Pelathope in Mylapore on January 14, 2025
| Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK
Though running parallel to North Mada Street, Pelathope hardly shares in its spotlight. Pelathope is a cul-de-sac and its days unspool to a rather fixed script with little room for improvisation. The odds are high that anyone unfamiliar with Mylpore has not heard of Pelathope (which means “jackfruit grove” in Tamil). Even Google maps would be silent on it: as this old name of the street is overshadowed by an official name, one popularised by Google Maps —Vedanta Desika Swamy Street.
Next weekend — March 21, 22 and 23 — is going to be in the public glare as a result of what is called The Pelathope Urban Living Lab – Open House, an initiative by SKDO in collaboration with PLUS, Curating for Culture, UCAN and Cultural Heritage Narratives.
According to a communication from the organisers, the initiative offers an “opportunity to explore the rich history and cultural heritage of Mylapore.” As the name suggests, the Open House is open to all, and it is aimed at discussing “opportunities to collaborate in setting up a meaningful community design initiative focussed on the neighbourhood scale as part of the urban living lab.”
40 Pelathope, a famous house at Pelathope, Mylapore
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK
The open house would be marked by exhibitions, archival showcases, guided walkthroughs, and community conversations (which allow visitors to can engage with architects, historians and residents about the past, present and future of Mylapore).
The communication notes the Open House would witness the launch of two key initiatives: The Pelathope Community Archives and The Mylapore 15-Minute Cultural Neighbourhood Map.
The communication elaborates that the Pelathope Community Archive consists of oral histories from previously unrecorded or forgotten narrators, archival photographs, and documents highlighting the history of Pelathope and Mylapore, organised around thematic areas of culture, community, infrastructure/planning, and ecology. This exercise is underpinned by the hope that the “discovery of unexplored histories will resonate with others in the neighbourhood, leading to alternative readings of Mylapore that can foster a better understanding of the dynamics of neighbourhood change.”
The communication adds: “The Mylapore 15-Minute Cultural Neighborhood Map is a crowd-sourced document that seeks to highlight the unique cultural heritage of the neighbourhood. This serves as a starting point for creating a broad-based and inclusive (re)development framework that leverages the cultural and heritage assets of Mylapore. The expected focus of this framework includes enhancing the local economy, preserving and enhancing tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and identifying high-impact community projects such as last-mile connectivity interventions and shared community spaces that can improve social cohesion and tangibly enhance the quality of life in Mylapore.”
The organisers are also running a photo contest — Mylapore Through Your Lens — which will be exhibiting shortlisted entries and announcing winners at the Open House.
Two structures would be central to the exercise. One popularly known as 40 Pelathope (which now goes by the new number 16 while retaining its old number 40) is steeped in history; so are the three row houses right opposite this structure. A section of the row houses which underwent a renovation, one that was easy on its original character, will mark the physical space of the Pelathope Urban Living Lab by being a congregating point for residents as well as entities that have the agency to effect positive changes in Pelathope as well as the rest of Mylapore.
Published – March 17, 2025 11:29 am IST