On Tuesday March 5 Anja, Ilse and I continued our documentation of heritage buildings in Bhimunipatnam.
That morning we took some of the older students on a field trip to the town to see some of the heritage buildings. The school charges a hefty tuition fee, so most of the students are rich kids from the city of Visakhapatnam and they would have no reason to ever be in the town of Bhimunipatnam. So the things we showed them were new to most of them. We first took them to the St Ann’s Home and the nearby St Ann’s School and then to a few of the heritage buildings in the center of the town. The tour lasted two and a half hours, which wore the students out; they were very talkative at the beginning but drooping by the end.
After the students returned to the school at noon, we had lunch with the sisters at St Ann’s. Then at 2:30 we went to Kota Mallikarjuna Rao’s home, where we had been yesterday evening. He is a lawyer and civic leader. He was one of the people behind bringing the statue of Vivekananda that we had seen on March 1 before it was installed along the beach. We spent a lot of time going through his piles of family photographs and took advantage of him having a wireless internet connection in his home.
He had some photographs of the demolition of the Bimlipatnam and Calingapatnam Jute Bailing Company building near his house in May 2006. That building was on the earlier INTACH list of heritage buildings in the town.
We were back at the school in time for supper, and I showed the students the photographs from today’s field trip.
At breakfast one of the students presented me with a drawing she had made of the Port Office in Bhimunipatnam, which Ilse had spoken about in her presentation.
The student and her drawing
That morning we took some of the older students on a field trip to the town to see some of the heritage buildings. The school charges a hefty tuition fee, so most of the students are rich kids from the city of Visakhapatnam and they would have no reason to ever be in the town of Bhimunipatnam. So the things we showed them were new to most of them. We first took them to the St Ann’s Home and the nearby St Ann’s School and then to a few of the heritage buildings in the center of the town. The tour lasted two and a half hours, which wore the students out; they were very talkative at the beginning but drooping by the end.
The group at the St Ann’s Home
Anja and Ilse with the students
Me with the group at a nearby building from the early 20th century
The group at the Port Office (the building depicted in the student’s drawing)
Sorting through his family photographs
His wife and two kids in front of the Governor’s Mansion and the circular Gala Meda tower. Both were demolished some years ago
Bhimunipatnam school students in 1909
The view from the roof of his house
He had some photographs of the demolition of the Bimlipatnam and Calingapatnam Jute Bailing Company building near his house in May 2006. That building was on the earlier INTACH list of heritage buildings in the town.
The demolition of the Jute Bailing Company building in 2006
We were back at the school in time for supper, and I showed the students the photographs from today’s field trip.
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