Early in the 19th Century, police stations, known as thana in Hindi and Urdu were erected at many places in Madras. One such station existed at the intersection of Mount Road and Wallajah Roads and this came to be known as the ‘Round Thana’. Subsequently, the station was moved and the Anna Statue took its place after many years, but the name ‘Round Thana’ stuck around, which became Tamil Nadu’s word for a roundabout.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
What is a traffic island known as in Madras that is Chennai? It is a Roundtana – a term that occurs even in The Hindu. You just need to scour the archives and an immense number of links turn up, with the Anna Salai and the Anna Nagar Roundtanas being the favourites. The word originates interestingly enough, at the Anna Salai Roundtana but long before it became Anna Salai or had a Roundtana there. Early in the 19th Century, police stations, known as thana in Hindi and Urdu were erected at many places in Madras. This may have been a Tamil/Telugu city but the language of administration still followed Mughal era terms. A round police station existed at the intersection of Mount Road and Wallajah Roads and this came to be known as the ‘Round Thana’.In the years that followed, the police station moved, and a fountain came up there, followed by a car park, then an underground urinal, and finally the Anna statue. But the place has remained Round Thana or Roundtana, which became Tamil Nadu’s word for a roundabout. Shipping gave us Emden, meaning a bully or a devious adversary. This is from the German cruiser SMS Emden that bombed Madras in 1914, giving us the dubious honour or distinction of being the only city in the colonies to be bombed by the enemy during WWI. We were scared and scarred, and remembered it.
