Chennai: Providing yet another opportunity for Chennaiites to rejoice in the city’s legacy, the annual Madras Week celebrations would commence on August 20 this year. The week-long celebrations include a slew of cultural and technological events to sensitise public about the city.
Madras Week, which started off as Madras Day 14 years ago to celebrate the founding of the city on August 22, 1639 has become virtually a Madras Month judging by the programming last year. The celebrations this year are, like last year, likely to be spread throughout August and will go into the first week of September.
Recollecting the Madras Week celebrations last year, C. Chandana, a college student said, “I had spent all my 22 years of life at Chennai, but was unaware of its rich heritage. The Madras Week celebrations sensitised me about the history behind epic buildings and the surprising facts about the city.”
Art and photographic exhibitions would be organised by hotels and bookstalls, besides organising food festivals with Madras cuisine as their theme.
Various organisations will be active participants - Madras Naturalists’ Society, the photography group Nizhal, Observer Research Foundation, the Roja Muthiah Research Library, the CP Ramaswami Aiyar Centre, The Press Institute of India, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) Chennai Chapter, Cycling Yogis, Doshi Housing and Yocee.
