This is a book that remembers Madras through a selection of its iconic establishments. This is not a complete list. Neither is it representative of the city's most powerful or influential institutions. There is a story of an ice-cream parlor, which caught the imagination of the city's middle classes; one of a famous bookshop that survived the ravages of time; and another of a splendid furniture store that lives on sustained by that powerful fuel - sentiment.

The set of names featured in this collection remain in living memory. Those younger residents who do not recall some of them will find that the essays in the book will give them an idea of what the city was in a more gentel and less crowded time.

The essays here were all written by Kamala Ramakrishnan and published in The Hindu between June 23, 1989 and December 8, 1989 and then again from July 6, 1990 to October 12, 1990 in a second round. In each instance we have added additional photographs and a brief status update, to tell you what remains, if it does.

The publication of this collection is timed to mark Madras Day, celebrated every year for many decades on August 22, that day in 1639 being the widely agreed date for the purchase of a spit of land along the coast by the English that grew into this wonderful city.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages