The Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club was founded in the year 1891 by Rao Bahadur A.T.Thiruvengaswamy Mudaliar ( 1855 - 1923 ) and his friends. It became a very good meeting point of people and ideas. The founders and their friends used to take a walk around Race Course every day and meet under an old tree thereafter. This tree came to be known as ' The Wisdom Tree ' ( Gnanavruksham ). The members used to discuss about a number of subjects which were of interest. A lot of good projects came up due to these chats. Life moved on with these members who played cards, bridge, read newspapers, played tennis and billiards. Quite a few interesting citizens from the town and mofussil were members of this fully Indian club. Decades passed by and the lovely institution celebrated its golden jubilee in 1941.
The Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club was founded in the year 1891 by Rao Bahadur A.T.Thiruvengaswamy Mudaliar ( 1855 - 1923 ) and his friends. It became a very good meeting point of people and ideas. The founders and their friends used to take a walk around Race Course every day and meet under an old tree thereafter. This tree came to be known as ' The Wisdom Tree ' ( Gnanavruksham ). The members used to discuss about a number of subjects which were of interest. A lot of good projects came up due to these chats. Life moved on with these members who played cards, bridge, read newspapers, played tennis and billiards. Quite a few interesting citizens from the town and mofussil were members of this fully Indian club. Decades passed by and the lovely institution celebrated its golden jubilee in 1941.
Coimbatore is a unique city and is the beacon light of entrepreneurship. The Coimbatore Vizha 2020 is going to usher in a breath of fresh air into the region. Let us now take a look at the celebrations of the yonder era. The Golden Jubilee Committee consisted of Messrs R.K.Venkatachalam Chettiar, A.T.Krishnaswamy Mudaliar, A.N.Rama Rao and P.Balasundaram Chettiar who helped in the arrangements. The sports committee consisted of Messrs S.R.Ramakrishnan, N.R.Srinivasan and A.Nanjappa Chettiar. Electrical installations were looked into by T.S.Jayarama Iyer and the dinner arrengements were made under the personal supervision that of S. Kannuswamy Gounder. S.R.Subbarayan had extremely been helpfully at the time of the celebrations.
The Cosmopolitan Golden Jubilee was celebrated amidst great pomp and pageantry. The members were in a holiday mood. Chota Hazri, sports, group photograph, tea, tug of war, reading the history of the club, messages from past members, speeches, dinner, music party etc., kept the club busy throughout the day. Prof T.S.Krishnamurti came first in the above fifty race. In the event over forty Dr.M.A.Parthasarathy beat others outright. Among the Junior set, Dr.I.Pitchai Robert did brilliantly throughout and came out with flying colours. The tug of war was between two teams - that of the President T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar and Vice President C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar. Old timers used to recall this by stating that it was a pleasant sight to see the two teams standing face to face having a pull at the tug with all earnestness who were enjoying the sport immensely. several of the members of the time had known some of the founders very well.
The members adjourned to a new spacious hall which had tastefully been decorated with coloured festoons. The President T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar took the Chair and Secretary K.G.Subramanyam read the history of the club. T. A.RamalingamChettiar gave away the silver cups... and other trophies to the winners. Senior Members Diwan Bahadur C.V.Venkataramana Iyengar and C.S.Sambamurthy Iyer addressed the members. Their speeches were marked by humourous sallies recollecting the experience as members of the club. Thereafter the portraits of Narayana Sastriar ( presented by P.S. Sitarama Iyer ), Giriya Chettiar ( presented by P.Balasundaram Chettiar ), Verivada Chettia ( presented by C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar ) and B.Venkatachala Mudaliar ( only founder alive to see the golden jubilee ) were unveiled. P.M.Chakrapani Chettiar unveiled the portrait of B.Venkatachala Mudaliar and it had been presented by M.S.Palaniappa Mudaliar. The portrait of N.Giriya Chettiar was unveiled by Rao Bahadur P.S.G.Rangaswamy Naidu ( yet to be honoured with Dewan Bahadur ) for he had been associated with the family for long. N.Giriya Chettiar had been a popular person and had been associated with the Municipal Council for 25 years. He had taken personal attention with regard to the administration of the club during the early days. One of the founders K.Narayana Sastriar had been associated with the local boards, municipality and the free public library movement all his life. Some of the records connected with some of the founders had already become untraceable at the time of the celebrations.
A vote of thanks was given by the Secretary K.G. Subramanyam and the meeting came to a close by 7 P.M. By this time, the whole club, its buildings, garden, fountain and trees were brightly illuminated with coloured electric bulbs. At night it looked like a resplendent diadem set in the sky shining brilliantly under a red flood light. The combination of red, blue, green, pink, light green and light blue in diverse shapes and various designs provided a brilliant array of colours. Electricity had been fully introduced in 1933 and this decoration of 1941 must have been a visual treat to the members. A sumptuous dinner was served by 8 P.M. Nearly 300 members attended and great cordiality prevailed while recollections of the past and personal reminiscences were freely exchanged with obvious enjoyment. Post Prandial conversations continued till 9 P.M. Thereafter there was a musical performance by the fabulously talented D.K.Pattammal. Everyone sat from the beginning till the end of the concert. Her melodious songs were well received. The performance got over by 11 P.M only. It was a late night. However it was a custom to have late night music performances those days.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations took place at the peak of the second world war. The war was not in favour of the allies in the year 1941. There had been a shortage of fuel and people had to go back to using bullock carts. Some of the members had used bulls to pull their cars too ! We must remember that the freedom movement was in full swing and there was utter chaos in the country. Jinnah was making demands at that time. Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and others were trying hard to balance the freedom movement and the unity of the country. There were shortages too and it was because of the war. People had to spend lesser for celebrations. The Cosmopolitan Club could celebrate its Golden Jubilee in spite of all these constraints. It was a time when all the leaders of this region were not just members of the club, but active participants too. The club had just got itself registered under the Companies Act of 1913, thanks to inputs from Dr.R.K.Shanmukham Chetty. He had also suggested that directors divide the responsibilities among themselves and this practice began under his direction.
The administration was vested under T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar - President, Dewan Bahadur C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar - Vice President, K.G.Subramanyam - Secretary , A.T.Krishnaswamy Mudaliar - Treasurer. R.K.Venkatachalam Chettiar took care of the celebrations. A.N.Rama Rao was in charge of Library and Magazines, P.Balasundaram Chettiar - Buildings & Garden, K.Venkataswamy Naidu - Cards, A.Nanjappa Chettiar - Tennis, S.R.Ramakrishnan ( Sulur Family ) - Billiards & Snooker and A.R.Kalyanasundaram Iyer was incharge of Refreshments. Events had been held for the club staff, picker boys and motor car drivers too. Donations were received and the sums which were above Rs.10 were in fact listed by the committee. The value of money has changed so much over time.
Cosmopolitan Club had been famous for Bridge and a number of members excelled in the game. The club was a club by Indians and for Indians. The members were known to be liberally patriotic and patriotically liberal. In short, the club represented the ethos of India.
Rajesh Govindarajulu