Mixture of people in Madurai - Telugu, Sourashtrians, Muslims, North-Indians and Tamils

Madurai has a great mixture of people considering its history. You can notice this when you go into the heart of the city.

This article will explain about the different sources of people settled in Madurai. In various centuries different variety of people have come and settled in Madurai. Even today, those kind of inward and outward migration is happenning in Madurai.

In very olden days, Krishnadevaraya's kingdom ruled hence there is considerable amount of Kannada speaking population in Madurai and in the belt of Aruppukkottai etc., are there.

In those same ancient times, under Krishnadevaraya's kingdom, Nayakkars were ruling and administering Madurai (cannot forget Thirumalai Nayakkar), hence there is a significant Telugu speaking population in Madurai.

In the same angle, there was a period when Muslims from Delhi ruled Madurai and hence there are considerable amount of Muslims. In the same angle, due to missions, out of interest there are christian population, in addition the Hindu population already existing as a part of India.

Of course, i am not going to talk about the existing Tamil population, because it is anyway Tamil nadu, India.

We all know the origin of Sourashtrians, who came from Gujarat in olden times for making, providing and selling silk materials in Madurai for Nayakkars.

If you notice, there will be significant north-indian (Rajasthan, Gujarath) population settled in Madurai - they all came for business in Madurai - mostly Textiles business.

Recently there is more population from Orissa, Bihar - which is labour population for working in factories and industries in Madurai. They come as cheap labour as on date, which the local population is not willing to work. Most of the local population is studying well and they don't have to go as labour these days.

Most of the muslims do business as well. Few work for some body else.

In other hand, significant number of Malayalees work and stay in Madurai - few do business, but few have come for work, since Madurai is kind of near to Kerala.

Oh, by the way - I forgot a set of people in Railway Colony and Arasaradi area - they are the Anglo-Indians. It is usually said they have the mix of foreigners and Indians, from the times of English period. You would have noticed the same in Aadukalam movie in Tamil film industry.

I did not talk about Tamil' and categories of Tamil people in Madurai in this article.

It is an interesting mixture of different variety of folks in Madurai. Live it and feel it!!

Madurai Health is terrible as of Jan 10th 2010

I hear people are unhealthy in Madurai.

A total of 4000 outpatients were treated for "Dengue" fever at the government medical hospital in Madurai on Saturday and it was spreading rapidly in the district due to factors like water contamination, uncleared garbage and open drains.

hospital records showed that 30000 people had received treatment for "different types of fever, mainly chikungunya and dengue last year.

Action from Madurai Corporation, Madurai NGOs and Madurai people is needed for improving the health of Madurai. Hygienic lifestyle is needed among people of Madurai.
Madurai Corporation has to improve the quality of resources provided to Madurai people.

Things have changed in terms of Madurai Transport

When I used to grow up in Madurai, there were buses for common folks and bicycle for other short distance trips. There were very few motorbikes and few cars.

Now, if we see everyone has ability to purchase motorbikes at least and people go around in their bikes. It has become too crowded, without much infrastructure improvement amidst people living inside growing too fast with their possessions.

Also given that the world's cheapest car Tata Nano is out released, there is lot of cars around as well.

It would be ideal to have improvement in the roads and bridges, which will really help in all the transport and for life and/or business of people in Madurai.

Not forgetting autos, share autos, taxis, lorries, carts etc.,

Government has to identify ways of improving business by facilitating businesses with various easy transports and transport infrastructures. Today, it is a nightmare for business folks, if they want to go from south madurai to north madurai, for business sake.

Some of the things I like(d) in Madurai

I would like to get up early in the morning, get ready and take my dad's moped (as i remember in childhood) and go to Perumal temple near Crime branch Periyar bus stand madurai. This temple is in fact small and beautiful. I park the moped just opposite the temple, which I think costs Rs.2 (it might have increased by now). Then give off my chappals to the chappal stand, which I think is free.

I get into the temple and it has its own temple smell. It is in fact a pleasant smell in the early morning. Note that this is before 6:30 or 7 in the morning.

Lord Vishnu's vigraham is huge in this temple and we can pray without any hassles in this temple, compared to other perumal temples in india. Also, this temple has less crowd usually, so it is easy and close view of the lord.

After done with temple, I would go to a tea shop or magazine shop and buy a "The Hindu" newspaper. Buy a "Week" magazine. Go back home and have a coffee and read newspaper front to end, except Sports section. Usually i am not interested in Sports section.

In the pre-noon time of the day, I would go and play street cricket with my friends near Jaihindpuram

In the mid of the day - I would go near Madura College and right opposite there are water melon carts in which slices of water melon are sold. i enjoy the water melon and/or pineapples sliced and touched with red chilli powder and salt.

In the afternoon, I would have lunch prepared by my mother. After that take some rest at home:) take nap! In the evening, after coffee, spend some time with friends near by and go to town hall road area and walk up the street. Eat boiled groundnut sold in the carts. This is a main street in Madurai and in the central area of Madurai. I have liked more of Central and Southern Madurai, because I grew only in southern part of Madurai. Southern part of Madurai is actually the one which is in the southern side of the Vaigai river in Madurai.

Also - after sometime, have soup on the road:) I know it is unhygienic, but it is good stuff - I have enjoyed for sure.

After that, in the night have dinner. Go for a walking around TVS nagar. Pretty much touch Kovalan nagar, TVS Nagar, Srinivasa Road, Jaihindpuram area, Sathya Sai Nagar area etc., I really enjoyed this walking in the night in Madurai area.

Note - these were some of the things I enjoyed in Madurai, when I was a bachelor and was taking a month break between my work at Bangalore.

Madurai Bus Boarding - Madurai People

If I have to board a bus in Madurai, Chennai or anywhere in India - I will have to be a fit person. There will be bunch of people standing in the bus stop waiting for the bus. It is survival of the fittest. If you have to get on to the bus, and when the bus comes to the stop, the bus will be already loaded with full of people.

People hanging in the foot board of the bus. When the bus comes to the bus stop, the bus stops and the foot boarders get down for you and others waiting in the bus stop to get in. It is interesting, we don't know where is the space for people to get in. People get squeezed in inside the bus.

Foot-boarders help people to get in, but at the same time - you will have to be fit to get into the bus. If you are not capable you will not be able to get in.

Anyway, the point I was getting to is - in foreign countries, people stand in queue to get into bus. People don't even touch each other before they get in. I would not agree if you tell me about population. Population is less in other countries, but even in popular populous cities like New york, this is still the case - No one touches each other. People in NY wait in lines before they get into train or bus.

Overall, at one point I am hoping people in Madurai and other cities in India will wait for turns.

Musician Madurai R Sundar: Madurai Profile

Musician Madurai R Sundar's Self Narrating Profile

I was born into a family where Carnatic music, in some form and degree, was part of day-to-day life. While my grand parents and parents were knowledgeable listeners-connoisseurs of Carnatic music, I had in my aunt Smt. Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan a reputed concert musician, who had had her training under stalwarts like Sathur A.G. Subramania Iyer and Semmangudi Sriinivasa Iyer. All these set the tone for what was to become an integral part of my life.

The initial lessons and several kritis were taught by my aunt and I had the privilege of singing with her in a few of her concerts. She, apparently, saw in me a sincere yearning to pursue music and since she visited us only for a couple of months in a year, she persuaded my parents to put me through rigorous training under a guru in Madurai. At that time Sri. T.N.Seshagopalan was setting out in his career as a performing musician and it was Smt. Ambujam Krishna, a close friend of the family, who suggested to my aunt that I should learn from TNS. My parents Smt. Vijaya and Sri.A.N.Ramaswamy put my sister Radha and myself under TNS’s tutelage in 1971. That was a turning point in my pursuit of music. My sister and I had our debut in concert at a marriage reception in Pazhani in May 1974. We performed together for a few years until our srutis dictated a separation.

There were a few sabhas in Madurai that hosted concerts regularly, giving me memorable moments of listening to musicians like Semmangudi, DKP, MDR, Chembai and so on.

My five years at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Madras gave me opportunity to compete in the music competitions in Chennai and also listen toattend music concerts regularly.Participating in the competititons helped build both my repertoire and confidence. After securing my bachelors degree in Engineering, I joined IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Ahmedabad for an MBA in Finance and Computer Systems. Despite the excruciating schedule, I had opportunities to both practise and perform.

After my MBA, I branched off into information technology as my mainstay. Padma and I got married in Aug 1985. We have been residents of USA since 1989. We have a son Sai Karthik (b 1998) who is a student of the Mridangam Maestro Dr.Trichy Sankaran

I pursue a dual career - of IT Manager and musician-cum-teacher. My wife and myself run a school by the name Trinity Academy of Fine Arts and offer one-on-one lessons in vocal music.

When I am not singing or teaching, I enjoy a quiet moment reading novels (English and Tamil, especially Tamil) or watching tennis and basketball or riding an exer-cycle. Another favorite past time of mine is long distance driving with my family, while listening to good music.

Madurai R Sundar

Please check out his profile in his personal website

Nakkeerar - Madurai Profile

Lord Shiva performed "Thiruvilayadals" for poets who prayed to him for succour. Once the Pandiyan king had a doubt as to whether the scent from a woman's hair was natural or artificial. He announced a price of 1000 gold coins for anyone who clear his doubt. A poor poet named Tharumi prayed to Lord Shiva to make him get the award. The Lord gave a poem to the poet and asked him to take it to the King. When this poem was read in the court, Poet Nakkeerar found fault with it and stopped the giving od the prize. Alas! Tharumi's grief grew and he again appealed to the Lord. He said he was not for not receiving the prize but he could not bear anyone finding fault with the Lord's poems.

Thereupon, Lord Shiva himself came to the court and challenged Nakkeerar. But Nakkeerar could not be cowed down. Though the divine poet asked him if the hair of Ganapoongodai,the consort of Lord Kalathinathar,whom Nakkeerar worshipped ,did not have the natural scent,the undaunted Nakkeerar asserted that it was so.

Suddenly the Lord opened the eye in his forehead (Netrikkan) which emitted fire and looked at Nakkeerar to show the poet who he was. Even then, Nakkeerar persisted in his statement. As he could not bear the scorching heat, emanating from the divine eye he jumped into the water of the Golden Lotus Tank. Then at the request of the other poets, the Lord took Nakkeerar out of the tank, forgave him and made him study under 'Agasthiar', the tamil Sage.

Source: madurai dot com

Madurai M.K.Azhagiri

MK Azhagiri | M.K.Azhagiri | M K Azhagiri

Mr. M K Azhagiri is a powerful personality in Madurai and southern districts of Tamil Nadu.  Anything is possible for this brave-hearted man! If he wants, he can make Madurai a great Madurai, and now he says he can change Madurai into a Model city in his election manifesto as a vision. Check this out 

He is expected to change Madurai into a Model City. Check this out - 

Recent DMK Madurai Election Manifesto 2009

Following is not my opinion or views. This article is sourced from wikipedia.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Azhagiri, generally known as M. K. Azhagiri, Madurai, is an Indian politician. The elder son of the head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, Karunanidhi, he is a candidate to succeed him as party president.

It is being said that - following clashes between the supporters of M. K. Stalin and M. K. Azhagiri, he was sent to manage the party in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu from Madurai, while M. K. Stalin was retained in Chennai to manage the party in the northern districts.

M.K.Azhagiri has two daughters and one son. He lives in Madurai.

Source: Wikipedia

He is expected to change Madurai into a Model City. Check this out - 

Recent DMK Madurai Election Manifesto 2009

Someone in crowd tried to attack Stalin in Madurai

Tamil Nadu Urban Development Minister M.K. Stalin, son of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, escaped unhurt as an unknown assailant threw a knife at him while he was surrounded by admirers at the Madurai railway station Tuesday.

According to police sources in Madurai, as Stalin disembarked from a train, someone pulled his shirt from behind. As his attention was distracted, someone else from a distance threw a knife into the crowd.

The attacker escaped, police said. A policeman, Suresh Kumar, sustained injuries to his hand as he tried to catch the assailant. Police are reluctant to give details of the attack or the number of people involved.

However, the opposition parties claim that this drama is for getting a 'Z' category security for Mr.Stalin.

Read More here

Notable People from Madurai

Thanks to Wikipedia for this information. We are posting this information in this blog, just for social cause - not for any personal benefits.

Carnatic singer M S Subbulakshmi
"Madurai Gandhi" N M R Subbaraman
Mathematician Augustus De Morgan
Carnatic singer Madurai Mani Iyer
Carnatic singer Madurai Somu @ Somasundaram
Carnatic singer Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan
Carnatic singer T M Soundrajan
Bharatanatyam dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale
Writer Indira Soundarajan
Pattimandram Specialist Solomon Papaiah
Nagaswaram Vidwan MPN Ponnuswamy
Industrialist Auto T V Sundaram Iyengar
Biologist David Raja Premkumar
Poet Vairamuthu
Educationalist Peter Isaac

and much more, not mentioned here..

Madurai Kamaraj University Staff

please note - this incident does not want to hurt all the staff of the university or government employees. this article is written just for fun and this is to be taken in a comic sense, even though it is a real incident.

--------------------------
I went to Madurai Kamaraj Univeristy couple of years back with my friend for his distance education course on Marketing Management. We were waiting for his uncle to reach his department in the university, so that we can get his help for getting the admission for his distance education course.

We waited..waited..waited. At around 11:30AM, his uncle came after all his side business activities (his side business - is to give loans and get interests!!). After reaching the university he ordered for vada and tea. In fact, we were also offered for the same and we had! Point to be noted here is till afternoon he didn't look into his files for his work!! Not sure he worked after we left the office in the afternoon!

We also noticed that there were few folks reading kumudam and ananda vikatan tamil magazines.

If you are thinking this is what happens in government office, it is not the case - they also do work - otherwise how does the things function. We cannot always crib about them!! There are exceptions!!

In fact, today's few of the software engineers - are reading dinamani, kumudam and vikatan.com online for timepass!! I don't see much difference, when both of them read the magazines in the office time!

If the job is done by them somehow, it should be fine. If the job is not done, the question should be raised to the staff - otherwise he/she should be fine. This is one way of seeing it.

Having said all these, we are all really proud of having Madurai Kamaraj University in Madurai. It offers huge set of classes and some of the great students are prepared there. Great scholars are made in this place!!

Professors are great and if you take a look at the set of courses they offer - it is huge! All over India, people are taking courses from the Distance Education Courses.

In fact, BioTechnology course www.biotechmku.org and the department is very famous in India. Campus interviews are also there in this university for placement of the students of this university.

Check out http://www.mkudde.org/ for more details.

Madurai People and movies based in Madurai

There are lot of movies based on Madurai and they had been very very successful. Madurai belongs to the south tamil nadu and if we take up South Madurai - it is even more fun.

The slang of Tamil spoken in Madurai is different than other districts of Tamil Nadu. "Vandaangae...Ponaangae...". There is no respect in the language, but the people are really nice! they are excellent people.

If you are a guest to a house, you will be treated like a king/queen. You will be asked for everything and you can have nice food, mixed with love and affection.

Kadal, Madurey, Kizhakku Cheemayile, Thevar Magan, Virumaandi etc., were sooper dooper hits and they were all shot in Madurai.

If you have to feel the nicety of Madurai people, you got to visit Madurai, India!

Attitude of people in Madurai

Attitude of people in Madurai is kind of different than the people in Chennai.
There is a word in Tamil - Kaattaan, which is not a complete derogatory term.

Madurai Kaattaan is referred to a person who is unrefined and uneducated. In other words, uncivilized! Well, you might think it is not wonderful to be a person like that! But you are wrong...

It is really fun to be with these kind of guys, because they are good at heart. That is the point to be noted. Unlike Chennai guys, these Madurai guys care about others, if there is an emergency.

Madurai guys might spit inside a bus, but they will help you if you are hurt in a bus.

Madurai folks might be kaattaan's but they are good at heart. That's why they are great!

Well, from a professional point of view, they need to be refined to become improved in their life and their life style for a better living.