The story behind Lord Labak Das
Chennai has never had it so good as far as interest in its history
goes. Numerous heritage walks, talks, discussion forums, photography
and art groups are flooding us with information on our rich past. Most
of it is wonderful, throwing up long-forgotten nuggets. Sadly, we also
have some mischievous elements contributing what can be classified as
plain tales.
Take for instance the story of Lord Labak Das. That phrase, for it
cannot be qualified as a name, though an old one, became famous
following a sequence involving comedian Vivek in a movie that I have
long forgotten. But of late, there is a persistent WhatsApp forward,
which claims that Lord Labak Das was in fact Lord Labough Dash, a
kind-hearted Governor of Madras in the pre-Independence era. The
message also has an image of the supposed person, which on closer
inspection turns out to be Lord Curzon! And so, Lord Labough Dash is a
figment of someone’s imagination. There was never any pre-Independence
governor of that name and none of the incumbents could be termed
kind-hearted, with the sole exception of Sir Thomas Munro.
As always in such cases, the tale of Lord Labak Das has a grain of
truth. It draws inspiration from the Lodd family. These were wealthy
and highly philanthropic Gujarati merchants of the late 19th and early
20th Century Madras, the patriarch being Lodd Krishnadoss
Balamukundoss, who was a partner in the firm of Govindoss Giridhardoss
& Co. His son Lodd Govindoss has been frequently written about in The
Hindu. The family’s community prefix of Lodd gave rise to an
interesting story even in the early 20th century — it was said that
they got the name because they distributed laddus free to everyone in
George Town! It also inspired humorists and the early Tamil magazine
Ananda Bodhini carried stories of two warring businessmen, Gulab Jan
Das and Kunja Ladu Das, both named after sweetmeats!
The Lodd family owned a vast area bounded by General Patters Road.
This was known as Patters Gardens and in its heyday played host to the
likes of Raja Ravi Varma, Gandhi, Vivekananda and the
Music Academy’s 1937 annual conference. The estate has long been
divided among family members, some of whom still live within it. Lodd
Govindoss has a memorial in a corner. One part of the erstwhile estate
is now known as Border Thottam, most likely a corruption of Patter
Thottam (Gardens). This was privately developed and sold by the Lodds
even in the 1930s and L(odd) G(ovindoss) N(agar) Road, V(ijaya)
N(arayana) Doss Road and Gopal Doss Road commemorate members of the
family. Satyamurti Bhavan, the Chennai home of the Congress Party,
fronts Patters Gardens and stands on land gifted by Lodd Govindoss.
It is time we stopped looking for anglicised props to support history
in our backyard. If we at all want to search for the inspiration
behind Lord Labak Das, let us give a kind-hearted Gujarati the credit.
Chennai has never had it so good as far as interest in its history
goes. Numerous heritage walks, talks, discussion forums, photography
and art groups are flooding us with information on our rich past. Most
of it is wonderful, throwing up long-forgotten nuggets. Sadly, we also
have some mischievous elements contributing what can be classified as
plain tales.
Take for instance the story of Lord Labak Das. That phrase, for it
cannot be qualified as a name, though an old one, became famous
following a sequence involving comedian Vivek in a movie that I have
long forgotten. But of late, there is a persistent WhatsApp forward,
which claims that Lord Labak Das was in fact Lord Labough Dash, a
kind-hearted Governor of Madras in the pre-Independence era. The
message also has an image of the supposed person, which on closer
inspection turns out to be Lord Curzon! And so, Lord Labough Dash is a
figment of someone’s imagination. There was never any pre-Independence
governor of that name and none of the incumbents could be termed
kind-hearted, with the sole exception of Sir Thomas Munro.
As always in such cases, the tale of Lord Labak Das has a grain of
truth. It draws inspiration from the Lodd family. These were wealthy
and highly philanthropic Gujarati merchants of the late 19th and early
20th Century Madras, the patriarch being Lodd Krishnadoss
Balamukundoss, who was a partner in the firm of Govindoss Giridhardoss
& Co. His son Lodd Govindoss has been frequently written about in The
Hindu. The family’s community prefix of Lodd gave rise to an
interesting story even in the early 20th century — it was said that
they got the name because they distributed laddus free to everyone in
George Town! It also inspired humorists and the early Tamil magazine
Ananda Bodhini carried stories of two warring businessmen, Gulab Jan
Das and Kunja Ladu Das, both named after sweetmeats!
The Lodd family owned a vast area bounded by General Patters Road.
This was known as Patters Gardens and in its heyday played host to the
likes of Raja Ravi Varma, Gandhi, Vivekananda and the
Music Academy’s 1937 annual conference. The estate has long been
divided among family members, some of whom still live within it. Lodd
Govindoss has a memorial in a corner. One part of the erstwhile estate
is now known as Border Thottam, most likely a corruption of Patter
Thottam (Gardens). This was privately developed and sold by the Lodds
even in the 1930s and L(odd) G(ovindoss) N(agar) Road, V(ijaya)
N(arayana) Doss Road and Gopal Doss Road commemorate members of the
family. Satyamurti Bhavan, the Chennai home of the Congress Party,
fronts Patters Gardens and stands on land gifted by Lodd Govindoss.
It is time we stopped looking for anglicised props to support history
in our backyard. If we at all want to search for the inspiration
behind Lord Labak Das, let us give a kind-hearted Gujarati the credit.
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