I am a Telugu Brahmin (Vaishnava) who lived there until 1971, from childhood to College Graduation.
We used to live in a rented house in Kodandaramaswamy Koil Street. Our owner was also a Telugu Brahmin. There were two separate buildings within the walled compound. My residence was to the left side of the first building with one more portion to the right. It was an elevated floor as the area was a low-lying place prone to occasional floods. The entrance to our portions was a high platform with steps on the street. The backside has two more portions at ground level with access through a narrow lane by the side of our elevated portions. There was a small entrance gate to reach their portions from the street from our left side.
The owner's residence was in the other building to our left, which had elevated floors like ours. It was exactly two buildings with some path in between. They had rooms on the terrace also. Two families in one stretch and another two families in the other stretch. The main gate used to be that side with allowance for some parking on their Porch. It has some common ground for children to play both in the front and the backside of their residences.
The backsides of the buildings on our road had railway tracks separated by their compound walls in between them. It was the railways' boundary wall (not of the building owners). And, our toilets used to be adjacent to the wall. They were only partly covered by roofs to prevent direct sunlight or downpours from the skies. So, we had to bear the torture of flies while getting released. It was only during the late '60s that covered flushout-toilets emerged in our building.
Our building was located nearer to the end of the street. Three lanes towards the right side of the street provided access to another horizontal road passing behind the Kodandaramaswamy temple. The three lanes connected these streets from one end to the other end. And, both these streets had access to the railway track from both ends through other connecting roads that crossed railway gates leading to the East Mambalam side at one end and the Saidapet side at the other end.
My elementary school was located at the railway gate that connected East Mambalam with West Mambalam. The Mambalam Railway Station was located at the edge of a small road in front of my school. So, we could approach the station either through the railway track or through the road in front of the school. It was a two-minute walk. My house from the school was a 6—to 7-minute walk via Kodandaramaswamy Temple.
There was a Ganesha Temple (PIllaiyar Koil) towards the left of our house and the Kodandaramaswamy Temple towards the right. We could approach the Kodandaramaswamy temple within 5 minutes from my house and Vinayaka Temple within 2, to 3 minutes. I used to visit the temples along with my siblings frequently to get the prasadam as well as spend some time roaming or playing in the temples.
The railway line always used to be busy with local (electric) trains passing through our backyard every 10 minutes. Other mainline trains also passed through the same tracks. There used to be a spare track that was interlinked with the main tracks for pausing trains to allow for the passage of the express trains without interruptions.
Just opposite the gate of our house owner's was a lane connecting another horizontal road. Both sides of the lane housed many labor-class people living in their thatched huts. The huts used to submerge in waters during heavy rains due to their low-level grounds. Their colony used to be noisy with fights, both verbal and physical.