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! 

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.

Bricks on the way - urban decay

 

Urban colors