest organ. There is also a mosque and temple showing unity of the people. The place also has Shiva and Vishnu temples sharing the same compound, which was unique, explained Ramaswamy.”

 

 

Sththuti shared that the name of Chintadripet was also Chinna Thari Pettai which changed into Chintadripet in recent times. The Chinna Thari Pettai name shows that the place was famous for weavers. 

 

Ramaswamy made us pass through the fish market and then showed us the Iyya Mudali street in Chintadripet, she says. “The street has a  lot of weavers who are till now making the umbrella for Tirupati Devasthanam. The wevers also make garlands with beads in the entire stretch. There was so much I could learn from the walk,” she adds. 

 

The organisers also conducted a quiz to test the students on their knowledge of Chennai.

 

 

There was another positive side to the Madras Walk this year, Revathy says. People residing outside Madras were able to attend the session because of the online platform. “A family from Kanyakumari was able to join the meeting since the walk was conducted online. The mother of two brothers told me that she will take them to visit the places when she comes to Chennai,” shares Revathy.

 

Ramaswamy, on the other hand, is waiting for the government to allow public gatherings to resume his walks but this time with bigger plans. 

 

Once the pandemic is over, Ramaswamy has plans to find an undiscovered place in Chennai to take people. He says, “This year we could not take the children to the places. So grandeur in Madras Walk can only mean finding a new place that is yet to be discovered or a place that has hidden history. So I’ll  find and show a new place next year.”