AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 170 of 332 The March of Colours during Election The multi-party system prevalent in India and the political dynamics contribute handsomely to the glorious colour canvas, which was evident in the recently concluded Election in some of the States. The readers are reminded that what we saw was under the cover of model code of conduct laid down by the Election Commission of India. Before the code was implemented, it was a virtual free for all, with every conceivable pole adorning a colourful party flag and streams of paper / plastic printed with party symbols crisscrossing every road, street, nook and corner. Even after 50 years of its occurrence, the author of this piece cannot get over the thoughtful originality of an Election related event. Long term residents of Chennai would remember that a Greek ship by name Stamatis, ran aground just about 10 meters near the shores of the Marina Beach during the twin cyclonic attack in November 1966 and remained there for a few of years till it was auctioned and the dysfunctional ship dismantled. In the run up to the State Legislative Election in 1967 in Tamilnadu, some overzealous party cadre found a protruding part of the marooned ship irresistible and mounted his party flag on it. In less than 24 hours, the shipwreck was home to all party flags, fluttering and wooing all prospective voters! The Fire Department had a tough time dismantling all flags, while the local fishermen made a clean pile, helping the politicians the previous day by hoisting the flags and removing them the next day for the Fire Department! The Indo-Saracenic and Gothic Revival Architecture : Prominent Buildings The burnt brick red colour of many of the landmarks in Chennai, built in the lines of Indo-Saracenic as well as Gothic Revival architectural styles, add their own brand value and proprietary colour scheme to the Chennai landscape. The Chennai Central Station, Egmore Railway Station, General Post Office, Madras High Court, Chepauk Palace, Senate House of the University of Madras, Government Museum, College of Engineering, National Art Gallery and Victoria Public Hall have all one thing in common – the burnt brick red. The Ubiquitous Temple Festival Colours The annual 10 day "urchavams" in temples that invariably involved procession of the deities in different vehicles ("Vahanams"). The fifth day, the “Rishaba Vahanam" used to be very special that drew crowds from all over and the entire site used to be taking the look of a huge fete, with hawkers, peddlers and mobile merry-go-round pushers. The vulgarly bright colours of the candies and sweet meats drew a huge customer base. The floral decoration of the Lord and the