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Early employees of the railway
Many local youths from Vizagapatam and other parts of north Andhra villages like Palasa, Sompeta, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Anakapalle were recruited by Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) for its workshop in Kharagpur. Most of the working class comprised
Telugu speaking people, the Anglo Indians formed the supervisory cadre, the Bengalis took over the lower administration departments and the officers were British. Like the BNR, the MSM (Madras and South Maratha Railways) also built a marshalling yard near the present day Naval Armament Depot which was located close to Marripalem. Every morning, a train carrying its employees to the marshalling yard would leave Waltair Station at 8 a.m. and bring them back in the evening.
(Contributed by Jacob Palayoor)
Diwali of a different kind
Diwali, the festival of lights, is celebrated throughout India with pomp and gaiety. But till mid 1940s, it was celebrated in a different way in one part of Vizianagaram.
The local youths from Lanka Veedhi and Dasannapeta would assemble at the vast ground behind the Sri Krishna Theatre with their stocks of ‘Juvvalu’ (homemade rockets). The rocket heads were reinforced using the shells of dried up coconut and custard apples. The erring groups would split to either sides and start firing the rockets at each other. Instead of setting the rockets skyward they would leave them parallel to the ground and in the process many would sustain grievous injuries. To curb the activity, the police would round up the members of both the parties on the festival night and drop them at least 10 miles on either side of the town.
(Contributed by B.V. Ramamurty)
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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