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Vi(za)gnettes
‘Zamabandhi’
In 1940s, Vizagapatam was one of the biggest districts in the erstwhile Madras Province. The district extended from Itchapuram to Payakaraopeta. The district collector was assisted by the sub-collectors located at Tekkali, Parvatipuram, Vizianagaram and Narsipatnam, and all of them were Englishmen. The contributor’s father was a revenue inspector and was posted in S.Kota under the jurisdiction of the sub-collector of Vizianagaram.
In those days, there existed the concept of ‘Zamabandhi’ which meant the collection of revenue once a year. The sub-collector, accompanied by the tashildar and revenue inspector, would proceed to the agency areas, as most part of the taluk was under forest cover.
The inspection and collection took about 15 days to cover areas like Araku, Anantagiri, Pedabayalu and other interior villages. The sub-collector would ride a horse and the remaining staff that included a cook and other paraphernalia would move behind on bullock carts. Sufficient food items, tents and dry hay for the bullocks would be part of the entourage. The sub-collector also carried his rifle to ward off uninvited guests like bears, jackals and occasional big cats.
(Contributed by B.V. Ramamurty)
Sarvepalli’s effort
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who succeeded the founding Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University, C.R. Reddy, built many permanent structures in the campus. He got constructed the building that houses the physics and chemistry departments and a few hostels. As funds were not coming through from the government, he persuaded the Rajah of Jeypore, Vikramadeva Varma, to part with Rs.1 lakh a year for fifteen years for the physics building. The grant was stopped after some time due to political reasons.
However, the arid and sandy area of Waltair Uplands which was till then a military zone for the British, was transformed, as per the words of C.V. Raman, to an intellectual wonderland built as if by a magic wand in the Arabian Nights.
(Contributed by Ch. Mutyalayya Naidu)
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