‘White House’ of Chennai, customary sceptre ready

Ripon Building, the city civic headquarters dubbed as the ‘White House of Chennai’, is gearing up to welcome the first woman Mayor in its long history. The silver sceptre and aesthetic council dating back to Indo-Saracenic architecture are all spruced up for the gala event on March 4, when the new mayor will be elected through indirect polls.

“Council hall has already been refurbished as the hall remained unused for six years. Apart from the council hall, chamber of Mayor and chambers for deputy mayor and standing committee chairmen are almost ready,” an official said.

The chambers and council hall of colonial-era teak wood will be decked up within the next few days. The chambers of the Mayor and deputy mayor will continue to be on the second floor of the heritage building.

Apart from the chambers and the hall, sceptre and gold medallion are other traditional highlights of the city corporation council. The new mayor will wear a golden medallion with a sceptre carrying Jamedhar marching in front of him announcing ‘mayor varar varar’.

The sceptre is made of around 2.75 kilograms of silver coated with gold. “The sceptre is in use since 1933. Presently, the sceptre has been cleaned and given a new coat. This antique is kept in safe custody whenever the council is vacant or under suspension,” the official added.

The medallion is made of pure gold of 100 sovereigns, dating back to 1933. The civic body would keep the medallion in the bank locker and the insignia would be taken out on occasions including monthly council meetings. “Commissioner has the authority to take the medallion from the locker,” the official explained.

The Mayor post in Chennai Corporation was first instituted in 1933 although the civic body is older than 320 years.

While the civic body has preserved the robe worn by the previous mayor, new robes will be stitched as per the size requirement of the new mayor. As per the practice, the mayor will have two robes - black and red. Black will be worn in council meetings and red on special occasions.