Those were the days: When Madras got a swimming pool

It was while throwing open the first Madras public swimming pool in 1947, His Excellency the Governor of Madras, Maharaja of Bhavnagar ended up expressing surprise that swimming as an amenity had till then not been taken up by elected bodies. 

“Swimming needs no equipment and is one of the cheapest, easiest and enjoyable forms of recreation,” he observed. But then the bay was too rough and occasionally sharks took a bite off those who dared to venture out. Boards on the Marina Beach warned potential swimmers of that fact. The two rivers, Cooum and Adyar, were fast becoming sewers and temple ponds were more frequently dry than full. 

The city’s largest lake — the long tank had been majorly filled with soil to create Thyagaraya Nagar. The Royal Bath in the people’s park near the Central Station and the then zoo was the first of the swimming pool in Madras. It had been sponsored by the Rajah of Kirlampudi and hence the name. Having been thrown open to the public in 1922, it was operational for 50 years, slowly deteriorating in quality. Having differential entry rates for weekends and weekdays it also charged an entertainment tax making the fee a hefty 9 ½ annas for a dip during the 1940s. 

During the peak of the World War, the British army had located a 1.5-acre plot on the beach opposite the Presidency College on the Marina Beach which was conveniently fanned by a gentle sea breeze. On that land, the military built a swimming pool — 100m long and 30m wide (bigger than the standard Olympic pool size). 

The pool would be exclusively used by army personnel who abounded in the city after the fall of Singapore. The common man hardly knew where the resources came from, for all the military particulars were classified. Much later, it was realised that the Rs 1,80,000 spent on the pool actually came out of the war fund of the British Governor. Daily advertisements in the papers had entreated the natives of the Presidency to contribute liberally to buy planes to form the Madras squadron that would eventually vanquish Hitler and save the world from fascism. The rich and royal were arm-twisted to donate to the Governor’s war fund. The secrecy surrounding the pool’s origin was because if news leaked out and the common man learnt that the soldiers were taking a splash out of their donations it might add fuel to the fire of the ongoing independence movement. When the World War was over the British had left and the pool had been handed over for public use in September 1947. By then it had become taxing to maintain mainly because it was using gargantuan volumes of water in a thirsty city. 

Outlining the future plans the corporation Commissioner admitted that an automatic continuous system to filter the water would take time. But the pool would be open three days a week and the rest spent in emptying it, scrubbing the walls and refilling it from two wells on the beach. Cleanliness seemed to be the key. An underwater lighting was added to raise confidence levels for it would give an idea to the users that the water was clean. 

The washrooms and bathing cubicles were added at a cost of Rs 80,000 and an inauguration was set for April 1949. It wasn’t very deep and a six-foot man could stand upright and breathe the beach air comfortably. And to add to the safety, truck tubes were inflated and offered as a buoyant aid for a charge. But not all were optimistic. During the inauguration, the Mayor warned that Red Hills water would at any cost not be let into the pool in those days of water scarcity and hoped the two wells supporting the pool wouldn’t go dry in the interest of the swimmers. 

The pool was opened to public after the YMCA had built a private swimming pool at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh on the banks of the Adyar River. Though it was opened to public in April 1947, the YMCA pool was not accessible to many because of its remoteness. Marina pool by virtue of being on the beach outsmarted its nearest competitor and started witnessing huge crowds in summer.