Though the city of Chennai is over 350 years old, it has not received the kind of attention that other metropolitan cities in India have. Writings on the city that are available view it from an elite middle-class perspective, epitomized by the opposition to the renaming of Madras a few years ago. This somewhat provocatively titled book highlights the vernacular character of Chennai. Most of the contributors have not been visible to a non-Tamil audience before, and this volume gives them voice.

A two part illustrated narrative on Chennai; authored separately by Tishan Doshi and Nandhita Krishna, with photo research & editing by Pramod Kapoor.

Tamil Nadu – where there are more temples than pharmacies, where the language is older than Sanskrit, where atheists have ruled for half a century provided they were atheists from the right caste. Tamil Nadu, where the young population is ripe for a revolution. At least this is what Nanban thinks, coming from the hub of Mumbai and well-versed in its Machiavellian political ways, he plans to shake things up. His meeting with Veerappan Gounder, who took a bit hit in the last election, seems like his chance to challenge the Tamil status quo. Together they embark on a campaign where no ideal is too high and no action too dastardly to get what Nanban wants – but at what price. V Sanjay Kumar weaves a political thriller as compelling as it is incisive, about the human factor and the vested interests that spark change and about an Indian state which is older than time and just as stubborn.

Contributed articles on Chennai city, Tamil Nadu.

In a metropolis where customs are paramount, humility essential, the evil-eye feared and showing-off considered distasteful, how do people navigate the streams of tradition and modernity? How does the self form a lasting equation with the city? Some do it with ease, some with effort, but they all have a special love for the city - for a tradition they find organic and lived; for the co-existence of various religions; for the distinct sense of community and neighbourhoods; for the spacious inner life. In Madras, Chennai and the Self: Conversations with the City, Tulsi Badrinath creates a layered image of Chennai by sifting through her memories, and by narrating the stories of those who call it home - the current Prince of Arcot, Dalit writer and activist P Sivakami, superstar Vikram and karate-expert K Seshadri, among others. In their words come alive key aspects of the city - the fine beaches along the Bay of Bengal, Fort St. George, coconut and mango trees, jasmine stalls, cricket fever, classical music and dance, the twin temptations of idli and dosai, temple crowds and radical political movements.

Madras, Rediscovered, therefore, is a historical guide for those who wish to look around Madras, or wish to find out more about their city, as it is a plea to conserve not only its spacious environment but also its cultural and historic relics, be they Indian or European.

In this anthropological history, Mary E. Hancock examines the politics of public memory in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Once a colonial port, Chennai is now poised to become a center for India's "new economy" of information technology, export processing, and back-office services. State and local governments promote tourism and a heritage-conscious cityscape to make Chennai a recognizable "brand" among investment and travel destinations. Using a range of textual, visual, architectural, and ethnographic sources, Hancock grapples with the question of how people in Chennai remember and represent their past, considering the political and economic contexts and implications of those memory practices. Working from specific sites, including a historic district created around an ancient Hindu temple, a living history museum, neo-traditional and vernacular architecture, and political memorials, Hancock examines the spatialization of memory under the conditions of neoliberalism.

This work explores diverse cultural understandings of food practices in cities through the senses, drawing on case studies in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. The volume includes the senses within the popular field of urban food studies to explore new understandings of how people live in cities and how we can understand cities through food. It reveals how the senses can provide unique insight into how the city and its dwellers are being reshaped and understood. Recognising cities as diverse and dynamic places, the book provides a wide range of case studies from food production to preparation and mediatisation through to consumption. These relationships are interrogated through themes of belonging and homemaking to discuss how food, memory, and materiality connect and disrupt past, present, and future imaginaries. As cities become larger, busier, and more crowded, this volume contributes to actual and potential ways that the senses can generate new understandings of how people live together in cities. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical food studies, urban studies, and socio-cultural anthropology.

A Madras Mystery opens with two young men exchanging a cryptic code about a location, in Chennai, to carry out their ‘operation.’ A string of abductions from various parts of the city sends tremors amongst the ruling class in Tamil Nadu. The State is embroiled in caste clashes and only a few months are left for the general elections. Power battle hots up within the ruling party as various heavyweights jostle for cabinet berths. As Ashwin IPS begins his investigations into the kidnappings, he is stumped by the unpredictable turns that await him. Who are the real forces behind the kidnappings? Are they to settle political scores? Or are there larger conspiracies behind the captures? Will Archana, Ashwin’s friend, help him solve the case?