Most of us have caught a glimpse of Chennai while coming in on a train, the trees and rooftops flashing past, until the familiar yellow signboard indicates the station. Many of us have also seen Chennai from above, looking greener, prettier and more water-studded than it feels terrestrially. But, have you seen Chennai from the water? Guess what? It’s the way the British first saw Madras, and water, was historically, an important means of transportation for both people and goods, for commerce and pleasure.
Madras chronicler V. Sriram says that until about 1875, before the building of the harbour, British ships would anchor two miles offshore and passengers and goods would be offloaded on to rafts to be taken ashore. With the harbour, came more passengers from all over the world, all getting their first glimpse of Madras from sea.
Apart from the sea, Madras had another water transport system. Though it may seem unbelievable, the 217-year-old Buckingham Canal was once a major waterway, with boats transporting, among other things, rice, firewood, cotton, fish, coconuts and building materials, until the 1960s.
A report from The Hindu dated September 8, 1962, said the canal provided “easy transport for merchandise from Madras to five districts and to important towns like Kakinada, Vijayawada, Masulipatam, Ongole and Nellore.” Over 800 boats plied in Madras State then, the report noted, with 1,47,000 tonnes of goods of 22 categories being transported in the stretch of the canal running through the State in 1961-62 alone.
With the development of roads and railways and the increasingly difficult issue of its maintenance, however, the canal fell into disuse. And despite multiple clean-up and beautification schemes over the years, it remains an eyesore, even today.
Once upon a time in Madras | Boats, coracles, and an island
The Cooum, another important waterway, was, in essence, Madras’s engine of growth – everything of note took shape on its banks. One of the river’s notable moments came in the late 1960s, during a government restoration scheme. This was a pet project of late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, and in 1973, he inaugurated the Cooum Pleasure Boat Service with great fanfare.
A report from The Hindu dated February 5, 1973, said the project cost a staggering ₹2.28 crore and included a boat club near the mouth of the river. It noted that cleansing the river and beautifying the banks was a stupendous task – a fact that remains true to this day. The pleasure boat service did run for a short period but did not last.
But pleasure boating wasn’t restricted to the Cooum. Madras’ association with rowing and regattas is even older. Madras Boat Club, established in 1867, is one of the oldest boat clubs in the country. Sailing and rowing first began at Ennore Creek, says the MBC’s website, and also took place in the (now extinct) Long Tank of Mylapore, but activities slowly shifted to the Adyar, where they continue even today.
From the 1800s up until the 1950s, there was even a ferry service across the Adyar, from Guindy to what is now Kotturpuram, says Mr. Sriram, and most bungalows in Adyar had jetties, with steps leading down to the water, some of which still exist today.
Former marine engineer and heritage enthusiast K.R.A. Narasiah says he remembers, as a youngster, seeing homemakers standing on the bank of the Adyar in the mornings as coracles floated up the river with vegetables for sale. “There used to be lots of banana leaf kattus, since people ate on leaves back then, and lots of firewood too,” says the nonagenarian. “I also recall seeing people going to Mahabalipuram by boat.”
You can’t boat it to Mahabs these days, but for a quick trip around the waters, the Muttukadu boat house on ECR offers boating, and, on a smaller scale, so does the Chetpet Eco Park. For those more adventurous in the water and who don’t mind stepping just a little out of Madras, Kovalam has now emerged as a great surfing destination.
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