A watercolour window into old Madras

After a month of celebrating Madras through its landmarks, neighbourhoods, changing building and the coastline that has watched the city through it all, there is still something to be said about the Madras that lives on through the memories of its people. A renowned artist who designed the Tamil Nadu state emblem in 1949, R. Krishna Rao, a native of Madurai, shared a close bond with Madras.

His son, Srichandar K., a resident of West Mambalam reminisces his late father’s works, especially one watercolour painting that had captured the people’s attention in the late 1940s or early 1950s. It was a painting of the Central railway station caught in its everyday glory. “It was an on-the-spot work and he did this painting sitting on the western bank of Buckingham Canal abutting the former Central Jail. He further added that the painting was sold away like hot cake in a group show he had participated in,” adds Mr Srichandar.

For Rao, it was the city that gave his artistic life a push that set things in motion. It also happened when he met K. C. S. Paniker in Madurai who pioneered The Madras Art Movement. “My father decided to pursue art after meeting Paniker. He got admission to the Government School of Fine Arts only the following year, but in the meantime, he worked at an architecture firm in Madras and spent his time painting the city’s landmarks on the spot,” he says.

The original painting is believed to be in one of the residences in Chennai, but all that remains with Mr Srichandar is a sepia-tinted print of the watercolour painting. “When my dad landed in Madras he was a raw and callow youth. He used to say he was “wet behind the ears”. It was Madras that moulded him, chiselling the artist in him. Through this painting of the Central Railway station, he seems to have tried to eternalise his love for this great city, the Vandaarai Vaazhavaikkum Madras,” he adds.