Club Movie Nights

Gears and Garage, in Nungambakkam, is all set to screen the National Award-winning film Soorarai Pottru. Starring Suriya and Aparna Balamurali, the film has won critical as well as commercial acclaim. Join this week’s Club Movie Night on August 25 at 9 pm.

The Board Room

The Board Room cafe has been one of the go-to places for fun in the city. This week, there is added humour to the fun. Comedy at The Board Room will take place on August 26. Featuring Praveshika, Barathi, Shakti, Pratima, and Natasha, the event is all set to tickle your funny bones from 7 pm this Friday.

Steppin’ out

The Phoenix Marketcity in Chennai has a night market and food festival in store for anyone ‘stepping out’. SteppinOut Food Festival & Night Market is open from August 27 from 4 pm, and will go on for two days. The festival is set to take place with over 40 stalls showcasing food and a wide range of other products.

Photowalk for kids

On account of Madras Week, a photo walk will take place for children aged 10 and above. Led by Ramaswamy N from the Chennai Daily Photo, the walk is scheduled for August 27 from 3.30 pm. This year’s Madras Week photo walk will take place along the well-known Pondy Bazaar.

History:

Every year August 22 is marked as Madras Day. Madras, that is called Chennai since 1996, will be celebrating its 383rd anniversary today.
It was on this day in 1639 that British administrator Francis Day along with his superior Andrew Cogan struck a deal with the Vijayanagar empire to acquire a stretch of no man's land, which went on to become Madras, today known as Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu. 

The year after acquiring the land, the British built a fortified factory which was named on St. George's day April 23, 1640 as Fort St. George.

However, it is said that there already existed towns and villages before the British set foot on the Coromandel coast.

The idea to celebrate this day dates back to 2004, when journalists Shashi Nair and Vincent D'Souza, and historian S Muthiah were attending the trustees' meet of the Chennai Heritage Foundation. They took their cue from the celebration of Mylapore Festival organised every January. It was decided to mark the foundation, the heritage, culture and tradition of the city in a similar fashion.
The Madras Day celebrations began in the year 2004 with five events that rose to 60 by the year 2007.

Madras Day focuses on the city, its history, its past and its present and the core team motivates communities, groups, companies and campuses in the city to host events that celebrate the city. In order to commemorate the 383rd anniversary of the city, several institutions are organising various programmes like heritage walks, exhibitions, quiz contests and others.