Chennai was founded as Madras on August 22, 1639. The ongoing Madras Day celebrations are running in the city from August 21-28. The idea of Madras Day was brought together by three people put together – the city’s famed historian, S Muthiah, journalist Sashi Nair and publisher Vincent D’ Souza. Later, they have been joined by three others – senior journalist and editor Sushila Ravindranath, journalist and website entrepreneur Revathi R and entrepreneur and writer-historian V Sriram. Since then, Madras Day celebrations have been held every year without fail, its highlights being exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and quizzes.

The showcase will be on August 27 between 6.30 and 8 pm at the Park Hyatt.

As a tribute to the legendary Bharatnatyam dancer, Chandralekha, Sadanand Menon will be offering a talk on Chandralekha and Chennai Connect. “I will present a poem she wrote between 1968-69, on Madras and how it influenced her, which has since been published in a book called Rainbow on the Roadside. The second part will be more anecdotal—about her coming to the city, learning Bharatnatyam and her experiences while living here (from 1950-2006). She chose to settle down here because she always said this city lets you be,” Menon said.

The talk is on August 23, at 6.30 pm, at Chamiers.

What better way to celebrate that to savour the legendary food of the city? Founder of Storytrails, Vijay Kaamlkara, shares insights on the upcoming walks on August 27-28. “We will visit the older establishments, starting with Novelty Tea House, then move on to Mansukh (famous for its bottle gourd halwa), Vaishnavaa’s and Jagdusha. The walk will also spotlight the unique ways these places serve their food (“Choto Motu serves the dahi papdi chaat with thick curd”).