Madras Week 2009 – The British left-behind show by Indeco

I read in The Hindu a few days back about an exhibition with a display of British era items in Lalit Kala Academy, Greams Road Chennai – this place is near the Greams Road-Pantheon Road traffic signal, few hundred metres away from Apollo Hospital. The exhibition (free entry) which runs till tomorrow (August 30) features a collection of what the British have left behind – furniture, personalities and their ideas.

The items on display are from the private collection of Mr Steve Borgia (chairman and managing director of INDeco Hotels), who is a history enthusiast and an ardent collector of British India artefacts and antiques. In connection with this year’s Madras Week, he has exhibited from his private collection items from the British Raj titled “The British left-behind show”  

Today I took my son in the morning and we spent a good part of a hour looking at the various items on display. The organizers have done a fine job of neatly categorizing items, clear sign boards for every item, provided handy cards which explained the items and had many volunteers who were happy to explain the significance of the items on display.

The exhibition had quite a collection of interesting items – Twin blade fan (first in this part of the world), first metal lunch box, a old coin-based shooting game for kids, picnic set, camera, printing press and more. Some of the items (like the Fridge which runs on Kerosene oil) I had seen earlier in their Swamimalai resort during my vacation there few years back. 

While seeing the display, I was called to talk in Tamil for 30-seconds about the exhibition by Big FM Radio, which I did. Overall, an interesting hour spent, please take your kids to it.