Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
Coronation Park:

His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary held a grand Durbar in Delhi to commemorate their Coronation as Emperor and Empress of India on December 12, 1911. To commemorate this event many Cities in India built Buildings, Parks and Public places and named after the event. Coimbatore did not lag behind. A grand Park was built in the sprawling grounds east of Stanes European High School, in Uppilipalayam, south of Central Jail Compound. This was named "Coronation Park". When I was young I had been to this Park many times with my parents and family members. There was a good Band Stand in the center of the Park, where the Police Band used to be in attendance and play on weekends. The Park was covered with nice plants and trees and had walk ways neatly paved. Wooden Park benches were there to relax. Apart from the "locals", I have seen many English men and women visiting the Park with their kids. Later when Radio came into existence Loud speakers were fixed on the roof of Band stand and AIR music started floating in the Park. After independence thie Coronation Park was renamed "V O Chidambaram Pillai Poonga" after the Patriot V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, who was interned to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two life imprisonment (40years) in the adjacent Central Jail for sedition.

Later on Elephant ride, a Toy Train and other play things for children were added one by one in this Park.



To the west of Coronation Park there was a huge ground, where big public meetings were held in those days. It was here I heard Pundit Nehru for the first time. Soviet Leaders Marshall Bulganin and Khrushchev addressed a huge gathering at this grounds in 1955. Now this place has vanished into the Stadium buildings.


There was a small, but very nice Stadium South of this Park with oval ground extending up to Avinashi Road. This was known as "Gandhi-Irwin Stadium". There used to be a Statue of "Gandhi and Lord Irwin" signing the "Gandhi-Irwin Pact". But for some reason this statue was removed from the stadium by the Municipality. For a long time the annual District Olympic Sports events used to take place here. This ground was used for holding Political Meetings also. Here I have heard speeches of many Political Leaders of those days.One of the events in the Stadium grounds that was enshrined in my memory was the First Independence Day celebrations on the evening of August 15, 1947, with the orchestra from Central Studios were playing popular tunes. That was the day when I got a new Indian tri-colour flag for the first time.


Goshen Park:


There is another Park in Coimbatore which has a significant role in Coimbatore Water supply. If you ask any native of Coimbatore "which was the pride of the town ?", they will answer "Siruvani water". Yes, the sweet water of Siruvani situated in the high ranges of western ghats near the picturesque Attapadi - silent valley in Kerala area was diverted to the Town by a Dam built in 1925. This water was brought to the Town which is about 37 Kms from the source and stocked in the reservoir of Panagal Water Works at the Goshen Park north of Madras Forest College. Protected drinking water supply from this source to Coimbatore was envisaged by a visionary S.P.Narasimhalu Naidu , a Brahmo Samajist. There is still a School run in his name near the CS&W Mills in the City. The Siruvani Scheme commenced in 1925 was commissioned only in 1931. Around the Reservoir in north Coimbatore a nice Park was developed by the Municipality. This was named after the Governor of Madras Presidency 2nd Viscount George Goshen and called Goshen Park. When I was young I used to visit this park frequently with our family members since it was close to R.S.Puram, where we lived. In those days we were allowed to roam about on the sands in the top of the reservoir, which had stairways to reach. For a long time the area around this place was grown with corn fields. After independence the name of the Park was changed to Bharathi Poonga, named after the famous Patriot and revolutionary Tamil Poet Sri Subrahmanya Bharathi. And the road is now known as Bharathi Park Road. And the area has been developed into busy city suburb. Brahmanyan.

posted on Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:29 AM

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Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.

"My name is Coimbatore Thayi" announced the sweet voice of the lady at the end of the 78 rpm Gramophone record after the Tamil Song. I do not remember the year but this must have been long long ago, when we had a hand winding Gramophone box with a huge funnel speaker like the one you see today in the logo of HMV Gramophone Company.In those days say seventy years ago all the artists would authenticate their records by such announcement of their name in the end. Palanikunjaram more popularly known as Coimbatore Thayi was born in 1872 in a highly cultured Devadasi family known for its accomplishments in Classical music and dance. Her mother Vengammal was a famous singer and her grandmother Coimbatore Visalakshi was a renowned Sadir (Bharatanatyam dance) artist. Initially Thayi followed her grand mother's foot steps and learnt Sadir and performed her "Arangetram" at the age of 11. But she found her fame was in Carnatic music and the family shifted to Madras in 1890 At Madras she grewup in the company of great exponents of Carnatic music and soon became famous. The newly introduced media known as "Gramophone" in 1900 helped her music to reach the corners of the Presidency. Her recordings were most popular in those days and she headed the popularity chart of HMV for years. But sadly death took her away in her mid-forties, leaving her rich music in the recordings long afterwards.

I came across an interesting anecdote about this great lady. It seems a rich visually impaired Frenchman Maurice Delage by name, connoisseur of music heard Thayi's gramophone record in Paris. He was astonished by the voice modulations (gamaka) of the Lady and decided to make a trip to Madras to meet her. and which he did eventually later on. The out come was his composition "quatre poemes hindous".

Though not many names are related to Coimbatore in the realm of fine arts and Music,like Madras or Tanjore district, there are a few great men and women who had left their mark in that field.

Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, the great flautist who held the top position for decades was from Coimbatore. I have heard his concerts many times. He was the celebrated disciple of the great Sarabha Sastry. Sanjeeva Rao enchanted the listeners by his perfection in rendering Carnatic music on Flute and popularised the flute as a solo concert instrument. Palladam Sanjeeva Rao got many hounours and he was conferred "Sangeetha Kalanidhi" in 1943 by the Madras Music Academy.

At one time playing Carnatic Music on Harmonium was considered sacrilege. AIR banned this instrument from their broadcasts for about 30 years. But one person from Coimbatore became a wizard and showed his talent by bringing out the best of Carnatic music from this instrument. He was none other than Perur Subrahmanya Dhikshidar. His gramophone records "testifying his instrumental excellence while accompanying a maestro of calibre of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao" are witness to this fact. He used to attract big crowds of rustic and elite listeners by his versatility in handling the harmonium. He used to play on the instrument by covering the key board with his silk upper cloth. Harmonium as a classical instrument regained popularity during the time of Perur Subrahmanya Dhikshidar and his legacy is continued by Palladam Venkataramana Rao (though not is disciple) even now.

I used to attend the Guru Pooja day at Sri Ramakrishna Vidhyalam at Perianaickenpalayam near our City every year. It used to be a grand function with Lectures, Music programs, exhibitions and free food etc. This must be in 1950s . On one such visit, after lunch suddenly a rich voice came from the loud speakers singing Bhajans. The crowds mostly of villagers rushed to the Pandal to listen this wonderful divine music. There on the dais was an young "Sanyasi" with a cooling glass with an yellow bandanna tied on this head singing bhajan to the accompaniment of his old harmonium played by himself. I am told his name was Pithukuli Murugadas. He kept every one mesmarised by his rich music. Later I came to know Sri Murugadas belong to Coimbatore and his name was Balasubramanian. My grandma told me that his parents were supplying good drinking water to Brahmin households in those days. He is very well known in the Tamil Speaking world for his rich bhajans.

Coimbatore N.Ramaswamy (Pillai) was a permanent Mridangam Artist with All India Radio for many years. He belong to the old generation of Vidhwans who were trained under the Guru Sishya Parampara. He had his gurukula under the famous Palani Subrahmanya Pillai. Though I have heard his playing on Mridangam in Radio I have never seen him in person, since he was staying in Madras.

I shall conclude this chapter mentioning some more famous names in the field of Cinema and Stage who made Coimbatore famous.

T.S.Balaiah was a versatile actor who started as a villain in Cinema but soon established himself as a character actor by his style of acting and dialogue rendering. Another great name was S.V.Sahasranamam who came from the stage to cinema. He was a respected senior Actor from the NSK Nataka Sabha group. And the third name is Nagesh the veteran comedian. Nagesh entered the Cinema world as a comedian but soon blossomed into a character actor. C.T.Rajakantham, who paired with Kali N.Rathnam in comedy acting and the present day character actor Sivakumar and his sons Surya and Karthi are from Sulur near Coimbatore.  All these great actors come from Coimbatore District.

posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 1:52 PM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
When I think about my childhood days in Coimbatore, many incidents come to my mind, which may be insignificant at that time. I remember the day when I was going with my maternal Uncle near YMCA on the Head Post Office Road. He showed me a small shed like structure in dilapidated condition opposite YMCA grounds occupied by a Tailoring Shop. He told me in olden days this place used to be busy with lot of English men and women visiting from far off places including estates in Anamalais and Nilgiris. The reason was Coimbatore's only "Hand Stitching Tailor" had his shop there. A Muslim Tailor who used to Stitch Garments from Gents Suits to Ladies Dress especially for the English population all by "hand stitching". Some thing unbelievable today. Such was the demand the Tailor used to set the schedule for delivery of the finished garments. This must have been before or around 1900, since the first Sewing Machine was brought to India by a Lady in Bombay only in 1879. I wish to add few sentences about this uncle of mine. He was my mother's younger brother. A soft spoken simple person. Though born in a rich family, had to face poverty by the time he reached his High School. He told me that he had to sell his bicycle to pay fees to write his high school examination. But this does not stop him from acquiring knowledge from reading in Libraries and free reading rooms. Only magazine that he used to purchase was "The Illustrated Weekly of India" regularly to keep himself updated about Politics and complete the famous "Crossword puzzle" published in it. He was an enthusiastic reader who used to share interesting information with others. In those days "The Illustrated Weekly" used to carry very good war time pictures apart from pictures relating to independence movement. He used to tell about the famous cities in Europe. When I visited Europe later after nearly 40 years on a holiday Tour, I made it a point to post him picture post cards from all the places he mentioned when I was young. Later he joined Imperial Bank of India as a temporary hand, but retired as Head Cashier after a long service with State Bank of India. Memories of some people will remain with us ever due to their goodness.

In north Coimbatore there is a place called "Tatabad" just behind the Pykara Power House. Many in the present generation may not know why it is called by that name. It is because "Tata and Sons Co. Ltd"., purchased a huge chunk of land in this place to open their Oil Mills to manufacture Cooking Oil, Soaps and detergents etc. They even brought some structural machinery for construction of the Oil Mills. But, due to some strategic reasons they abandoned the idea and shifted the project to Kochi. Then this place was divided in to building sites and sold. Tata Oil Mills at Kochi is now owned by HLL.

At the corner of Madras Bank Road (present Railway Station Road) and Trichy Road, there used to be a permanent exhibition building in those days. It was called "Electric Exhibition" ! This was about the uses of electrical energy for household purposes. Since I was too young I could remember a few only like Electric Lights, Fans etc. The idea was to introduce the uses of Electric Power to the people produced by the new Pykara Hydro Electric system. Unimaginable in the present condition of scarcity of Power. I am told that the Government offered very favorable terms to industries to use Electric Power including free transformers etc. Later this place was occupied by the famous "India Coffee House" a meeting place for many youngsters in those days. Here we used to get very good Coffee, bread toast and a few simple snacks served by uniformed servers.

to be continued. . .

posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:20 A

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.

If I tell that at one time no express train stopped at Coimbatore Railway Station, no body will believe me! But it is true. Coimbatore was a whistle stop station even for the Passenger trains. I remember the old Railway station, a small granite structure, on the western side of the railway lines at the southern end of present goods shed road just after the Variety hall Road cross. The prestigious Blue mountain Express used to pass through the station to Mettupalayam in the mornings without stopping.The same was the case of the return Blue Mountain Express from Mettupalayam to Madras. The nearest Express stop was at Podanur Junction about 5 Miles(8 Kms) from the town. Podanur was an important and old Divisional Head quarters in South Indian Railways, on the Jolarpet-Mangalore Line. If we wanted to catch Blumountain Express for Madras, we had to take a Passenger train or a horse drawn Judka to reach Podanur Junction well in advance. Similarly we had to detrain at Podanur and commute to Coimbatore on our return journey also. Later on at the request of the increasing population Blue Mountain Express stopped for two minutes at Coimbatore Station. In those days the S.I.R. permitted the trains to stop at any station if the I Class passenger has to detrain. (Usually I Class was reserved for rich and Englishmen only.) Which is unthinkable now. I was told that the Railways experimented another novel method to cool down the I Class Compartments for the Englishmen during hot summer. For a price the Railways used to provide Ice Boxes to be kept under the berths, which had special vents to drain off melting water! You know in those days Ice itself was imported from USA by ships and stored in Ice House in Madras. This Building is known as Vivekanandar Illam now.

South Indian Railway Company which was reconstituted in 1891 was one of the oldest in India. Its jurisdiction covered mainly the old Madras Presidency. The trunk route on Jolarpet - Calicut in which Podanur was a Division, was completed in 1862. by the then Madras Railway.The Podanur-Coimbatore - Mettupalayam BG line was opened in 1873.

Another interesting information many of the present generation in Coimbatore may not be aware was that the then Coimbatore District Board had constructed and commissioned a Metre Guage line from Podanur to Pollachi, which was run by the S.I.R, and eventually taken over by them. Similarly Tanjore District Board also constructed a Rail link to Arantangi in those days.

Railway link to Coimbatore was used more for transporting Cotton to the newly started Cotton Spinning and weaving Mills in Coimbatore and to connect Mettupalyam. In those days, Lorry transport was not developed much. There were three big textile Mills on the proximity of the railway lines in the City. They were C.S.&W.Mills, Kaleeswrar Mills and Somasundaram Mills. Till recently these Mills were linked by railway sidings directly entering the Mills. All the three Mills had towering chimneys belching smoke when they were powered by steam turbines at one time, which were also the land mark for Coimbatore.

During the war time, in 1941-42, old Railway Station was demolished and brand new Station Building with modern facilities with entrance on the Madras Bank Road (Imperial Bank).was built. Initially there were only Two Platforms for receiving BG Trains, which was expanded later on by adding two more platforms for Metre Guage trains extended from Podanur.

Podanur-Coimbatore-Mettupalayam line became busy when the Nilgiri Mountain Railways started functioning in 1899. During the summer seasons many Maharajahs used to go over to Ooty by special carriages attached to Bluemountain Express. It was a colourful sight to see various specially built Carriages with different Royal Coats of Arms displayed on them. Also the Governor's secretariat used to be shifted to Ooty from Madras during Summer months to function from there.

Coimbatore was well connected by good Bus services from olden days. Sri Gopalaswamy Naidu Doraiswamy Naidu, popularly known as G.D.Naidu started his Transport business under the name of United Motor Service (U.M.S) and ran his first "Auto Coach" between Pollachi and Palani in 1920. Incidentally my mother's maternal Uncle, who was the Police Office Manager at that time was a good friend of Sri Naidu. In those days licensing and regulating Bus Transports were under the Police Department. Then Sri Pollachi Nachimuthu Gounder started Anamalais Bus Transport (A.B.T.) in 1931, connecting Pollachi with Coimbatore and other nearby areas. Later another company known as Mettupalayam Coonoor Services (M.C.S) was started by Sri Katteri Chettiar at Mettupalayam connecting Ooty with Coimbatore. This service was known for their good Bus Coaches from the beginning. There were other Bus Transport Companies like BMS, Pakshiraja and VCK which connected the City to other parts of the District by running Buses on feeder routes.

Interestingly for a long time, there was no common Bus stand or Bus Station in the city for the Buses to start or reach. Each Company had its own Bus station in different parts of the city. The present Bus Station at Gandhipuram was opened only after the transports were nationalised.



posted on Sunday, March 02, 2008 11:29 AM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore
People born after independence may not know that Coimbatore played an important role during the World War II. Coimbatore hosted an evacuees camp accommodating about 3,000 British refugees during the period from 1941 to 1945. For this purpose the then British Government closed down the Madras Forest College and cleared several acres of forest land, West of the College. Initially they put thousands of tents in the open area across the Tadagam Road to accommodate the British refugees mostly from their European Colonies like Malta and other islands. Then rows after rows of small tenements were built for them in the space cleared in the Forest College Campus. Of course initially this area was out of bounds for civilians in the Town. It was a novel experience for us to see groups of white skinned families cycling in our R.S.Puram area. Most of them were refugees from Malta and Greece. I was told one prince belonging to Bulgarian Royal family was also stationed here. There were a few families of Anglo-Burmese stationed there.

Incidentally the first town bus service in Coimbatore was commenced during this period only. Two buses were introduced to run between the British Evacuees Camp and the Bazaar area and Cinema Halls on regular duration. These Buses were run only for the use of the refugees and civilian population in the Town were not allowed to use these Buses. Only interaction between the people of Town and the Evacuees is Football matches between the evacuees team and the Local team. Though BEC inmates confined themselves to the activities within their camp area, it is not uncommon to see minor frictions between the locals and inmates. Some of the inmates from of the Camp were enterprising people. A few of them from Malta and Burma studied Book keeping and Accountancy under my father, who was a Chartered Accountant.

This camp was closed in 1945 after the end of the War and the refugees returned to their home lands.

Another important War time development was the Air Force base at Sulur which is about 26 Kms from Coimbatore. This base was established during the World War II by the British as Royal Navy's Fleet Arm - RANS. It was also repair base for their South East Asian Planes. A good Concrete Road was laid by the British Government from the Air base to Cochin, passing through the Coimbatore town, Palghat and towns in Malabar area. This Air Force base was torched by the freedom fighters on August,26, 1942 in response to the "quit India" agitation called by Mahatma Gandhi. Now this Air Base is under the control of Indian Air Force.

One day in the afternoon (I do not remember the year) during the wartime many people from our street were rushing to the Mettupalayam Road to see the procession of hundreds of bullock carts moving through that road. What was special in it? Nothing except these carts and the well fed big bullocks were different. We were told these were sent by the then Maharajah of Mysore as his contribution towards war efforts of the British. These were stationed at the specially built barracks built in the eastern side of the Goschen Park (Barati Poonga).

The War period saw large scale exodus of people from Madras to Coimbatore. Many Government offices and industries too shifted to Coimbatore during this period. This gave a short term economic boost to the Town. I had the opportunity to see some prominent citizens of Madras like Dr.Arundale, Rukmani Devi Arundale of Theosophical Society and Rt. Hon. V.S.Srinivasa Sastry taking walks in our R.S.Puram area.

My School which was an Elementary School got upgraded to Middle School during this period due to sudden influx of students. But the sprawling sports ground was taken over by the ARP Corps ( a war time institution) for their offices and training. Air raid sirens were fitted in prominent place in the Town.Street lights were fitted with "blinkers" and all glass windows in the buildings were painted black to effect back-outs. Trenches were dug in every available vacant grounds. Periodic Fire drills were conducted to train the public in case of emergencies. All the Doctors and Nurses were drafted for war time duties. All these preparations in the Town, which is in a corner of the Province, looked as though it will experience airborne bombings any time by Germans or Japanese! Of course for youngsters like me it was a real fun with imagination and fear. The net result was that most of the jobless vagabonds got temporary jobs and some discipline was brought into the lives of these people.

posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 9:54 AM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore
I began my education in a Municipal Elementary School with Tamil medium. It was one of the few schools available in those days for middle class. The School was having spacious Class rooms and a big play ground, that can be compared to facilities available in modern day Colleges. Even though there were a few other Elementary and Middle Schools,to my knowledge there were only five High Schools in Coimbatore in my days. St.Michaels High School, Union High School, City Municipal High School all for boys and Government Girls School attached to Training School, Presentation Convent for girls. Apart from them there was Stanes European High School, and St. Frances Convent for Girls which were teaching in English Medium. Sarvajana High School at Peelamedu run by PSG charities was the only Hindu institution.They were also running the only Technical School imparting technical education courses.Later on Sir Arthur Hope Politechnic was established by the industrialist G.D.Naidu.

Now let me tell about the Colleges in Coimbatore during my younger days. Government Arts College was the only College in Coimbatore teaching Arts Courses in intermediate and upto Degree level. But Coimbatore had the privilege of having two specialised institutions one was Coimbatore Agricultural College, a residential institution established in 1908 for Agricultural courses and research, by the Government of Madras and the other was Madras Forest College, established in 1912., one among the two Forest Colleges in India run by the British Central Government in those days, the other one known as Imperial Forest Research Institure was at Dehradun (UP).

Coimbatore Agricultural College was built in a sprawling area of 300 acres east of the Town on the Indo Saracenic style of Achitecture which was popularly used by the British during the period from late eighteenth century to early ninteenth century for the institutions built by them. When I was young I used to cycle the 3 Kms distance from my house often to meet some of my school mates who were residing in the quarters there.In those days, the campus and the play grounds were maintained very well.There was a Museum in the College exhibiting rare things connected with Agriculture and of general interest, which I used to visit when ever I had been to the College. There were good Play grounds for Games like Hockey, Football and Cricket for the children of the residents. That is where I played my first game of Cricket with my team, and understood how poor my team was in that game! We used to attend the the that College auctions regularly to purchase used Cricket and Hockey balls that were sold at eight to ten for a rupee. Interestingly the Teams were always named after the Captains like "Chakru" Team or "Padhu" Team. Entire Campus used to be very peaceful and silent always.

Madras Forest College established in 1912 was built in an area of 195 acres in north of the town bordering R.S.Puram, in the similar style of Indo-saracenic architecture. This college was different, this was smaller than the Agricultural College. Both the Colleges had nice Clock Towers in the frontage towering over the porticos. On silent nights the sweet sound of the hourly gongs were heard from my house. But the campus and hostel of Forest College were out of bounds for visitors. But there was a museum "Gas Forest Museum" which had housed rare forest products and mounted taxidermy wild animals. This institution was closed during the second World War (1940-45) to house the British Evacuees, about which I shall tell later .

The Students of these two institutions used to wear Green and Blue Blazers respectively with their college coat of arms stitched on their pockets.

Another research institution was Sugar-cane Breeding Station, only of its kind in Asia run by the Central Government.

posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:44 PM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
Sociologists say that people prefer to live in Community groups. There are some practical advantages available readily when you live among your own people. When you look at the names of streets in Coimbatore, this seems to be true. To quote a few names there is a Edayar Veedhi (Yadava Street), Chetty (Vysia) Veedhi, Vokkiliga Street, Oppannakara Street, Telugu Brahmin Street and so on. Similarly from the names of some Roads we can find shops and places of interest. There is a Big Bazaar Street and Small Bazaar Street, where all shops are situated. Goods shed Road, Madras Bank Road, Taluq Office Road, Huzur Treasury Road, Collectors Office Road, Arts College Road will lead you to the places named. If one take the Trichy Road , Avinashi Road or Mettupalayam Road they can reach the destination. Similarly Easwaran Koil Street and Ramar Koil Street will take you to the respective temples. Now its all different, the Roads are renamed with that of Political Leaders or Corporation Councellors!

Coimbatore is famous for its cotton sarees, for generations. There is a weaver caste known as Devanga Chettys (Jedars). During my younger days a sizable population of this Telugu speaking community were staying in Sukravarpet area in the town. In the morning hours if you happen to walk in this part of the town you can see the activities of these people getting the yarn ready for the looms. Then the you can hear the sound of spindles tic-tacking in the looms reverberating through out the day. There is a Temple for the titular deity of this community known as "Sri Ramalinga Chowdeswari" in that area. The people belonging to this community are very hard working and the cotton sarees turned out by them are well known through out India and abroad. Many people may not be aware the special designer sarees used by Maharashtrian, Oriya and Bengalee ladies during festive season come from these looms only.

Though they speak Telugu the Devangas must have migrated from Madurai area along with the Nayak Rulers. Some of their families might have migrated from Kollegal in Mysore also.

Coimbatore is known as Manchester of South India due to concentration of Textile Mills in and around the Town in the District. At one time there were Seventy plus Textile Mills in Coimbatore area. Even though the first Textile Mill C.S.& W Mills (Stanes Mill) was started by the British entrepreneur Sir Robert Stanes in 1888, the credit for expansion of textile industries should go to to another Telugu speaking community Kammavar Naidus. They must have also migrated along with Nayak rulers from Madurai. At one time the entire Industries related to textiles were controlled by this community. Their contribution to the economic growth of Coimbatore is immense.They are Vaishnavites and highly religious people, great philanthropists, their generous contribution in the fields of education and medical field has made Coimbatore an important Educational and Medical centre in the south.

There is also sizable population of Vokkiliga Gowders in Coimbatore. These people who form a majority in old Mysore area must have been here since the days of Mysore Maharajas' rule of Coimbatore.Even though they were agriculturists by profession , in Coimbatore, most of them were in wholesale and retails business.

Let me tell about the majority community of the district known as Kongu Vellala Gownders. These people native of Kongu Nadu, the North Western part of Tamil Nadu are spread over the present Districts of Coimbatore,Erode, Salem, Namakkal and Karur in Tamil Nadu. Very industrious and hard working people, who are basically Land owners and agriculturists of repute. People of Coimbatore especially Vellala Gownders are known for their enchanting Tamil known as " Kongu Tamil". They used respectful words while addressing others irrespective of age and class. They cared more for their reputation and honour than money. Dependable friends and very hospitable people.I had quite a number of friends among this community during my younger days which continues even today. They had a satirical sense of humour, which is native to Coimbatore. It is because of their dedication and hard work Coimbatore stands foremost in Agriculture and Industries in the State. Good number of people from Vellala Community are serving the defense forces.

There are other communities like Gujaratis who are in large numbers in Coimbatore in Cotton trade, similarly Sindhis from Sirpur area, mainly in money lending business. There is a Gurudhwara cum Sri Krishna Temple in oppannakara street maintained by the Sindhi community since long. Large Malayalee population in Coimbatore is considered native to Coimbatore since Malabar's proximity to the City. Apart from this all other communities and languages made Coimbatore a cosmopolitan town indeed.

posted on Friday, October 19, 2007 7:03 PM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore
One sound that had permenently enshrined in my memory was the sound of Time Siren which will sound once in the morning at 10 AM and again in the evening at 8 PM every day through out the year, from the top of the Municipal Office. The sound of this siren was distinct and loud. Apart from this so many other Sirens will also hoot at various times from the Textile Mills. This was some thing every person in Coimbatore would have heard regularly.However I loved the ringing of Church bells in the early mornings from yonder.

Coimbatore had many old Churches one was the big St.Michaels Church, now a cathedral, built in the Roman style with a large dome. This Roman Catholic Church with its beginnings in 1847 had started many educational institutions, well known among them were St. Michael's High School and a convent school for girls Presentation convent. The other Church CSI Immanuel Church in Avinashi Road clebrated its 175 year in 2005. There was an old Syrian Christian Church in the road by the same name to cater the needs of the small Syrian Christian community in the town.

At the corner of Big Bazaar and Oppannakara Street stood the "Akhtar Jamaat" Masjid complex, with Two majestic minarets from which Muezzin's call to the faithful reverberated five times a day. Out side the Mosque shops were let out for business. It was one of the busiest areas in the Town. It was said that this mosque was built by the association of perfume businessmen of Muslim origin. But I doubt about this. Akhtar in Arabic has several meanings Star, Flower and green. Jamaat means association or group. In Tamil "atthar" is the name for perfume.

There may be new Churches and Mosques added in the fast growing town now, but may not have the history of old Churches and Mosques behind them.

Coimbatore did not have big Temples like the ones we find in most parts of the Tamil Nadu. But most important Temple was "Koniamman Koil" on whose name city is known as Coimbatore is in Town Hall Road. Goddess Koni Amman of the Temple was considered very powerful deity, who attracts huge crowd of devotees on festive occasions and fridays. Personally I believe the word Koni Amman must have Thaanthrik origin of Shakti worship. The week long annual festival of the Koniamman used to take place in the month of March, ending with the procession of the deity in the Temple Car (Ratham) around the old town. As children we used to wait for this occasion every year. Generally the Temple car will start the journey by about 3PM. When I was young every thing looked big. Big Temple car, huge crowd. But my interest used to be on the local made whistles and hand made funny toys and decorative fans that used to be sold there. In those days most of the toys were hand made from naturally available raw materials, unlike the present day plastic ones. It is sad many of the inexpensive and artistic handicrafts have gone for ever. The devotees used to throw plantains and fruits on the crowd. There used to be free supply of butter milk and Panagam (Jaggery water) to all.

There is another Temple which used to enchant me always. At Sukrawarpet main road there is a big Basavanna Koil (Bull Temple), which is unique in its architecture with a huge Bull covering the top the whole temple. Though dedicated to Lord Shiva this temple belongs to Veerasaiva Community mainly from North Karnataka, which is not common in Tamil Nadu. There are two other places of worship I should mention. There is a Ganesha Temple at the middle of the Edayar Veedi, which considered powerful by many, including our family. During the Tamil month of Aadi (July-August) my Parents used to organise a puja for our family on fridays in this Temple. My mother used to prepare for the visit in advance with Milk for Abhisheka, Oil and wicks for the Lamps, enough flowers, sandal paste, kumkum, coconuts, betel leaves, fruits etc. All of us will be dressed well and take a horse drawn "jutka" to travel to the temple. Similarly there is a Darga of a Sufi saint in the middle of the Big Bazaar, which attracted a big crowed on Thursdays. There a Muslim mulla used to bless us with a bunch of peacock feathers and distribute Uudhi. The belief was that this Saint can cure acute jaundice.

posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:55 AM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
Well, Let me start this Post, with the people whom I know better. That is, my own family and community.

At the time when I was born at Thomas Street in 1931, Coimbatore was a small town with a population of around 30,000, fourth big town in the old Madras Presidency next only to Madras, Madurai and Salem. But It was a big District with ten Taluqs , Kollegal in north bordering Mysore State, Pollachi bordering Malabar District in the west, Udamalpet bordering Madura District in South and Erode bordering Trichy in east.

My mother belonged to Coimbatore by her father's side. My grandmother belonged to Singanallur a small village east of Coimbatore. My grandma told me that forefathers of my grandfather had migrated from Mysore State, after Tippu's time. She herself came from Tiruppathur in North Arcot District, (according to her)which was known for good looking Brahmin girls(!) in those days. Interesting indeed. Colour prejudices were there all the time in human mind. She told that the Coimbatore Brahmins were dark in complexion and this made them to go in search of girls out side the District, mainly from Palghat area or Eastern Tamil Nadu (Chola desam). In fact my father, who was very fair, was from Tanjore District. During my younger days Brahmin population in Coimbatore was very small and almost every one is related to each other. Most of them lived in and around Raja Street, Thomas Street, Telugu Brahmin Street and Sullivan Street area. Majority of the Brahmins were in Government service or Advocates and other professionals. Not many of them are landed people. Coimbatore Brahmins were known for leading good life of eating and spending. They were generous in every thing. Good hosts, high in sense of humour and non- controversial lot. Many of them sported big handlebar mustache, not common among the Brahmins in other parts of Madras Province in those days. According to my grandma, most of the families were from old Mysore region. They loved and mingled with people from all communities easily and all others respected them. I enjoyed the friendship of people from all Communities and Castes without distinction. This is an unique trait. Honestly. till I came out of Coimbatore I do not know that so much differences existed in the minds of people in the name of Religion, Caste, Community and Language.

According to my Grandma, Coimbatore named after the presiding deity of the town "Devi Koniamman" (Koniamman puthur) was a very small town. We can walk all around the Town end to end without difficulty. According to the names of the places in the town, Coimbatore must have been formed as a new town (Puthur), perhaps after some incident. There is a Raja Street in the centre of the town and a place called "Kotemedu" (Fort mound) adjacent to that street. The names of the streets like Thomas Street and Sullivan Street must have been given honouring Sir Thomas Munro, the Governor of Madras (1820) and John Sullivan Collector of the District who brought the hill station Ooty to the notice of the public eye and layed a bridle path in 1819 in the Blue Mountain Hills (Nilgiris)

Purposely I have decided not to enter into the Histoy of Coimbatore as is known to us from books, except that this town had seen many wars and passed into the hands of various rulers, time and again till it fell into the hands of British East India Company in 1799. I would rather like to rely on the grandma's tales passed on from generation to generation about the town. Even though incidents may have been embellished with exaggeration there will be truth in the core. There is a Temple called "Thandu Mariamman Koil" in Uppilipalayam area of the town reminding the existance of a Cantonement (Thandu in Tamil) in Coimbatore at one time in the past. In olden days it was common among the people in South to establish a Temple in memory of some important incident and name the deity after the incident.

Coimbatore had a cosmopolitan population, you may find people from all religious communities, languages in the town. Even at my younger days I found Coimbatore had Tamil speaking people formed just half of the population. Rest of the population was made up of Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam speaking people. Since the northern parts of the District was with Kingdom of Mysore, the Kannadigas must have come from there. Telugu speaking people must have migrated from South when Nayaks from Madurai ruled this place. Malabar is just 20 Kms from the Town and interchange of Malayalam and Tamil speaking population was natural between neighbours.

To be continued......

posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 5:15 PM

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
Apothecary in Coimbatore.
This conversation took place some sixty odd years ago between myself and my Grandma .One day I asked her whether there were good Doctors in the town to attend in those days. She replied that they did not have "English Doctors" in olden days. But there was a Saibu (Muslim) Apothecary, who was the first to open a medical store in Coimbatore. The word looked funny and I consulted the Dictionary which gave the meaning "old name for one who prepares and sells drugs, now druggist". My grandma a sweet old lady was correct. I pursued further to know that later a Medical School was opened by the then British Government in Coimbatore. This was closed along with all Medical Schools in the Province when Licentiate medical education was replaced by University Degrees. This building was turned to accommodate the Government Arts College later on in 1853. I took my degree from this College after one hundred years. The District Headquarters Hospital, a heritage building, which is nearby to the College must have been built at that time only.

From the available information it seems that Coimbatore was not a healthy Town in olden days. Being nearer to the western ghats it was in the endemic Malarial belt. When BCG was introduced it was found more than 70% of the population showed positive to Tubarcular infection. Another dreaded disease was Plague which had visited the town on epidemic levels at least twice during the last century. The then British Government moved the population from crowded localities to out side the town. The Brahmins vacated their old Agraharams and established the new Brahmin Extension out side the Town, which is now known as Ram Nagar. Many rich people shifted to Uppilipalayam and Race course areas in east. Even today we will find Temples and Goddesses named after Plague. Plague Mariamman Koil is one of them.

As per the records Coimbatore District had been in the grip of famine in September 1877, and more than 200,000 people died of diseases along with the great famine during that period in the District.

It would be of surprise to the present generation to know that Coimbatore is in the seismic zone! The town experienced earth quake on February, 8, 1900. Many buildings including parts of Jail and a Christian Chappel near the old Railway Station were destroyed. One of my good friends used to tell that at one time there was a huge crater on ground running through the town from Thadagam extension (R.S.Puram) to Puliakulam. When I was young I have seen a running crack near Kumaraswamy Lake, for some distance, which was filled up later by the Municipality. Also I have seen a huge pit running for short distance in Puliakulam at the back side of Pakshiraja Studios. Old revenue records may shed more light on this subject.

I feel I must tell about famous names in Chemists and Druggists that were known in my younger days. N.Dase Gowder & Co., D.S.V.& Sons., Owned by D.S.Vasu Rao. Interestingly he did not have sons, but two daughters only! And Wilfred Periera a 24 hours shop. All the three were in Avinashi Road next to the old Railway gate. At R.S.Puram where we lived there were two shops one Manohar & CO., and the other Krishnaswamy & Co. But none of them I could find when I visited Coimbatore in 2006.

Now Coimbatore, fastest growing city in Tamil Nadu has Five Medical Colleges offering Degrees in Medical and health sciences. A number of Clinics and Hospitals with modern facilities have made this City an important medical centre in the state.

What a change indeed.

Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore. -
Bioscope in Coimbatore.

Many of the present generation would not have heard the word "Bioscope" which was common word during 1920-30. It is the word used for Cinema in those days. The first regular screening of movies in India started in the year 1900 by Royal Bioscope Company in Calcutta. Which was renamed as "Elphistone Bioscope in 1902. During this period many other Bioscope Companies cropped up in Calcutta, like London Bioscope Company, Imperial Bioscope Company, Globe trotter Bioscope, Bengal Bioscope so on and so forth. Madras' first Bioscope was opened in 1911 but it had a very short life of few months.

In South the name of Mr.Swamikannu Vincent of Coimbatore is enshrined in the History of cinema for posterity. Mr.Swamikannu Vincent, a draughtsman in South Indian Railways bought a projector from a Frenchman M. Du Pont in Tiruchirapalli for Rs.2000/=, and set up a Touring Cinema called "Edisons's Cinematography" in 1905 and became the first exhibitor in South. It seems he had taken his Touring Cinema all around the Country as far as Bombay, Peshawar, Lahore and even Rangoon, apart from many places in South like Madras and Trivandrum.

Mr.Swamikannu Vincent built the first permanent Theatre in South "Variety Hall" in 1914 on the Road leading to the Railway Station (old) now known by the same name in Coimbatore. Mr.Swamikannu generated Power for the theatre with two German Diesel Generators. He also set up first Electric Printing Press and Rice Mill to consume the surplus Electricity Generated. Then he got the permission from the Government to supply excess power to the Town. Thus Mr.Swamikannu Vincent became first to introduce Electricity to Coimbatore. He constructed another Cinema House "Swami Hall" on the same road which he renamed "Edison's theatre" later.I am not sure whether this theatre was the first built by Mr.Vincent! Another Theatre "Palace Talkies" was built by his son Mr.Paul Vincent near Ukkadam to show English Pictures.

Mr. Paul Vincent followed his father's foot steps and built a modern Cinema House in R.S.Puram called "Vincent's Light House" on D.B.Road in 1940s. In those days it was an artistic marvel. He used the famous Artist Shantaram of Central Studios Coimbatore to decorate the entire auditorium of the Theatre with huge bass reliefs and paintings with scenes from the epic "Sakuntalam". This made the Vincent's Light House an artistic wonder. Later on many other Theaters were built in the City, but none can be compared with the Light House in its beauty and elegance.

It was said that Mr.Vincent got himself interested in starting a cine Studio in Coimbatore with some other local entrepreneurs and started Coimbatore Central Studios.

In this Blog "Down memory lane" I intend writing memories of my native place Coimbatore, where I was born, bred-up and spent my best years of younger days.