A town without power to a cosmopolitan city

He saw the first ship (SS Jaladurga) sail into Visakhapatnam Port and was there when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru launched India’s first indigenously built ship - SS Jala Usha - at Hindustan Shipyard in 1948. He had seen Gandhi address a public meeting on the beach opposite Town Hall. Most remarkably, he is among the very few to have witnessed the Japanese bombing of the city in 1942 and is probably the only surviving Indian member of the Royal Air Force squadron posted in Akyab islands during World War II.Surprisingly, each incident is clearly etched in his mind even at the age of 90 and Kolluru Jagannadha Rao takes a walk down memory lane with Sumit Bhattacharjee.
Q: You have seen the city grow, how do you feel about it?
A: I have known this city since it was just a town without electricity. Thanks to Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), the town received power in 1934 from the port’s sub-station. During those days, power would be available from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning when the port was closed. The town area was also very limited and practically ended with Poorna Market. The present district court was then out of town limits and population was barely a lakh. During those days there were only two or three good schools and if one wished to study a degree course, he or she had to go to Chennai or Kolkata. The town was divided into small colonies on the lines of caste and profession. Today, it has grown into a cosmopolitan hub with people from all sections and states living in harmony. It is good see my city grow, but somewhere deep down it hurts when I compare it with the past. I miss the natural beauty of the beaches and the hills.
Q: Was Vizag beautiful and cleaner then?
A: It was definitely much cleaner and beautiful. We did not have water supply in homes, but the authorities had provided taps at every street corner. The drainage system was much better and regularly de-silted by municipal workers. Garbage was taken care of on a daily basis and the roads were swept. The workers were much more sincere then, but the city was also smaller. Today, the Old Town area has lost its beauty thanks to the rapid expansion of VPT and pollution associated with it. There was hardly any pollution then. The city was almost crime free. I have never come across a murder in my younger days, except for one, when a medical student poisoned his wife to death. But he was immediately caught as he dumped the food laced with poison in the street and all the stray dogs and pigs died in front of his house after consuming the leftovers.
Q: How were the people then?
A: I was born in an era when the freedom struggle was at its peak. There was a patriotic fervour in the air. People were in the mood to give rather than take. Almost every individual wanted to contribute to the struggle. But today it is just the opposite. Then, the day would start with prabhat pheris and people would come out of their houses to greet the marchers and many would even join them. Everybody loved to hear Babulal, a Muslim and a staunch Gandhian from Kotaveedhi, sing ‘Raghupati raghava raja Ram’. That was the level of communal harmony that prevailed then. The beach opposite Town Hall was the main venue for public meetings and there would be at least one meeting every week. Even top leaders such as Gandhiji and Raj Gopalachari addressed people at the beach. Today, that part of the beach has come under Visakha Container Terminal.
Q: Tell us about the bombing of Vizag?
A: Visakhapatnam was bombed by Japanese fighter planes on April 6, 1942. It was around 8 am when we first heard the drone of an aircraft. We ran to the terrace to find two small aircrafts flying very low. Since the Second World War was already on and we were trained by civil guards to handle air raids, we all ran below and scampered under the cots on hearing the air raid siren. We later realised they were only Japanese reconnaissance planes. The actual raid took place at around 1 pm when five planes in an arrow formation flew over and dropped bombs in the port area. The bombing continued for about 30 minutes. The deafening sound of the bombs and anti-aircraft guns still rings in my ears. The second round of the raid was around 5 pm. After this raid there was an exodus of people to neighbouring towns such as Vizianagaram,Anakapalle and Chodavaram. By nightfall, Vizag was totally deserted. Only defence and staff from essential services were present. It took nearly a month for the city to become normal.