Jothivel rambles...

Trip to Gingee fort!

2011-12-13T00:42:00.000+05:30

The fine Sunday started with reading the newspaper. Found my dad staring at the road and mobile for the driver who didn't turn up yet where dad needs to go for a meeting at Gingee. Thought of taking control over the situation and committed my dad that I'll drive for him. After a little hesitation ( the volume of faith which he always has on me ) he accepted. ( No other go at the moment)

Dropped dad at his venue and moved towards Gingee fort. The fort complex is on three hill rocks named as Rajagiri - Krishna giri - Chandragiri. Considering the situations that I am alone, time 11.40 chosen the moderate one Krishna giri.

History of the fort

Looking about the history of this Gingee fort, It was built by the Chola dynasty in 9th century AD, it was later modified by Kurumbar while fighting the Chola and again by the Vijayanagar empire in the 13th century to elevate it to the status of an unbreachable citadel to protect the small town of Gingee. It was also the headquarters of the Gingee Nayaks, during the Nayaka domination in Tamil Nadu. The fort was built as a strategic place of fending off any invading armies. The fort was further strengthened by the Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji in 1677 AD, who recaptured it from the Bijapur sultans who had originally taken control of the fort from the Marathas.

British finally took control in 1761 despite losing it to Hyder Ali for a brief period. Raja Desinghu ruled Chenji an he was one of the famous kings to be known when it came to Chenji.

Structure:

The Gingee Fort complex is on three hillocks. In fact all the three hills together constitute a fort complex, yet each hill contains a separate and self-contained fort.To gain entry into the citadel one had to cross the chasm with the help of a small wooden draw bridge which was drawn only after getting a signal from the sentries on the parapets that a friend was approaching.

Krishnagiri -The second important hillock with an imposing citadel. It is also known as the English Mountain, perhaps because the British residents occupied the fort here, for some time. The Krishnagiri fort is smaller in size and height compared to the Rajagiri fort. A flight of steps of granite stones leads to its top.

After the fort passed into British hands, it did not see any further action.

At present:

Gingee today, with its ruined forts, temples and granaries, presents a different picture from the glorious splendor of its bygone days. But the remains of that glorious past speak volumes about the numerous invasions, warfare and bravery that it witnessed.

Thalankuppam pier

2011-11-10T17:34:00.002+05:30

A distance of 17kms from the city, due north of the fort. That said, this location at the outskirts of Chennai, we hear, has been used in many movies before but the climax fight scene from the movie ‘Kaakka Kaakka’ is what caught our attention and this post is a result of the same. It is indeed very true that locations used in movies close to our heart linger in our minds forever.

While the distance is just 17kms, the experience is almost 100 kms from anywhere near Chennai. This place marks the extreme north ofthe city, beyond this is a few miles of no-man’s land – just sand, the sea,dirty water and crumbling buildings and fisher huts.

A day's visit to Pondicherry!

2011-10-28T18:27:00.002+05:30

All that began.. When the temptation started to tour somewhere during the week end and decided to go to Pondicherry. Started at 5.30 AM from home and drove through ECR. The first point we stopped is Sadras fort which is situated about 17 km from Mamallapuram and 2 km from Kalpakkam.

The Dutch East India Company chose to build a fort at Sadurangapattinam not only because it was a center for trade in muslin, spices, and so on but also because it was free of political disturbances. The beach is less than 100 meters from the eastern wall of the rectangular fort. The massive defense wall runs on all sides with flanking bastions on the eastern side.The Dutch built two magazines, flanking the eastern side, to store ammunition. The entrance to the fort was on the western side, and the two cannons that were placed on either side of the gateway still stand. A watch tower was built just above this entrance.

Within the fort is a cemetery with exquisitely engraved granite tombstones, the inscriptions on them giving the details of the Dutch buried there. One tombstone has a beautiful bas relief of a vessel with sails, another is chiseled with a coat of arms, a third has a rose, and so on. The inscriptions on the tombstones tell tragic tales of the dead.

The tombstone inscriptions at Sadras date from A.D. 1620 to 1769. Near the cemetery is a "secret chamber", so called because it is built at ground-level and cannot be seen from outside. The warehouses are on the southeastern and northeastern corners of the fort. There are a number of structures, including rooms, dancing halls and dining rooms in the fort.

The next place we had been is Alampara fort, which is exactly 24Kms drive from Sadras fort on ECR. About two-and-a-half kilometers down this picture perfect road, with gentle backwaters and white beaches, a sandy track turns right and bounce the way down a rough track to the Alamparai fort.

The magnificent ruins - All that is left of the fort is portions of weathered red brick, but the original brick and limestone can still be seen. A climb to the old watchtowers gives a brilliant view of the area around and the sea on the east side.

Though the 15-acre fort was built in the 18th Century , the area served as a port in ancient Tamil Nadu. Even the ancient Tamil text "Siruppanatruppadai" refers to trade in the area. The fort had a 100-metre long dockyard, stretching into the sea from the fort, from which zari cloth, salt and ghee were exported.

On the east side of the fort is a marvelous view of the backwaters. The waters lap gently against the edges of the fort, and one could see the sea in the distance. The hypnotic blue of the sky and the sea are soothing. A boat ride along the backwaters is another exciting possibility.

Local information: If you can shell out Rs.2500 to any of those fisherman’s, they are ready to take you for a ride till Pondicherry and drop you back with food. But this trip is at your own risk.

Driving ahead from Alampara fort, the next comes Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, near Puducherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (called "The Mother" within Auroville) and designed by architect Roger Anger.

In the middle of the town is the Matrimandir, which has been acclaimed as "an outstanding and original architectural achievement. It was conceived by "The Mother" (Alfassa) as "a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's inspiration for perfection". Silence is maintained inside the Matrimandir to ensure the tranquility of the space and entire area surrounding the Matrimandir is called Peace area. The Peace area in which the structure is situated is characterized by three main features: the Matrimandir itself with its twelve gardens, twelve petals and future lakes, the Amphitheater and the Banyan Tree.

The Matrimandir took 37 years to build, from the laying of the foundation stone at sunrise on 21st February 1971 - the Mother’s 93rd birthday - to completion in May 2008. It is in the form of a huge sphere surrounded by twelve pedestals. The central dome is covered by golden discs and reflects sunlight, which gives the structure its characteristic radiance. Inside this central dome is a meditation hall known as the inner chamber - this contains the largest optically-perfect glass globe in the world.

The French Colony:

The French part of the town was built along the sea on sand dunes. It is characterized by long wide streets with stately colonial style buildings. The residential buildings are comparatively simple, solid and varied. They have flat roofs, an inner courtyard with garden and collonaded porticos have a double function of protecting from sun and rain, and serving as a transition space to the rest of the house.

These locations are quite familar from the recent movie songs
1. Happy - Balae pandiya
2. Vizhi moodi - Ayan
3. Kaatril - veppam

Sri Aurobindo Ashram

The Ashram was founded and built by the Mother as a first step towards the creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society, expressing and embodying a new consciousness;

The Ashram main building was the abode of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother during most of their stay in Pondicherry. In the inner courtyard is the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The Ashram is open to all for Darshan during fixed hours every day.

Oops its 6.30 pm... realized the tiredness.. and started back to chennai! Had a Great day in the French town!

2G Spectrum Scam

2011-05-21T23:39:00.002+05:30

WHAT IS SPECTRUM SCAM?

2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reported as:

Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crore
Rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses

THE CHARGES ON TELECOM MINISTER:

CHEAP TELECOM LICENSES

Entry fee for spectrum licenses in 2008 pegged at 2001 prices.
Mobile subscriber base had shot up to 350 million in 2008 from 4 million in 2001

NO PROCEDURES FOLLOWED

Rules changed after the game had begun
Cut-off date for applications advanced by a week
Licenses issued on a first-come-first-served basis
No proper auction process followed, no bids invited
Raja ignored advice of TRAI, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry
TRAI had recommended auctioning of spectrum at market rates

FAVOURITISM, CORPORATES ENCASH PREMIUM

Unitech, Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior telecom experience
Swan Telecom given license even though it did not meet eligibility criteria
Swan got license for Rs. 1537 crore, sold 45% stake to Etisalat for Rs. 4200 crore
Unitech Wireless got license for Rs. 1661 crore, sold 60% stake for Rs. 6200 crore
All nine companies paid DoT only Rs. 10,772 crore for 2G licences

Broken bridge.

2011-02-26T23:31:00.001+05:30

Being a weekend... almost a month end too... had bill payments in the morning.. and thought of visiting broken bridge which is in my minds quite a long time since I saw a photo of Chandrachoodan which i assumed how the broken bridge will be.

Planned once a month ago.. which failed and decided to make it today... When i reached that place, all my imaginations went wrong and felt someone dropped a fishtank obruptly.. Highly unsafe after dark due to its proximity to fishing hamlets and lack of road access.

A kilometre and half away from Besant Nagar beach, Broken bridge is a famous film shooting spot during day-time. It seems that the bridge was built to facilitate the movement of fishermen from Santhome beach to Elliot's beach over the mouth of the Adyar river. The bridge spans across the Adyar estuary bordering the backend of the Theosophical Society. The bridge partly collapsed after due to strong currents of the river during a particular monsoon, and has never been repaired.and now totally deserted, absolutely no lights, just a bridge that extends into the middle of the backwaters and ends abruptly.

Its almost sunset and hightime to move out of that place, started walking towards the beasant nagar bus station.. Found 23C bus and boarded it. Realised the stupidity after boarding it... which took me all the way Beasant Nagar - Adyar - Madya Kailash - Saidapet - Thousand lights - Teynampet - Spencers - LIC - Egmore - Purasawalkam - and atlast aynavaram... in 2 hours. Never expected such a long journey... and thus my week end ended...

Welcome!

2011-02-26T22:47:00.001+05:30

I hold this blogger account since 2002. Deleted many times in the past 9 years.. and finally made myself this time I shouldnt.. and start writting myself without ccp anywhere. and wanna share my experiences and thoughts..

Let me see how far I can hold my breath with this decision..