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A Lambton commemoration
The Great Trignometrical Survey(GTS) monument is found on the terrace of the St.Thomas Mount Church
A COMMEMORATION worthy of William Lambton's contribution to India, the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which started from St. Thomas' Mount 200 years ago, is being organised by an Indo-British initiative from August 30 to September 7 at the Lalit Kala Akademi. Teaming together are the Association of British Scholars, the Akademi, the Survey of India, the Association of Geography teachers, INTACH-Tamil Nadu and the British Council.
The highlight of the programme is a week-long exhibition of old maps of Madras and South India dating back to the 16th-19th Centuries and loaned by passionate collectors such as Dwaraknath Reddy, Raja Vaidyanathan and Ashok Saran. Maps such as these have never before been seen in public in Madras.
Making the event a special one will be the presence of John Keay whose numerous non-fiction books on India and the colonial period elsewhere in Asia have been bestsellers round the world. Keay's latest book is The Great Arc, narrating the "stupendous feat" of Lambton and Everest (Miscellany, June 30, 2003 and May 20, 2002). He was also associated with a film that had been made of that great survey, a good part of it being shot in Madras a few years ago. Keay's other books include India — A History, a well-reviewed book that many think is the most easy-to-read history of the country, telling the story as objectively as possible well into the 1990s, The Honourable Company, which is a fascinating critical account of the East India Company, the two-volume Explorers of the Western Himalayas, Into India and India Discovered, which first brought Lambton, Colin Mackenzie and Francis Buchanan of the various surveys of India to wider public notice. A book of Keay's I found particularly absorbing was his Last Post, which narrates the story of the imperial arrival and departure in Eastern Asia; I hear he is now working on a similar book on Western Asia. Keay's presence at the commemoration and at the Book Club will give people the opportunity to learn about the great survey in layman-friendly terms - and that narration will be backed by a clone of an exhibition on the GTS that the Survey of India will be presenting at the same time. The original of this exhibition is being shown throughout Britain at present.
But what I think is the most important part of the commemoration are the six map-based quizzes on Madras, Tamil Nadu and India that are being organised by the Association of Geography Teachers. These are not question and answer sessions but are focussed on getting children more aware of maps and how they should be used. Map-consciousness is something India is way behind much of the world and the organisers hope the commemoration will be a small first step towards creating a greater awareness, and use, of maps in India. The map competitions will earn the first three children in each category handsome cash prizes. In addition, the first three school teams - judged by their performance in all six quizzes - will win substantial cash prizes earmarked for their libraries.
Other sessions planned are presentations and discussions on the Survey of India, Geographical Information Systems and the Importance of Geography.
S. MUTHIAH
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