The renovated Bastion Bungalow Museum at Fort Kochi. | Photo Credit:
H. VIBHU
While renovation of Bastion Bungalow took three years to complete, work worth ₹2.37 cr. was done at Hill Palace Museum
The new museum at the 450-year-old Bastion Bungalow in Fort Kochi tells the tale of the region through the imperial powers who spotted opportunities to cart off spices, ivory, sandalwood, and teak from the Malabar coast, shaping the area’s history in the process.
Developed as a District Heritage Museum documenting Ernakulam’s maritime trade links, it fittingly stands in the bungalow that was built initially by the Portuguese as their fort, then claimed and rebuilt by the Dutch. It eventually fell into the hands of the British and was taken over by the Revenue Department post-Independence. The building assimilates the architectural styles of the colonial powers with the local one.
Publishing date: Feb 03, 2021 • February 3, 2021 • 1 minute read •
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Is there an echo in ‘hear’? Recording sound and word has historically been to the acoustical delight or civic vexation of the listener. It may come as a surprise to some that Thomas Edison was not the originator of sound devices but, in fact, it was Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville who invented the phonautograph in 1857. Instead of playing back soundwaves the device traces them visually onto soot-covered paper. It wouldn’t be until 2008 when the phonautograms were played back using digital imaging. Thomas Edison’s sketches in 1877 were the foundation of John Kruesi’s, an Edison-employed machinist, phonograph built of tinfoil. Reportedly, the first sound impulses to be successfully recorded and played back on the machine were from a verse of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Acoustical recording, simply described, is where the performed sound vibrated a diaphragm connected
Publishing date: Jan 13, 2021 • January 13, 2021 • 1 minute read •
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Need to clear your head of holiday spice and everything nice? Ginger is an ancient Chinese remedy that has long had the reputation of cleansing the mind, body, and spirit. Indigenous to southern China, the plant Zingiber officinale has leafy stems that grow a metre high with yellow, green, and purple flowers. The plant’s rhizomes (rootstocks) are harvested by lifting from the soil, cleansing, and drying. Ginger propagation no longer goes to seed due to its protracted horticulture through history; instead contemporary farming simply takes rootstalk cuttings for planting. India is currently the highest producer and exporter of ginger and is referenced in Sushruta Samhita, a surgical Sanskrit treatise from the 6
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Kids in the area headed back to the playground after the City of Wetaskiwin and Millet re-opened parks.
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Try refreshing your browser. Parks re-opened in June Back to video
The Town of Millet set aside money in the Capital Budget for upgrades to the shale trails from the ball diamonds to the bridge on Hwy. 616 to asphalt in 2019.
After reviewing the plan with the consultant and engineer, the Town of Millet will be re-routing the trail so it doesn’t run under the Hwy. 616 bridge.
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The County of Wetaskiwin prepared to open its municipal campgrounds for the 2020 camping season.
Publishing date: Jan 06, 2021 • January 6, 2021 • 1 minute read •
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Did you know that in the early days of our community we unsuccessfully ventured into finding a good supply of natural gas? This photo is of the inside of a Mutual Oil and Gas Development Co. oil well somewhere in the County dating to 1922 (City of Wetaskiwin Archives n. wet-90-is-wet-1669.4), but in 1904, two years before Wetaskiwin was incorporated as a City, the town granted a franchise to a company to begin drilling. Four years later, in 1908 council of the young City of Wetaskiwin passed a by-law to raise $18,000 to begin the search in earnest, and in 1912 invested another $95,000 to further the search. Wells were dug beside the power house (now home to the Manluk Theatre), near the fairgrounds (near the Civic Arenas & Manluk Pool), as well as near the Water Tower. Some gas was used from the well near the power house, but nothing of any importance was ever found and the search