Konkon Reise - Netravati to Sabarmati: Part X - Konkan Coast, Wild West of Western Ghats

On the way to Mumbai from Mangalore and while coming back to Udupi from Mumbai I travelled through Konkan Railways(KR). So I am dedicating this article to one of the finest engineering project independent India ever undertook.

Konkan is a narrow stretch of land between Western Ghats and Arabian Sea.This separation enabled Konkan Coast to develop its own culture over centuries. Nature blessed this beautiful land with many rivers, pristine beaches and wide forest cover.

Konkan Railway

I think I can rightly say Konkan railway project is one of the most challenging railway engineering work conducted in last century. To understand the importance of Konkon like, one need to look in to pre-Konkan railway map of India.

Just look at the alternate routes for a from Cochin/Mangalore to reach Mumbai in the 70s and 80s? One need to go faraway places like Chennai and Vijayawada to reach Mumbai. Its not only increase the journey time dramatically, but also the transportation of goods. By the way, road network connecting Mangalore to Mumbai was not in a good shape in those days.

Konkan is also probably one the handful of railway project undertook by Independent India. Majority of other rail routes were there from British time itself.

This 741km long train line - passes through Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka - connects Mumbai with Mangalore. Kerala is also one of the states benefited by this railway line. Commissioning Konkan rail significantly reduced the journey time from Malabar and Konkan coast to Mumbai and beyond.

You may be thinking what is the herculean challenge in creating a 741km broad gauge single line. In order to understand the complexity of the project, we need to look in to the geographic parameters.

Konkan Rail - Facts

This coastal strip is a narrow geographic area bounded by Western Ghats on the east and Arabian Sea on the west. Entire stretch is dotted with numerous fast flowing rivers, dense forest, paddy fields and mango trees.

Total route length - 760 KM

Number of Curves - 320

Deepest Cutting - 28 metres

Total Earth Work - 388.77mn cubic metre

Number of Stations - 59

Major Bridges - 179

Minor Bridges - 1819

Total No. of Road Crossings - 300

Longest Bridge - Across Sharavati River @ Honnavar - 2065.8 metre

History

Initial steps for this project was started in the early 70s. In fact first survey was conducted in between 1971-73; another one(Dasgaon to Ratnagiri) was completed in between 1975 and 1977; followed by another one (Roha to Mangalore) on 1984. In 1985 the scope was increased to cover the remaining length.

In 1977, then Railway minister Prof. Madhu Dandavate sanctioned the first stage from Apta to Roha, which was opened in March 1986. Then we saw further developments in completing the project when  George Fernandes became Railway Minister in 1989.

Based on the suggestions of then  Economic Adviser in the Finance Ministry - Bimal Jalan -  Konkan Railway Corp become a reality by including it in 1989 railway budget. E Sreedharan then Member Engineering and about to retire become the head of Corporation as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). This time GoI let the beneficiary states - Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala - as partners in the project.

Konkan Rail Corp got four and half years to complete the project. Entire project was divided into seven (Mahad, Ratnagiri (north), Ratnagiri (south),  Kudal, Panaji, Karwar and Udupi) sectors each having a length of approximately 100km under a chief engineer.

Alignment

In Goa, were KRCL engineers went out of their way to save maximum number of houses. It is because of this reason Goa has the maximum number of curves on alignment (even the Mandovi bridge is on a curve).

There are multiple interesting stories related to the project. For e.g. near Dasgaon (at the confluence of the Savitri, Kal and Nageshwari rivers) there was a burial ground, exactly on the Railway alignment between Dasgaon Tunnel (South face) and Savitri bridge. There was no way that the alignment could avoid this route, so Konkan Railway built another cremation ground for the villagers with a wide approach road, transplanting bones to the new location after conducting appropriate rites.

Anyone who worked on land acquisition project in India will understand how difficult to acquire land in populated areas. Here, Konkan Corp have to acquire a total of 4,850 hectares spread over 760 km. Many gave the land voluntarily; in return KRCL offered first preference to the land losers while recruiting or awarding commercial contracts.

Another problem was obtaining clearances for vast forest lands in Karnataka from MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests) and from other state and Central government agencies.

My Journey

I boarded Mumbai Express from Mangalore. For most of the time, I stood in the doors so as not to miss anything. Numerous rivers - small and big, paddy fields, bridges etc. However, by the time we reached Goa it was very much dark. So while coming back, again I stood on the doors so as not to miss anything on the Maharashtra side of Konkan.

As it was January end, temperature was high and most of the places were dry. I think I need to travel through Konkan once again - during Monsoon time.

Sajeev.

Reference

1. Konkan Railway Corp

Konkon Reise - Netravati to Sabarmati: Part IX - Uduppi, The Krishna Town

Udupi is one of the major cities in Karnataka and is famous for Sri Krishna Temple and Udupi cuisine.

When I reached the station, time was too early to visit the temple. Hence I went to second class waiting room and tried to sleep there itself (in sitting position). Here I met a guy from Alleppey, who came to Udupi to attend an interview. He had nothing else to do till interview, which was scheduled at 10 in the morning. So he was also interested in coming to the temple with me. So we hired a prepaid auto from the station to the temple (temple is is some 3 kms away).

Sri Krishna Temple and Mutt

Established by Madhvacharya in 13th century; this is a complex of temples and monasteries located near Madhva Sarovara, or Madhvacharya's pond.

Main temple is constructed in an architectural style typical to Kerala and Dakshina Kannada, with multiple layers around the inner sanctum sanctorum, with no massive sikhara over it; as the case in elsewhere in South India.

Unlike other temples, deity in this temple faces west and is away from devotees. It is believed that, a lower-caste devotee named Kanakadasa was denied entry into the temple, so he tried worshiping from a small window outside it. The Lord was so pleased at his devotion that He turned around to face the window. The window is now known as Kanakana kindi, or Kanakadasa's window.

Like temples in Kerala here too men have to take off their shirts and vests to go inside.

After temple, my next destination was Malpe Fishing Harbour. As my new friend had to attend the interview, I said good-bye to him and walked towards bus stand. From this bus stand buses are available to Malpe.

Malpe Fishing Harbour

After some thirty minutes in bus I reached Malpe and walked towards fishing harbour. The place was very much alive with fishing boats, and people roaming around. A building on the right was manufacturing dry ice, small tipper lorries were carrying it to fishing boats. At one place fishermen were busy with fixing their nets. Further down, a small crane was pulling a small boat out of water.

It was an interesting place. In the end, I reached boat jetty from where I can catch a boat to St Mary’s Island. On its side there is a small ship manufacturing centre. Police’s patrol boats are also located here.

St Mary’s Island

Now the problem is, the boat is somewhat big and is not going to start unless it’s filled. They assured that by 9.00 more people will come. Well, another 30 minutes to go. Finally one school excursion party from Maharashtra’s Sangli came and I also joined with them. It took a while to reach St Mary’s Island. Its a small Island, if you walk for some 10 minutes you can reach the other side of the island.

The speciality of the Island (Coconut Island, St Mary’s Islands) is its rocks. We walked through the rocks and waters for some time, the structure of rocks looks very much interesting. After some 40 minutes we returned from the island.

Manipal

There were hardly anything remained in the list. So I simply roamed around the city, drinking sugarcane juice. It was at this time, I remembered about Manipal - a nearby city which is very famous for its excellent (but costly) educational institutions. Bus to Manipal is available from City stand. After roaming here and there and talking to some of aluminis I headed to the planetarium. Unfortunately, I was closed for maintenance.

Now back to the city, and went to SeaBird office to catch the bus back to Bangalore.

Sajeev

Konkon Reise - Netravati to Sabarmati: Part VIII - Gandhi Nagar, The Capital

It was my last day in Ahmedabad. After having some juice and tea in the morning, I went to Sidi Sayed Mosque.

Sidi Sayed Mosque

This mosque is unique for its exquisite screens, which are praised for their amazing Jhali screen, framed, in the ten semi-circular windows. From a distance this screens looks wonderful. Apart from these screens there were hardly anything else to see.

From mosque I came back to railway station. Here I met one guy who was also on the way to Sita Mandir. He studied in Ahmedabad and spent much of his youth in the city. The moment I started talking about Ahmadabad, he was more than happy to tell me the about the city and its history. Soon we reached Sita Mandir and boarded a direct bus to ‘Gandhi Nagar’

Gandhi Nagar - An Overview

Located 23 km from Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujrat. Gandhi Nagar is a planned city, designed by Prakash Apte and H.K. Mewada. City is divided into multiple areas like ‘Capital Complex and Government Offices’; ‘Light Industries Areas’; ‘City Centre’; ‘Public Institutions Area’; ‘Shopping’, ‘Commercial and Warehousing’ area; IT Parks etc.

On the way Narmada canal also crossed our way. After travelling for while we entered the city limits and continued towards Akshardham temple.

Akshardham Temple

Swaminarayan Akshardham temple is one of the largest Hindu temples in Gujarat. Spreading over an area of 23 acres, this temple complex is dedicated to ‘Bhagwan Swaminarayan’. I think I never saw a security check stricter than the one at these gates in anywhere in India (except probably at Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram). No one can carry bags or camera (except wallet) inside the temple complex.

By the way this temple came under terrorist attack in September 2002.

This place looks more like a theme park if we exclude the main building which houses the deity. Main building also have carefully preserved personal belongings of Swaminarayan. One need to appreciate the length to which the followers went to acquire and preserve the things used by Swaminarayan.

After visiting the temple, I bought the ticket for shows. This took some two to three hours to complete. During each phase of the show, they will show various phases of Swaminarayan’s life; and concludes it by showing a documentary. This carefully crafted areas (forests, water flow, moving life size statues etc) tries to give a close to real life experience to the visitor.

By afternoon, I went outside the temple and spend close to 30-40 minutes on road and then boarded a bus back to Ahmedabad. Planning is good - straight roads, proper crossings, well planned buildings etc.

Ahmedabad - Old City

After reaching Ahmedabad, I had some more time to spend before boarding the train to Surat. Hence I went to old city by catching a shared auto. For next two hours I roamed around old city and paid a visit to local markets and spend quite some time there. Main market was in an open area, where a lot of vendors were selling their goods.

It is improper to end this article without saying something about traffic police. Whenever I was in front of railway station, there were four uniformed personals standing at the junction. However, they hardly did anything to control the traffic. If you wait for the vehicles to stop before crossing the road, its never going to happen.

In fact I boarded a shared auto while returning to railway station. Those roads were not so wide and a lot of people were there on the roads. Our driver, was not so interested in driving either careful or slowly. In fact his rear view mirror even hit a lady. I think he knowingly did it. When one of my co-passengers questioned him for that action, his reply was simple. He don’t care whether he hit the pedestrian or not. It’s better if someone fell down and die. Then atleast from next time, they will be careful while walking!!!

I am not saying all drivers were like this, he may be an exception. But, it also shows the attitude towards obeying traffic rules.

Another good feature Ahmedabad have is its reserved lanes for public buses. I am yet to visit any other city which have this dedicated bus corridor. It’s indeed a novel idea.

Return

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Ahmadabad and I started my return trip. My next destination was Udupi. However, I didn’t have a confirm ticket straight to Udupi. So I first had to board a train to Surat. Then to Mumbai.

I reached Mumbai by 6 in next morning. After taking a bath from Ammu Chechi’s home I went to Kurla to board a Konkon train.

After spending rest of the day and most of the night on that train, finally I reached Udupi on Monday morning.

Sajeev

PS: Some of the places I missed in Ahmadabad are was Hathisingh Jain Temple, Dada Hari ni Vav (step well) in Asarwa, Juma Masjid (Built by Ahmad Shah in 1423, this yellow sandstone mosque stands on 260 pillars which support 15 domes at varying elevations), Kanaria lake, Calico textile museum etc.

Konkon Reise - Netravati to Sabarmati: Part VII - Ahmedabad, Manchester of the East

I reached Ahmedabad by 9.30 in the same night and spent rest of the night in railway retiring room. Irony is, even the system in railway retiring was not getting connected to railway intranet. Can you imagine, a system located in one of major railway station is not able to connect to the network!!! If this is the case here, then I wonder what is happening in real time command and control systems of Indian Railways. IR need to make sure that, all systems located at their premises can connect to CRIS and other railway networks.

By the time I reached Ahmadabad, I almost lost my sound due to throat infection. As a matter of fact if I spoke one sentence, only a couple of words were audible. This took its toll in Ahmadabad trip.

History of Ahmadabad

This is the largest city in Gujrat and its former capital (Gandhi Nagar is the new one). Located on the banks of Sabarmati River, this city is probably the sixth or seventh largest city in India.

In 11th century AD, Karandev I of Solanki dynasty established a new city called Karanavati near Sabarmati River. After Solankis, this area came under the control of Vaghelas. During the rise of Delhi Sultanates, this city came under the firm grip of Sultanates. Later one of their governor’s - Zafar Khan Muzaffar – established his independence and started ruling on his own(Muzaffarid dynasty).

“his grandson Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1411 A.D. who while at the banks of Sabarmati liked the forested area for a new capital city and laid the foundation of a new walled city near Karnavati and named it Ahmedabad after the four saints in the area by the name Ahmed” – Wikipedia.

In 1487 Ahmad Shah’s grandson - Mahmud Begada - fortified the city with an outer wall having 12 gates and a circumference of 10km (It’s not actually 12 gates, there are more gates).

During my two days in Ahmadabad I visited a lot of places on vehicle and on foot. Some of these darvazas(gates) are still there and places (bus stops) still carry old names. However the wall is no longer there. Lal Darwaza (Red gate), Theen Darwaza, Delhi Gate, Kalupur Gate, Dariyapur Gate, Prem Gate etc are some of the famous gates.

Humayun briefly occupied the city in 1535 AD, but lost to Muzaffarids. Finally Akbar captured it and transformed the city to a major trading centre of Mughal Empire.

When Mughal rule weakened, the city fell into the hands of Marathas. During this time, Ahmedabad became a point of conflict between ‘Gaekwad of Baroda’ and ‘Peshwa of Poona’. During First Anglo-Maratha war Ahmadabad fell into the hands of British. But they had to give it back to the Marathas. However, after 3rd Anglo-Maratha war city firmly came under British rule.

Over the period of time, Ahmadabad became a centre of textile industry and earned the name ‘Manchester of East’.

Nalsarovar Lake

I woke up early in the morning, but was not in a condition to speak. First thing I had was a couple of glasses of Apple Juice and tea. Instantly I liked it and remained as my favorite diet for next two days.

It was still very early and temperature was low. There were hardly much people in the road. One of them informed me that the bus to Nal Sarovar would start from Sita Mandir. He told as if it Sita Mandir is around the corner; I walked and walked, but Sita Mandir never came.

Anyway, finally I reached the place. There were not much buses which directly goes to ‘Nal Sarovar’ and I was not even able to pronounce the word ‘Nal Sarovar’ then (thanks to throat infection). After walking here and there, finally I got a bus which goes there.

Nal Sarovar (largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat, and one of the largest in India) is located 64 km to the West of Ahmedabad (40km from Sanand). It is mainly inhabited by migratory birds in winter and spring.

The lake measures 123 km², attracts over 210 species of birds in the winter, and harbors a variety of flora and fauna. Thousands of migratory waterfowl flock to this sanctuary just after every Indian monsoon season. The shallow area and ponds on the outer fringes of the lake attract the birds that feed in the shallow waters. Besides a few mammalian species including the endangered wild ass and the black buck, its migratory bird population includes Rosy Pelicans, Flamingoes, White Storks, Brahminy Ducks and Herons.

Once I left the borders of Ahmadabad, most of the place looked like village only. The road was good but there were hardly any infrastructure or modern facilities. Especially in the road from Sanand Bus Depot to Nal Saraovar. People were working in their fields vast fields. By the way road sides were also dotted with modern houses (probably farm houses for tourists or industrialists from the city).

It’s better to go to this place in a group. If you travel alone it’s costly to get a boat. First some people approached me and offered me to show the entire place for 900. Normal boat costs around 220 INR, though it will show very limited area. Finally, I opted a small one and after paid some extra to go for an additional distance. He showed me a place where a lot of birds were standing in circle as of to attend a conference!!!

After roaming around sarovar for some time, I got a shared auto to Sanand and then a bus to Ahmadabad.

Jhulta Minara

This is located in Ahmadabad Railway Station itself.

This pillers will move back and forth by applying a little force at the topmost arch. One of the minarets was partly demolished by an Englishman while trying to resolve the secret behind the structure. The mechanism that leads to this vibration is still a mystery.

Old people in the area had very fond memories of climbing to the top of the arch. There are some days in a year, when common people can go to the top of the pillars and enjoy the movement.

Sabarmati Ashram

Next in list was Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram. Ashram complex is located in the sides of Sabarmati Station. Shared autos are available to the Ashram from Kalupur (railway station is located in Kalupur area of Ahmadabad).

This ashram was founded by M.K Gandhi in 1915. Famous Dandi March of Salt Satyagraha campaign started from here in 1930.

Sabarmati River

Unlike many other rivers flowing through the cities of India, Sabarmati is in good shape and flowing. By the way thanks goes to the water coming from Narmatha River and administrators.

Before the waterfront project, the average width of Sabarmati channel was 382m and the narrowest cross-section was 330m. To develop the riverfront, authorities had uniformly narrowed the channel to 275m.

Water flowing in the river channel is a 10.5-km artificial canal with water diverted from Narmada river canal. Many environmentalists say this is not the way to rejuvenate a river. Of course it is not. At the same time, Sabarmati looks good and government saved it from becoming a sewage channel. Hyderabad, Pune and good number of Indian cities have something to learn something from this project.

Amusement rides including speed boat and motor boat are also available here.

By the time, I left Ashram it was already night. So I had Dosa from a near by Dosa Express stall and then headed towards Railway Station for spending the night. Another night at railway retiring room.

Sajeev.

Konkon Reise - Netravati to Sabarmati: Part VI - Vadodara, India’s Chemical Capital

I reached Vadodara early in the morning. It’s was dark outside; so I went to second class rest room and sat there for some time. Here I met Shiva. He was on his way to Delhi to write UGC GATE exam and then to UP to celebrate his birthday with parents. He was sitting in a chair next to me and was quite restless. Later I came to know that, his ticket to Delhi was still in waiting list. So for rest of the night we talked and in between checked the status of his train ticket.

I had one full day in Vadodara. My plan was to see Laxmi Vilas Palace first, Fateh Singh Museum and then to simply roam around the city. The problem was, Palace wouldn’t open before 10 or 10.30.

Anyway, it was better to roam around rather than simply sitting in the steel chairs of Railway station. Hence I went to clock room, unloaded all luggage (except camera bag) and then went outside with Shiva to have some breakfast. By the way he was quite unwilling to use the clock room facilities and carried all bags, which later proved to be a bad choice.

We went to the make shift stalls located outside the station and had some pakoda and tea. Now it’s time to go to the palace. Unfortunately, we missed the bus stop and got down at a different gate. So we had to walk back towards palace’s main gate. Sun was in his early innings and was not fully in form, so the fog stayed in the air for a while. As there nothing much to do, we sat in the benches placed in road sides. Road, its side and the benches were very much neat and clean. We killed the time by talking about quite a lot of things.

I think helmets are not compulsory in Baroda. Most of riders were not wearing that.

History

Vadodara is the third largest city in Gujarat, after Ahmadabad and Surat. In the beginning of the millennia, Guptas established control over the region. Later it was taken over by Chalukyas. Then Solankis gained power and established their dynasty.

During the rise of Delhi Sultanates like many other places, this region also came under the tight grip of Sultanates. After the fall of Sultanates this region was conquered by Mughals.

When power tilted in favour of Marathas, Gaekwads got this area and Baroda became their capital. In those days, Gaekwads were under Pune’s control. However ‘Third Anglo-Maratha War’ changed the equation and Pune’s control over Gaekwad’s weakened considerably. Then onward till India’s independence Baroda remained as princely state.

Lakshmi Vilas Palace

Finally it was time to enter Lakshmi Vilas Palace. Entry fee was 170 INR and photography was prohibited inside. Shiva was not ready to spend 170INR just for seeing a palace. So he told bye and left for station.

Palace was big and beautiful; there was a working golf course located next to it. From front room audio guide was available. For next two and half hours, I spend my time in that building.

Main attractions in the palace were armoury (guns, knifes, spears, poisoned swords, chakras etc), throne room (some of Ravi Varma pics are displayed here), elephant hall, banquet hall) etc.

Fateh Singh Museum

This museum is located in the palace complex itself. However we need to go through a different gate. Entry fee was 60INR and another 30 INR for audio guide. By the way, this museum hosts a lot Raja Ravi Varma paintings. I spend quite a lot of time in front of Raja Ravi Varma’s works; original and copy of many other artists.

Ranji Match

Cricket ground is located beside the museum. On that day ‘Vadodara Vs Mumbai’ Ranji match was going on in that stadium. Unfortunately, common people can’t go through the gate located next to museum; hence I had to take a long path to reach the other side of the ground. There were not much viewers, some were standing here and there. A small group was near to fence and shouting. I was a bit tired and sat on the grass and watched the match till the end.

By the way, Irfan Pathan was fielding at that end.

After the match I took a shared auto to railway station. Next destination was Ahmadabad. Soon Ahmadabad Double Decker train came. I heard about the introduction of double decker trains in some routes. However, it was the first time I was travelling in it.

Sajeev