Old Anecdotes of places in Chennai

Noted writer Asoka Mitran in this compelling series ' Chennai Suvadugal' brings out some memorable places and names of Chennai with some intriguing stories. In this particular edition he talks about the famous of Royapettah, the unresolved mystery behind its name, its trademark clock tower which once upon a time seems to have been the center point of Madras and the deadly stand alone mortuary building which was housed next to the Royapettah hospital. He has also unraveled the mystery of why the Royapetta Vasis never took the 'jutka horse rides' which were available even in mid 1970's when I lived in Peter's Road colony and was always a mystery to me since they were cheaper than the Rickshaws. Looks like the answer is finally available and that's because they were transporting the dead bodies from mortuary once upon a time and the sentimental Royapettah citizens must have decided not to venture in to those mini mortuary vans alias jutkas
Brings me back to my favorite place in Chennai 'Mylapore' which is virtually a dream for me even today in spite of all the commercial growth around the Mada streets and I am going to share my delightful experiences of the lanes and roads of Mylapore in my next episode! Watch out

RK