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Triplicane
thiruvelikeni
neighbourhood
Websitewww.chennai.tn.nic.in
The eponymous Triplicane Pond

Triplicane (Tamil: திருவல்லிகேணி), situated about a half km from the Bay of Bengal coast and Fort St George, is one of the oldest central business districts of Madras (Chennai), South India. Triplicane owes its name to its Puranic existence as Tiruvallikeni or Tiru-Alli-Keni (Sacred Lily Pond in Tamil) denoting the pond in front of the famous Parthasarathy Temple located there. The place was also referred to as Vrundha-raNyam (beautiful garden) in Puranic scriptures.

Location in Context


Triplicane also has the famous powerful Ellamman temple in SMV Koil street. A beautiful Sundaramurthy Vinayagar temple is right opposite to the Ellamman Temple.

Besides the Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane is also famous for the various personalities it has produced over the years. Mathematician S Ramanujam, Writer Sujatha Rangarajan, and cricketers M.J. Gopalan, Krish Srikkanth and W.V. Raman all hailed from Triplicane. Nobel prize winner Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar attended the Hindu High School (1922–1925) in Triplicane. Subramanya Bharathy, the freedom fighter and poet, lived his last years in a house opposite the temple's western entrance; the house has since been bought and renovated by the Government of Tamil Nadu (in 1993), and named Bharathiyar Illam (Home of Bharathiyar). The famous writer Ramasubramanian had lived in Kwality Guest House in Pycrofts Road, Triplicane for one year. The Chepauk Cricket Ground is in Triplicane as well. Girivasan TC (Thirumazhisai Chakravarthy who holds the Guiness World Record and Global World Record for Typing English Alphabet in Fastest time hailed from Triplicane. [1]

Triplicane is called the Bachelors Paradise of Chennai. The locality has a large number of mansions - a local synonym for guest houses. Many of these are suitable for students, single professionals and visitors. Walking around the lanes of Triplicane during evening time, one is apt to come across hosts of youngsters conversing in a babel of languages - English, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Urdu. The place is known for its educational book stalls and used bikes. Triplicane's Barathiyar Salai (Pycroft's Road) is a mini T. Nagar where one can do all the shopping.

Triplicane is known for "Ondikudithanam" where families of different sect were staying in row houses together. This community living with each family supporting the other during critical situations is not found now in the new Flat system.

Further west on the same road are Zam Bazzar which is one of the spawning places for Madras Bashai and then Amir Mahal the seat of Prince of Arcot belonging to the Nawabs of Arcot Lineage (said to be from the lines of the caliphate traced back to Prophet Mohamed).

Triplicane has a sizable Islamic community in peaceful coexistence Triplicane High Road is one of the roads that does not have any curves as it had a tram line running through it during the British period.

Adam's market is near Walajah Road on Triplicane highroad. Vivekananda House (formerly Ice House) was once used to store Ice brought in from London during British Raj.

Queen Mary's college, Director General of Police office and Madras University are located on Beach Road that runs alongside the Marina Beach that hosts many open air gatherings and Naval shows.

This road has a line of statues starting from Uzaipalar Silai to Gandhi Silai(statue) that get to be cleaned only by rain or when the State's Republic Day Parade is held and leads up to Saint George Fort the seat of the Tamil Nadu Assembly through the Napier's Bridge that can be seen in many Tamil movies along with LIC building and Madras Central Railway station when there is a need to establish that the action is taking place in Chennai.

Kannagi silai has seen its share of moves within the city from its normal location at Beach road Pycroft's road junction now may have a story of its own down the years.

Parthasarathy Temple

The famous Parthasarathy(Arjuna's Charioteer) temple dedicated to Lord Sri Krishnan is the heart of Triplicane. It was originally built by the Pallavas in the 8th century and then later refurbished by the Cholas and the Vijayanagara kings. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. One of the distinguishing features of the temple is that it contains the deities of the 3 avatars of Vishnu: Narasimha(lion), Rama, and [[Venketakrishnan](Parthasarathy himself)].[2]

Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvelikeni, Mylapore and Thiruvanmiyur were Coastal villages that predate Chennai by at least a couple of millennia.

Food

There are many restaurants and cafes in Triplicane. Triplicane restaurants serve a variety of foods - Tamil Nadu styles (Chennai, Chettinad, Karaikudi), Bengali, Gujarati, North Indian and Keralite. Amongst the oldest restaurants is Ratna Cafe - their idli-sambar dish though not as good as it used to be in the 1970s is a Chennai favorite, Pongal which is served only till about 8:00 AM is some thing of a secret known only to Triplicane locals. Murugan Idli Shop of Madurai fame has also opened an outlet in Triplicane. Another famous eatery is the area is "Sabari" which is famous for its lassi,tea and Bun Butter Jam.

Food in Mess A well known mess is "Kashi Vinayaka Mess" where a long queue waits for the next available table, running since 1973.

There are many messes that serve many young bachelors at low prices, pure and wholesome hot meals prepared in tasty Andhra style with lots of rice and pappu (lentils) being the most popular. A mess is usually a single family business - they migrate as a single family, rent a house, get some decent labor from Andhra, modify the hall to accommodate 20 seats and serve fresh, hot meals in a homely environment. Rice is brought from Nellore (A.P.) in wholesale.


Tasty vegetable biryani that somehow goes with the pickle they serve (each won't taste nice without the other) and coffee or tea would still be available at 1:00 AM @ Sea Lord. They also make very good bread omelette and decent French onion soup.

Beach Road has one of the largest Aavin (Cow's) parlour that showcases state run milk and milk products. Also, you can get home-made murruku, seedai and other snacks.

Beach itself is known for its murukku sundal. Boys peddling their wares and sunda kanji, a local light liquor made of fermented rice buried in huge pots in the beach sand, serves the needs of the local fisherfolks and others who can handle it.

Politics

MLA's Hostel on Wallajah Road is a hot bed for petty politics occupied by cronies of politicians than MLAs most of the time.

Rajaji Hall in the same campus used to have a role in state administration but has been doing duty as an Exhibition hall and Cinema Shooting spot for a long time. Kalaivanar Arangam is a theatre that has seen many venerable leaders and still has no entertainment tax as it is state run has also seen better days. It was demolished in 2009, to pave way for the new Legislative assembly complex.

Triplicane assembly constituency is part of Chennai South (Lok Sabha constituency).[3]

References

  1. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girivasan_Thirumazhisai_Chakravarthy
  2. ^ Let's Go India & Nepal 8th Ed By Jane Yang, Let's Go, Inc., Inc. Let's Go
  3. ^ "List of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies" (PDF). Tamil Nadu. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-10-08.

See also

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