Indian Columbus

By any chance, if you travel through Noothanchery, you cannot miss this mind-blowingly beautiful church. Unknowingly, you would turn your vehicle towards the lane where it is located and visit this attractive structure for sure. Not many of Chennaiites know about Syro Malabar Catholic Cathedral Church situated in the southern outskirts. First things, first! Let me clarify with essential details for the benefit of non-Christians! The Eastern Catholic Church is a group of 23 autonomous Catholic Churches in full communion with the Pope in Rome. The Syro Malabar Catholic Church , based in Kerala, is one of the churches in the group. There are 35 eparchies under the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. (Eparchy is like a diocese or province that comes under a particular jurisdiction.)  Syro Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Hosur , headquartered in Tamil Nadu, is one of those eparchies. Pope Francis established it in 2017 CE. St. Antony's Syro-Malabar Catholic Cathedral Church at Noothanchery loca...

In the good old days, the current suburban areas around Tambaram were fertile villages. The region had an incredible number of waterbodies. Raja Kalvai was one such water body. Have you ever heard about Raja Kalvai? Possibly, not! It's dead long back. It was perhaps the largest channel (Kalvai in Tamil) of the region in those days, and people named it Raja Kalvai (meaning the King among the channels). It was a surplus channel of Selaiyur lake and was also a link channel between Selaiyur lake and Tiruvancheri lake. (Well, I hear you! You wonder where is Tiruvancheri lake. That's a different sad story.) Even till the early 2000s, the channel was not disturbed, mainly because of real estate restrictions, thanks to the Airport of IAF, located nearby. However, after the relaxation of rules, the mushrooming real estate industry thoroughly eliminated this royal waterbody. Even nowadays, every year during the monsoon, the channel hopes to reincarnate itself. But, it could do nothing. T...

It was probably due to Kamala Harris, the US Vice President-elect, having the Indian origin, there arose an interest to discover the Indian connections of Joe Biden, the US President-elect. Ever since his victory was declared, the interest has grown multi-fold. It all started when Joe Biden claimed in 2013 that he descended from George Biden, a captain of East India Company. Later, in 2015, he mentioned that there were five people in Mumbai having "Biden" as their surnames. Who was this George Biden? Do we have any record of him? To my knowledge, no record has been discovered yet. What was the basis for Joe Biden's claim? We don't know. However, interestingly, there was a Biden who lived in Chennai. It was Christopher Biden, who served as a Captain in the East India Company. He lived in Madras (Chennai) for 19 years and died on 25th February 1858, at the age of 68. St. George's Cathedral of Chennai has a memorial plaque for him. Also, he was buried in the church c...

Visakhapatnam never ceases to surprise us. Besides the well-known submarine museum, there is one more unique museum in this city. It is TU 142 Naval Aircraft Museum. It is located right opposite to the submarine museum on the other side of R K Beach Road. The TU 142 Naval Aircraft has served for the Indian Navy for 29 years and it was converted into a museum in 2011.  Various types of equipment such as survival kit, engines, data recorders, black box, oxygen tank, air bottle and sonobuoys are displayed in the museum.  This is definitely a must-visit location in Vizag. Happy travelling.

Visakhapatnam is a traveler's delight. There are so many various types of places to explore. If you visit all those places and miss the Submarine Museum alone, you cannot claim to have seen Vizag. Instead, if you visit this museum alone and omit the other locations, you can still claim to have visited Vizag. Come; let us explore the most critical site of Vizag, the Submarine Museum; we can call this the pride of Visakhapatnam.  INS Kursura is the name of the submarine. It was constructed by Russia in 1969 and reached Vizag the very next year. Since then, it served for the Indian Navy. It has played a significant role many times, especially during the 1971 India-Pakistan War. After 31 years of service, it was decommissioned in 2001. It was brought to Vizag, converted into a museum, inaugurated on 9th August 2002 and ultimately opened to the public on 24th August 2002. This is the first submarine museum in India and even in the whole of South East Asia. Also, it is the only museum of...

Named after the former Chief Minister of Andhra, Taraka Rama Rao, this park is popularly known as VUDA park. Sprawling over 55 acres, this park literally has everything to satisfy all sorts of travelers. There is a beautiful beach. For people who prefer morning or evening walks, there are lawns covering 37 acres of land. There is a children's park. Also, there is a waterbody with a boating facility. Horse ride, camel ride and a musical water fountain are additional attractions. For history buffs, there is an old lighthouse, which is a heritage structure. It's a perfect destination to spend quality time with family or friends. Happy travelling.

If you think the road along Marina Beach in Chennai has the most number of statues, you are wrong. No beach in the entire country can match Visakhapatnam on this. The road along the R K Beach in Visakhapatnam has innumerable statues. Yes, literally innumerable statues....Let me list down all those statues found as on 2020. If you visit the site in the future, there is a high possibility to find an additional number of statues, as the culture of erecting statues would never stop here. 1) N. T. Rama Rao, Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and founder of Telugu Desam Party 2) Krishna Deva Raya, the Vijayanagara Emperor 3) Seven mermaids 4) Jawaharlal Nehru, the First Prime Minister of Inia 5) Gautama Buddha 6) Potti Sreeramulu, Father of Modern Andhra State 7) Sri Rangam Srinivasa Rao, Revolutionary Telugu Poet 8) Taandra Paparayudu, Army General of Bobbili 9) Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Social reformer 10) Potuluri Veera Brahmendra Swami, Saint and Author of Kaalagnanam 11) Netaji Subh...