One, who takes a trip on Bus No 7 for the first time in Coimbatore, will certainly be astonished at a passenger asking for a ticket to 'Burial Ground' ! Though the place 'Burial Ground' is just a bus stop and no longer a burial ground now at R S Puram, it is true that the busy little town was founded after thousands of dead bodies carried to different burial grounds in Coimbatore! When plague hunted down hundreds of human beings in the years 1903, 1909 and 1917, the municipality destroyed the unclean congested living quarters at Kembatty Colony near Big Bazaar Street and constructed exclusive houses with good ventilation facilities for Brahmins in 1911 and named it as Brahmin Extension (Now Ram Nagar) Further, it bought a 350 acre agricultural land lying between Thadagam Road and Mettupalayam Road and built wonderful houses with good ventilation facilities and named it as Mettupalayam Road -Thadagam road Extension until it became R S Puram or Rathina Sabapathy Puram.
One, who takes a trip on Bus No 7 for the first time in Coimbatore, will certainly be astonished at a passenger asking for a ticket to 'Burial Ground' ! Though the place 'Burial Ground' is just a bus stop and no longer a burial ground now at R S Puram, it is true that the busy little town was founded after thousands of dead bodies carried to different burial grounds in Coimbatore! When plague hunted down hundreds of human beings in the years 1903, 1909 and 1917, the municipality destroyed the unclean congested living quarters at Kembatty Colony near Big Bazaar Street and constructed exclusive houses with good ventilation facilities for Brahmins in 1911 and named it as Brahmin Extension (Now Ram Nagar) Further, it bought a 350 acre agricultural land lying between Thadagam Road and Mettupalayam Road and built wonderful houses with good ventilation facilities and named it as Mettupalayam Road -Thadagam road Extension until it became R S Puram or Rathina Sabapathy Puram.
Anyone who comes across the names of the streets at R S Puram will feel that the little town was constructed in memory of great personalities, who offered their priceless service to the development of Coimbatore. D B Road or Diwan Bahadur Road, East Arokiyasamy Road, West Arokiyasamy Road, T V Samy Road or Thiruvenkatasamy Road, Sir Shanmugam Road, Mecrikar Road, Cowely Brown Road and so on still stand in memory of them.
Of all, Diwan Bahadur C S Rathina Sabapathy Mudhaliar, who was the Municipal Chairman of Coimbatore from 1921 to 1936, has become the name of the town itself for his valuable service in bringing electricity and the sweet Siruvani water to Coimbatore.
It is said that even the 'Rathina' Vinayagar Temple in RS Puram is after 'Rathina' Sabapathy Mudhaliyar for his commendable service to the city.
One may also wonder why there is a ' LightHouse Road' at R S Puram, a place, which is not in a seashore town!
The movie hall 'Light House' which had stood beside the road, was built by Samikannu Vincent, the first man to construct South India's first movie hall in Coimbatore as 'Variety Hall Talkies'. Though Light House in R S Puram was later renamed as Kennedy, it was demolished a few years ago, burying memories of yesteryear movies in the debris.