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Historic heights
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Manora: go there before everybody else does, writes SOMA BASU
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MANORA. IT is an intriguing name, one with a beckoning ring. The tourist department literature, however, is hardly helpful. It contains a bald single-line description: "65 km from Thanjavur, a nine-tiered tower built by Maharaja Serfoji."
My instinct tells me that a historical monument by the seaside is bound to be appealing. My logic tells me that anything dismissed in one line by official tourist literature must qualify for the Road Less Travelled. As it turned out, I was right on both counts.
Driving from Thanjavur towards Pattukottai on the Rameswaram-Chennai stretch of the East Coast Road, my mind is full of images of an ancient unkempt tower standing in semi-ruin, a victim of neglect, of the pervasive salt in the air and the ceaseless onslaught of the waves. Having found the narrow track, which leads to the tower, it becomes quite clear — even at a distance — that what I had imagined is a far cry from what is actually there.
The fresh whitewash seems to cloud the 200-year-old history of the memorial that the Maratha king, Serfoji, built in commemoration of the British victory over Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo. And the 75-foot tower, which is a peculiar blend of architectural style, seems dwarfed against the vast expanse of the sea. Situated on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in Sarabendrarajapattinam village, Manora was once an active port, a centre for ship building and maritime trade.
My visit coincides with the World Archaeology Week and so the Rs. 5 I would have been charged as entry fee is waived. The first level of the monument is surrounded by a rampart and a moat, giving it the resemblance of a small fort. Inscriptions in five languages (Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, English and Persian) are embedded in rocks.
Serfoji is said to have stayed occasionally at Manora with his family. The top of the tower was used as a lighthouse; although it is not possible to go up now, the surroundings are soothing. In the foreground are coconut groves and the Coromandel coastline is approximately 500 metres away.
But there is no beach. The water along the coastline is shallow and full of seaweed, and the ingress of the sea in some places has created swathes of marshland that attract a variety of birds.
Sakthivel offers me a ride. The motorboat operator wants only Rs.10 for a 10-minute boat ride, which is a bargain. The only way to reach the boat is via the tottering makeshift bailey bridge across the water — a perilous journey given the missing floorboards and shaky handrails.
As the boat heads out towards the sea, small scattered islands appear in the Palk Strait. "That is Jaffna, just 45 km away," Sakthivel says, pointing in one direction.
The former President, R. Venkataraman, a native of Rajamadam, a nearby village, has compared the bay area to the calm sea of Honolulu in Hawaii, and advocates developing it for water and adventure sport.
Back on terra firma, I learn that a Seychelles-based doctor of Indian origin has invested in a massive eco-tourism project in these parts. Called `Global Village,' it promises to be a world class resort with cottages, a helipad, windmill, schools, a crèche and a cooperative bank. There is more.
The project includes afforestation, protection of endangered species, collecting exotic plants, setting up a tissue culture research lab, seafood preservation unit, weather monitoring station and an advanced communication network.
The global village idea seems to have triggered the repair of the fort and the laying of roads and illumination around it. Manora seems set for bigger things.
So if you want to visit Manora when it is just an offhand line in the tourist brochures, now is the best time.
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