Auto rickshaws and fares

There are number of travel options in Chennai and of course overall India, Auto rickshaw is one of public transport easily available in cities and small towns - share autos has no boundary - but it has been a troublesome commutation forever and many a time a auto ride ends with quarrel related to fare. I have witnessed number of incidents on this line and sometime there will also be clashes between auto drivers and commuters settling on fare. It’s been very long time I traveled in an auto, but still I hear about the disputes continue to fall here and there on the line.

image courtesy: google

In Chennai, autos rarely drop their meters to calculate the fare fixed by authorities rather the amount is predestined by auto drives depending on the destination. But that doesn't mean a content commuting; the fare may rise above the spoken amount when we reached the destination. The auto divers will not hesitate on requesting excess fee above the amount showed on meters but we can’t blame them quite, as we all know the price of petrol has been on hike boundlessly and moreover almost auto drives come from poverty what can be their priority other than money.

I too know money is not all about and not all auto drivers are similar to mentioned above.  There are very few drops for less fee or fare free understating the hardship of others, just like the one who helped my mom for just approaching his auto without knowing customers inside. He came back after dropping them at their place to assist mom walking back home bearing home needs, for which he requested nothing but left it to her choice of anything.  For any emergence the auto comes first when others hesitate to help thinking not to get into any trouble.

Many autos bear words of ‘free for delivery’ (I don’t know they truly follows the lines), their sentiment towards women are high. The movies contribute to autos are much higher and many top actors had been auto drivers in films has showcased how much one could help with autos. The government’s revised auto fare announced on Sunday (after six years) have brought hope with both auto rickshaw divers and commuters; the autos that about to fit with GPS meters, electronic digital printers and panic buttons (on pressing, the police will immediately come to rescue the commuters in case of emergency), the auto ride sounds safe and comfortable.

New fare details:

Rs.25 for first 1.8 km and Rs. 12 for every additional km

50 % high on late night (11 p.m. to 5 a.m.) rides

Rs. 3.50 for every five minutes of waiting and Rs.42 for an hour. 

Heritages from heart of Chennai

The Chennai has number of historical building built during British administration still standing as landmarks of Chennai - the then Madras. The Chennai celebrated its 374 birthday on August 22, which commemorates the founding of the modern city by establishing Fort St George on a small piece of land acquired from the last King of Chandragiri in 1639 by the British East India Company. Here are few important landmarks from the heart of Chennai:

The Chennai Central Railway Station, the main railway terminus in the city is a renowned landmark of Chennai and home to the Southern Railways - the most important rail hub in South India beside other major stations (Chennai Egmore and Tambaram). Trains from here connects almost major cities of India including the capital New Delhi, is also the main hub for the Chennai suburban railway system.

The railway station designed by Henry Irwin was built in 1873 at Parkown Chennai and it is a Gothic Revival style of building. The original station was designed by George Hardinge and consisted of just four platforms. The station was later modified with the addition of the central clock tower and other changes by Robert Fellowes Chisholm. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900 was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta railways which is now known as the Southern railways of India adjacent to it in 1922.

The Ribbon Building is an all-white structure, stands tall proudly on the west of the Chennai Central Station is the house of office of Chennai Corporation. The building is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of Gothic, Lonic and Corinthian is one of the landmarks left by British. Built in the early 1900s has been aptly named after Lord Ribbon, who can be considered as the father of local self government.

The building took a massive renovation in 2012; to preserve the original grandeur of: the walls were constructed with stock bricks, plastered with lime mortar and roof supported with teak wood joists. One of the main attractions of the building is the Westminster Quarter chiming clock which was installed by Oakes and Co.  in 1913. The clock has a mechanical key system, which were cast by Gillet and Johnston  has four bells.

Victoria Public Hall or the Town Hall is another historical building in Chennai, named after Queen Victoria. The hall, an example of the Indo-Saracenic architecture was designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm in the Romanesque style is built by Namperumal Chetty between 1888 and 1890. The hall located on the current EVR Periyar Salai, between the Central station and Ribbon building was opened to public by Lord Connemara in 1887.

The hall was built to accommodate 600 persons, while a wooden gallery in the eastern end has seating arrangement for more than 200 persons. The structure consists of arcaded verandas, a square tower that is three storeys high and a carved pyramidal roof. There is also an intricately carved terracotta cornice, which resembles Islamic calligraphy atop the tower.

An unknown heritage building on Mt. Road, Chennai

PS. Sorry for the quality of photos, because they were shot from the moving car amid the interruption of Metro Rail Project across the view. (Source of info: Wikipedia)

Tree houses @ Top Slip

While my visit to Top Slip at the Anamalai Tiger reserve near Pollachi, Coimbatore, I got to see tree houses where man could stay and enjoy the wildlife tourism. The tree houses are houses exactly built not on top of trees but comprise of wood and wood related materials and built at an elevation in support of pillars and tree trunks. Other than tree houses, there is a bamboo hut and number of tiled roof houses to accommodate tourist, and while coming around we saw two foreigners leisurely taking rest by sitting at their bamboo hut portico.

The tree houses were surrounded by woods of teak and eucalyptus and since it was autumn the leaves were crushing down to wind and being afternoon, the silence and cool breeze carrying us through woods. We stayed at the Bison Lodge, opposite to the tree houses across the road to Parambikulam after failed seeking accommodation at glass house (due to some renovation work), on a hill top with meadows all around. The bison lodge is a cement roof house, situated at a T junction and very close to meadows with better chance of watching animals that come to feed on grasses.

The Bison Lodge is built in 1959 at the elevation of 744 meters above MSL - which was carved on a stone on the wall of the house, is a series of 5 suites with 2 beds at each. It was an experience stayed at this place and going through strange silence at night and uncertain noise to tremor, and to add fear, we brought our pet dog along with us (we would be the only pet owners in the world to bringing it to wild) because dogs are favorite prey of leopards. Waking up to dawn we find bison dung left at front of the house; making it clear their present and perhaps it may be the reason why the house is named after Bison due to their frequent visit and being close to meadow.

Bison Lodge

My first meeting with tree houses was at Pondicherry, when we visited to Chunnambar boat house on the road to Cuddalore in year 2000. Those tree houses were climbed only through rope ladders and they were little ones just for kid’s adventure and fun. I really want to be at Top Slip some other time with advance booking on glass house to have more such adventure thrillers. The only problem I think with tree houses are, they have narrow and steep steps which is hardly possible for someone to support me to stay. 

வர்ணிப்பு / Describe

கேட்டவார்த்தைகளும் கவிதையாகும்

உன் குரலில் கேட்கும் போது;

துயரமும் துவண்டு போகும்

உன் கூந்தல் கோதும் போது.

கால்கள் நடனம் ஆடும்

உன் கை வளையல் ஓசைகேட்ப;

இதயதுடிப்புகள் மாறும்

உன் காது வளையம் அசைவுக்கேற்ப.

சத்தமில்லா சங்கீதம்

உன் கை அசைவில் அரங்கேறும்;

வரிகள் இல்லா பாடல்

உன் இமைகள் போடும் தாளம்

வர்ணிக்க வேண்டும்

உன் இதழ்கள் உச்சரிகும் அழகை;

தவம் நிறைவேறும்

உன் பார்வை படும் நேரம்.

Translation follows: i tried my best translating my Tamil poem into English.... even i am not that good in it. but i don't think i could convey the feeling exactly how it is in Tamil. Hope u understand J

Bad words become poem
when hearing from your voice;
Distress itself will get upset
when fingers through your hair.

Feet tap to dance
respond to your bangles din;
Heartbeats transition
respond to your ear loop motion.

Noiseless music
is debut in your hand moment.
Song without lyrics
bounces rhythm in your eyelids.

It begs to describe
the beauty in your pronouncing lips.
The penance fulfills
the time your vision fall on thee.

PowerShot Sunday - Fossil Tree

The fossil tree trunk displayed at the Ooty Botanical Garden, is from 20 million year old rocks. The trees carried by rivers and deposited in inland lakes were transformed with replacement of the woody matter by silica give rise to fossil tree trunks.  The fossil tree was presented by the Geological Survey of India, from the National Fossil Park in Tiruvakkarai, Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.