Pamban Bridge – HeartWeeping Story Of Weeping Man Statue

             The Pamban Bridge is situated in Tamil Nadu, India. It is the second longest railway SEA BRIDGE(2km) in India  was built in 1914, during the British rule in India.  At the entrance of the Pamban  bridge you can see a picture of a weeping man holding some human body parts close to his chest which was washed away in the last cyclone.

The construction of the Pamban bridge began in 1911 and it was opened in 1914. Pamban bridge is a cantilever bridge, that it has structures that project horizontally into space, supported only on one end. 

 

The 2.057 km long bridge, also known as Bridge No.346 in Indian Railway reference, consists of over 140 spans. The amazing feature of a double-leaf section that the centre portion of the bridge could be lifted with the help of huge wheels, so that ships could easily pass under the bridge  was designed by German engineer Scherzer. The 114th span, midway along the bridge, is this called the Scherzer span.

The story says in this way……

A middle aged man was appointed to roll the wheels up and down when ships arrive. Once he saw a train slowly approaching, while he was pulling back the bridge after a ship quietly passed beneath. He had to pull back quickly or else there would be a fatal accident and thousands would have died.

At that time his 9 year old son came with lunch. When he saw his father struggling with the wheels, he kept the lunch box down and started helping him to roll the wheels to put the bridge back. Suddenly his son’s finger got caught inside the wheel and he started crying out. At this time if the father tries to save his son, the bridge could not be put back on time. He had no other option but to ignore his son’s cry. With all his strength he kept on rolling the wheels to down the bridge. As the wheels rolled on, his son slowly started slipping away into the huge machine.

Tears rolled down his father’s cheeks, but he ignored his son’s cry. If he tried to save him, the train will surely fall into the sea and thousands of people will die. Slowly the boy’s whole body fell into the machine and his father could hear his bones breaking one by one, until with a loud sound, his head cracked.

The train with thousands of passengers slowly rolled on the rails, without knowing what had happened there. Though this man performed his duty honestly he lost his only loving son. With extreme lamentation, he pulled out his son’s body parts from the machine and held it close to his chest and cried bitterly.

British Government honoured him greatly and in memory of this incident they placed the picture at the entrance of the bridge.

Cycle Jouney Of First Indian Rocket- Amazing Rocket Launching Story

 

                      

                     Its all happened in 1962, when the idea of first rocket came in to the mind of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and rest all were HISTORY.......

 

The scientists were doing research on electrons in the fields of physics, astronomy and meteorology. so magnetic equator is the correct spot to study because magnetic equator is an imaginary line around the planet that connects all the points where a magnetic needle, when freely suspended, is horizontal. It is scientifically important because the magnetic equator is all where the Equatorial Electrojet exists (a stream of electrons whizzing across the sky, about 110-120 km above the Earth’s surface.)

 Dr Sarabhai felt that Thumba was the best place to launch them as Thumba is located at 8°32’34” N and 76°51’32” E. A small church which was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene that was located on the Earth’s magnetic equator at Thumba.

Dr Sarabhai and his fellow scientists (including Dr APJ Abdul Kalam) went to Thumba to talk to the then bishop of Trivandrum who lived in the house adjacent to the church. Bishop said that he will ask to the people there around it and give the answer.

The bishop explained the scientific mission to people and asked the permission of his congregation to hand over the church to the scientists. Permission was granted, the paperwork was done and the villagers relocated to a new village with a brand new church in 100 days flat. The bishop’s home was quickly converted into an office, the church became the workshop, and cattle sheds served as storage houses and laboratories.  Indian scientists began assembling their first rocket.

 In those days, the only jeep was always hope which was always  busy, so the scientists had to either walk or use a cycle to move within the range. Rocket parts and payloads were transported by bullock carts and bicycle to the launch pad. India staged its first launch Nike-Apache rocket supplied by NASA. 

On 21 November 1963, India made its very first rocket launch. There begins the HISTORY of Indian Satellite and from there , there is no turning back till now.........