Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91

Vol. XXV No. 18, January 1-15, 2016

A lighthouse break at Pulicat

– Vincent D’Souza

If you are in the mood for a monsoon picnic, here is one option. Travel to Pulicat (Pazhaverkkadu) along the coastal road.

Hit the Ennore highway (where the container lorry traffic has become fairly disciplined), travel towards the duty thermal plant side, keep to the wall of the Kamarajar and L&T ports and then hit the kuccha road.

The road is bad, you will be driving at less than 20kmph, and you cannot get any help if you are stranded, but the view is scenic.

The shore is on one side and during this season, the monsoon clouds offer some great natural designs as they turn from raging bulls to lazy rhinos.

The Buckingham Canal runs alongside and as you approach the many kuppams in the north, the bays and the lake are a visual delight. Though the massive garbage mounted around the parked boats is an eyesore, some parts of the Pulicat island are there to explore: the Indian, Portuguese and Dutch remnants and the freshly-painted lighthouse.

My lighthouse and canal expert friend D.H. Rao and I were in Pulicat recently on a recce for a heritage tour.
The cyclonic weather was slowly hitting us as we came down the new bridge from the Ponneri side and the black-and-white painted lighthouse was encircled by dark clouds that had devoured a shining moon.

The onset of the Northeast monsoon had been announced and local fishermen had a decided they were not going out to sea that night.

Lighthouse head engineer Baskaran was a great host and over a simple dinner of hot idlis and mutton curry, he told us stories.

Rao has studied Indian lighthouses and is currently visiting each one of them on both coasts. A recent meeting with senior officers of the Department of Lighthouses has had some positive outcomes.
One of them is to curate trips to lighthouses.

The Government is working on a bigger project making lighthouses tourism destinations.

Rao and I have been suggesting small ideas which can benefit small communities with specific interests. And we are hopeful.

One such idea is to curate overnight trips to lighthouses, north and south of the city. And spending a night inside the lighthouse campus.

But you don’t have to wait till our plans fructify. The monsoon is a great time to explore these parts on a day picnic. Yes, you can visit the Pulicat lighthouse, pay a fee and climb the 230-plus steps to the top in the evening.

Rev up folks!

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