NATIONAL EXTRA LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORT SERVICE ( NELDTS)

In many countries around the world there are passenger transport buses that even travel upto six thousand Km  ferrying commuters. In India the road transport sector has undergone metamorphosis with the introduction of volvo bus services   and   add to that the  development  of  road and other support systems .  The railway lines in India is a preferred mode of travel due to economies of scale and even airways which is well burdened with traffic.

In India to my observation we have not come of age in long distance bus services which can help in rapid growth of the Economy. Highways and roadlines are corridors of various kinds of commerce and add to quick economic expansion owing to the various forms of flexibilities they provide.

The Central Government must actively consider creating a NATIONAL EXTRA LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORT SERVICE which basically focusses on introducing long distance passenger bus services that connect key cities and strive to make it economically viable. This can be done with the co-operation of State Governments. What this precisely means is passenger bus services from Bengaluru (Bangalore) to say New Delhi, Bangaore to Kolkata and the like. This service must come under a central authority which focusses on all aspects of Quality and viability.

There are many private operators they say that operate such routes and the same operations must be done by the Government as well.

Such a service properly handled with time will provide drastic improvement in economic indices like employment  and open doors for various forms of acculterisation  and growth.

THE SHIRDI SAI BABA TEMPLE IN SHIRDI

 

The above is a view of the SAI BABA temple at Shirdi in Maharashtra. This place called Shirdi is a small town with a full fledged Government bus stand and is some four hours drive towards the north of Pune. Shirdi has an airport connected to many cities and the Pune - Indore highway runs through Shirdi.The towns yonder to Shirdi on this highway are Malegaon and Dhule and the travel time from Shirdi to Indore would be less than ten hours.

The general environment here is arid. The Government could do a good thing by planting more trees and ferns in this town and its environs.

The Shirdi Sai Baba temple which is generally thronged by many is close to the bus stand with a thick market place around it and to some extent resembles Guruvayoor temple found in Kerala.

From Bangalore the travel route would be through Davangere, Belgaum,Nippani,Kholapur,

Karad,Pune,Ahmednagar into Shirdi.One of my room mates at REC Calicut used to be a person by name Arvind Poal Masaji who hails from Nippani.

THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION SESSION 4 FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES

 https://youtu.be/mA9b2smGvmQ

NAGARA FORT SHIVAMOGGA(SHIMOGA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEK-8DTvccE

https://lnkd.in/gKbJNZVR

LORD RIPPON VICEROY OF INDIA 1880 TO 1884

Above is the photograph and video description of the Nagara fort near shimoga (Shivamogga). This fort was originally built in the beginning of the 17th century by Ikkeri Nayaks of the Keladi dynasty and later went into the hands of Hyder Ali and later into the hands of Tippu Sultan and finally to the English. Kammaran nambiar alias Hyat Sahib alias Mohammed Ayaz Khan was a Governor here for may be a decade or more enjoying sovereign powers. Kammaran Nambiar is from chirakkal in Cannanore(Kannur) and is our ancestor. Hence my interest in this fort.

This fort can simply be described as a hillock on a hill spanning some twenty acres with steep precipices very much on the Western Ghat mountains.. The idea behind hosting such a fort here could be that it has a natural advantage against cannon fire as it is difficult to hoist cannons on these hilly stretches. Hyat Sahib had named this place Hyder Nagara and with exit of the Mysore rulers the name changed to Nagara.It is also called Bendore.

Nagara is basically a very small village some eighty kilometers from Shimoga on the Western Ghat mountains. Yonder it is some fifty kilometers from the Arabian sea coast.The fort forms an ideal refuge for its proximity to the sea.It is basically a god forsaken place with minimal population.The nearest major town is Hosanagara some twenty kilometers from here towards Shimoga.Hosanagara is sixty kilometers from Shimoga. Much of the forests in this area have been cleared with modern tree cutting machines and have given space for agriculture.On the way to Hosanagara from Shimoga is a place called RIPPONPET named in honour of the Viceroy of India Lord Rippon.

With the sudden death of Hyder Ali the fortunes of Mohammed Ayaz Khan changed drastically. There was huge wealth in the  form of  gold stored  within this  fort. Tippu Sultan had formed a  squad to assassinate Mohammed Ayaz Khan . Mohammed Ayaz Khan gave the fort into the hands of the British and in return got a safe passage to Mumbai (Bombay). He possibly descended the western ghats into Kollur and to the sea shore from where he was  ferried by sea to Mumbai.  

GOL GOMBUZ IN VIJAYAPURA(BIJAPUR)

 

I had visited this structure recently and thought it un-just if I do not make some note of what I really saw.Gol-Gombuz which could mean " a round masoleum" has its architectural insight and inspiration from Turkish art of the Ottaman empire and was told took forty years to build and is basically a tomb of the kings of Bijapur.

Vijayapura previously known as Bijapur is the host to this structure and the entire city of Bijapur has various similar structures built by the Kings of Bijapur who could be of Turkish origins. Gol-Gombus is basically a rectangular structure some two hundred feet high on which rests a large dome some hundred feet high. It is spectacular in many ways. A very narrow alley of stairs which can house one person can be seen at the four corners and is a well designed  and engineered construction. I happenned to climb the entire stretch slowly but carefully and a view of the gardens from above is pleasant and fascinating.

People can climb the stairs on one extreme and alight from another extreme. The fact that such a meticulous structure was erected with high degree of engineering precision is a matter of praise.

A word of Caution: I found inadequate security staff maintaining the internals of this monument. People dont understand  how exactly to reach the top and alight..adequate security personnel must be provided by the Government who are pro-active to guide people through the entry and exit routes or in the event of some confusion a stampede could result which could have serious conscequences.

THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA-SESSION3- DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY

 https://youtu.be/SVUWXzPIlYA

MY NEW CAR TATA TIAGO r c

 

REVIVING DEFUNCT BOREWELLS

 Few years ago on a visit to the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore I happened to sit through an International seminar on Water and thereafter was in a discussion with the delegates who happened to be from many different countries and did have a long chat with one of the delegates from Germany and was given to understand that borewells continue to be one of the key sources of Water in many countries and ground-water normally found at some 80 feet.

Bore wells are an excellent isolated source of independent water for households and could be a costly affair. The problems I see is that after few years some of these wells dry up. There are many reasons why they dry and could vary from case to case.

Some seven years back I found the bore well in one of my houses dry. I was aghast and upset and finally the immersion motor inside failed. The general rhetoric was that all the borewells in the vicinity are defunct and so is yours. I felt sad but decided to do something about it.

I put some brick bunds and routed the  water coming from the stairs towards the bore well and left it so for for some five years. During rains water gushing from the stairs would route itself towards the bore well.

Some one year back I was curious to know the state of the well and then came Samy an expert at studying such situations. He brought with him a long wired camera connected to a laptop and I was manning the lap top as he let the cable down the well. He showed me three water sources at 40ft,80ft and 120 ft respectively. I was given to understand the borewell is 120 ft in depth and the source seen at 120 ft was a bountiful one and Samy suggested that putting a new immersion pump would not be a waste.

I left it  that way for nearly a year and decided to go in for a new immersion pump.One evening I bought a pump and this person Samy got to work.The burnt motor was removed earlier and the entire piping removed and the new motor fit ..and touchwod and by some providential grace the well is as fit as a fiddle and performing much better than what it did earlier.

There is a lesson in this experience that defunct borewells can be revived. Dig two trenches 1 ft  long,wide and deep  some two feet away from the bore well  and let rainwater from the terrace or other catchments swell into these trenches during rain. Leave such an arrangement  for nearly four years and then check the well by camera  traversing through the entire depth. New water lines and sources should form as a result of water flowing down these trenches. Such a system creates new water lines and sources from many feet around the well and acts as a repository that can be a perennial water source.