Those Were The Days: White man’s pastime that became a part of city’s history... and geography

In the 1800s, the Englishmen, especially those of the East India Company, often found themselves bored beyond tolerable limits. On the one hand, they could not interact with the locals they governed.

On the other, hunting on horseback with hounds and hawks was for the upper echelons of the Company. For a majority of them, thus, the alternative were the taverns to drown their boredom in liquor, which snuffed their lives much earlier than what the East India company expected.

The expatriates decided clubs and sports were the best way for people of the establishment to interact and spend their time. Thus, in 1832, the first club in Madras came into being. Back in England, memberships in clubs, where earls and dukes spent their spare time, was limited to the elite class. 

Rarely could one working in the East India Company even dreamt of being admitted into that circle. The discrimination they faced back home, however, did not make them any egalitarian in Madras where they were the lords; some clubs boldly displayed boards that announced “No women, Indians or dogs” (though not in the same order).

Meanwhile, rowing became more and more popular as a competitive sport in England. After its advent in the early 17th century when regattas were held in the Thames river, boat clubs were being opened at public schools, and universities of Oxford and Cambridge had their first recorded rowing races way back in 1827.

This sport appeared to be a perfect pastime to pursue for many Europeans in Madras, a city that had plenty of water bodies in the form of the bay, rivers and lakes. The Madras Boat Club was started in 1867 near the backwaters of Ennore Creek fed by the Kosasthaliyar.

It then moved to the Cooum before finally finding a permanent home in the crystal clear waters of the Adyar in 1890. Lying in the south of the city, it then had little inhabitation to pollute it with effluents. Early rowers had noted that the Adyar river was unruffled in the mornings but choppy during evenings. In the initial days, the oarsmen had to avoid hitting the inland fishermen on catamarans fishing in the river.

To start with, it was a British-only club with a thatched roof shed for the boats and an open air bar. The space was rented from its neighbour, the Adyar Club, on land previously bequeathed by Sir John de Monte to the church. Indians were finally granted membership two years after independence, and the club opened its doors for students in 1957, which helped maintain a sporting attitude among the members.

Initially, rowers had at their disposal a 1,000 metre stretch eastwards and up to the golf course on the west. But after the river was degraded to the levels of a sewer over the years, only the former stretch is viable. However, the tides are keeping it a little better off than her sister, the Cooum. During high tides, rowers can go down to Broken Bridge almost to the point where the river joins the sea.

The Boat Club also made use of the Long Tank (which was levelled later to make the T Nagar). Over the years, the Cold Weather, Hot Weather, and Monsoon regattas used to be held in the Long Tank. British bungalows on the fringes of the lake were borrowed to serve as the stadium. Till 1911, the sailing boats were also used, but were handed over to the Yacht Club when it was founded.

Several members from the club have gone on to win rowing championships in India and abroad. But as the river continues to be degraded, it is an uphill struggle they face. The river is now a sewer with mushrooming population upstream. Oarsmen who fall into the water need a tetanus shot when they wade ashore. And it was not rare for members to spot a floating corpse whose frequency increased with the declaration of examination results.

Other clubs – the Cosmopolitan annexe and Gymkhana Club –attempted rowing for its members but had to discontinue it before long due to poor patronage. However, the Madras Boat Club is still thriving, not only as an important chapter in the city’s history, but also as an important landmark, with the whole area encompassing it being called the Boat Club area.