Madras Miscellany

Sherlock at home no more

THE BAKER Street Irregulars and similar organisations in many parts of the world keep the legend of that immortal detective alive. Madras was not to be left behind and, in the 1970s, Dr. G. Krishnamurthi, an orthopaedist and general surgeon who practised in Mylapore, founded `The Sherlock Homes Society of Madras'. Its 30-plus members used to meet regularly on the second floor of his clinic and many were heated debates over the numerous internal mysteries Sir Arthur Conan Doyle laced his stories with. One of those mysteries was Sherlock Holmes' birthday: Was it January 6, 1854, or July 4, 1854, as Dr. Krishnamurthi contended? Another discussion focussed on the "missing years". Were they spent in India?

Alas, such debates are no more in Madras, though Sherlock Holmes fans are out there still in their numbers. In fact, that's been the case since the late 1980s, when the activities of the local Society began to wane. One of its last activities was a play staged an IIT in 1987, with Dr. Krishnamurthi playing Holmes, complete with deerstalker cap, cape and pipe. That was the last of the stage and radio plays the Society arranged from time to time. The Holmes addict dressed as his hero is one of the exhibits (see picture) in the splendid collection of Shelockiana that he nurtured in his home in T.Nagar. Since Dr. Krishnamurthy's death a few years ago, his wife Kamakshi has continued to tend it, but none in the family has added to it. Nevertheless, it remains a fascinating little museum demanding a wider audience - and regular additions.

This priceless legacy includes books, posters, photographs of those who have played Holmes, newsletters of other Sherlock Holmes societies and a heap of letters from individuals and organisations for whom the Master of Detection was a passion, indeed, almost an obsession to judge by the discussions over what to the layman might seem trivia. Pride of place in the collection is a series of paintings by well-known artist Easwaran, featuring key scenes from some of the most unforgettable Sherlock Holmes stories. When Dr. Krishnamurthi commissioned the artist to do this series in the 1980s, he discussed every painting in detail to ensure Easwaran correctly depicted what Arthur Conan Doyle had put down on paper.

Conan Doyle himself was seen as something more than a writer or a doctor, by Dr. Krishnamurthi, according to all accounts. He felt Conan Doyle had finely tuned deduction skills that he regularly put to use in medical diagnosis. Dr. Krishnamurthi had something of the same skills, recalls Kamakshi. "Watching patients walking up to the clinic, he would often speculate on what ailed them - and he was generally right," she said in a recent interview. "He was right when he felt that an obviously bent old woman was not suffering, but only wanted someone to talk to. And he was right when a middle-aged man jauntily walked into the clinic thinking he had a minor ailment when he had, in fact, was a major one."

Whether the Holmes books inspired Dr. Krishnamurthi's diagnostic skills or whether the skills, logic-based and not intuitive, were honed by repeated readings of Holmes' methods could well be the subject of another lively debate, but for the nonce the question is how that treasure he left behind could be made available to a wider audience and help inspire the young to benefit from a fascination with Holmes.

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Trophies that remember them

The 1930s and 1940s was a glorious period for Madras cricket with stalwarts of yesteryear - M.J. Gopalan and F.C. de Saram - in peak form. It is befitting that there are contests for trophies named after them today. The rain gods smiled on two cricketing stalwarts of yesteryear and allowed contests for trophies named after them to be played in mid-October with only modest, weather- related interruptions.

I was delighted to see M.J. Gopalan present at Chepauk to give away the trophy named after him to Robin Singh, the Tamil Nadu skipper, who had obviously thought that winning the trophy was more important than the match itself, thereby killing the game. Sadly, F.C. de Saram had moved to Elysian Fields and could only watch from somewhere up there the trophy in his name being presented to both teams for the one-day series, rain having prevented what would have been the deciding match.

Watching the Gopalan Trophy match, Gopalan would, no doubt, have recalled that 1933 match when he first played against Ceylon - the first All-Ceylon team to go on an overseas tour - and routed them with a 6 for 17 and 7 for 57 (including a hat-trick) performance that ensured the visitors' only defeat during the ten-match tour. F.C. de Saram was not on that tour; he was making waves at Oxford where he was to win his `Blue' in 1934, the first Asian to do so at Oxbridge after Ranji, Duleep and Pataudi Sr. But his most memorable performance that year was when he scored 128 against an Australian attack that included Grimmett and Fleetwood-Smith, hitting 96 in boundaries, including four sixes, and scoring his runs out of a total of 218! `F.C' also won a tennis `Blue' and a golf `Half-Blue'. In later years, he was to partner his brother `F.J' and win many a doubles title, but he never represented Ceylon in tennis, which `F.J.' did, becoming, like Gopalan, a double international - cricket and tennis, to Gopalan's pioneering achievements in India when he won the India blazer in two sports, cricket and hockey.

The first time the cricketer many thought India's best, but most ignored, all-rounder and the player considered Ceylon's best batsmen till the 1980s met in a first class game was in 1947 at Chepauk.

That was when Sathasivam, putting Gopalan to the sword, scored a 215 many think is the finest innings to have ever been played at Chepauk. Gopalan fared well with the bat in South India's second innings, but his 46 was not enough to prevent an innings defeat.

By the time V. Pattabhiraman and K.S. Rangao Rao promoted what was to be an annual Madras versus Ceylon match for the Gopalan Trophy, Gopalan had hung up his boots.

But 41-year old de Saram was there to lead Ceylon to victory in the inaugural game played in 1953 at Chepauk.

He did so again, but in Colombo, the next year and then he too called it a day.

When Ceylon won once again in 1955, it was led by Vernon G. Prins - and it was Prins who donated the trophy for the new one-day series, its name recalling the man who had been his skipper for many years.

What an unforgettable age of Madras-Ceylon cricket that was in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, with Gopalan, Ram Singh and C.P. Johnstone for Madras and de Saram, Sathasivam and S.S. Jayawickrema for Ceylon.

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Passengers be damned!

Indian Airlines' solution to its problems in at least one case demonstrates a callous disregard for passengers. It cut the number of flights. Fair enough. But it changed the flight timings too... Airlines may be going through a difficult time, but Indian Airlines' solution to its problems in at least one case demonstrates a callous disregard for passengers.

On its Colombo sector, troubled by the tragic events in Sri Lanka as well as in the U.S., it first cut down on the number of flights and then switched from Airbuses to Boeings. Fair enough. But what followed is sheer indifference to passengers' comfort and safety. It changed its flight timings.

It now leaves Madras around 11.30 p.m. and gets to Colombo at around 2.30 a.m. local time. By the time passengers complete local airport formalities; it could well be 4 a.m. And then it's a one-hour-plus drive to Colombo. Forget the fact that the airline has made sure that passengers have not had a whole night's sleep. Greater discomfort is the uneasy, threatening atmosphere throughout that drive to Colombo. For, all along the way, there are heavily armed military check posts and being stopped here and there by them is not unknown. And if you are a Tamil, the questioning can be a bit unnerving even if you have an Indian passport.

Passengers headed for Madras by the return flight don't have it any easier. They have to report around midnight, which means doing the lonely stretch during the hours of 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Once, this was a friendly road with a fair amount of life at night. No longer - and passengers travelling to and from Madras by Indian Airlines tend to be extra tense during these lonely night drives. Surely, Indian Airlines could show greater consideration to its passengers on this route. Or don't they want happy, stress-free passengers?

S.Muttaiah

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