Madras Miscellany

Counting heads in the city

THE 14TH all-India census got underway recently, with head- counting beginning on February 9. When it concludes at the end of this month, in the 128 sq. km. of municipal Madras and in the even bigger Greater Madras, I expect the population to be 4.35 million and 6.75 million respectively, up from 3.79 million and 5.36 million in 1991. Any second guesses?

When the city was born in 1639-1640, with Fort St. George and its Indian town just to the north of it, where the High Court campus now is, a local census recorded no more than 7,000 persons in an area of around 8 sq. km. The first official census, the Imperial Census of India, was conducted in 1872, the next one was in 1881 but thereafter it's been every ten years. By the time Census 1872 came along, the Madras population had grown over 50 times and was 397,522, but the urban area had grown only just around nine times and was just short of 70 sq. km. From there on, both population and area grew steadily and unremarkably till the 1951 Census, which revealed a population that had exploded.

In Census 1941, the population had just doubled in 70 years, with the area growing at a rate of only a little more than 10 per cent. But then the population growth just took off. In Census 1951, Madras's population was 1,416,056, unbelievably doubling in just ten years! A favourite question of mine wherever I speak on Madras is what caused this 82 per cent increase in population. And most answers are that the size of the city increased. It is a fact the city grew by about 50 sq. km., taking in the Saidapet municipality and 27 other villages in Saidapet taluk. But the population of these villages was only a little over 100,000. The population growth apart from this was 534,471 - and the bulk of it was by migration.

Madras was always a city of migrants from its very first days, but that five lakh growth between 1941 and 1951 was an abnormal in-migration. The reasons for it few recall today - and that is a pity, what happened then sowed the seeds of all of Madras's present urban problems.

Going back in time, let's remember that decade comprised the War years and the first years of Independence. In 1942, all of th East had fallen to the Japanese and they were at the doors of India. The only two ports left to the Allies to use for mounting a counter-offensive in the southern seas were Colombo and Madras. And into these two ports poured the American contribution of men and, more importantly, materials. The men needed support services, but of greater significance was the fact that the material had to be readied to go to War. And thus was born industry in the city of traders. Firms like Addison's, Simpson's, Best's and several others turned from trade to manufacturing the requirements of War. Then, with Independence, Nehru's policy focussed on industrialisation, these firms with long lineages in trading stayed with industry they serendipitously had got into. And the migrants in industry never went back to their villages, for the factories were booming in the city. Industry has not stopped growing since then in a city not developed for industry and lacking the infrastructure for both industrial growth and the population that has grown with it.

Population growth may now be much steadier and at a rate nowhere near that of 1941-51, but it still makes Madras one of the most population-pressed cities in the world.

The house of 'Alliance Iyer'

IN A nice gesture, and a new one at that, the Madras Booksellers' & Publishers' Association, while presenting its annual awards at the Madras Book Fair this year, honoured The Alliance Co., 'Publishers, Booksellers, etc.', on the happy occasion of its centenary. Vanathi, Palaniappa's, Manivasagam may be some of the big names in Tamil publishing today, but Alliance, formally started in 1901 by V. Kuppuswami Iyer, was one of the pioneers - and there were few of them in 1896 when the man who became better known as 'Alliance Iyer' came to Madras from Thanjavur and made his initial and informal forays into publishing.

Founded in Mylapore, Alliance has remained there, in its present premises, an unremarkable single-storey building out of the past, since Independence. Four generations have guided its fortunes; V. Srinivasan, who now runs the firm is the founder's grandson, and partnering him is his son K. V. S. Mani. Kuppuswami Iyer established Alliance with his brother, the firm's name a reflection of the team spirit with which the business was founded. But when publishing proved less than lucrative in the 1920s, Kuppuswami Iyer's brother pulled out and 'Alliance Iyer' was left to nurse the business back to health again.

The first infusion of nourishment came in the 1930s when Rajaji, a close friend, gave Alliance on nominal terms the rights to his short stories and commentaries on the Upanishads. The second infusion came when Cho Ramaswamy gave Alliance the publishing rights for his varied writings in 1995. But while such kindness improved Alliance's fortunes, the publishing house will always be remembered for two significant contributions of its own. One was the monthly magazine Vivekabodhini and the other was its zeal in encouraging the Tamil short story.

Vivekabodhini, published from 1908 to 1925, included a wide variety of material ranging from "philosophy to farce". More significantly, it not only provided space for established writers but also to many budding ones whom its encouragement helped to keep going till they reached the heights. These included such award winners as Akilan, Lakshmi and Ka Na Subramaniam. The short stories these writers and a host of others wrote were published by 'Alliance Iyer' in his magazine, in author's collections and in anthologies. These publications more than anything else enabled the Tamil short story to put down firm roots. 'Alliance Iyer' left a permanent memorial to this role by publishing between 1942 and 1946 four volumes comprising 255 short stories, every author someone he had published and no author figuring anywhere in the volumes twice. Grandson Srinivasan plans to celebrate the centenary with the publication this year of the fifth volume, comprising 100 stories, each by a different author. That will add one more to the over 20,000 titles published by Alliance, including a few in English and other Indian languages. May the House of Alliance Iyer long flourish.

S. Muthiah

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