Oh! What a change ..4

 Oh! What a change ..4

We have been engaging in recalling the yester –decades of a glorious place [Madurai] for all its grandeur of habits, culture, outlets, citizen-friendly cost index and highly volatile emotions of some sections of the society. Yet, for the peace-loving, there has never been any interference as far as known to me. Madurai is an index for two major activities – politics and Cinema. Of late the line of segregation between the two is tending to be borderless – an unwelcome trend. For Tamil movies , for ages, producers used to await feedback from Madurai for audience response as a foreteller of fortunes for a movie. If a movie makes an impact on Madurai audience, it would certainly enjoy grand patronage all over the state. Why should Madurai be looked up to is a logical doubt for anyone.

Movie-makers have a classification as ‘A’ centres, ‘B’ centres and ‘C’ centres comprising the typical audience signifying the degree of ‘elitism’- if I may use the term.     Though at best Madurai would just be a ‘B’ centre, it is a blend of A+B+C type audience, perhaps of  a composition, reliable for assesment. That way Madurai serves as a window for assessment requiring no further cross-checking. Equally Voting pattern/trends in Madurai by and large suggest the voter-psychology of the state in a period. That again is suggestive of the state-wide socio-politico equations obtaining at the time of polls as reflected in Madurai.

Madurai had a reputation for fielding several movies at a time through a really large number of theatres physically not far off from one another. Alas, many have dwindled and the premises are now used for some other commercial activity. The once-prestigeous “Thangam”  is by a strange coincidence housing a gold ornament business firm and its ally – another business firm devoted to garments/ fabrics. Another landmark theatre “Chinthamani” is housing M/S Rajmahal –a well known firm for garments.Quite a few like Parameswari, Devi, New Cinema, City Cinema, the infamous Imperial, Shanthi to name a few have simply vanished.Some like Central, Meenakshi, Alankar, Regal and a few others  keep breathing as of now.  

For the huge sheltered cinema houses, rental for Car parking is more a paying proposition, than of movie-marketing and keeping the fingers crossed. Despite the desire to make money business firms in and around Madurai cautiously fix the rate or price, lest the native buyer should boycott the firm asa of being avaricious. Most commodities and services had from Madurai enjoy decent offer to the customer; things bought from elsewhere at a higher price tag need not be correspondingly superior. Be it foot wear, dress material, eatables or similar other products. Someone raised the question as to why no reference to Jasmine flowers of Madurai.   I consoled him saying it will appear soon. Here it is.

The geographic territories around Madurai have Red soil and dry climate –the two ideal parameters for Jasmine cultivation. Being a dry land crop Jasmine hits the market in Summer and one can see heaps of Jasmine sold by weighing [Kgs] or finely woven into Jasmine chain running several feet. On a retail basis these flowers are priced per 100. It would be hard to accept that such a short stretch of chain holds 100 flowers; the doubtful customer wpould inspect the stretch for the number. Unlike in many other parts of the state, flower vendors have a fine knack of noose-like binding of flower buds in groups of 4 and adjacent groups are kept in closest proximity presenting a very compact setting. Some of them are master-craftsmen in that they can align flowers to appear in 4 distinct coiled rows exhibiting a fine twist wherein the tips of buds in a row line-up in soldier-like regularity or  order. It fetches a higher price as it involves dexterous labour. This is one of the reasons for the popularity of “Madurai Malli” The general dry climate of the area helps for the accumulation of ‘fragrance-factors’ in flowers and also helps their evaporation accounting for the mesmerising jasmine fragrance. There is a lot more to speak about the place.  Please wait.  

  Prof. K.Raman