Trams were plying in Mylapore till the year 1952. The cost of the tickets ranged from a quarter anna, half an anna and three-fourths of an anna to one anna. One could travel from Mylapore Tank to High Court by the tram. There was a separate tramway from the Luz junction to the Santhome Cathedral. That road still continues to be Kutchery Road. Two institutions gave distinction to Kutchery Road. One is the Venkata Ramana Dispensary. Ayurvedic treatment was given free of cost here. Medicines that were carried home were charged. The other was a small hotel, "Rayar Coffee Club," which was functioning in a small house just opposite to the Arundale Street.

Even if a small boy visits the hotel he will be invited ceremoniously and offered a seat. A small leaf will be placed in front of the person, on which a sweet, four idlis and two vadas will be served. Even if one refuses to eat, he will not be spared. The bench, table, walls, ceiling everything will be in a precarious condition. The whole world had caught up with the stainless steel pace, but the Rayar Coffee Club was using utensils made of brass. You can get such a palatable and delicious idli, vadai and chutney only in the Rayar Coffee Club. Bills were not issued there. A staff will have a slate and slate pencil and calculate the amount. Rayar Coffee Club, which was considered one of the permanent features of the world, disappeared suddenly one day. Some say that it is still functioning in a small street nearby. But one can never get that old experience.

When I came to reside in Chennai about fifty years back, I went in search of the Tiruvalluvar temple. I had to cross a canal on my way. On both the sides of the canal small ghats were constructed. Large boats were downloading the goods brought by them in those ghats. The ghats and steps remain there today but the boats are gone. That canal which enabled travelling right through the middle of the Chennai City is the famous Buckingham Canal. In those days, one could travel by a boat from Chennai to Visakhapatnam in the Buckingham Canal. The founder of the Theosophical Society, Madame Blavatsky, used to travel only by that canal from Chennai to Nellore. Nellore rice, hay and tobacco were transported from Nellore to Chennai through this canal on moonlit nights. The great Tamil poet Bharathiar, probably got an inspiration from this and wrote the song, "Bharata desamendru peyar solluvar," in which one can find the lines "Sindhu nadhiyin misai nilavinilae".

Let us scan Chennai again....

Ashokamitran