The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Sporting a new look

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 16, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sporting a new look

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Army Day being celebrated at War Memorial in Chennai on Sunday. — Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Noticed the `new, improved' War Memorial?

Suddenly, the memorial, which once housed the coastal battery and was earlier called `Cupid's Bow,' seems to have been cleaned up.

"We did some sandblasting," Area Commander B. Sivasankar explained to a group of former Army officers based in the city, who had come to pay their respects at the memorial on Army Day.

Major General Sivasankar led the serving and retired officers in paying homage to the war heroes at a solemn function held at the memorial on Sunday morning.

One of the first things that Gen.Sivasankar did after taking over as General Officer Commanding, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala Area, was to spruce up the memorial. The heroes had to be remembered in a befitting manner, he reasoned.

The memorial honours soldiers and officers who laid down their lives for the country since the First World War.

It was initially built to commemorate the victory of the allied armies during the war. It was later called the victory war memorial for the World War II in the memory of those who laid down their lives and hailed from the Madras Presidency.

Gen. Sivasankar wants to ensure that the memorial finds a place in the list of `must visit' sites in Chennai.

As of now, the War Memorial is not among the sites being promoted. Even the Tamil Nadu tourism Web site that lists places of tourist interest in Chennai does not mention it.

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