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by Eric Miller, 10 Nov 2013 (An edited version of this article appeared in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper here.) Photos: Marina
Beach has to date been spared from the commercialisation and privatisation
that has taken over so many other public spaces in the world today. The promenade along Marina Beach was refurbished
a few years ago. The designers did a
wonderful job! This promenade has
already become a model, an exemplary achievement of Urban Design, welcoming
people of all social classes and groups.
All are uplifted together when on the Marina Beach promenade! As
is often the case with great design, the promenade does not draw attention to
itself. It simply invites people to
come and walk along the beach, and gives them plenty of space to walk and sit
comfortably. It gives people a chance
to effortlessly be themselves. This
promenade could be extended in some form all the way southward to the Adyar
River (from the Lighthouse to the Adyar River is approximately three
kms). Also, it would be wonderful if
the Adyar River bridge near the ocean could be repaired (if this could be
done without disturbing the turtles), at least for pedestrians and
bicyclists, giving people a direct route to Elliot's Beach in Besant
Nagar. A walk from Marina Beach to
Elliot's Beach would be a very healthy and enjoyable hike. Chennai faces the ocean. What a beautiful face of the City a
promenade such as this could be! The
Marina Beach promenade's outer walkway features a smooth and gleaming stone
surface. The second walkway (the inner
one, away from the main road, closer to the sand) provides a very generous
amount of walking and sitting space.
The surfaces of this walkway are not as shiny and glossy as the
walkway parallel to the main road. But
the surfaces of both walkways do their jobs very well: both are comfortable
to walk on. The
very best development of Marina Beach would be no development. This is a case of "Less is
More". This beach should be kept
as it is, in its timeless natural pristine state. It could be cleaned more often and
thoroughly. Perhaps an additional
trash pick-up machine, and/or additional cleaning staff people, might be
helpful. People visit Marina Beach to
commune with Nature and with each other.
Any permanent structures on the beach would be an imposition. Incidentally, it was a very good decision
to ban cricket-playing from the Marina Beach area. This has created much more space for
peaceful walking and meditation. *** Chennai
began as a village beside the sea.
Fishing was a primary occupation in this village. It seems in ancient times, part of the
beach area around Chennai was known as Amaiyur (Place of Turtles). Let us maintain this natural and cultural
heritage! The
area from the Lighthouse south to Adyar River is due to be refurbished. The plan to build an elevated highway
beside the beach has been cancelled.
But what might come next? Might
members of the sea-fishing community still be able to live in the area, and
practice their ancient trade? A
compromise is being developed: housing for some members of the sea-fishing community
is being built. But might the area
there also be designed as a promenade that welcomes various kinds of
people? For example: the women of
fishing communities often sit in circles at around 5pm to sundown, playing a
game that involves dice. Such
game-playing enables conversation, a discussion of the day's events. Might a promenade be built that enables
such meetings? Marina Beach serves "dual uses": it is a
recreational beach for visitors, and and also a professional sea-fishing
beach for some of the people who live nearby.
At the water's edge in the midst of Marina Beach, at numerous places
there are small fishing boats on the sand.
Most of these boats are used nightly.
As
I was walking along the Marina Beach promenade the other day, I passed two
men who were sitting on a smooth stone area of the promenade, repairing a
fishing net. I thought, "How
interesting and beautiful! These men
are practicing an ancient craft!" The
beach road from the Lighthouse to the Adyar River is very close to the
ocean. With the predicted rise in
ocean levels in the years to come, it would seem that any buildings built in
this area might need to be built in such a way as to withstand occasional
flooding. This might involve these
buildings being built on stilts. And
underground cables and pipes would need to be designed in such a way as to
not be effected by possible flooding above them. Aside
from the wonderful Sagar Vihar Café (near the Mahatma Gandhi statue), there
are no other restaurants on Marina Beach.
And there are very few shops of any sort that relate to the
beach. Opposite All-India Radio, near
the Nocchikkuppam bus-stop, there is a new shop called the Lighthouse. This shop sells women's clothes. It is named after the actual Lighthouse,
which is just a few hundred metres away. Along
this coastal path -- both facing Santhome High Road, and facing the ocean --
there could be ocean- and beach-related items for sale, as well as items made
by local artists and designers. There could
be some local elements in these shops, not just the slickness of national and
international brands that reduce all places to no particular place. For
seven years now, some community members and outside artists and scholars have
been requesting the leaders of Chennai to facilitate the creation of a Living
Museum on the heritage of local sea-fishing and sea-travel. A Living Museum is a museum in which the
objects on display are in everyday use, and community members are among the
museum guides. A
Living Museum complex could include a café, a gift shop (offering books,
photos, recordings, etc), a storytelling area, and an audio-video education
room (with videoconference technology to enable teaching-and-learning with
school and university students around the world). Exhibits could include boats (both wooden
catamarams, and fiberglass), nets, and engines -- on a section of the beach
itself. The
Dept of Geography, University of Madras, has hosted workshops with community
members and others to develop lessons such a Living Museum could offer
regarding the local atmosphere (wind, clouds, etc), marine biology (flora and
fauna of beach and ocean), waves, currents, tides, etc. Local systems of navigating by the stars
(celestial navigation), referring to constellations of stars, could also be
shared. Educational video games could
be designed utilising all of this material.
Such
a centre could present scientific knowledge, as well as local experiential
knowledge and folklore. Traditions
drawn from communities all along India's southeast coast could be
presented. Our entire region of the
Indian Ocean could be represented. Members
of the community, together with professional actors, writers, and scholars,
have prepared and performed numerous times a 30-minute drama with folksongs,
called "The Sea Story". It
tells the story of a fisherman who, after putting his children to bed with
his wife, goes to sea, and is lost at sea when a giant wave overturns his boat. However, he is rescued by a sea turtle, and
the man arrives at his own funeral to tell everyone he is still alive! In the course of the drama, four folksongs
are sung: a lullaby, a rowing song, a lament song, and a celebration song. Storytelling
events have also already been held in the Lighthouse area called,
"Storytelling beside the Sea" (in English and Tamil). There has also been an essay contest for
children, on the topic, "Life in a Fishing Village". The
statues along the beach already make the area something of an outdoor
museum. For the past five years,
during Madras Week in August, there have been early Sunday morning walks
amongst six of these statues (Kannagi, NSC Bose, Thiruvalluvar, George Pope,
Bharathidasan, and Auvaiyur). These
walks have featured brief dramatic enactments near each statue, with
performers beginning with words such as, "I am Thiruvalluvar, and this
is my story…" (in Tamil and English).
At the statues of writers, these figures' writings are read aloud,
again with English translations. Many
of the young people in Chennai's sea-fishing communities may not want to be
fishermen, but they might enjoy helping to operate a Living Museum that would
put a spotlight on their community's traditions. This would be a type of cultural and
eco-tourism. Chennai
is known as a gateway to the far south of India. An ancient Tamil literary convention
divides the realm into five zones of nature and culture, with a flower
representing each zone. A Living Museum
beside Marina Beach could introduce visitors to the biology and culture of
Neythal (Coastal lands), and direct visitors to the other four traditional
zones of far south India: Marutham (Agricultural lands); Mullai (Pasture
lands); Pallai (Desert lands, dry and hot); and Kurinji (Mountain Forest
lands, moist and cool). Dr Eric Miller (PhD in Folklore),
eric@storytellinginstitute.org , directs the World Storytelling Institute,
which is based in Chennai. . |
