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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/colonian-bungalow-resurfaces-from-reservoir-

bed-in-kerala-after-30-years/article4756301.ece

News NationalPublished: May 27, 2013 17:33 IST | Updated: May 28, 2013 01:52 IST

Inundated colonial bungalow resurfaces after thirtyyears

Staff Reporter

C.SURESH KUMAR The colonial 'Kannadi Bungalow' which resurfaced from the reservoir of theThenmala Dam in Kollam district of Kerala following severe drought. Photo C. Suresh Kumar.

The bungalow was built during 1886-87 by British industrialist T.J. Cameroon withpermission from then Travancore Maharaja Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma tostart a paper mill at Punalur.

A colonial bungalow that drowned thirty years ago has surfaced from its watery grave

in the reservoir of the Thenmala Dam in Kollam district.

The spot is about 3 km from the dam top and can be reached after a 45-minute trekthrough the forest. The resurfaced bungalow looks eerie from a distance. Yet, one is

overwhelmed on entering it after squelching across knee-deep silt.

The water in the reservoir has receded to an unprecedented low in the wake of the

drought in Kollam district.

Shortly before the structure was inundated in 1983 by the waters of the Kallada IrrigationProject (KIP), its teak doors, windows and rafters had been auctioned.

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The bungalow was built in 1886-87 by the British industrialist T.J. Cameroon who was

given permission by the then Travancore Maharaja Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma

(1885 to 1924) to start a paper mill at Punalur, using the abundantly growing reeds in thesurrounding dense forest as raw material.

Commissioned in 1888, the paper mill was initially christened the Travancore PaperMills. The name changed to Lakshmi Paper Mills, then to Meenakshi Paper Mills and

finally Punalur Paper Mills in 1931 as managements changed. It boasted the IndiaSecurity Press at Nasik among its clientele at that time.

The bungalow, with 15 rooms, had glass pane windows. Natives called it the kannadi

(glass) bungalow. The majestic structure stood on the side of the erstwhile Shengottai-Thiruvananthapuram road. Shengottai, now in Tamil Nadu, was then part of the

Travancore kingdom. The bungalow was the office complex of superintendents

monitoring the reed harvest and its transportation in bullock carts to the paper mill, some

20 km away.

Following the declaration of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, the bungalow was taken

over by the Forest Department and it later served as the survey office of the KIP when the

dam was sanctioned. The dam was commissioned in 1984, but the bungalow had gone

under water some time before that.

Senior citizens of the area who had seen the bungalow in its heydays say that the

structure is still in immaculate condition. This they attribute to surkhi mortar with which

it was built.

Fifty-year-old G. Thomaskutty, who resides near the dam, often passed the Kannadi

bungalow as a teenager. The courtyard had plenty of guava and mango trees then, herecalls.

As the monsoon progresses, the Kannadi Bungalow will once more be inundated.