Of campfires and community service


Did you notice the board on the Marina beach road (Kamarajar Salai) marking the Tamil Nadu Bharat Scouts and Guides headquarters? Look closely, and you'll see the address carries the words Wenlock Park. A bit of research and I found it is Lady Wenlock Park, developed by the Madras Governor Wenlock (1891-96). He loved his artist wife and he wanted to give the “gosha” women a secluded place to enjoy the sea breeze.

More interesting is the nondescript building set far back from the main road. “The front part of the structure which has a room on either side of the corridor was the “Gosha women's clubhouse,” said Bhaktavasan, West Chennai District Commissioner of BS&G (1979-2012) and State Secretary (87-90). The office room at the back is the Jamboree Hall, he said, built when the Scout jamboree was held in India in 1926. “Did you notice number 2 is missing from the embossed numbers above the entrance? That the Jamboree Hall does not leak even after all these years?” I said I had noticed both; I was there the day Chennai had its heaviest rains.............Read more

 

Source: The Hindu


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