Sudheesh Nair's Trivandrum Photos

[sudheeshnairs]

Hi all,

This is my first post to this forum, it is indeed a very much interesting one.

I have some interesting views with me, hope I would be able to post it as soon as possible.

[sudheeshnairs]

A closer view of Kowdiar Palace (Travancore Royal Family)



TVM suburbs aerial view



Aerial view of NH bypass, Trivandrum. Akkulam lake and other waterbodies are seen. A multispeciality hospital, Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) is seen at the right extreme end. This photo is around 1 year old, now KIMS is expanding to 11 floors from the old 6 floors.

You could also see the 'Southern Air Command' Head Quarters.

The building you see by the side of NH is the agricultural wholesale market.

The canal snaking through the palmgroves is the TS Canal or 'Parvathi Puthanar'. It was used in earlier days for cargo movement. Now the Govt has chalked out a plan titled 'Theerapatham' or canal walk by which the 22 km of this canal from Akkulam lake to Kovalam would be developed for Tourism. Resorts, Hotels, Parks, Amusement centres etc are planned along the two shores and the land use is at present frozen. IL & FS are the consultants for this project.



There are two tourist centres and boat clubs, Aakkulam and Veli.

Aakulam tourist village is in the northernmost part of the lake.

Veli toruist village is the more developed one and it is in the opposite side (not in the pic).

A walkway, about 500 m long, jutting out in the lake is being construted from Veli lake to the bridge. It is almost complete now. It will be extended to Akkulam also.

[Metro Watch]

Great Picts! I came upon this site accidently while surfing. Its amazing to see the new developments in Tvm. Indeed its amazing to see the positive changes for a former resident (and still very attached) of the city.

[sudheeshnairs]

Aerial view of Park Centre, Chandragiri buildings.



Aerial view of NILA building.


Bhavani Atrium



Another building

[sudheeshnairs]

This woods are those in the Kowdiar palace grounds.
The life in those upper floors would be a bliss, away from the heat, grime and dust and good scenery around.
You can also see a TV tower (Doordarshan Kendra, Trivandrum) in the background.
This is the Eastern side, towards the western ghats.

[sudheeshnairs]

Some Trivandrum highrises/midrises

1


2


3


4


5


6 - Another Skyline Apartment



7 - Heera Twins


8 - Cordial Tower


The GF and FF houses a Maruti showroom(only part of FF is seen), one among the three showrooms Maruti is having in the City.

9 - Heera Castle



10 - Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences

A mutlispeciality hospital near to the NH bypass. Earlier it was a six floor building now being expanded to eleven floors. One of the biggest hospitals in Kerala.



11 - Palace Heights



12 - This is a 16 storeyed tower. Was able to cover only up to 12 floors..



13 - This is a 17 storeyed tower in the making.

[Hindustani]

Sudheeshnairs...............................excellent images of trivandrum highrises. I like them.

[Suncity]

Cool photos!!!

Keep 'em coming.

[sudheeshnairs]

Pattom Road.



You can see two TVM city buses in this snap. The blue one is one of the new fleet of 150 Hi Tech 'Ananthapuri Fast' buses. The green one is the old model City Fast.

Palayam Flyover



This 2 lane flyover is about 15 years old. The photo is not clear, will try to get a better picture. To the right is the 'Chadrasekharan Nair Stadium'. In the back ground, you can see the 'Kerala Niyama sabha'. As anywhere else in the city, here also the building is sarrounded by lush green cover.

[sudheeshnairs]

The public transport in Trivandrum city is the best in Kerala. Recently 150 Hi Tech buses, named 'Ananthapuri Fast' were pressed in to service, with white and blue colour by KSRTC. The old green 'City Fasts' are being phased out. There are also Mini buses of Eicher, Tata and Ashok Leyland (Red colour)to service the inner roads, apart from the red and yellow ordinary buses. There are also 'Ananthapuri Air Buses', which are low floored, back engine ones which operate to Tourist centres like Kovalam.

Red coloured 'Double Deckers' are also in service. The legacy of Double Deckers can be dated back to more than 50 years ago when such buses where imported from Great Britain. Hope to get snaps of those too.

Apart from these state owned buses, there are other private bus operators in the city.

[sudheeshnairs]

Floating restaurant at Veli





You can see the walkway to the left of the restaurant. A boat club is seen on the right side. Pedal boats, safari boats and speed boats are available.

Walkway at Veli





This walkway i had mentioned earlier. It extends up to Aakulam NH Bypass bridge now. Will be extended up to Aakulam tourist village.
A scenic walk from one tourist village to the other.

Paved walkway with granite slab seats. This walkway crosses two road and two railway overbridges. You can glide over the waters up to the Akulam bridge in speed boats and safari boats. The VSSC building is seen in the background.

[Suncity]

Thanks sudheeshnairs for the pics and descriptions. Keep them coming. Is there a way that you can get some aerial / bird's eye view of the city from a tall building?

[sudheeshnairs]

Thanks Suncity, I will try to get some aerial views. But unlike other cities, it would be impossible to get a view of a larger area of the city from a single point since Trivandrum is a city full of hills and undulations. It is often said as a city of seven hills or sometimes seventeen hills. Cotton Hill, Barton Hill, Kanaka kunnu (golden hill), observatory hills etc are examples. So at any point, a hillock will be blocking the view.

Moreover the tall buildings are all in lowest points, ie, with a lesser AMSL, since the International Airport is within the corporation area. Anyway will try to get a snap from some of the 16-17 storeyed buildings.

Will be trying to give an informatory as well as detailed pictorial description of Trivandrum city

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

Thanks Suncity, I will try to get some aerial views. But unlike other cities, it would be impossible to get a view of a larger area of the city from a single point since Trivandrum is a city full of hills and undulations. It is often said as a city of seven hills or sometimes seventeen hills. Cotton Hill, Barton Hill, Kanaka kunnu (golden hill), observatory hills etc are examples. So at any point, a hillock will be blocking the view.

Moreover the tall buildings are all in lowest points, ie, with a lesser AMSL, since the International Airport is within the corporation area. Anyway will try to get a snap from some of the 16-17 storeyed buildings.

Will be trying to give an informatory as well as detailed pictorial description of Trivandrum city

Looking forward to it.

Cheers

[sudheeshnairs]

Trivandrum is a city of much Tourist attraction and gets about 1 lakh foriegn tourists and about 6 lakh domestic tourists, annually. It has a good mix of lake, beach, hill, dams and wild life sanctuaries nearby. The tourist villages of Aakkulam and Veli are on the banks of the Aakkulam and Veli lakes. We have seen some of the scenic views in this thread.

The main beaches are Kovalam and Sankhumukhom. Kovalam caters mainly to International tourists and has a number of beaches like Grove beach, Eves beach, Light house beach etc. Recently further south places like Chowara, Poovar etc are gaining importance and many upmarket resorts like Poovar Island resort, Estuary Island, Isolo-di-coco, Travancore Heritage etc have come up. Sankhumukhom beach is a city side domestic beach.

There are three reservoirs nearby, Aruvikkara dam, Peppara Dam and Neyyar dam. Aruvikkara dam is the main source of drinking water for the city, supplemented by the Peppara dam. Peppara and Neyyar are also wild life sanctuaries. The Neyyar dam has the rare distinction of having a LION SAFARI PARK. There is also a crocodile farm. It is just 30 kms from the city. Its catchment area has the distinction of having the second highest peak in Kerala, 'Agasthyarkoodam' at 1890 metres above MSL.

The major hill station is Ponmudi, 55 kms away with 22 hairpin bends enroute. There are some tea estates in PONMUDI area. Other hill stations with tea estates are BONOCCORD and BRAEMORE. BONOCCORD is the base station for trekking to the Agasthya hills.

An amusement park is proposed in Veli by the Abu Dhabi based 'Southern Fun City' in 20 acres. The project is yet to be started since the land acquisition is not complete, 40 cents in the middle is yet to be acquired by the Govt and handed over to SFC.

Another amusement park, 'Happy land' is getting ready about 20 kms from the city.

[Suncity]

WOW! Trivandrum is rising skyward!

[sudheeshnairs]

This road would be looking different shortly.

It is included in the Trivadrum Roads Development Program.

Punjj Lyod has taken up the 250 crore work.

It involves widening and developing to international standards of 42 km roads in the city, in the first phase.

Work is already going on along the footpath. You can see workers in the foot path in the right side of the road.

[sudheeshnairs]

Aerial perspective of Underpass at Palayam.



Another view

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

Aerial perspective of Underpass at Palayam.



Another view

Hi Stillwater, what you said is true. Each part of the divided carriageway can be further demarcated with white broken lines. You can see it in the perspective.


Hi Kshatriya, I think the paint quality could be improved for the underpass. Anyway it was a matter of pride for Punj Lyod and the PWD to inaugurate it in time, barring the heavy rains that are lashing Trivandrum for the last few weeks.

[sudheeshnairs]

Another view



The date of the photo can be seen, was taken on 18th March 2005.

Now the project is about 75% complete.