If Mylapore and its lawyers are to be talked about, then most stories and legends are inextricably linked to an enclave down a narrow, sleepy, winding street adjoining and running parallel to the famous North Mada street.
A street referred to as Desigar Swami Street, perhaps only by the Indian Postal Department.[(today Vedanta Desikar street)
But for a large majority of Mylaporeans, in open defiance of the Chennai Corporation’s renaming of streets and roads, an enclave still known by one name - ‘Palathope - Vakil Aathu Sandhu’.
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great Subbaraya Iyer. A senior Income Tax lawyer was the busiest in the street of Palathope. Not content with just leaving his mark in the legal profession, he founded Vidya Mandir, Luz, Vivekananda College, Mylapore and the Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet, all educational pillar stones of today’s Madras.
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C. K. Venkatanarasimhan a much-loved Secretary of the Madras Music Academy.
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industrialist S. Viswanathan a contemporary of R. Venkataraman, former President of India and S. Swaminathan, renowned Income Tax lawyer, Viswanathan started off as an advocate before becoming captain of Seshasayee Paper, TNPL and Ponni Sugars
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What circumstances caused generations of legal eagles to 'graduate' from Palathope?
linked surprisingly to this sleepy, little lane, rather than to any academic institution of law.
Mylapore was a force to reckon with in legal power circles, Palathope was the fulcrum of this movement and on a lighter note, young women in the 1940's blushed with a quiet sense of pride when they were asked 'Mylapore Vakil Aathu Ponnu aa nee?'….
Why be a lawyer?
The late 1890's and the early 1900's saw a large-scale migration of families from the rural districts of Tamil Nadu into the city of Madras. Temple priests, farm-laborers, agricultural land owners, all moved from the small towns Tindivanam, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur and the like into Madras. This exodus into Madras was largely fuelled by two overarching trends: The opening up of employment opportunities under the British for educated Indians and along with it, a chance to educate one's children in the academic institutions of the city. Jobs in Government departments and English Trading firms were in abundance for matriculates. A Government job carried with it, that elixir of the middle-class, an assured pension, usually proving to be the single, clinching factor in the choice of a profession.
the legal system in those times allowed undergraduate degree holders in any discipline of study to opt for the legal profession. So, bright, ambitious undergraduates in Physics, Accountancy, Commerce and even Mathematics would be taken under the wings of busy, leading lawyers who had already made their mark. What followed would be an intensive, apprenticeship period of 3-4 years where the youngsters would train on real-life cases, at the same time pursuing formal legal education at the law college and court. This sequence of events culminated usually in the young lawyer gaining a thorough training in the intricacies of corporate law of the land, thus providing a springboard to a successful career as an advocate. Understanding this social backdrop will help in appreciating the Palathope story better.
Why Palathope?
Around 1908, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer and Subbaraya Iyer moved to Palathope from the 'Town' area to work as apprentices in the offices of the illustrious lawyers of Madras - V. Krishnaswamy Iyer (of Madras Sanskrit College and Indian Bank fame) and Sir C.P Ramaswamy Iyer (erstwhile Dewan of Travancore) respectively. Staying as tenants of Kodiyalam Srinivasa Iyengar in what is now Justice V. Ratnam's bungalow (the same bungalow where I meet with the Palathope residents); both Alladi and Subbaraya Iyer began their journeys into the world of law from Palathope. Apprenticeship under a leading lawyer in those days meant long hours of hard work in the lawyer's office (usually also his home) before and after the court sessions held during the day. Palathope, being close to the Mylapore residences of V. Krishnaswamy Iyer and Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, was a suitable choice for the young Alladi and Subbaraya Iyer. It was not long before Subbaraya Iyer bought the next-door property to where he was staying as a tenant - a verdant Keerai Thottam. A piece of land on which he constructed his mansion - a heritage bungalow today, which his descendants still live in and care for lovingly.
Charged by the success of these early achievers, the careers of other lawyers down the street were also taking off at around the same time.
A Palathope based family that had migrated from Andhra, produced a father-son duo - M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Jagannatha Rao, both of whom held the posts of Judge of the Andhra High Court during their careers. In fact, Jagannatha Rao went on to become the Chief Justice of the Kerala and Delhi High Courts as well, before becoming the Chairman of the Law Commission.
M.S. Venkatarama Iyer, a fine Civil Lawyer ran a prestigious, legal office from Palathope, which produced many luminaries - most notable among them being, R. Venkataraman, the former President of India.
M.R. Narayanaswami who started as a student in Palathope and was a junior of M.S.V blazed a trail in the field of labor litigation before ending his career as a Senior Lawyer in the Madras High Court.
Justice A.V. Viswanatha Sastri (father of Justice V. Ratnam) and T.S Raghavachari were eminent lawyers as well who set up home next to each other in Palathope.
As all this frenetic activity was happening, Madras itself, stood witness to India's historic Independence movement. The "Poorna Swaraj" campaign gained active support amongst this, by then, influential lawyer community. Womenfolk of the house voluntarily parted with all their gold bangles when Gandhiji addressed a large gathering in Madras in the 1930's and asked every person to step forward and do his/her bit for the motherland. These were happening times indeed for the nation as a whole, and Palathope and its residents were fortunate to be in such close proximity to history in the making. It was against this backdrop then, that the lawyers of Palathope went on to prosper and carve their respective niches in the annals of legal history in India. These were men who were giants in their achievements (Alladi went on to be part of the commission which drafted the Constitution of Independent India, Subbaraya Iyer was the educational institution builder par excellence), yet endearingly humble and approachable.
With such a rich heritage in varied fields of law, be it Civil law with specializations in Corporate taxation or Criminal law and its allied subjects, it is but natural for one to draw parallels of Palathope with the hoary Harley Street of London famed for its medical establishments.
The other facets of Palathope:
Producing a brigade of lawyers, not just adept at their profession, but also with a social conscience. Does that explain Palathope in its entirety then? A little further probing and a whole, surprising, new view of Palathope reveals itself.
I am pleasantly surprised to know that the inimitable G.N. Balasubramanian (GNB), that doyen of Carnatic music, took residence in Palathope in the 1930's-1940's under the patronage of the lawyer turned music lover, C.K. Venkatanarasimhan's (also one of the earliest Secretaries of the Music Academy) family. It is but fitting, that Palathope graced the list of 15 addresses that GNB was reputed to have stayed in, when in Madras.
E. Krishna Iyer, the man responsible for the re-christening of 'Sathir' as 'Bharathanatyam' was a man of Palathope as well, and lived next door to GNB. Modern day Madras and all its schools of classical dance should be deeply indebted to E. Krishna Iyer, for endowing Bharatanatyam with a sense of social respectability and acceptance and in the process revealing to the common man, the divinity and devotion associated with the dance form today.
Palathope's tryst with destiny extends to a deep passion for the 'Tamizh' language as well. The people I speak to, have vivid memories of engaging Saturday afternoons in the late 1930's when the 'Myzhai Tamizh Sangam' would convene in the courtyard of Subbaraya Iyer's house. Carrying the laudable objectives of propagation and appreciation of the Tamil language amongst the general public, the Sangam died a sad death in 1942, thanks to the World War evacuation happening in the city. At its peak, the Sangam meetings were attended by Kalki Krishnamurthy, Rajaji and were witness to many a passionate discussion on the virtues of the language and its literary epics.
Palathope - Today:
As my meeting draws to a close and we silently close the pages on a golden chapter of history, the rude honking of a motor vehicle's horn awakens us to reality and to the present.
Palathope today, is plagued by challenges of a more mundane nature; problems of indiscriminate and wanton parking of vehicles at the entrance to this narrow road, thus making the entry and exit of the owners' vehicles a veritable nightmare. There is mass littering of the street, thanks in large part to a road-side eatery which has sprung up on the main road adjoining the entry to Palathope. Visitors to the congested Mada streets, find Palathope's cul-de-sac a convenient location to park their two-wheelers while they shop around. And to top it all, in one of life's bitter-sweet ironies, the residents of Palathope good-naturedly complain to this writer that the 'Mylapore Times' newspaper never, ever gets delivered to their households.
If, along with awakening the people of Mylapore to the colorful history of this locality and imparting in them a sense of pride in the neighborhood's institutions, this project also succeeds in ensuring a certain, basic, civic sense in the residents, thereby ensuring the preservation of the heritage value of these streets and buildings, we will consider our job well done.