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Elephants returning home

At Thrissur (Kerala - India) the famous Vadakunathan temple arranges an annual feast for the temple Elephants. This year it was held somewhere  on the 17th July. Although we could not witness the event as such but we were fortunate to be there to see the guests off.

Finally ready to start the return journey.

Emotions

A Cat frequenting our home became pregnant. It was searching for a suitable hideout for confinement.  Day before yesterday it was missing and my mother predicted that it could have made it some where. In the evening itself we could hear the baby cries. All of us at home were curious to locate them and finally my niece who is here on a similar mission found two little ones screaming. 

Next day when the mom came to visit the kid seems to have complained about our intrusions.

After carefully listening she would have consoled  and fed them.

A little annoyed for being photographed

And this one is perhaps waiting for an opportunity to make a meal of the babies!

Moods

Coconuts

“If you could count the stars, then you could count all the ways the coconut tree serves us.”- Philippine proverb

While  roaming about in Rattan Bazaar, Chennai, I came across broken Coconuts being sold on the pavement. There is nothing strange about it but they had reached the sprouting stage. There was a white sponge like ball protruding and I was told that this growth is edible. It is tasty as also  has great nutritional value. I was unaware of any such thing. We never considered that part as edible and never also attempted to have a taste of it. We just used to remove it and throw it out.  Therefore I was a little bit surprised. However, now I learn that if that white portion turns yellowish, it becomes toxic.

In our own garden we have some 60/65 Coconut palms and some times we do find in fully matured Coconuts, a small spongy but a little hard ball. We used to get rid of it in the manner stated above. If the Coconut is allowed to remain for a longer period on the tree, the ball get enlarged by absorbing the water and the meat inside the shell.  During summers it is quite common  to come across Coconut water vendors on the streets. They may look big but are still in their infancy. They may contain nearly 1 litre of sweet water to quench your thirst. Incidentally this water could also be used as a substitute for Dextrose therefore administered to patients intravenously. After consuming the water from the Coconut the nut is broken in two halves. A thin layer of pulp which sometimes resembles the egg white (boiled) is delicious.

If allowed to further ripening the meat inside the shell becomes hard with lesser quantity of sweet water. This is the stage at which Coconuts are generally plucked. The white semi solid portion is used in various parts of India as an ingredient for various dishes after grating.  When the shell is broken and dried in Sunlight the white meat could be peeled out. At this stage it is known as Copra. Coconut oil is extracted from Copra in an expeller. There is one more method of extracting oil by householders. The meat of the nut is removed, grated and squeezed (any good method) and a milky substance gets extracted. This is the Coconut milk. When this milk is heated in a pan, the residue is the Oil in its purest form. The Coconut milk is used for making sweet dishes (Payasa/Payasam/Kheer). The Coconut milk is also added while cooking fish.

If we take out the round shell from the outer coir casing, we find three eye like formation on one of its poles. One eye is a little fragile and any thing a bit sharp could be driven in and the water drawn out. If the nut is too ripe and in its germination stage, a sprout will come out of that hole. Two roots will also come out from the remaining eyes. When still on the tree and the Coconut ripens fully, the outer layer would become brown and eventually fall on the ground . They then sprout and the roots will try to pierce through the ground.

Normally over ripening of Coconuts while still on the tree is very rare as they get plucked much earlier. However due to paucity of farm labourers particularly those who could climb the palm has made this possible. Even if some one turns up, the fee demanded to climb one tree is  prohibitive.   If some one with higher remuneration is engaged, the additional cost incurred for removing the outer layer makes the economics to fail.  Now a days I find a great influx of farm hands from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Rajasthan and they are willing to work for less than 1/3rd than the locals demand. However, climbing a Coconut palm is not their cup of tea.

Victoria Public Hall, Chennai

when you get down at the Chennai Central Station and proceed towards the car parking , it would be difficult to escape a grand old building staring at you at a distance.  This building happened to be an inviting  curiosity for me even when I was a child. The need to catch a taxi to reach home quickly was so overbearing that I could never find time to go nearer to the imposing structure, except while passing by, seated in the car. Now that I have been in Chennai for a couple of months , I ventured to visit the building a couple of times with a view to gain an entry. However all my attempts were thwarted due to the Chennai Metro Rail Project. They are constructing  the underground portion of the project and the tunnelling work was in progress just adjoining the place. The area was cordoned off with corrugated tin sheets and a watchman has been posted to prevent entry to the premises. Therefore I had to satisfy myself with few snaps from outside. The building referred to is the Victoria Public Hall commonly known as the Town Hall. 

During the 1880s a need was felt to have a community hall where cultural and social programmes could be held. A meeting was organised by prominent citizens in 1882 and the participants had contributed around Rs.20,000 for the purpose. A separate Trust was also created to implement the project. The civic body i.e. the Corporation of Madras also provided land admeasuring 3.14 acres on a 99 years lease. A foundation stone was laid in December 1883 and by 1888 the construction could get completed. The architect credited to have designed this beautiful building was  Robert Fellowes Chisholm  and as with many other buildings of Madras this too was  a derivation of Indo-Saracenic architecture.  To commemorate the Golden Jubilee of queen Victoria’s accession to the throne, it was named after her.

The main building has two floors. There are four beautiful wooden staircases leading to the first floor. both floors put together has an area of 26000 square feet and every floor has a seating capacity for 600 people. Once having been opened to the public many a social organisations  jumped in. Plays were being staged every evening on a regular basis. Swami Vivekananda, Subramania Bharati, Mahatma Gandhi, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel were amongst the great men of yester years who addressed public meetings at this venue. The hall was also used for screening some 10 English films in 1892 by one T. Stevenson the owner of Madras Photographic Stores. Incidentally by that time the Indian Cinema was yet to be born. The first Tamil film “Keechaka Vadham” without a sound track was produced only in 1918.

With the passage of time, the health of the building started deteriorating and by the second half of the 20th century it became critically ill due to continued neglect. There had been some attempts to rejuvenate it but they proved inadequate. For the last 45 years the hall is in a state of Coma. In between the Trust leased out the spaces around it  for commercial purposes. Taking advantage of the situation certain unscrupulous traders also made their intrusions to put up their stalls/shops. Disputes surfaced between the Corporation and the Trust when the 99 years lease term expired. Fortunately the Corporation was in a position to take over the building after eviction of all those illegal occupants. Due to continued hue and cry made by heritage lovers the Corporation sanctioned an expenditure of Rs.3.39 Crores for complete renovation/restoration of the building and work started in 2009. When the work was half way, the Metro Rail Project commenced its construction work resulting in a temporary stoppage of the renovation project. However, the Chennai Corporation has announced recently that by end of July 2013, the Victoria Public Hall would be in its original shape. At the moment we do not know whether the hall would get opened up for social/cultural purposes as was originally envisaged.

Under the Chennai Metro Rail Project, the trains are to travel over pillars and they will go underground in busy areas. As has been stated earlier, the tunnelling work is in progress near the Victoria Public Hall and they have also encroached upon the area in front of the building. A beautiful fountain which existed thereat has since been removed and moved to the right hand side of the hall. In the process some ornamentations have been broken/lost. This fountain too has a story of its own.

During the British rule, Government’s budget proposals were introduced by James Wilson in 1860 for the first time when the capital of the country used to be in Calcutta. Losses sustained during the Freedom Struggle of 1857 were sought to be bridged by taxing the personal income of citizens. Every individual with an income of Rs.200 was within the ambit of the proposed tax net. This move was highly resented and there was a hue and cry amongst the people. Charles Trevelyan who happened to be the Governor of Madras Presidency in those days, supported the people’s movement and expressed his anguish by sending a telegram to Fort William, Calcutta. As an after effect he had to compromise with his job. When Trevelyan was the Chairperson of the Madras Corporation, he made available potable drinking water for the people and also created a beautiful park in the heart of the city. A fountain was built in front of the Victoria Public Hall in his fond memory which is known as Trevelyan Fountain.

Incidentally there is another heritage building known as Victoria Memorial Hall which houses the National Art Gallery. This building too remains closed for the last 10 years or so on account of some cracks having developed inside. This building awaits restoration.

Vypin Island – Pallipuram Fort

After having taken our lunch, we had two options in hand, either to go for a Siesta or for a long ride. My younger brother with whom I am staying had no problems either as it way a Sunday. However the cloudy weather was dissuading me from venturing out, for the camera could not be put to use. Nevertheless the call of my brother to move out before it really starts pouring made me get ready. When we drove out it was drizzling. We headed towards the Marine Drive of Kochi yet the destination remained undecided.  Moving further we crossed over to Bolgatty island. Here we thought of visiting the Palace now converted into a Hotel, Unfortunately we could not gain entry due to some big gun having reserved the entire hotel for some private purpose, presumably a marriage reception. Then I said let us now go to Vypin Island. In between there an another island known as Vallarpadam which is a very large container terminal. Here one could see hundreds of trucks lined up for transporting containers to and fro from the hinterland. Soon thereafter my brother stopped the vehicle at one point and told me come this is Vypin. I could not believe it but then the signboards did say so. We got down and surveyed the area, particularly the topography. I could visualise that we were standing at the Southern end of the island and farther south it was Fort Kochi. From the Boat Jetty we could see steamers arriving and departing with loads of passengers and vehicles.

Six major rivers emanating from the Western Ghat Mountain Ranges submerge into the Arabian Sea near Kochi passing through the Vembanad lake. The deltas and soil erosions appear to be the cause of six scattered islands except Wellingdon which is man made. All the islands are inhabited and movement of people used to be through waterways in the past. Now all the islands are made accessible overland with interconnecting bridges. From Fort Kochi if one has to travel by road to Vypin Island,  it would be a long distance and therefore the ferry service thrives carrying passengers as well as all vehicles.

Thanks to   trade relations with China in the distant past, some amount of technology transfers have also taken place in the area of fishing. The local fishermen deploy   “Chinese fishing nets” which were installed in the vicinity in large numbers. We could witness them while they worked. However they have limitations as regards  water coverage.  Nevertheless they have managed to sustain themselves by mechanising the operations.

After having observed the operations at the boat jetty and the Chinese fishing nets, it was time for us to move. My brother asked me, now where should we go. Vypin Island is a peace of land which is around 26 kilometres long. The main light house of the Port of Kochi is located in this island. There is also a beautiful beach known as Cherai at the north western side. What I had in my mind was a Portuguese fort at the northern end which I had seen some 5 decades back but at that time approached it from the North and not from the South. Fortunately I could remember the place name and told my brother to proceed to Pallipuram in the North direction. He also instantly said Oh! Pallipuram. There is a fort there. I have heard about it but the location was not known. I said, I am also not very much sure but the fort is in the northern end.

After travelling for over 20 minutes, we came across a hoarding to our right  with the name of the fort. We parked our vehicle on one side and got down. Although there was no need to consult any one, my brother seeing an otherwise educated looking lady going that way, casually enquired about the fort. She said Tipu Sultan’s fort is here and showed us the pathway. She also said if the fort is locked, we may check with the guard there. When I had visited long long ago, the fort could be viewed from the road but now a school building has come up in front and the approach is round about.

Western side while we approach

Pallipuram Fort in Vypin Island is the oldest European construction  anywhere in South East Asia. ‘Fort’ appears to be a misnomer. It is a hexagonal watch tower constructed by the Portuguese in 1503 AD. This was the first building they constructed on the Indian Soil for regulating/controlling sea farers from all the three sides. The Dutch defeated the Portuguese and took over the fort in 1661 AD and sold to the principality of Travancore in 1789. The entire construction is made of laterite  stones and the walls are 6 feet thick. Each side measures 32 feet and the height of the three tiered tower is 34 feet.

The main entrance is towards the East through a small iron gate and few stairs lead you onto a platform constructed above 5 feet from the ground level. There is a small opening at the right side and it appears that the space below was used for storing arms and ammunition. Apart from the ground floor two more floors above would have existed as there are spaces for mounting cannons at two different levels. In the middle there is a circular plastered space and it is presumed that a heavy wooden pole could have supported the two floors (also made of wood). This could have facilitated reaching and manning the cannons positioned facing the sea on three sides.  Right now it is open to the sky.

Although the monument is under the State Archaeology department, it appears to be grossly neglected. A broken lock was found on the main gate and no care taker was found during the duration of our stay at the place. There was lot of unwanted vegetation growing close by obstructing a clear view. Some plants have also taken roots on its walls. If the situation remains the same, the monument may not survive for long.