Night Life in Madras: Part 1

All the great cities of the world are at their best at night. After the clatter and bustle of work and business in the day the leisure, cultural and romantic period take over and both the city and its denizens start unwinding, aided by the romance of the night lights. The night life in a city develops over a period of time and the richer a city becomes the more expensive and sophisticated the night life becomes, and even attracts tourists. There are cities like London and New York where music and drama make the cities vibrant cultural places. Then there are places like Macao and Las Vegas where casinos dominate the night life. 

Chennai, a collection of villages before the arrival of the British, slowly evolved into a city when the British established themselves as masters. It was a soporific city where the sunset signaled the end of active life except in stray spots. As the city grew, its night life also developed. Before World War 2 there were two distinct night-lives in the city - the British, and the natives. The British had their nights out in their clubs with drinks and dance. The natives had their own evenings with drama, music and dance concerts in the houses of devadasis or on make shift stages, and if they were religious, in temples, listening to discourses and harikatha expositions and devotional music. The division was rather rigid except when very senior Indian officials and zamindars were invited to British parties. So night life in the strict sense of the term did not exist in a big way.  

World War 2 changed all that. First, there were the American GIs in Madras during the war with their democratic attitudes and willingness to mix with natives. Secondly, there was the waning British power which resulted in the Brits leaving India shortly after the war. From the GIs the adventurous natives learned of new enjoyable ways of spending the night. It was just taking off when the government introduced prohibition. To a population who learned to enjoy the pleasures of alcohol it was a shock, but soon, ways were found to circumvent this stupid law. This was the background against which the night life of the city of Madras developed in the post independence period. The staid conservative Madras slowly absorbed influences from outside and by the 21st century, had a varied mix of night life from the rigidly conservative to the most innovative which would make even a hardened sailor blush.

Night life in the fifties in Madras 

In the nineteen fifties and sixties the Brits, though no longer rulers, controlled the commercial life of the city. And so it was the days of the clubs and brown sahibs taking over the reigns slowly. It was to this Madras that Parameswaran returned as Waran. He had had an English education at Oxford and developed an Oxford accent and a love for quaffing beer at the pubs. The Madras he returned to was outworldly unchanged except that prohibition was in full swing. Before he went to Oxford, he could quaff beer in Hotel Connemara or the railway restaurant. Now for the love of money he could not get a drop without a permit for which a government doctor had to declare him a drunkard who would die without the salve of alcohol. He bribed a doctor to give him a certificate and applied for the permit. The chef minister of the state, an ex-imbiber who gave up drinking after joining the Gandhian freedom movement, looked after the issue of permits personally. Waran got a rejection letter with a personal letter from the CM on the evils of drinking and advised him to practice Yoga and relaxation.

Oxford has produced a number of British Prime Ministers who have managed serious crises and this education now helped Waran to solve this bureaucratic obstacle. “Use the system to beat the system”, and Waran used this golden rule to get over the problem of drinks. He found a police officer, Parthasarathy Iyengar, in charge of enforcing prohibition, who was a friend of his uncle. Parthasarathy Iyengar lived in a side lane off the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane. Waran visited him with his uncle, and he arranged for supplies but warned them to drink only in the house or the outskirts of the city.

Drinking in the house was no fun and Waran and his friends went to Kovalam Island or Mahabalipuram in the weekends and had parties. Sunday mornings they were back in Besant Nagar beach for a swim followed by a breakfast at Murugan Hotel in Triplicane. Murugan Hotel was and is famous for paper ghee roast about three feet in diameter and “randu mozham” filter coffee – an excellent pick me up.

For the more orthodox, the evening and night came alive in temples, listening to “Harikatha Kalashebam”- discourses on ancient mythology, spiced by music and commentaries which incorporated present day problems and politics. This could go on for hours. There was music and dance in houses of well known artists descended from devadasis. Each area of Madras had its own specialty and moving about was easy as there was no traffic. The Tripicane mosque area specialised in North Indian music which went on through the night. There were very active theater groups for those interested in dramas.

The white sahibs and a small group of brown sahibs spent the night drinking and dancing in their clubs. There was a very strict pecking order among the white sahibs - the clubs were socially segregated according to status. This broke down late at night when the senior sahibs had one too many and their spouses used this to carry on their romance and extra marital affairs.  The brown sahibs were invited to join only after careful screening.

The night life in Madras - if it can be called that - was dull compared to other cities in India like Bombay or Calcutta or even Bangalore. Sometimes the prohibition created hilarious situations in Madras like the time when Waran gave a birthday bash at the Connemara. Waran's friend Pathasarathy Iyengar had gone up in his career and was now head of the enforcing squad, with powers to conduct raids anywhere to enforce prohibition. Iyengar arranged for the drinks and told Waran to hold it in the Arcot room. When Waran went early to Connemara to check the arrangements the banquet manager told him that they had shifted to mode Z for the party as the prohibition wallas were active. The only change was to serve the drinks in teacups from a tea pot. It should be a quiet party till he gave all clear signal. This did not surprise Waran and his guests and he quietly enjoyed their Black Label in tea cups. One of the guests remarked that it was fun to have a Boston Tea party in Madras, which used to import ice from Boston not so long ago. Out of the blue the door banged open and in stepped Iyengar in full uniform with a coterie of his men.

“Mmmm and what do we have  here?! Nice smell of Darjeeling tea. I wish all you youngsters would stick to tea and make our life easier and your health better. Whose birthday is it?”-  Iyengar

Waran stepped forward and Iyengar wished him a happy birthday and told him to carry on and walked out with his staff.

Later on the banquet manager told Waran that raids were a regular feature, especially on week ends. Connections with the police did help and then the parties became tea parties!

Drinking alcohol in tea cups is not as novel as it sounds. South Indian musicians and theater actors (the addicts) drank in coffee cups to quench their thirst during the performance. North Indian singers drank from metal carafes to improve their voice and inspiration. Those days the performances went on through out the night, and performers did get thirsty often. You could audibly hear the singing climbing to great heights as the night went on and drinks were sipped and the liquor level in the carafe went down. At the end in the early morning you had the 'randu mozham filter coffee' as a restorative and pick me up. For those interested in music there was no better way to spend the night in the weekends.

What about night life for those with limited means? Money is the basis of night life but if you are short of it that is not end. Many gathered on the sands of the Marina Beach, enjoyed the cool invigorating sea breeze and got away from their dingy rooms. There was “ manga thenga pattani sundal” and hand made “murukku” to munch on and “elanir” to drink. You could spend the whole night and sleep on the seats. It is not as bad as it sounds.

Night life in cities goes with alcohol- probably as a lubricant for the tongue and a relaxant if taken moderately.  In India drinking was not openly approved of but went on all the time. The prohibition did nothing to control it. Indians from time immemorial were used to the pleasures of soma and wine and in the colonial period were introduced to the pleasures of rum, gin and whiskey. The whiskey caught their imagination and scotch whiskey in its malt version is still a hot favorite with those who can afford it. Rum is very popular with the masses and 'rum and coke' rules the day. Gin, the drink made famous by the British royal family, is an after noon drink.

I will call this stage of night life in Madras as the prohibition stage. Not very interesting by modern standards perhaps, but exciting to people then. This laid the basis for the blooming of night life in Madras next century. 

To be continued.

Comments

[Kamini]

A fantastic start!

[Kamini]

A fantastic start!

[Account Deleted]

Nice to see that you have moved from in-laws (your number 1 favourite topic!) to alcohol (your number two favourite topic!)

Am eagerly awaiting the next part!

[Shankaran]

An excellent piece, full of interesting facts. I remember very well the prohibition days and the tea parties!
I am looking forward to further posts in this series.

[Marina Lobo]

Hi,
I found your article interesting and useful.
I'm also part of the night culture in Madras.
I also love the filter coffee culture that grows and flourishes here.
I actually brought a Fresh And Honest filter coffee machine for my daily use. No more endless trips to the Coffee Houses again
I thought that you might want to know that Fresh and honest offers patented Swiss fresh milk coffee vending machines in India at only the installation cost for corporates. Owners now have the option to pay either per cup of filter coffee or buy coffee beans per KG. Their 24/7 free vending machine upkeep along with a 4 - 24 Hr service turn around time makes them one of the most preferred coffee vending machines provider in the country.
Checkout the type of machines that meet your business needs/ personal machines for top corporate management or even your homes at http://www.fresh-honest.com/

Thanks Again
Marina "Coffee Lover" Lobo

[Account Deleted]

Dear sir!

Greetings.

Landed at your blog while i was googling about nostalogic Madras.Quite amazed to see your writeups.

I'm in the midst of collecting the articles about nostalogic madras and planning to come out with a website. It could be great if you allow me to publish your articles too in the same with credits to you.

I can be reachable at jovemac@gmail.com

Thank you!
Jothi vel moorthy.AC
www.themadras.in

[Minakshi]

Hi! I'd like to know a little more about the phrase "randu mozham" filter coffee? Super interesting story, thanks for writing!

[ramakrishnan]

means two yards filter coffe. This is the distance between the tumbler and dowra when pouring and mixing the coffe. Creates foam which makes the flavour come out.
R.Ramakrishnan

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