Intersections

 

A biriyani legacy of Madurai - Ammsavalli

If Madurai has a culinary identity of its own, biriyani would certainly be an important part of it. And when it comes to biriyani, few names evoke as much nostalgia and appetite as one of my favorites - Amsavalli Bhavan.

The story of Amsavalli goes back to the early 1950s, with roots tracing even further back to Devakottai. It was in 1952 that Gopal Pillai established the restaurant in Madurai, naming it after his wife, Amsavalli Ammal. What began as a humble family enterprise gradually grew into one of the city's enduring culinary landmarks. Today, the establishment carries forward a legacy, spanning generations.

Located on East Veli Street, in the bustling heart of old Madurai, Amsavalli became particularly famous for its mutton biriyani. Its distinctive preparation, using the fragrant seeraga samba rice, gives the biriyani its own character. The rice, meat and masala come together in a flavour that has earned generations of loyal admirers.

Of course, visiting Amsavalli is not necessarily an exercise in fine dining. The ambience is uncomplicated, the setting unpretentious and the food does most of the talking. After all, when the biriyani arrives, nobody really has the time or inclination to discuss interior design!

Amsavalli's influence extended well beyond Madurai. Whenever some of us travelled to other cities, either by train or by air, it was almost customary to carry a few parcels of biriyani along. After all, why should a good biriyani experience be restricted to Madurai?

I recall a Jet Airways flight from Madurai to Bangalore sometime in 2003 or 04, when we were travelling to attend a building materials exhibition. A few friends ( Late Mr. Balan, contractor friend and a few clients of mine) had dutifully packed their Amsavalli biriyani for the journey. This, however, did not go down well with the airline staff, who objected to passengers eating outside food onboard and filling the flight with a strong biriyani aroma. An argument ensued, with our friends defending their right to enjoy their packed meal. It was quite an unusual situation. Most passengers board a flight looking forward to the in-flight meal, but our gang had already made alternative arrangements! 

During one of our visits to the restaurant around 2003 with some friends, a rather interesting incident unfolded. After a particularly satisfying and heavy biriyani meal, we were on our way out when one of our mutual friends suddenly realised, to his horror, that his gold ring was missing. We immediately rushed back to the restaurant and searched around, but there was no sign of it. Then came a flash of memory. Our friend recalled using the pieces of “cut newspapers” kept near the washbasin to wipe his ghee-soaked fingers after the meal. A desperate rummage through the wastepaper bin followed, and, much to everyone's relief, the ring was discovered tucked away among the discarded papers! Apparently, he had wiped his fingers with such enthusiasm that the ring had joined the newspaper on its journey to the bin. Amsavalli had almost cost him a gold ring, but thankfully, the story had a happy ending. Perhaps the biriyani was simply too good to let go of!

Over the decades, Amsavalli has become more than just a restaurant. It is part of Madurai's food culture, where recipes are inherited, tastes are fiercely defended and every regular customer seems to have a theory about why the biriyani tasted better during their younger days.

Perhaps that is the secret of its longevity. In a world where restaurants reinvent themselves every few years, Amsavalli has largely stayed true to its culinary roots. Its legacy is measured not merely in the number of plates served but in the generations of families who have returned for that familiar taste.

And in Madurai, where people take their food rather seriously, calling somebody else's biriyani better than Amsavalli's can be a risky proposition. Some debates are best avoided, especially when they happen over a plate of mutton biriyani!

Urban façade

 

Paradise (of Books) lost - Higginbothams

Driving down Madurai's Good shed Street and seeing this building brought back memories from more than 40 years ago. It was the early 1980s when my parents first took me there, and for nearly a decade it remained a cherished place for my brother and me. This was where Higginbothams ( est  in 1970)  once stood—a bookstore that felt like paradise to us as children. I began with watercolour books and painting stationery, moved on to picture books, comics such as Amar Chitra Katha and Indrajal, and later graduated to Enid Blyton, Tintin and Asterix. A Tintin or Asterix was our promised reward if we ranked within the top ten at school. 

The store gradually lost itself after 2000 due to poor management and maintenance and finally closed down in 2019.

Seeing the store gone was deeply poignant; with it seemed to have vanished a small but precious part of our childhood.

Old file photo in its end days

Pareidolia !

 Face on the floor... Clicked at a construction site 

Popli bros -a part of Madurai's sporting history

Standing proudly on West Tower Street, near Central Cinema, Popli Bros is one of Madurai’s oldest sporting goods establishments, with a history dating back to 1913.

Hand painted original signboard 

Founded by Late Shri Gian Chand Popli (G.C. Popli), the store traces its origins to a time when organised sports were gaining popularity during the British colonial era. The Popli family, originally from Sialkot in the Punjab province of undivided India, made Madurai their home, bringing with them an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for sports. For generations of Madurai’s sports enthusiasts, schoolchildren and aspiring athletes, Popli Bros has been a familiar destination for cricket bats, footballs, hockey sticks, trophies and a wide range of sporting equipment. Over time, its offerings have expanded to include musical instruments and other recreational products.

Vintage image

Equally captivating is the building itself, with its distinctive vintage façade, ornamental balcony railings and decorative figures standing guard on either side. In an era when commercial establishments are increasingly defined by modern storefronts, Popli Bros retains the charm and character of old Madurai.

More than just a sports shop, Popli Bros is a living reminder of the city's mercantile heritage—a business that has served generations and continues to hold a special place in Madurai's collective memory.

Urban façade

 

The Big wheel of Madurai

One of the biggest curiosities of my childhood in Madurai was a giant, green-colored wheel that towered above the stone compound wall of the Madura Coats campus. As a child, I would often wonder what this enormous piece of machinery was and why it stood there. As I grew older, I assumed it must have been some old industrial equipment preserved as a relic of the past. However, I never really made an effort to find out its history.

On a recent visit to Madurai, as I drove past this familiar landmark, curiosity finally got the better of me. I decided it was time to discover the story behind the Big Wheel. What I learnt was fascinating. The giant wheel is part of what is believed to be the world’s first flywheel power plant, installed at Madura Coats in 1913. It was used to power the New Mills at Madurai for 48 years, until 1961. Today, in 2026, the remarkable machinery is 113 years old and continues to stand as a monument to the city’s industrial heritage. For generations of Madurai residents and mill workers, it has been a familiar landmark and a reminder of the city’s early industrial progress.

For me, it was one of those mysterious objects that formed the backdrop to my childhood, silently standing tall behind a compound wall - a childhood curiosity that has finally revealed a remarkable chapter of the city’s industrial past.

A followup up story was the hot water that was discharged by the mill and flowed out into a small canal from here during the days of the fly wheel power plant. The canal was called the Suduthanni vaaikal ( hot water canal in Tamil). This continued till the mill received electricity for its power requirements. But the canal still continued to be called the same even during my childhood days where we used to fish local guppies for our aquariums.

May be the loco shed of the railways next door too majorly contributed to the hot water discharge as it was the days of steam engine.

My friend Chella recounted an interesting information he had heard from his dad who was once an employee in the mills. It was said that people suffering from leprosy used to sit along the canal with their legs immersed in the warm water, possibly believing it offered some cure or relief. 

Madurai's first departmental store

One of the little excitements of my childhood in the 1980s was a cycle-rickshaw ride with my grandmother to Remuki Stores, somewhere along East Avani Moola Street, just a stone’s throw from the Meenakshi Amman Temple.

Founded around 1975–76 by a Gujarati Shah family, Remuki was a pioneer of the supermarket format in Madurai. At a time when the city’s shopping experience was largely dominated by traditional provision stores, Remuki offered something rather different.

This was where Grandma went to pick up a few "exotic groceries"—things that were not always easy to find elsewhere in the city. Remuki was the place to go for premium-quality groceries and imported products, giving it an air of sophistication that set it apart from the neighbourhood stores.

For me, though, the attraction went beyond groceries. A bar of Cadbury’s chocolate and a few Eclairs toffees were mandatory purchases on every visit! After all, a shopping trip with Grandma was not complete without a little something for the young accomplice tagging along.

Somewhere along the way, the original store shut its doors, taking with it a little piece of Madurai’s retail history. Its branch on 80 Feet Road in K.K. Nagar continues to survive, but for those of us who remember the original, it is merely a poor reminder of a once-popular city landmark.

Remuki today at kk nagar

Remuki Stores was more than just a place to shop. It was part of a childhood ritual—a cycle-rickshaw ride, an outing with Grandma, the discovery of unfamiliar goodies, and, of course, the irresistible promise of a Cadbury’s chocolate!

Urban intersections

 

Minimal shadows

 

Urban façade

 

First B'day

On the terrace of my paternal grandparents house at Chellappa mudhali street, Purasaiwakkam, Madras 

With Roseline athai, my paternal aunt

With Mary Appaye - my paternal grandma

with Ravi mama, my maternal uncle

 

Few photos of my 1st birthday ( year 1976) celebrated at my grandparents' house in Madras. 

Photos restored with AI help.

Wishes from Nithila

 Happiest Birthday To Appa !!!

Tonight, I wish upon the stars,

To make this distance melt away

So that I could be by your side

On your very special day.

Tonight, I wish upon the stars,

To send love, laughter and peace your way.

May every worry fade away,

And may joy be yours each passing day.

Tonight, I wish upon the stars,

To double the love you've given me,

Be returned to you in all you do,

For no one deserves the world, but you.

To the best dad that ever will be,

I am so grateful for the wisdom you've bestowed on me.

And I'm sure, the stars will also agree,

You're the greatest blessing I have ever received.

Minimal metal

 

Urban intersections

 

Baked memories

Bakeries hold a special place in my memories of growing up in Madurai in the early ’80s. They were more than just places to buy bread and biscuits; they were little neighbourhood institutions that added flavour to our childhood, quite literally!

New City Bakery, located at Ramanpettai on New Jail Road, was the closest to my home and, naturally, the one I visited most often. Sadly, it has vanished with time, leaving behind only memories and perhaps a lingering taste on the tongue.

My favourite here was their sponge cake, wrapped in paper—a simple treat that needed neither fancy packaging nor an elaborate name to make it special. Their animal-shaped biscuits were another curiosity, almost as entertaining to look at as they were to eat.

The animal buiscuits 

Paper wrapped sponge cake 

Surul cone 

Then there were their vathu biscuits, or vanilla drops as I know them now. As a child, I innocently believed that these delights must have been made with duck eggs. The logic seemed perfectly sound to my young mind: if it was called vathu (duck in Tamil) buiscuits, surely a duck had something to do with it! 

Vathu mutta buiscuits 

The bakery also had a mobile unit—a tricycle that made its rounds through our streets in the evenings chiming a bell. It was a welcome sound, bringing the bakery right to our doorstep. My grandma Annie aachi would buy us warm egg or coconut puffs or pupps as we locally called them!. Few things could rival the pleasure of biting into a freshly baked, still-warm puff on an ordinary evening.

Photo courtesy themaduraifoodie

Mani's bakery

Another bakery that stays nostalgic is the Mani’s Bakery at the Arapalayam Cross Road junction. Remarkably, it has survived from the 1960s to the present day, outlasting many of the neighbourhood establishments that once defined the neighborhood. Their puffs were famous too, and having one was almost a ritual whenever we visited one of my grandfather, Raja thatha’s house, at Arapalayam. Some flavours become inseparable from the people and places associated with them, and Mani’s puffs are firmly rooted in those family memories.

Ark bakery - at the American college shopping complex that was demolished this year

Raja barley - a brand that has managed to survive a 100 years!

And then there was Raja Barley at Nethaji road, which, in my opinion, made the best breads and buns in those days. Their bread had a distinctive flavour—something I have not encountered in any other bakery since. I cannot quite explain what made it so special. Perhaps it was the recipe, the ingredients, the baking process, or simply the magic that memory adds to the food of our childhood.

Their rusks were excellent too, as were their chooseberry biscuits. Even now, when I think of the breads and buns of those days, Raja Barley immediately comes to mind. It set a benchmark that, at least in my memory, remains unbeaten.

A branch of Raja barley at the American college shopping complex that was demolished this year.. 

 

Looking back, these bakeries were much more than commercial establishments. They were woven into the everyday life of Madurai—the evening tricycle making its rounds, a grandmother bringing home warm puffs, a paper-wrapped sponge cake, and the familiar aroma of freshly baked bread.

Some bakeries have disappeared, while others have managed to survive the passage of time. But the flavours they left behind continue to live on in memory.