Adyar River at Manapakkam: Washermens' Source of Livelihood

Adyar River: Washermen's Source of Livelihood 1, a photo by Muthusamy Photostream on Flickr.

The 42.5 km-long Adyar river, once regarded as the pride of Chennai, is becoming a polluted river. More and more drainage channels from various ends of the city mix in Adyar river. However Adyar is the source of livelyhood for number of washermen. From Manapakkam bridge (near war cemetry) I have viewed the washermen washing and drying the clothes. The riverbed is highly polluted with drainage water, yet the river is also becoming washing area.

Maraimalai Adigal Bridge (Marmalong Bridge (1726-28): Bridges of Colonial Madras

Maraimalai Adigal Bridge (aka Marmalong Bridge), Adyar river, Saidapet (1726-28)

Plaque Commemorating the  construction of Marmalong Bridge by Coja Petrus Uscan (multinlingual inscriptions in Persian, Latin and Armenian)

The Maraimalai Adigal Bridge (previously the Marmalong Bridge) is one of oldest bridge in Chennai. It connects the northern banks of the Adyar river with the south. This bridge was originally built in 1726-28 at the cost of Rs. one lakh by the Armenian merchant, Coja Petrus Uscan. The merchant came to Madras in 1724 and built it by using his own money. The bridge was named after the nearby village of Mambalam which was Anglicized to Marmalan or Marmalong.

The dilapidated old bridge was replaced by a new one in the year 1966 built as part of the reconstruction and modernization efforts. Reconstructed in 1966 with prestressed concrete beams and slabs. Length of the bridge 770 ft. 12 spans of 60 ft. (average). Width of carriageway 81 ft. Width of footpath 10 ft. each. Cost of construction 42.5 lakh. The new bridge is named after Maraimalai Adigal, Tamil writer and proponent of the Pure Tamil movement.

Uscan's construction of the bridge is commemorated by a plaque at the northern end of the bridge adjoining the Saidapet bus stand. The Armenian merchant also constructed the steps which led to the historical National Catholic shrine atop St Thomas Mount in 1726. There is also a plaque commemorating Uscan's legacy.

Napier Bridge

Napier Bridge is one of Chennai’s oldest tied-arch structural bridge, built over the Coovum River connecting Fort St. George with the Marina beach in Chennai (Madras), India. This bridge, regarded as an architectural marvel, was built in 1869 by Francis Napier, then Governor of Madras (1866 – 1872).

This was earlier a narrow bridge, later it was broadened and converted to a concrete structure in July 1943 by Arthur Hope. The Government of Tamil Nadu also built , a new bridge was built in 1999 with a 10.5 m-wide carriageway on the western side.

The bridge is 138 m long with 6 spans (bowstrings) across the river near its mouth. It has 2-m wide footpaths.

The beauty of this bridge is, you can watch both sunrise at Marina beach and one can see the sunset too from either end of the bridge. sunrise from bay of Bengal and sunset from the Coovum river.