On the trail of an extinct railway !

I was at Munnar over the past weekend.By the way,Munnar is a beautiful hill station located in Kerala famous as the summer resort of the erstwhile British in South india. Luckily I happened to do my Engg. studies nestled amongst those mist cladden mountains.

The main motive of this visit was a small reunion of 4 of we friends who were roomies during those good old days.You can catch some random pics of our trip through the flickr link on this blog.

'Unending Expanse of tea Gardens.......' That describes Munnar to a good extent.Or so I used to think till this trip.

There were very few railway systems in pre-independance India that did not belong to 'Indian Railways'. Kundala Valley light Railway in Munnar was one of them.It plied between Kundala and Munnar between 1908 and 1924.Disastrous floods washed away the entire system in 1924.Surprisingly enough ,not much has been documented about the existence of this railway which was primarily used to transport tea leaves and other freight.
There is also enough evidence to suggest that there was an operational ropeway in place too. This too has stopped functioning though.

Victorian Munnar still has ample remains of both this systems preserved in style.
The bridge that you see in the picture was actually a railway bridge which is evident from the construction.The building that you see adjacent to it was the old railway station at Munnar.It's now the regional office of Kanan Devan Hill plantations Limited,the company that owns majority of the tea estates over there.

On the way to the Old CSI church in the middle of town, I observed a small gate.Curiosity overtook me as the pillars of the gate looked like old railway tracks. You can see the innovation in the enclosed picture . Closer look at the track revealed an inscription - 'Dorman Long and Co.'

Dorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, England, are a major manufacturer and fabricator of steel components and structures . They have been involved in the manufacture and construction of many major bridges since 1875, including, in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.So that leads to the conclusion that British Engineers actually imported tracks from as far as England to Munnar for the construction of this Light Railway.Awesome.

Some history of the Railway can be found at the Tata tea Museum at Munnar and also some pics are available at the Royal studio situated in the main town area.

Time was a constraint in digging deeper into history as I had to return to chennai.There are more remains of the railways at Top Station,some 30 kms from town.That should have been the last station cos it is the highest point in the vicnity.

Anyways,i have a task cut out for my next trip too. Hmmm.

The definition of Success !

Came across this beautiful quote on Success , couldn't help myself from sharing this.

"To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

land of rajni,filter coffee and Marina...

Over the past few years,i have been in Cochin,Hyderabad and Chennai.Cochin is where the heart is.Hyderabd roCks as ever,but then Chennai takes the Cake almost entirely.

A bit of history : I was born in Chennai in '83 at West mambalam.That hospital is a stone's throw from where I stay now .Some of the people i respect most in my life 'were' and 'are' from this city.

'One adjusts to Hyderabad in one day ' I used to tell my mother. I'll have to admit that some people can't adjust to chennai even in one year.But once you do that,no Bangalore,no NY,no Las Vegas can beat that.

People here are amazing.,The Work culture boggles me.That's right,I am practically left with absolutely no words for the work culture.
People sincerly believe that work is worship and having come from Kerala,I do appreciate that sincerely .

Great Traffic Sense Chennaites!. One of the most beautiful traffic sense I have seen across India comes from Chennai. Traffic opens up nicely once you are on the road.
2 regrets though on this front :
- The number of traffic signals should reduce and
- Motorcycle riders should start wearing helmets.
but overall,it deserves an 8/10.

Water in Chennai has been copious and uninterrupted for me.So no regrets on this front.It may be cos of the rains that flooded the city recently, but i never really felt that i was living in a water scarce land.
But yep, i definitely think that people can do without the idea of buying bottled water.Metro water should streamline itself and everyone should start using it.

Now the most important one. Chennai girls ?
Not bad,I should say. But one regret again, they should come out of their homes and see the light of the day.There exists a small world beyond Filter coffee ,Sun TV and academic books.

Beaches..Awesome.

Educational Facilities..Awesome again.

Public transport... V poor.,though frequency is really good,i really dont think footboard travelling is such a great idea to boast about.

Kollywood...Greattttttt. Asin,Trisha,Sada...just Gorgeous.

I can go on fr sure,but then i'll wrap up fr now in true Superstar style.
" BadShaah orru thadavai sonna,nooru thadavai sonna maadhiri.... Namba Chennai ..suuuuper ma.."
_ _ _ _ _
p.s : translates into "Wht the Emperor says once is equivalent to him saying that 100 times. (i wonder if the emperor ever wrote an imposition in class 1 though.) Our Chennai...Suuuper ma."