In continuation with my earlier unique / Interesting street names of Chennai, presenting a very interesting street “Arathoon Road” from Royapuram. (Colloquially it could be translated as Half Pillar, but for sure thats not the name and my friend could help digging into his archives and let us all know about it).
Arathoon is an Armenian surname and there was a long line of Arathoons who settled in Chennai duwing the 1800s. As I recall, the Armenian Church in Armenian Street across from the Chennai High Court was also built by a family of Arathoons. It is likely that with their church where it is, some Arathoons might have settled in Royapuram and given the road its name. There are Arathoons in Kolkata and Mumbai as well as far as I know though many would have moved to Australia, Canada, the UK and elsewhere from the 1970s onwards.
Thank you for a most interesting blog. I was a student at St Mary’s on Armenian Street. My grandparents lived on Broadway and I have some lovely memories of cycling to Royapuram, the Marina Beach etc. Your blog brings back very pleasant memories to this non-resident Chennai-vasi and I keep looking for news about the city of my birth from time to time.
Ram: Thanks a ton for such an interesting information, Mehul. Its again a pleasure that you like the blog and find it giving you pleasant memories.