Tamil Nadu - Chennai

This form of messaging remains unbeatable

— Photo: Petlee Peter

Vintage visitation: Arjunan doing the rounds with his drum.

CHENNAI: In an age of text messaging, mobile telephony and online chat, an old-fashioned method of communication that dates back to the times of the maharajas still prevails in a little pocket of Chetpet.

Tamil history records it as ‘dandora,’ the practice of beating a drum in public places to convey the king’s message to subjects. This practice still reverberates along the by-lanes of Brindavanam, Mangalapuram, Jaganathapuram and M.S. Nagar of Chetpet, perhaps the only places in the city to still have this form of communication. And one man who follows this tradition is 32-year-old Arjunan, a resident of Brindavanam.

Be it someone’s death, temple fests or election meetings in the locality, Arjunan is the first man informed. He beats his drum around the streets shouting out the message to the residents.

“Messages on deaths are the most frequent ones I convey. The relatives of the deceased come to me and inform me about the person’s death, the venue and time of the last rites. I charge a fee according to the number of streets I have to cover and proceed with my little drum,” says the man who is a third-generation dandora announcer.

Arjunan doesn’t know to read and write, therefore, he memorises his client’s message and recites it aloud to the public.

Residents here said that ‘Molakkara Arjunan,’ as he is known among locals, is the first to let them know about any good or bad news in the locality.

“When my son died last April, I requested Arjunan to tell others, as it is impossible for an old lady like me to go around and convey the matter to all relatives and friends here. I paid him Rs.300,” said 74-year-old Krishnaveni of Mangalapuram.

The tap-tapping of Arjunan’s drums also beat for philanthropic purposes such as eye donation camps, blood donation camps and polio vaccination camps in the locality. He says he doesn’t collect any fee for these activities “as they are like social service.”

His primitive form of communication helped find a lost child during the heavy rains in 2005.

“A shopkeeper’s little girl in our locality went missing during the rains. I beat the drum and informed all the people even in the pouring rain. Luckily she was found soon in the protection of a family couple of streets away from her home. She got back to her mother,” recalls Arjunan.

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