In search of .......... my country!

Y'all... Welcome to the mall!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:56:56 GMT

Chennai's newest mall. What I like best about it is a bookstore called Landmark. It is huge. I have spent hours there just browsing. One place in Chennai to spend some time. Amidst the shopping, is a good food court there too.

Watch out for the next series of five pictures... or maybe even 10! The subject is that BIG!! It is the second largest of its kind in the world.

The faithful kneel!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:52:36 GMT

St.Thomas is the patron for

1. People in doubt
2. Architects
3. Blind people
4. Builders
5. Construction workers

Take a look at this site. The history is really worth reading. I don't want to just copy and paste it here.

I hope you are reading from the bottom up!

The Altar

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:45:06 GMT

The altar in the Church. Essentially you can sit in the front of it, along the wings and even at the back of it. If you are sitting in the front of it then you can hear the choir playing in the right wing. The place I am standing to take out this picture is on a small plate of glass that looks down into the crypt where the relics of St. Thomas are kept. That chapel is below the basilica.

White Church!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:38:09 GMT

Really stunningly WHITE! ok ok I am not able to get over this WHITE aspect :-)

Santhome

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:31:53 GMT

The main entrance to the Santhome (St. Thomas) Basilica in Chennai. It is one of the 3 basilicas to be built over the tomb of an apostle of Christ. It is a WHITE church and is about 400 years old. The others are the Basilica of Saint Peter built over the tomb of St.Peter in Rome, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela built over the tomb of St.James in Spain.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:04:32 GMT

The tunnel that will take you to the round about to get onto the bridge at Howrah.

Trivia:

Largest Cantilever Steel Truss Bridges

Name Location Country Year

Firth of Forth Edinburgh Scotland 1890
Pont de Quebec Quebec Canada 1917
Transbay San Francisco CA USA 1936
Horwah Calcutta India 1943
Greater New Orleans, LA USA 1958
New Orieans – I
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge, LA USA 1968
Minato Osaka Japan 1975
Commandore Chester, PA USA 1975
Barry
Greater New Orleans LA USA 1988
New Orleans-2
Gramercy Gramercy, LA USA

Neverending?

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 10:57:42 GMT

I walk a lonely road

The only one I have ever known

Don't know where it goes

But it is home to me and I walk alone

Truss Analysis??

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 10:53:10 GMT

Truss analysis anyone?

Rivet strength calcualtions?

Cross sectional analysis of beams?

Selection of material?

Strength of materials?

Welding or rivetting... that was the question!

Metallurgy to stand the test of decades and more?

Stentorian!

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 10:44:57 GMT

It sure makes an imposing structure. Was a beautifully dull cloudy day too!

Trivia:

Like any other monument, the Howrah Bridge, originally named the New Howrah Bridge and later renamed as Rabindra Setu (named after Rabindranath Tagore a great poet and the first Indian Novel laureate) on 14th June 1965.

New Howrah Bridge :

It was Cantilever Era when arch and cantilever bridges came into use for long spans and engineers found that these structures were more rigid than suspension bridges.

The New Howrah Bridge, a fine cantilever, was built during the second World War, the forth cantilever bridge in the world, and a great legacy left to Indian by British engineers.

Howrah Bridge

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 10:37:37 GMT

My favourite engineering marvel of the east. (You know I mean East India :-)

The Howrah Bridge is India’s biggest, world’s busiest, and longest single span and the third longest cantilever bridge in the world.

I go crazy seeing it and here are the pics that I have taken, oft from a speeding cab.

This is the view from outside Howrah station.