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Vi(za)gnettes

`Kaliyuga Bheema'

India had the distinction of producing one of the renowned wrestlers of the world: Kodi Ramamurti Naidu. Popularly known as `Kaliyuga Bheema', he was born in Veeraghattam village in the erstwhile Visakhapatnam district. His wrestling bouts won the appreciation of the people not only in India but also abroad. Once he challenged Gama, an equally reputed wrestler, in a wrestling competition held in France and defeated him. In his later years the mighty Rammurti Naidu joined a circus company to make both ends meet. This writer had the good fortune of seeing his feats for the first time in 1940 as a young boy. In those days people used to come from far and near to the circus to watch Rammurti Naidu's feats. He took an elephant on his chest and broke heavy iron chains that were tied around his chest by expanding his broad chest. Even today such Herculean tasks are not being done in circus companies anywhere in the world. (Contributed by B.V. Rama Murty)

Door of yore

Till the beginning of the 20th century, a tribal group used to commit robberies in the town. To counter such attempts each house use to have a specially fortified main door that was extremely thick with steel nails. Even a steel crow bar could not touch the wood of the door from outside if pounded.

The inside locking was with a large thick flat sliding latch and also a flat bar across the doors. There were no screws in those days and all joints were with nails with a large head.

A few such antique burglar-resistant doors can still be seen at some of the houses at Chinnam Vari Street in Old Town.

(CONTRIBUTED BY KOLLURU JAGANNADHA RAO)

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