How Machilipatnam Lost Out To Chennapatnam


Just as in all the places with their own muddled histories,rumours and gossips,Bandar too abounds with it"s own theories and juicy tidbits on why it did not make it big,and remained a small town....They see deep conspiracies,intrigues at high places,machinations by the wily and wicked (whoever they are nobody knows)solely with the purpose of preventing their beloved Bandar from gaining the eminence it rightly deserves..These theories are handed down to each generation like precious family secrets and mysterious documents that we get to read in most of ROBERT LUDLUM thrillers.....on my part, i too got initiated into when my dad and uncle thought i came of age to be revealed these deadly secrets...ofcource i can not vouch for the veracity of this..

One favourite one was about a british officer who was stationed at Bandar port .....As we all know the Machilipatnam fort was set up in 1611 and the others and Madras one much later...around 1640 or so......Then a time came when they debated on where to concentrate most and which port should be developed...A tussle between MTM and Chennai...It is here , that my Bandareans allege that Bandar suffered It's major setback....The unkindest cut.....It seems the british big body slyly played his cheap trick and got the authorities into tilting in favour of Madras...because he had his girlfriend staying there...some french, or was it english? woman......It was said he would set sail from Bandar and it took him almost ten to fifteen days to reach Madras...Not able to stand these tiresome journeys for long,he took his opportunity at an appropriate time and pushed his plans to shift there and did it in such an underhand way..

Or atleast so Bandareans believe they have been cheated out of their place in the sun . Otherwise their town could have become a metro city too....... .....

while this is all in good fun,i could not but believe their prejudices are not without some basis,,,after watching recently the shabby way the govt tried to hijack the Bandar port to Bhimavaram...i mean...bandar port to be built at Bhimavaram?...how silly....

Comments

Unknown said…
The British got hopelessly scared of cyclones in Bandar and quit.It is at that time People in Bandar have not thought that they lost a gold mine.Hitorically some mistakes are pretty costly.But for this Bandar should have been AP capital.

SAN VEE. dialme@live.com
July 26, 2016 at 12:54 AM
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