CHENNAI: Long before Chennai emerged as a modern metropolis, its working-class neighbourhoods shaped the city’s political and social conscience.
Pattalam, along with Perambur, Pulianthope and surrounding industrial quarters, played a pivotal role in India’s earliest labour movements, including the country’s first Labour Day celebrations. This heritage walk, organised by Madras Inherited and led through Pattalam, traces the layered history of industrial expansion, capitalist enterprise and the rise of organised working-class power.
“When I began ideating for this walk, the goal was to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the history of Madras’s working class. I chose to focus on the Pulianthope-Pattalam area. I must specifically acknowledge Shalin Maria Lawrence, whose insightful conversations and meetings with her definitely inspired and influenced me to look deeper into this part of the city. I also owe this walk to the writings of Dr D
Veeraraghavan, whose seminal work, The Making of the Madras Working Class, inspired me to curate a walk that would focus on the labour history of Madras. I ultimately decided to concentrate on the labour history of Pattalam, with a special focus on the implications of the B&C Mills,” says Ashmitha Athreya, who leads the walk.
Moving through streets marked by mills, public institutions and protest sites, the walk unpacks stories of exploitation and resistance, collective bargaining and social reform that helped redefine workers’ rights in the city. Alongside these narratives, participants will encounter architectural and urban landmarks, most notably the Pattalam Clock Tower, one of only five surviving clock towers in Chennai, and striking examples of Art Deco design.
Talking about the significance of the topic, the walk leader shares, “I believe that it is crucial for understanding and acknowledging the very foundation of Chennai. Participants can expect a different heritage walk, unlike the ones we’ve researched
Participants will encounter architectural and urban landmarks, notably the Pattalam Clock Tower, one of only 5 similar structures surviving in Chennai and curated so far. This one will be as much a history walk as it is a heritage walk.”
The walk highlights the origins and founding of the Madras Labour Union, widely recognised and celebrated as the first registered trade union in India. “As an initiative, we firmly believe in the power of walking to connect with the city’s local stories, histories, and people. The exchange of information that takes place during a walk, both among participants and between participants and the walk leader, is invaluable, greatly enriching our knowledge and understanding of the city,” she notes.
Pattalam Of Workers: A History Of Capitalism and Labour heritage walk to take place on January 11, from 6.30 am to 8.30 am, assembling at the Binny Mills.