City park tells tale of four centuries

It has silently witnessed the rise and fall of the British, it has been a mute spectator to Madras becoming Chennai and what we see the city as today. 

Maadi Poonga, literally translating into park on a terrace, has a historical significance which not many know about and one man explains to us its history and present day affairs. 

TK Krishnakumar, traveller, blogger and self-published author, uploaded a piece he wrote about this park nearly eight years ago but he still remembers what he observed vividly. 

Beginning with the park’s history, he tells us, “The British wanted to erect a massive wall around the Black Town area (as it was known back then) to protect it from enemy invasion nearly four centuries ago. So in 1768, a contractor by the name Paul Benfield took over as contractor.” 

The names of almost all the contractors who constructed English heritage buildings that still stand today, can be seen inscribed on them, he points out. 

“A year later, the north side of the wall was done. The east anyway was flanked by the ocean so the other two sides were pending. While the south predominantly consisted of villages like Mylapore and Triplicane, it wasn’t too essential to build that side of the wall so all attention was diverted to the west. However, they had run out of funds so they began collecting tax, like at a present-day toll gate, from passersby who wanted to commute through the west wall — this is how the road earned the name ‘Wall Tax’ Road,” says Krishnakumar. 

Since not many were in favour of this, a bill was passed against it in the British Parliament and with that, all activities pertaining to the wall were stopped. The north side of the wall, which was six kilometres long, had 17 bastions and seven gates but since it served no purpose, parts of it were demolished in the 1800s. 

“The remaining few portions were brought down post-independence in the 1950s but only one section remained on Old Jail Road, over which was build maadi poonga ,” explains Krishnakumar. He goes on to say, “Since then until now, the residents in localities surrounding it like Royapuram or Mint have known of its existence but no one knew of its history so it remained in a dilapidated condition for long.” 

It was in 2009 that it got a facelift by the government at a cost of Rs. 7.5 lakh. 

“The lawns were mowed, pillars and posts and the pavement were painted, so it’s in a considerably better state today, yet, people hesitate to go there,” he says in disdain. Why? Thanks to miscreants in the neighbourhood who treat this historical park, which is supposedly under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India as a glorified, rooftop bar. There are solutions to remedy this sad state of affairs — “More heritage walks can be conducted, bloggers and the public can write on it and create awareness and just like how parks in Mylapore turn kutcheri venues during the month of Margazhi, similar cultural activities can happen here too,” he summarises.