2013-01-09 / Comments (20)

Ruins Of Alamparai Fort on East Coast Highway

We were not ready for the pathetic state the Alamparai fort was in.  As per Archaeological survey of India board it was built some time in 17^th century and was a trading post during the Mughal period and changed hands many times between various powers till India got independence. What appears is that after independence the fort totally lost its significance as a trading outpost as more modern Chennai and other ports in South India gained prominence.

The fort though in a very scenic location, near a natural lagoon and the adjoining village is inhabited by fishermen.  But the fort is an example of the pathetic attitude we have towards our historical monuments.  Full of sand in a very bad shape the fort is more of ruins and a source of bricks for the locals than anything else. There was not a single guard or tourist beside us, though we saw some bikes parked near the entrance which instead of a magnificent gate like most forts was just a big gaping hole in the wall. The parapet was broken at many places and one portion of the wall was lying on the ground. The whole wall had hundreds of bushes growing on it and at many places bricks were missing. It appeared they were being regularly removed by locals to construct their homes.

A Day Trip OF Philly

Philadelphia has lots of statues in the parks and roads most of them of historical figures like Presidents and war heroes  specially popular being President Lincoln’s statue on Kelly Drive, I could not take its picture as the bus was moving too fast. But I was able to take picture of the statue of chief justice John Marshall outside the west gate of Franklin Institute. Ever heard of a Judge’s statue in India? If yes please inform me.  There is also a controversial statue of the Italian Stallion Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa a must for movie buffs as the story of Rocky series is in Philly. The guides in the buses were very knowledgeable and were telling a lot of stories about not only the city but also some of the controversies going in the city. The controversy around Ricky’s statue was another one.

Qutub Shahi Tombs-An Empire Rests Here

The Qutub Shahi tombs have a unique place in the history of Deccan and India as buried here are the rulers of Deccan from 1518, till Aurangzeb captured the Golconda fort by deceit and took the last emperor prisoner and shifted him to Daulatabad. So except for the seventh king Tana Shah (Abdul Hasan Qutub Shah), the previous 6 rulers and other members of the royal family are resting here. For a long time the tombs were in bad shape, but now they have become a good tourist attraction and are being maintained by the government. In total there are 7 main tombs of which only one main tomb belongs to a women Hayat Bakshi Begum who was related to 5th, 6th and 7th Sultan. There are other minor tombs to various generals, physicians, relatives and also of singers Taramati and Premamati.