A tall one

It is not very easy to decide which photo should be posted for a milestone. The decision about the first photo of this blog was fairly easy, plus I had a decently long time to think about it. The decision about the 50th photo was taken out of my hands - it was June theme day and there was just one photo that could go up. Even then, I did not start thinking about the 100th photo; it is only during the past week that the thought that this has to be a significant photo kept nagging away....

And so, this building. In some of my earlier posts, I have mentioned how a shot of this building was enough to establish that the hero had arrived in Madras - whether the movie was in Tamil, Malayalam or maybe even Telugu. It remains (I think) the tallest building in Chennai. The construction of this building was begun in 1953 - the design inspired by the United Nations Headquarters in New York - by M.Ct.M.Chidambaram Chettiar, who dreamt of it showcasing United India Insurance, Indian Overseas Bank and Travancore Rayons, three of his big business ventures. Chidambaram Chettiar died in 1954; his dream for this building died a couple of years later, when the property, belonging to United India Insurance, was taken over by the government when insurance was nationalised in 1956.

Having always seen this building from Mount Road, I did not think I could ever have a different view of it. What I did not realize was that the property has now been extended all the way back to General Patters Road; it is not easy, as you drive up GP Road to figure out how the 'Golden Jubilee Gateway' takes you to Mount Road - it is only when you go a little beyond that you get to see the building itself and then it becomes clear. When I got this view of the LIC Building, I knew that it would make the 100th post - the building where both my parents spent a significant part of their working lives!