Kalki Gardens, built in 1857 as a garden home for an Englishman, was in its heyday the home of the greatest Carnatic singer, MS Subbulakshmi. It was also the headquarters of Kalki publications, edited by the Tamil writer, `Kalki' Krishnamurthi. (One of Kalki's novels, Ponniyin Selvan (Ponni's Beloved), is being translated and posted online here.) It was a focus for literary, cultural and political activity for many years until 1977, when Kalki Publications shut down.
Two pages further on, S. Muthiah has written about the Madras Mail building on Mount Road, also soon to be torn down.
It is depressing to see how rapidly the uglification of Chennai is proceeding. If it's old, tear it down!
I'm rounding off Demolition Day with a building which is already gone, a much humbler structure on Santhome High Road. This is my own picture. Someone told me that it belonged to one of the churches on that road, and that a caretaker's family lived there. It has been replaced by a wall.
