Fort St. George came into existence with the arrival of Francis Day and Andrew Cogan on 20th February 1640, it was named after St.George, the patron saint of England. It nearly took thirteen years to complete the first form of the fort and the oldest surviving British building is the St.Mary's Church added in 1680. The hectic construction activity between 1756-1783 saw the fort to its present shape. Spread over 42 acres significant buildings here include Secretariat, Exchange Building (Fort Museum), St. Mary's Church, Clive's House, Grand Arsenal and Kings Barracks.
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| Before Cleanup |
The idea of creating awareness by cleaning places of heritage sends a message to keep them clean and tidy, it brings forward a sense of satisfaction in doing a bit to our heritage which hitherto was just alone by cycling to these places, keeping this in mind and on one such occasion during the World Heritage Week Celebrations between 19th-25th November, 2014 there was an Heritage Site Cleanup around the northeastern part of the rampart wall and the surrounding areas at Fort St. George coming under the ASI, Chennai Circle on Saturday 22nd November, 2014. Going by the trend an early morning start the ride from Pro Bikers OMR via Madhya Kailash, Adyar, Santhome, Marina Beach took us to the cleanup venue. Completing the security formalities we were now inside the Fort premises to be welcomed by the ASI Officials and the ever jubilant and energetic school students of KRM Public School,Perambur.
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| Cleanup Action |
Getting into the scheme of things after a brief inaugural by the Deputy Superintendent in front of Fort Museum the cleanup under the able supervision of ASI Officials now started and the place now witnessed hectic activity of clearing the partially covered wild vegetation and weeds, collection of scattered litter with the cleared vegetation around the northeastern rampart wall and disposal of the waste in the designated dumping area. Even as the work progressed at the cleanup site the street by its side was also cleared of litter by our enthusiastic volunteers. As the cleanup proceeded the comparison with the video of seed growing into a plant captured by the time lapse camera came to the memory,fortunately here too there was the DD
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| After Cleanup |
Podhigai crew capturing the video but entirely in a different format. After an hour and quarter the cleanup site now had a new look, gone were the wild vegetation and scattered litter. Soon a sumptuous packed breakfast awaited the participants. All's well that ends well our Cleanup came to a happy conclusion with a sense of joy and accomplishment.
This Heritage Site Cleanup would not have been possible without the support of the ASI Chennai Circle, staff and students of KRM Public School, Perambur and our group members. On behalf of Cycling Yogis thanks to one and all who helped us for the grand success of this event which in the upcoming years will be a bench mark to replicate.
To view the video click on the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgHzKeFZE-g
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| Group Picture at Fort Museum |
Newspaper Clipping
