 A Place of Minimal Anti-Social Activity
 The Music Academy was the most important centre for classical music in Chennai some time ago.
Today its prominence is shared by a few other organizations and the most popular among them is the Narada Gana Sabha in Alwarpet.
The large open space in front and the broad entrance to the Sabha cannot be seen anywhere else in Chennai. The restaurant in front of the Sabha is also a big attraction.
 A number of large houses in Alwarpet have been pulled down to make place for contemporary commercial buildings and residential apartments. The few buildings still untouched by the merciless crowbars look all the more pathetic for lack of maintenance. But one old bungalow (about 90 years old) still retains its stately and dignified appearance. It is the building that was the residence of the late Sir C.P.Ramaswami Iyer. His role in Twentieth Century Indian history is well known. The C P R Centre in Alwarpet Corner is a memorial to the statesman. Exhibitions of handicrafts from other states and of handloom garments and ecological conservation programmes are conducted there.
An amazing thing about the Alwarpet-Teynampet area is that, unlike other places, there are no statues. At one time, there was a recommendation that all statues in Tamil Nadu should be kept in a museum. If that had been implemented, Alwarpet would not have been affected at all. A number of city buses ply through Alwarpet, giving the impression that local residents have easy bus transport to any part of the city. But all the buses passing through this area are very crowded and those wishing to travel have a hard time. This is probably the reason why auto drivers do thriving business in the area.
 Alwarpet has people from all stratas of life. Strangely, anti-social activities are minimal. It has no cinema theatre or any of the Slum Clearance Board's multi-storey apartments. Probably that is why there are no local 'dhadhas' practising their extortions.
Alwarpet and Teynampet are two old areas of Chennai City, but they do not have any special landmarks to prove their antiquity. A number of noteworthy persons have lived in this area, and in recent times two famous Tamil writers have come to reside in Alwarpet as neighbours. They are Indra Parthasarathi and Sujatha. They have some things in common like both of them write under pseudonyms and their sons live in the USA. If both these fathers are not seen around in the area for some time, then it means that they are in the States to be with their sons and families.
Let us scan Chennai
again…,
Ashokamitran
(Translated by Sujatha Pradeep)
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