P O SUBASH, P O SUNIL AND P O SUPRIYA IN SRIRANGAPATTANA PHOTO

ALL THREE OF US IN SRIRANGAPATNA PHOTO

St. Angelo Fort Kannur

What is this St.Angelo fort Kannur?What is Kannur? Some of these questions might need immediate simple answers for the layman.

First Where is Kannur? Kannur is the same as Cannanore..both mean the same place.It is the sister city of  Telicherry. Telicherry is twenty kilometres south of Kannur and both these cities are on the Arabian coast some two hundred kilometres from Mysore and hundred kilometres from  Virajpet Coorg.

The story starts with Vasco Da Gama discovering India coming all the way from Portugual for spices grown in this part of modern day India.This is in 1498 and the spice trade began to grow in full bloom .Kolathiris were the kings of this place called Kolathunad. Spice trade was bringing earnings both for the Kolathiri and the Portuguese. To increase spices production they have to be treated and cleaned and preserved..which means they needed factories.The Portuguese asked the Kolathiris permission to establish a Fort for which they would pay. An ideal place was chosen along the Arabian coast some three kilometers from modern day Kannur town upon a cliff over some eleven acres of land with sea on three sides and there came the St.Angelo Fort in 1505.Construction started in 1505 and work completed in 1507..the fort being built with local stones.

Valuables were kept in the Fort; so the Fort could be attacked from Land and by sea..From the land side towards the entrance of the Fort a moat was built to be flushed with water from the Sea and to prevent attacks from the sea many a cannon was mounted.These Cannons could be seen from the sea and the place gets the name CANNONORE. A place of Cannons - the modern name of Kolathunad. Some fifteen days of voyage perpendicular to this point one would reach the African Coast.

Some of the key aspects of the fort in a nutshell;

THE FORT IS SOME FOUR KILOMETRES FROM THE CANNANORE CITY.

IT STANDS ON SOME 11 ACRES OF LAND

THE FORT WAS BUILT BY THE PORTUGUESE IN 1505 BY  FRANCISCO ALMEIDA THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNOR AND LARGEST PORTUGUESE FORT.

francisco almeida

TWO HUNDRED SOLDIERS FROM PORTUGUAL WERE STATIONED HERE

IT HAS THE SEA ON THREE SIDES AND A MOAT AT THE ENTRANCE

IT HAD BARRACKS FOR SOLDIERS, A CHAPEL, A PRISON, A WELL AND AMMUNITION STORAGE.

THE FORT LATER FELL INTO DUTCH HANDS AND THEN TO THE LOCAL KINGS AND FINALLY TO BRITISH.

THE BRITISH BUILD A FULL FLEDGED CANTONMENT IN THE ADJACENT AREA.

THE FORT STANDS ON A CLIFF

DUTCH GOVERNOR GODFRIED WEYERMAN MADE SOME ADDITIONS INSIDE THE FORT COMPLEX

A LAMP POST CAN BE SEEN WHICH WOULD PROVIDE LIGHT INSIDE THE FORT AND ALSO ACT AS A LIGHT HOUSE FOR MANY YEARS USING OIL BASED LANTERN.

SOME FORTY THOUSAND CANNON BALLS WERE EXCAVATED FROM THE FORT AND ARE KEPT ON DISPLAY.

A FANTASTIC VIEW OF THE SEA IS POSSIBLE FROM THE FORT AND FROM A PEDESTAL.

THERE IS AN ENTRY FEE OF RS. 25 TO ENTER THE FORT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zvz_WaJ-6c

I meet Dinesh Nambiar in Mumbai (Bombay)

Dinesh Nambiar is the grandson of my Grandmothers sister and they live in Mulund Mumbai..I met him I think in 1993 for the first time and we spent some time together and he even coming to see me off the following day.

Both of us had a stroll over Mulund and the following day I went to his office in Nariman Point where he was working with Indian Express and having lunch at one of those eat-outs in nariman Point.Dinesh was very courteous and helpful.

That afternoon I went to Santa Cruz East and met my College mate Vikas Makhija at Reliance Industries.

There was another interesting coincidence.Dinesh knew very well Narayan Kumar Anantha who was my class mate at REC /NIT Calicut. The same evening Dinesh took me to the house of Kumar Narayan as he was also called.

My experience as Zed Point Co-ordinator

UMA GANESH

In 1997 I used to co-ordinate ZED points in Bangalore covering the territories of  Karnataka and Goa..in many ways a prestigious assignment I must say.Uma Ganesh used to be the CEO of ZED POINTS under the aegis of ZEE Education sponsored by ZEE TV.

What is a ZED POINT ?It used to be a mini Computer education centre with two or more personal computers handled by an independent investor and there were some fifteen such centres around my geography struggling to survive in a competitive environment and most of my time was spent visiting these centre heads and holding meetings with them.

I used to enjoy this work and even meeting people in Mumbai(Bombay).The toughest part for me was visiting Goa to meet  Mr.Agnelo Lobo who used to run a ZED POINT at Mapuza, Bardez few kilometers from Panjim. On leaving this assignment I was AGM of another Computer company handling South India.

The Audio Visual Club at REC NIT Calicut

The REC NIT CALICUT of our times had a very active audio-visual club.This club was manned by student volunteers who did a very good job.My room mate Binodanand Mishra also was part of this committee once if Iam not mistaken.Most of the times Hindi and English movies were displayed.

The auditorium of our times were used for this purpose.Under normal circumstances the auditorium would work in one direction with with seats facing the pedestal or the podium or the elevated platform.On this elevated platform skits and dramas were played.But when it is movie time the auditorium would function in the reverse mode facing the screen and the elevated platform used for seating girl students.The chairs in the auditorium were movable steel chairs which could be reversed as and when needed.

I think the first movie I saw was Madumathi. I had decided not to go for the movie but seeing that the entire hostels partook in it I made a last minute dash to the Auditorium.Most of the movies shown were good and I think there was a Faculty coordinator for the club who authenticated films. 

Some of the movies that I saw here are Manchali,Sathyam Shivam Sundaram,Masoom,Sadma,Tootsie,Double Trouble,Dard Ka Rishtha  and may be many more which I dont recollect now.

In retrospect I think it is a good thing to have such clubs which bring entertainment right into the campus.

DOUBLE DECKER BUSES AND BANGALORE

Many of today in Bangalore would scarcely believe that Double Decker buses once adorned the roads of the city.This is between 1970 and 1980 and they were discontinued and note that during this era there were no ring roads.

They were well designed buses with seating capacity on top with two conductors one at the bottom and the other at top.The Bus conductors and drivers of the erstwhile BTS of this era were less professional in their conduct compared to what they are now.Frequent feuds between BTS (Bangalore Transport Service) staff in the bus and passengers were common.The staff at present are very professional and BMTC(Bangalore Metropolitian Transport Service) is a very well run institution largely due to the refinement brought into its day to day operations and systems and BMTC is truly world class. To my observation as a child during the above era there were mishaps involving these double decker buses due to difficulty in co-ordination between the conductor on the top, the conductor at the floor and the driver.However there was also an incident where a double decker bus capsized creating injuries and these services were discontinued forthwith.

I think couple of such buses could be tried in the city today with one major door with collapsible facility near the driver and a stairway to the top near the driver so that he can monitor at once people on the deck and below ensuring better co-ordination.If London can operate such buses why cant we?

FELLING COCONUTS AT REC NIT CALICUT

As I mentioned somewhere in the September of 1982 five of us were staying in the B hostel room 315.S V Giri, Srinath Shetty,Jerald Harry Dsouza,Arvind Poal Masaji from Nippani Belgaum and myself.

The hostels of NIT Calicut and its vicinity had many Coconut palms fully grown and mature with abundant yeild. On few occassions it dawned on us to venture  in the night and pluck few of these for ourselves.There was something risky about this but we ventured few times sometimes near the auditorium.

Dsouza was an avid climber and excelled at felling coconuts and then descending from the tree and the whole activity had to be done with care to ensure that the coconuts did not fall on anybody.

Then came the task of peeling them at which Shetty excelled. Most of the time I was only a spectator at the mercy of the skills of my room mates.What followed was excellent a total feast of high quality Coconuts  some times with lot to spare.We never knew that these trees were given on lease to a tenant farmer who would not have appreciated what we were up to but most times they did not object.

A bizarre incident happenned in the June of 1983 when a Bengali lad one year our senior fell from the coconut tree near the AC lab and met his end.This was a shocking incident for us all.Rains the earlier day had left the palms wet and he happenned to slip from the top.Sadly I dont remember his name and if any one reading this column knows his name I could include it here .

With this incident ended our quest for coconuts and our adventures in the night.Well it was a jolly experience for we adoloscents at that time but I would very well advice student folk at Universities around the world who are in such circumstances to may be refrain from such acts.Nightfall is to have a good sleep in the room and not to embark on such adventures for good or for bad.