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A street that never sleeps
A view of the Ranganathan Street, T. Nagar.
INCREDIBLE street. This could well be a second name to Ranganathan Street!
For, you just need to mechanically move there surging through the crowd that automatically takes you across. During festival times, you will wonder if you are rushing along a Central station platform to catch a train or perhaps taking part in a temple Brahmothsavam! Before long, the cacophony of the small-time mobile hawkers and the high-decibel merchandise from the clustered shops on either side will wake you up to the effervescent mood of Ranganathan Street.
Screaming business in the half-kilometre stretch--from juice shops at the entrance that entice you with a star-hotel variety in their menu to the Mambalam station at the other end or Rettai Pillaiyar temple, before which hurrying commuters make a nippy bow-down-- it offers an amusing mix of strange yet exclusive experience.
Called the commercial tri-colour of T. Nagar, Ranganathan Street, Panagal Park and Pondy Bazaar, it is said, put together do a whopping Rs. five-six crores of business everyday and it is extra phenomenal during festivals.
The ever-mushrooming textile shops on Ranganathan Street with tailoring units, agents wooing customers for that magical `ready-in-one-hour' stitch, condiments special Ambika, Jayachandran Textiles or fabric-dyeing master Ramlok's diehard customers, books and more books at P.T. Bell and Co., Madras Book House and Lifco, Satya Bazaar for the foreign glamour, crowd-pullers Saravana Stores and Rathna Stores stealing the maximum attention, multitude of vegetable vendors along the Mambalam station, and the seasonal shopping for uniforms, shoes and water bottles...your brows are never lowered watching the bustling commerce!
While the street has this characteristic feel for almost 25 years now, one wonders how this magnetism has come about? What is it that allures people to go there?
Says S. Alima Samsugani, president, Ranganathan Street Merchants Association and Street Civic Exnora and owner of Alima Gold Covering: "The judicious mix of shops here caters for all tastes. Also, the street acts as a bridge between the Mambalam railway station and the Mambalam bus stand to serve commuter needs."
S. Yogarathinam and S. Rajarathinam of Saravana Stores say, "We offer multi-shopping experience under one roof at the lowest of prices. People who need to shop for a marriage needn't go beyond the street. Our motto is to continue having `low margin high-volume' business." This isn't surprising, as the vessel store, which in 1970 had a modest 1000 sq ft area, now has 1.5 lakh sq. ft. of shopping extravaganza, branching off into household interests, textiles, jewellery, provisions, sweets, fast-food and soon-to-be-launched ice-cream parlours.
Another rage, Rathna, in the business from the late 1940s, traces a giant growth, from a measly crowd of people from trains just stopping by to the thousands who mob his shop every day now. The owner P.S. Rathnam Nadar feels proud when he talks of his new venture, a much-needed convenience to shoppers there, a three-floor parking complex with wash-room facilities on Natesa Iyer Street.
A crowd from Coimbatore choruses, "A visit to Chennai means a must shopping on Ranganathan Street, eating desi items, listening to loud music..." Amid milling crowds? "But look how breezy it is! Don't you have crowds in pubs? Cool natural air is better than claustrophobic air-conditioned entertainment! The choice is up to you!" But how to tackle law and order, civic issues and hygiene while dealing with people in their lakhs and money in crores daily? says Mr. Samsugani, "We have got rid of pavement shops on court order and with constant vigil and public announcements by police, miscreants are on their way out. Six CCTV cameras are placed to record any mischief that would be tracked by senior police officials on their monitors".
With a crass commercial temperament, the street unbelievably still has some houses behind shops. The only surviving individual house, however, is an old-time building on a two-and-a-half-ground plot. The huge house, tucked behind and with verdant trees, looks oblivious to the noise and clutter of the street. M.K. Vasu and Bhanu Vasu, living there since 1984, vouch for safety, for they have a multitude of watchmen in the hawkers there and enjoy the convenience of buying vegetables or provisions at the nick of cooking hour. What bothers them, however, are the mounds of garbage thrown in front of their gate. Ranganathan Street never sleeps, really! After business hours, late in the night, it is time for many things and persons to arrive-- stocks, water lorries and garbage cleaners!
By Ranjani Govind
Photo: R. Ragu
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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