George Town with Ashmitha Athreya

The Musafir Stories - India Travel Podcast

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This week, The Musafir Stories speaks with Trustee and Head of Operations at Madras Inherited (https://www.madrasinherited.in)

Today's destination: George Town, Chennai!

Nearest Airport: Chennai International Airport (MAA)

Nearest Railway Station: Chennai Central Railway station (MAS)

Prerequisites - Wake up early!

Packing - Good walking shoes, water to stay hydrated, umbrella, shades

Time of the year - Round the year

Length of the itinerary: 2-3 hours

Itinerary Highlights:

• Ashmitha Athreya is Trustee and Head of Operations at Madras Inherited - The vision for Madras Inherited streams from a larger vision for Heritage Awareness, Preservation and Conservation in the city.
• The walk focuses on getting to the origins of George Town, the first British colonial settlement that was set up around Fort St. George. The walk includes pit stops at various historically and architecturally significant landmarks.
• The first stop is at Parry’s corner, also known as Dare House - Ashmitha shares the history of the welshman after whom this building is named and some interesting insights on the architecture style known as Artdeco.
• The next turn is on to the NSC Bose road or Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose road that was also called China Bazaar road in the past. Some important buildings include TNSC bank, LIC building, SBI building that are built in the art deco style of architecture.
• If one is interested, they could venture out further to check out some of the narrow market lanes of George Town - for paper/stationery, textiles, fireworks, flowers etc.
• Our next pit stop is Armenian St where one can find the historic Armenian church and discuss its importance.
• We next stop at what was formerly the Binny & Co headquarters. The building no longer remains and all that is left is a humongous parking lot which is used for shooting movies including the likes of Hey Ram and Guru.
• Other important structures include YMIA - Young Mens Indian Assn and Gokhale hall.
• Ashmitha talks of the two Beach Roads of George Town - Rajaji Salai and Kamaraj Salai - or North beach road and South beach road. The North Beach road has no longer access to the beach as the sea has receded.
• We make a stop at the General Post office - one of the most beautiful structures in the city and we discuss the social implications of the GPO and its Indo Saracenic architectural style
• You can check out other walks offered by Madras Inherited on their website - (https://www.madrasinherited.in)

Links:

Link to the website:

https://www.madrasinherited.in

Link to Madras Inherited’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madrasinherited/

Link to Madras Inherited’s Twitter:https://twitter.com/MInherited

Photo by Febin Roy on Unsplash

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