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When the postman knocked
Reader T. K. Visweswaran thinks that Monegar Choultry (Miscellany, Nov. 19) was called `Kanji Thotti' (thotti is a vessel into which rice gruel was poured and given to the poor — and cattle) and not `Thottam' (garden). He adds that Stanley Hospital used to be known in the area as `Rayapuram Kanji Thotti Aaspathri'. He also corrects me on the spelling of `manugakkaran'; it should be spelt and pronounced as `manaiyakkaran'. A quick poll amongst friends who are better informed about such niceties showed them voting in favour of Reader Visweswaran.
Regretting the end of one era at Binny's (Miscellany, Nov. 12) and hoping for a better one is Reader T. M. Sundararaman. B & C Mills, he reminds me, were famous not just for their drills; their shirtings and trouser material like Gold Standard, Matte and Twill and suitings like Sharkskin, Tussore and Fine Tussore, all pre-shrunk, were of the highest quality and the most reasonable prices. So was their furnishing material like B & C Casement, he writes.
Looking back on an age long past, Reader Sundararaman adds that no one today is likely to believe that a shirt and pair of trousers of Binny material used to cost only Rs. 30.
Three yards of Mascot cloth cost Rs. 9 and stitching charges were only Rs. 3, making a full-sleeved shirt just Rs. 12, while Twill for a pair of trousers was just Rs. 15 and with stitching only Rs. 3 again, the trousers cost just Rs. 18! "No wonder people like me find it difficult to adjust to present conditions," rues my reader.
Yes, Binny's cottons — a forgotten material now — and their prices will certainly be missed, I know; till well into the 1970s I only wore white matte and khaki drills to work , always from Binny's.
And, finally another note of my own. Why typists must keep changing the initials `AV.', as in Avichi (Meyyappan), into `A.V.' (Miscellany, Dec. 3) I'll never understand.
S. MUTHIAH
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