Thousand Lights-Urban Dialectics of Streets & Buildings | Ahmed Sadeed | CEPT | Chennai

Thousand Lights Urban Dialectics of Streets & Buildings

Thousand Lights: Urban Dialectics of Streets & Buildings

Submission in partial fulfilment of requirements for Writing the City

Ahmed Sadeed TM (Unit 8, PUD21019) Writing the City, Monsoon Semester 2021 CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Executive Summary 9

Introduction to the Report 11 CHAPTER 1

Three Vectors of Transformation in Thousand Lights (2000-2020) 13 CHAPTER

Disparate Streets of Thousand Lights 19 Conclusion 27 List of Works Cited 29

List of Figures

Figure 1

Thousand Lights in History: A View from 1700 to 1950 14 Figure 2

Important Nodes in the History 14 Figure 3

The Evolution of Business District 15 Figure 4

Second Wave of Investments 16 Figure 5

The Socio-Economic Transformation of Khader Nawaz Khan Road 17 Figure 6

Four Stories of Transformation 17 Figure 7

The Veins of Thousand Lights 20 Figure 8

Walking Distance to the Public Transport 20 Figure 9

The Sandwiched Grid Pattern of the Neighbourhood 21 Figure 10

The Spill-Over Public Spaces 21 Figure 11

The Lifeless Bungalowed Streets 22 Figure 12

On-Street Parking 22 Figure 13

The Last Mile Connectivity 23 Figure 14

Connection to the City 23 Figure 15

Qualitative Indexes of Typical Streets 24 Figure 16

The Quantitative Abstract of Road Network 25

Executive Summary

Cities are complex machines with various factors and agencies. Thousand Lights being no exception, this report aims to study the neighbourhood and the dialectical nature of interrelationships resulting from the long history of development and transformations between various aspects such as land use, evolution, built form, road networks etc with the focus domain of 1 sqkm stretching from Khader Nawaz Khan road in north to Thousand Lights mosque in the south, Nungambakkam High road in the west to Greams road in the east. .

Three Vectors of Transformation in Thousand Lights(2000-2020)

The neighbourhood exhibits three different trends of transformation and evolution in built form and land uses through the period of 2000 to 2020. These three trends are upscale appreciation of land values in Nungambakkam high road and resulting wave of new office and commercial buildings till 2010. Second wave of commercial and office complexes being built from 2010, spurred by the establishment of a new shopping mall 2kms away. Third vector of transformation can be characterized by the slow change of Khader Nawaz Khan road from upper class residential street to luxury retail road. These transformations even though happened from 2000-2020, their seeds can be traced back to three to four decades earlier. First two of these transformations are related to each other, while the third is independent of the earlier two. This indicates the complexity of urban transformations and various agencies and factors that are involved. These transformations have direct impact on land use changes and evolution of built form and the nature of commercial that are inhabitat in the buildings. Apart from the consequences in land use changes and evolution of built form, these transformations also influence other elements of urban planning, most apparent being the road network.

Disparate Streets of Thousand Lights

The contesting interest between various vectors of transformation can be mapped onto the road network in the study area. The Gemini flyover at the intersection of the Mount road and Nungambakkam high road forms the major node. The public investment to build a flyover to ease the traffic congestion helped set in motion the upscale commercialisation of Nungambakkam High road. Greams road, a secondary road, branching out from the Mount road, trims the neighbourhood with the parallel Model school road on the other side. While the residential roads score high on walkability and connectivity, the subarterial roads fail when it comes to dis-abled friendly footpath and road level pedestrian crossing. The contrast can also be noticed in terms of the activeness of the core residential streets to the silent and inactive roads of upper class residential streets in the north. Infrastructural survey has helped capture this image in form of numbers with 82% of the road allotted to motor vehicles and only 18% to pedestrian movements. Even though 60% of the footpaths are more than 1.2m in width,around 13% of the footpath was found to be encroached by commercial spillovers, hawkers or parkings.

Introduction to the Report

Cities are a complex machinery that develops over a long period of time with many factors and agencies interacting with each other. They sometimes work in tandem with each other and sometimes in contest with each other resulting constant dialectic of various interests.

Likwise, Chennai has a long history of urban development starting from the establishment of Fort George in the 16th century by the British. The city has grown ever since by incorporating neighbouring villages into its urban fabric. The report aims to study the Thousand Lights area in the city and synthesize various aspects of it, on account of its rich political history from the times of British rule and layered nuances in the streets, built form and development. The focus domain of one square kilometer is located from the Khader Nawaz Khan road in the north to Gemini flyover in the south, Nungambakkam High road in the west to Greams road in the east.

The first chapter “Three Vectors of Transformation in Thousand Lights, Chennai (2000-2020)” lays out the causal factors of the characteristics and the historical evolution of the area while explaining dialectics between them. The second chapter “Disparate Streets of Thousand Lights” draws connections from the first chapter in regards to built form and land use to explains the various elements in the road network and interrelationship.

The report is compiled with the objective of serving as source material for professionals and students in urban planning and design explaining the concept of urban dialectics. To substantiate the content and inferences obtained, ground visits, primary survey, personal interviews, study of aerial images through google maps, and secondary research has been employed to collect datas which were documented with a GIS tool to analyse and synthesize.

Three Vectors of Transformation in Thousand Lights (2000 - 2020)

Thousand Lights, a densely packed wall-to-wall constructed residential neighbourhood, is situated next to one of Chennai’s business districts, Nungambakkam High Road. The study area covers 1 square kilometers, from Khader Khan Nawaz Road in the north to Thousand Lights mosque in the south and from Nungambakkam High road in the west to Greams Road in the east. Core of the study area is a high density continuous building residential area, surrounded by office, institutional and commercial complexes. The neighbourhood can trace its history back to 1600 when it was a separate hamlet at the periphery of Nungambakkam village, later incorporated in the British Madras centered in Fort George (North Chennai) in 1700. This report briefly explores the political history and evolution of the built environment of Thousand Lights from 1700 to 2000 and the succeeding transformations from 2000 to 2020 in detail. The transformation of 2000-2020 is classified into three stories, one of Nungambakkam High road, second of Greams Road and third of Khader Nawaz Khan road. Due to lack of peer-reviewed research on Thousand Lights precinct, the report relies heavily on data collected as part of primary survey through field visits and Google map analysis of historical images(from 2000 to 2020), and anecdotal references obtained through personal interactions.

The British annexed the Nungambakkam area (an important village at that time), adjacent to Thousand Lights, in 1708 along with the surrounding areas. From 1700 to 1900, the area was in steady development with more residences coming up due to the population growth in the city of Madras. Around the same time, Nawab of Carnatic(Arcot) was established by the Mughals to fill the vacuum left by the Marathas and Vijayanagar kingdom in 1695 (The History of India,2010 , p.219). This resulted in the demographic dominance of immigrant muslims from the Arcot region. The Nawabdom was annexed by the British in 1867, from then the area has been in the control of the British, until the independence in 1947.

Figure 1

Thousand Lights in History: A View from 1700 to 1950

Note. Three maps from 1700,1800 and 1950 respectively showing the evolution of Thousand Lights area from a stand-alone village to being incorporated in the city of Madras in 1800. Adapted from Second Master Plan, Volume 3, Chapter 1 Maps, Sheet No. 1.01. Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, 2008.

Figure 2

Important Nodes in the History

Note. The neighbourhood traces its center point to the Thousand Lights mosque(1810) maked as 1 in the aerial image right, St. Theresa church (built in 1912 and marked as 2 in the aerial image) was built along Nungambakkam High road, giving the area a prime image in the city. Gemini flyover which was built in 1973 (marked as 3 in the aerial image) was a major infrastructural upgrade to meet the traffic demand of the growing city of Chennai. This infrastructural development led to many new office buildings being established in the 1980s most popular of which is MRF Headquarter in Greams Road marked as 4 in the aerial image. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The physical evolution of the Thousand Lights from 1700 to 2000 can be summarized around four major nodes in the timeline. The Thousand Lights mosque from which the area get its name was built in 1810 by the Nawab of Arcot to cater to the Shia muslim population in the area (Prince of Arcot). After the annexation of the Nawab by the British, St. Theresa church was established in 1912, which became an important landmark for the Nungambakkam High road. Later in 1973, Gemini flyover was constructed (The Hindu, 2016) to ease the traffic flow at the intersection of Mount Road and Nungambakkam High road. A pedestrian subway was built next to the flyover in 1977, which was one of the three subways built that year in Madras as noted in 1981 District Census Handbook of Madras (Census of India 1981, p.29). This signifies the importance of the flyover as a key infrastructure in the context of the city. The construction of the flyover attracted huge private investments in the form of office buildings and government institutions. Buildings like MRF Tamil Nadu headquarter, designed by the famed architect Charles Correa in Greams road in 1980s reinforced the idea that the vicinity is the upcoming business district.

From 2000 to 2010, there has been a scattered evolution in architectural style of new office buildings which developed as a result of occasional private investments. This was spurred by the establishment of The Park Hotel, a 5 star business hotel, in Nungambakkam High Road, established in 2001. The stretch of Nungambakkam High Road which had an architectural character of big business establishments and overarching institutions, evident from the buildings of Chettinad Cements, Income tax headquarters etc,changed to one of contemporary entrepreneurial and new age enterprise indicated by the contemporary architectural style of Workafella office, Westminster hospital towers etc.

Figure 3

The Evolution of Business District

Note. The evolution of built form from louvered and windowed blocks to glass skin facade after the coming of The Park Hotel in Nungambakkam High road in 2001. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The second wave of investment started just as the effect The Park Hotel was wearing out in 2010. In 2008, the construction of Express Avenue mall commenced, 2 km from the Gemini bridge, which led to number of real estate development from private investors in and around the shopping mall.These also coincided with announcement of approval of phase 1 of Chennai Metro Rail project (Times of India, 2008) with a station in Thousand Lights, increasing the public transport accessibility to the area. These factors reanimated the private investments in and around the Express Avenue mall with some projects dotting the Greams Road as well, most popular being the Palladium tower by the Prestige Group.

These office towers then started the cascading change. New eateries and retail began thronging near the office towers to cater to the employees, but most of these retail commercials were renovated within the existing buildings, which suggests small investors have also benefited from the wave . Around the same period (2008-2010) a 500 bed multi speciality private hospital was also built which drew more small scale retail commercial like medicals and convenience shops along with hosts of eateries to cater to visitors.

Figure

4

Second Wave of Investments

Note. The top aerial satellite image marks the Express Avenue mall which was built in 2010. That has led to a second wave of private investments in the form of office buildings in Greams Road which is represented by the bottom row of three images in chronological order. The bottom left image is of 2007 indicating the empty plot area with lush greens. The bottom middle image is from 2010, the yellow box marks the two major office complexes that were built during the period of 2008 to 2010 in the empty plots. The bottom right image is from 2021, showing the cumulative development of smaller retail and office buildings that were built as a result of cascading investments that were brought by the development of those two signature buildings. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed. Different from the big scale transformation of Nungambakkam High road and Greams road as explained in Figure 3 and 4 respectively, Khader Nawaz Khan road had its own vector of transformation. Venkatraman J.(2017) has chronicled the history and socio-economic change of Khader Nawaz Khan road with inputs from S Anwar a well known researcher in the history of Tamil muslims. What was once used to be a calm bungalow street, began changing to high-end retail commercial street during the first decade of 2000. This change started with the leasing out of the ground floor for commercial use by the families due to financial reasons. The first batch of commercial shops were luxury retail which became popular.

The popularity and the general aesthetic of the street, withs it dense line of trees and deep footpaths, contributed to eventual complete transformation of bungalows to commercials. The transformation of bungalows to commercial buildings is largely on account of socio-economic change driven by migration of families of British civil servants due to financial decline in the family heirlooms.

Figure 5 The Evolution of Business District

Note. The images are from 2001 and 2010 respectively. It shows lines of bungalows with dense foliage of trees. One can notice the different built forms in plots which were previously bungalows. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The trend of transformation of residential areas to commercial and further upgradation of commercial areas to upper business and shopping districts can be clearly perceived from the changes that have taken place aided by the private investments.

Figure 6 Three Stories of Transformation

Note. The aerial image on the left is from 2000. It shows lines of bungalows with dense foliage of trees. The image on the left is an aerial view from 2010. One can notice the different built forms in plots which were previously bungalows. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Looking at the larger scale from 2000 to 2020, one can observe three different stories playing out with their own separate and often autonomous agencies that drive those stories to climax. One story is of how the business district of Nungambakkam high road changed its character from “old establishment” to “new age enterprise” led by the establishment of The Park Hotel, noticeable by the changing architectural characters of the buildings as explained in Figure 3. The second story chronicles the second wave of private investments through new office complexes and institutions on account of the new shopping mall being built in the vicinity as well as a new metro line with a station in Thousand Lights as described in Figure 4. The third story is a tale of socio-economic change from old money family bungalows to new high end luxury retail shops as expressed in Figure 5. These vectors of transformation are spread out over the decades, each led by a multitude of factors and agencies sometimes autonomous of each other and sometimes co-dependent though economic and social linkage.

Disparate Streets of Thousand Lights

Residential neighbourhood of Thousand Lights is surrounded by a shopping district on the north and business districts on other three directions, it creates a layered hierarchy of road network containing from arterial roads (major road that serves the city) of Chennai to small neighbourhood lanes. Mount Road and Nungambakkam High Road, which are two among the major roads of Chennai, intersect at south-west of Thousand Lights neighbourhood with an elaborate Gemini junction which splits to two flyovers on the Nungambakkam end.

The report aims to understand the efficiency of the road network in Thousand Lights with respect to pedestrian walkability, accessibility to public transports, equity and inclusivity among different spectrum of users. In doing so, the report employs analysis tools like block perimeter size, link-node ratio and micro level qualitative examination of typical street sections found in the study area. Picture that arises from the analysis is that of disparate conditions in terms of activeness, land use, walkability and infrastructure.

Several secondary roads branch out from the Mount road and the Nungambakkam High road, most important of which is Greams Road, which has offices and commercial buildings flanking it. Running parallel to the Greams Road is Model School road which acts as a primary exit/entry road to the neighbourhood. Dozens of streets run between the Model School Road and the Greams Road providing accessibility to the residences and commercials in the neighbourhood.

Figure 7

The Veins of Thousand Lights

Note. Top, The primary road connection of the study area to the city is two major roads, Mount Road and Nungambakkam High Road intersect at the Gemini Junction in south-west. Bottom, satellite map shows the labeled road network in the study area, with Greams Road, Peters road, Kodambakkam High road branching out from the major roads. KNK Road, Shafee Khan road and Model School road form the primary neighbourhood streets. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Due to the presence of several layers in the road hierarchy as pointed out in the figure 1, there is a large variation in walking distance around the groups of buildings, called the block perimeter. The small residential blocks ranging from 150-250m in walking distance are sandwiched between expansive blocks which house commercial and institutional buildings. The grid road pattern with streets intersecting with each other perpendicularly,that exists in the core area is absent in the blocks surrounding it which creates long detours for pedestrians to access public transport amounting to walking distance of 800m.

Figure 8 Walking Distance to the Public Transport

Note. First diagram shows the block size variation. Second and third diagram shows the pedestrian path to access public transport which accounts to around 800m in southern and northern directions from the center of the precinct. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Diagram representing the block perimeter in Figure 8 is the result of the road network of the Thousand Lights area. The neighbourhood streets are around 5-6m wide with a grid road pattern that is morphing to adapt to the business districts around it. The grid network creates several nodes with 4 streets branching out. This creates a very good link-nodes ratio of 1.37. Link node ratio is the ratio of nodes(junctions) to the number of streets connecting to the nodes. It helps in gauging the road network efficiency. A perfect grid network has a ratio of 2.5 which is possible only in ideal situations. Link-nodes ratio of 1.4 is generally accepted to be a very good index (Jennifer, D., 2004).

Figure 9

The Sandwiched Grid Pattern of the Neighbourhood

Note. First, satellite aerial imagery overlaid with yellow dashed lines showing the morphed grid network pattern. Second, the diagram marking the nodes with the number of roads connecting to them. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Presence of several intersections in the neighbourhood creates pockets of vibrant spaces. Most of the plots adjacent to the intersection have mixed use buildings with shops on the ground floor. These shops act as anchors for public interactions among the neighbours. Several temples, mosques and churches dot the precinct which also helps in activating the streets in front of them for public activity. For example, inside the neighbourhood, a road abutting the temple-Aziz Mulk 5th street- doubles as spillover space for religious activities during festivals. The edge of the street also accommodates hawkers selling bananas and flowers for worship offerings. Wide range of activities that the neighbourhood street stimulates is attestation to the inclusive nature of the street.

Figure 10

The Spill-Over Public Spaces

Note. The metal sheets pavilion shades the street to vitalize public activities spilling from the temple even in hot afternoons of Chennai. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The streets in the northern part of the study area sit in stark contrast to the multi-layered activities in the neighbourhood streets explained in the figure 10. The northern streets are abutted by inert and walled bungalows, which don’t interact with the streets. That combined with the fact that most of the houses are single family residences resulting in lower population density makes the street silent and inactive. Tranquil and lifeless.

Figure 11 The Lifeless Bungalowed Streets

Note. First image shows the green covered walls blanketing the bungalows from the lifeless street. Second diagram shows the typical section of the street. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

In contrast to the wide roads of the northern part of the study area, streets leading to the residences in the core area are narrow. These narrow streets are further encroached by the two wheeler parking of the residence. Since the majority of the residences are low-rise apartments of middle class population (as estimated by the primary survey) built on small plots, constraint of space prohibits sufficient parking space inside the building. This leads to the rampant on-street parking on residential roads reducing the right-of-way for any kind of traffic.

Figure 12 On-Street Parking

Note. Bikes lined along the edge of the streets, overlooked by the balconies of the apartments. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Residential streets lead to the collector streets (a primary at neighbourhood level). Model School Road acts as the collector street for Thousand Lights. Hence, it has a higher level of motor and pedestrian traffic along with increased on-street commercial activities (hawkers) as compared to the internal streets. Even though a proper footpath is delineated throughout the stretch, the majority of it are encroached by hawkers or two-wheeler parking for the shops abutting the road. This forces the pedestrian to walk in the carriageway (the section of a street dedicated for vehicular traffic), making their walk to the public transport(as marked in figure 13) less safe.

Figure 13 The Last Mile Connectivity

Note. The encroached footpath forces the pedestrian to use the carriageway for walking, which makes it dangerous due to high traffic on account of Model School Road being a primary neighbourhood road. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The collector roads then lead to sub-arterial and arterial, Nungambakkam High Road and Mount Road, two sub-arterial which are passing through the study area, offer good connectivity to railway stations and airports along with other major commercial and office areas. Gemini Junction at the intersection of Nungambakkam High Road and Mount Road eases the traffic to great extent. Zebra crossing is scarce and far in between along the arterial roads which makes it harder for pedestrians to cross the high speed vehicular traffic.

Figure 14 Connection to the City

Note. Left image shows the Gemini Junction with vehicles zooming through the junction. Right image shows the traffic along the Nungambakkam High Road.

Disparate Streets of Thousand Lights|

Above scenarios can be synthesised along the 8 different typical street nature. The road network is categorized into 8 sections based on their hierarchy and ranked good(green), average(orange) and bad (red) on seven indexes namely, walkability (normal and dis-abled), infrastructure (footpaths, street lights and pedestrian crossing), activeness, speed, safety and green shades. Based on the synthesis of above-mentioned indexes, the overall picture that emerges is that of contrast between active streets of high density residential areas and inactive roads of low density residential areas. Ease of walkability for abled pedestrians is contrasted with non-availability of differently abled friendly infrastructures.

Figure 15

Qualitative Indexes of Typical Streets

Note. Eight different sections of road along with their major abutting land uses marked on seven aforementioned indexes. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

Above abstract can be quantified based on the data collected as part of primary survey and field visits to 14% of the area comes under road and of which only 18% is demarcated for pedestrian footpath. Around 13%(in terms of running length) of the pevdestrian footpath is encroached by the parkings and shop-extensions. 36% of the footpath is less than 1.2m in width making them uncomfortable for pedestrians.

Figure 16

The Quantitative Abstract of Road Network

Note. Infographic explaining the quantitative make-up infrastructural distribution. From “Understanding the City,” (Unpublished portfolio for Masters of Urban Design) by A. Sadeed, 2021, CEPT University. Copyright 2021 by A. Sadeed.

The overall road network presents a dual picture in terms of their efficiency, in which the core area of the neighbourhood is well connected with the grid network, accessing the outer areas is hindered with large block sizes surrounding the neighbourhood. The nodes of the core are successful in stimulating socio-economic interactions, keeping the streets vibrant and animated, which is absent in the northern part of the study area. Absence of differently-abled friendly design in footpaths is a concerning issue for they hinder the pedestrians movements of less fortunates. These conditions together paint the picture of disparate order of roads in terms of walkability, activeness, inclusivity, equity and mobility.

Thousand Lights area is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Chennai, with history tracing as far back as 16th century. On account of which the evolution and transformations that have taken place after 2000 have relationships to the choices or the interventions that were adopted prior to it. Especially the public investment in road infrastructure in the 1970s, had an immense impact in the multiple vectors of transformation that pan out from 2000-2020. These vectors, some related to each other and some independent, had their own interesting outcome through their interaction with other factors and agencies that inhabit the locality and city at large. The transformations are largely commercialisation in nature and had cascading consequences in land use, built forms and road networks. The interactions between various components can also be appreciated by the study of the road network. They perfectly reflect the diversity of land use, variation in block sizes and multiple transformations, in their composition, hierarchy and their usage. Overall lack of proper infrastructure maintenance was the major drawback apart from the complete absence of dis-abled friendly footpaths. These two aspects, transformation and road network, combined helps in understanding the complex machinery of an urban neighbourhood

List of Works Cited

Britannica Educational (2010, April 1). The History of India. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hdmcAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

“Centre’s nod for Metro Rail in Chennai”. Times of India. 2008. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Centres_nod_for_Metro_Rail_in_Chennai/articleshow/2955314.cms

Jennifer, D. (2004). “Measuring Network Connectivity for Bicycling and Walking”, School of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University. http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/TRB2004-001550.pdf

Muthuswami A.P. (1981), Census of India 1981 : District Census Handbook Madras, http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/6667/1/52954_1981_MAD.pdf

Prince of Arcot, Thousand Lights Mosque http://princeofarcot.org/contributions.html#4

Venkatraman, J. (2017, August). Strolling down our ‘Bond Street’. Madras Musings. http://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-27-no-8/strolling-down-our-bond-street/

“Why I love Gemini Flyover”. The Hindu. 2016. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/Why-I-love-Gemini-Flyover/article12057545.ece