VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

World Heritage Day – a call to save our past Appeared in the Times of India on  17 April 2017 World Heritage Day - 18 April Tomorrow, 18th April is World Heritage Day. In 1982, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) based in France, announced 18 April as the "World Heritage Day", approved by the General Assembly of UNESCO in 1983, with the aim of enhancing awareness of the importance of the cultural heritage of humankind, and redouble efforts to protect and conserve our heritage.  In 2017, the theme is  “Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism” , chosen in relation to the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. What is heritage? What is Heritage in the first place? An explanation from the INTACH book titled “INTACH Jago” goes like this: “Heritage refers to something inhe...

Say goodbye to our beaches Appeared in Times of India Vizag Edition on 03 April 2017 Vizag is a coastal city and the best part of living in a place like this is access to our beautiful beaches. We take for granted our right to walk on to the beach sand and wade in the waters of the Bay of Bengal. Do we need permission to visit the beach? Do we have to buy a ticket to enjoy the sea? Obviously not! That is because the sea is our common property and a public place that we can visit any time we want to. But is this going to change soon? Old timers will recollect the beaches of old Vizag with nostalgia. Most of the Vizagites lived in the “Old Town” near Visakhapatnam Port Trust channel. Families lived within a few hundred yards of the beach, and children played on the beach and swam in the sea whenever they could. Hundreds of fishing boats lined the beach and fishermen went fishing every day to bring in a bounty of fish that they sold at the beach or in the markets making a decent l...

Intergalactic space travel and idlies 20th March Times of India Waltair Musings !GQK comes visiting The other day I met my old friend !GQK from the galaxy next door.  He took the wormhole express from planet Gliese 581g and appeared in my guest room quite suddenly. He was tired.  He switched on his universal translator and lamented “I traveled economy class; the universal cash crunch is hitting all us researchers”. After he had got over his space-lag and got used to our local gravity we went down to that vegetarian restaurant on VIP Road. He has been visiting officially once every 10 Earth Years and the first thing he does is enjoy some idly with several chutneys and sambar. Over breakfast we discussed the purpose of his visit this time. Research “I am here to study Vizag’s driving habits” he explained. “We at The Galactic Institute have watched the huge increase in vehicular traffic in Vizag and my boss wanted me to verify the reports that we have ...

The banyan trees at the recruiting office My article that appeared in The Times of India  on 11 December 2016 Half a century ago, in old Vizag, near the recently restored lighthouse, stood a recruiting office under the shade of large banyan trees. Men for the army, navy and air force were recruited here. The first floor of this building served as the residence of M.K. Unni Menon and his family. He was in-charge of recruitment. Mrs. Menon was a hospitable lady who encouraged children to gather at her home and play in the recruiting office grounds. These “grounds” were not just some open area but an exciting, mysterious, magical world where many children got in touch with the wonders of the nature. Banyan trees The recruiting office ‘grounds’ and surrounding areas had two massive banyan trees ( Ficus benghalensis ). These could be accessed by friends of the Menons. There was another large tree outside the grounds to the East which was in the public domain. These maj...

Dear Friend, From the past two years several representations have been made to our city officials to have this historic heritage school building repaired. Every time the response has been favorable and sympathetic but there has been no forward movement. We all know that our officials are very very busy with  other  matters.  This silly two and half century old building is not a priority for local administration. They have to look after so many important things like visiting and local dignitaries who go around the city with their sirens blaring attending one conference or the other.   Who cares if the historic heritage building falls?  Meanwhile our history is being lost. Now they want to widen the main road to 100 ft from Jagadamba Jn. to Old Post Office. If you remember the historic 1914 King Edward VII Coronation Market ( Kurupam Market ) was brought down by GVMC on 19 Nov 2013 without public consultation, stealthily and overnig...

This article appeared in the Times of India, Vizag Edition, 3 April 2016 Landing in trouble There is a renewed purpose in the air, the Andhra Pradesh state government’s mission is clear; this is the time for double digit growth! In order to fuel the growth we need plenty of money. A capital is to be built from scratch; infrastructure is required in every segment, airports, sea ports, power plants, highways and myriad government institutions. Where do we get the money to do all this? Obviously from taxes, we must therefore entice industry and business to bring in the revenue. No wonder then that the first priority of governments is to attract private entrepreneurs, the bigger the better.  The inducements for investing in the state are typically, ease of doing business, educated workers, adequate water, guaranteed power supply, roads, rail, ports and most important of all, the magical ingredient in the business mix …LAND! Plenty of LAND! Have land – want industry Who ow...

You've got messages He staggered into the doctor’s clinic. His clothes were wrinkled, his hair was uncombed and his eyes had that glazed lost look of someone who was about to be put in straitjackets and packed off to the mental asylum. He slumped into the patient’s chair and whispered in urgent tones “My smart phone has been taken over by the devil! I wake up in the middle of the night with the intention of relieving my bladder but instead stare at my phone screen. I can’t get back to sleep. Whether my phone is in silent mode or not, I am compelled to see every message, every video and every picture. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is reach for my phone!” He leaned forward on his chair and clutched at the doc’s collar “Doctor … help me … I am addicted to WhatsApp!” They have you surrounded Sounds scary? Well it should be. As of February 2016 this popular app has garnered 1 billion users throughout the world. In India it is estimated that more than 80 m...