 The Jatkas of Royapettah
 Royapettah is not an abode of the ‘Rayars’, as its name may suggest. (Rayars are Kannada-speaking Brahmins.) Most of the ‘Rayars’ stay in the Triplicane area. Nor is there evidence of the presence of rowdies (another reputation the area seems to have acquired). Another locational contradiction is that half the length of the Royapettah High Road is in
Mylapore.
Once I was going around looking for Rama Rao Garden Street. My search was in vain and ultimately I had to approach the local police station, where I got the right directions. Strangely, the place bore no resemblance to a garden. It was just a blind lane, with little possibility of even grass growing there.
 One of the features of Royapettah is its clock tower. During the era when wristwatches were a distant dream for the common man, this clock tower was of great use and a frequent point of reference. In fact, it could even have been called the central point of Chennai. The Wesley High School and Church opposite the clock tower are very old institutions.
The huge Royapettah Hospital nearby is also very old. It is hard to believe that this hospital was once situated in a single building near the Royapettah Police Station.
Even after the hospital shifted to a building a little away from Peters Road, the mortuary continued to be in the old building. Horse-drawn 'jatkas' were used to carry bodies to and from the mortuary. Only some particular 'jatkas' were employed for the purpose. People who could recognise these 'jatkas' avoided hiring them for their own transport. But today, the 'jatkas' are gone. In those days, rose growers would go to Royapettah to fetch dung dropped by the 'jutka' horses, which is very good manure for the plants. With the disappearance of the 'jatkas', they have had to look elsewhere.
Ashokamitran
(Translated by Sujatha Pradeep)
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