Visakhapatnam and Bhimunipatnam February 21-22

The train arrived in Visakhapatnam at 6:30 am on Thursday February 21. My colleague Rani Sarma,had arranged for a taxi to take me to the Classic Guest House, where I had stayed last time. After settling in, at noon I walked along the beach to Rani’s house, about a half hour away, and we talked at length about the project. I returned to the hotel later that afternoon. My two colleagues from Bamberg, Anja and Ilse, arrived at the hotel at 7:30 after their flight from Frankfurt via Delhi. We went to a restaurant on the beach and took photographs at an elephant statue there.

  

 

Anja, Ilse and me with the elephant on the beach

 We had come to India to conduct a second season of archaeological survey and documentation in the Visakhapatnam District along the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. In December 2011, we had surveyed some early Buddhist sites and spent four days locating the heritage buildings in the town of Bhimunipatnam, some 25 kilometers north of Visakhapatnam, where the Dutch East India Company had established a trading port in the 17th century. This year we decided to focus our attention on documenting the heritage buildings in Bhimunipatnam.

The next morning, Friday February 22, we checked out of the hotel and Rani came with us to Bhimunipatnam with a hired car and driver. Rani had made the arrangements to have us stay at the recently established modern Ameya Global School some three kilometers to the north of the town. So we first went to the school at 9:45 and spoke with Tulasi, the director. Lawrence Nathaniel, a Bhimunipatnam native and now retired sea captain who is a heritage enthusiast, met us there.

At 11:00 we went with Rani and Lawrence to call on Mr. Roberts, the local historian, now elderly and in poor health. We then went to the St. Ann’s Home convent in the center of the town, where Rani had arranged with the sisters for us to have lunch each day of the project.

Lunch with the sisters

We discussed with Lawrence the need for us to have someone local with us all the time. He thought of Samuel, a school class mate of his who lives near the convent.

Samuel

He went to bring Samuel and we made arrangements and had tea with the sisters.

Tea with the sisters

Then Lawrence took us to see the house nearby where he had grown up.

The house where Lawrence had grown up

At 3:30 Rani went back to Visakhapatnam with the hired car and Lawrence took us to the school. We had dinner with the school students.