Dehi’s Madrasis -Then and Now

 

 

Till about the early sixties, New Delhi was just a central government city.  The inhabitants were mostly government servants living within a radius of two miles from Central Secretariat. High ranking Government servants like Secretaries, Joint Secretaries etc. lived in aristocratic bungalows while the lower rung officials like Clerks and Stenographers lived in smaller quarters around the popular middle class Gole Market area

 

     In this great city lived the “Madrasis”- an appellation invented by the North Indians to describe all people belonging to the south of the Vindhyas. Almost all of them were government servants except some essential service providers like school and music teachers, vadhyars (religious pundits) and cooks. With many Subramanians and Ganesans, distinction was made either with reference to the Ministry where they worked or in the Square where they lived, like Finance Subramanian, Defence Ganesan or Wilson Square Ramasubban and Lawrence Square Sivaramakrishnan. If two Sethuramans were in the same Finance ministry, then the distinction was based on the division / department, such as Expenditure Sethuraman versus Capital Issue Sethuraman or their honorary positions in cultural and social organisations like Bhajana Samaj Krishnan or Karnataka Sangeetha Sabha Ramamurthy. There were also nick names given and recognised by the whole community like Bonda Srinivasan, Typhoid Krishnamurthy, and Driver Devarajan and so on.[AR1] 

 

    When it came to r career in government, the Madrasis earned the unenviable reputation as honest, sincere, hard- working, efficient and with absolute integrity. The price that was paid for such appreciation of work was their neglect of leisure time happiness on holidays with family and friends. Many of them would have spent decades living in Delhi but not had had the time to v see the dime a dozen historic monuments abounding New Delhi like the Kutb Minar, the Red Fort, Purana Kila etc.

 

     However, they were united by some social, cultural and religious institutions such as The South India Club, The Madrasi School, The Karnatak Sangeetha Sabha, The Vaishnava Siddhantha Sabbha, The Saturday Bhajana Sabhas, The Navaratri Golus and of course the Irwin Road Pilliar Koil and its adjacent Hanuman Mandir and the Baird Road Kali Koil. Other than congregations during marriages, temple festivals etc there was not many social family visits. Integration with other communities was next to nothing they collectively enjoyed the confidence of the Punjabi shopkeepers to get credit payment facility.

 

    Among the uniting institutions, the Madrasi School, which was also the Alma Mater of this author, occupied a predominant position. It was here that the children of all Madrasis irrespective of the status of the parents, whether a Joint Secretary or an Upper Division Clerk, or the child of a Sastrigal or a cook, came for studies. With no dress code or uniforms all children studied in an environment of equality and fraternity. The teachers, both male and female, were exceptionally devoted to their profession, took avuncular interest in each student and were kind hearted. Till the fifties there was only one school at Reading Road, now Mandir Marg. Even when there was no bar for students from other regions or linguistic groups for admission, the Madrasa School remained exclusively a Tamil school.

  

     The Madrasis were a powerful group in the Central Secretariat. Their network was strongly knit and mutually helpful. Any special treatment or facility in AIIMS, Safdarjung and other government hospitals were arranged by the Madrasi Jt. Secretary, in Health Ministry, while his counter- part in Civil Supplies Department took care of additional allotment of sugar and maida for weddings. Acquiring of land and construction of the many temples in the sixties and seventies in New Delhi was mainly because of the initiative and strength of this group which at one time had the Hon’ble President of India as Patron. Even the introduction of Leave Travel Concession for visiting home towns by Central Government Servants and their families was said to be the brainchild of some Madrasis in the Home and Finance Ministries as alleged by North Indian employee since its substantive requirement of home town should be not less than 400 kms away could not be complied with by them!

 

Most of these Madrasis have retired by now.  Many continue to live in Delhi in DDA and other housing colonies in the faraway Dwarka and Mayur Vihar and their post- retirement activities and interest are confined to within these areas mainly centring the local temple.  Many of their children as next generation Delhi’s Madrasis, hold high positions in government, corporates, defence services MNCs and eminent doctors, scientists and engineers, lawyers and accountants.

The Tamil population in Delhi now is around 10 lakhs against  only some 60000 in 1980. This exponential increase is both on account of increase in the size of the city itself as well as the increase in Tamil immigrants. The Delhi described above  was defined by the areas under New Delhi Municipal Committee and Delhi Metropolitan Corporation and included what is now called as Lutyens Delhi and other Government colonies like Lodhi Colony, R.K. Puram, Moti Bagh , Sarojini Nagar and other non-government settlements like Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Jangpura , Munirkha, Naraina, , Pankha Road . Today, Delhi covers the entire National Capital Region and includes the far- off satellite townships of Haryana and UP where too the Tamil community has settled in huge campuses

In its composition too , the Delhi  Tamil community now includes only fewer  government employees and a large number employed in corporate sector and as self-employed persons . There is also a perceptible change in their lifestyle. To quote Narain Ganesh ( TOI dated 15th Sept 2002) “So what’s an average Delhi Tamilian or DTam like? It is a wide range from the vibhooti-kumkum sporting dhoti clad Karolbagh veterans to hanky topped disco damsel boogying till the wee hours, to suave corporate honchos. Most Tamils, however, fall somewhere in between, adding value to corporates, media groups and the art world”.

Most of the then Tamils were hard put to speak Hindi . I remember my uncle having difficulty to count beyond 20 in Hindi and would say” dho upper bees “for 22, while another relation was ingenious enough to ask for “gobar ka roti “for cow-dung cake! Today, however  the Tamil youngsters speak fluent Hindi, though in a Dravidian accent  like  “Kafer” Market “ Gafer” Market! Also more women now , particularly the younger ones and those working as domestic help , wear the  salwar and the  kameez and not  sarees. .  Their ability to speak English and Hindi has widened their job market.

Culturally, the Tamils still live in their cocoons. The plethora of temples in almost every area where they live, serves  the place of congregation on festival days with  Malai Mandir, the temple devoted to the Tamil Deivam Murugan,  still  the major attraction. On days like Thai Poosam etc., the crowd is huge with hundreds of “Kavadis”,like in some famous Murugan temples in Tamilnadu. A notable feature is the number of persons from other regions and communities like Panjabis, Bengalis, and Marwaris coming to Madrasi temples. A cross cultural and community  integration indeed. Bhajana Samajs, and Music Clubs are now limited to catering to fewer numbers while many  “Rasikar Mandrams “ (fan clubs) of famous cinema actors like Rajani Kant, Kamal Hassan , Vijay have sprung up .

Madrasi hotels and restaurants too  have mushroomed; many   Madrasi  Stores selling typically south Indian specialities like appalam, vetrili, pakku, seeakai powder and textile Stores selling sarees and veshtis, travel agencies to book train and air tickets are other ventures indicating the shift from employment to entrepreneurship.

Integration with other communities through marriage is more  common now than before , with  educated and salaried Tamil boys and girls marrying spouses from other regions. After all,  who will not like to marry the intelligent, hard working and  simple living Tamil groom/bride ?

 

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 [AR1]