Lingaa and its true inspiration...

Lingaa and its true inspiration

Lingaa, yet another super hit Tamil movie from our very own super star Rajinikanth, directed KS Ravikumar, is not just a story, its an inspiration of John Pennycuick. Well who is John Pennycuick?

While it was 119 years ago ...

Mullaiperiyar is a river flowing in Tirunelveli_district. It flowed via West of Kumily(Kerala) into Kerala district and finally  ran into the Arabian sea. On the other side towards the east of Kumily more than 2 million acres of terrain were dry and Un-cultivable. Not even a single drop of water from that river reached the east, instead it merged with the salty Arabian sea.

This drought led dozens of villages to famine, hunger, robbery, mass suicide and more in Theni (district). Thousands of families around these villages felt no hope of survival there.

John Pennycuick, a British engineer visited the region by chance. He felt sorry and compassionate by the suffering and misfortunes of villagers. This river was just a sight away from where he was, still it didn't do any good and got wasted into the salty oceans.

He took the lead, and figured the only way to re-direct the water flow is by building a dam across Kumily. This will block the river flowing towards the West, retain the amount needed and diver the rest to East. He knew it would cost millions. He represented the village to the British government (who where ruling our country then). The budget to build a dam was not approved. He decided to help them.

He with the support of all the villagers, little contribution from their familes they  began to build the dam. This underwent a 3 year penance, surpassed various hurdles, nuisance of wild animals, overcame the peer harassments. But unfortunately, it was not in their favor. The dam gave way and collapsed.

He approached the British government officials for help. They turned him down. But, he was determined not to go back. He flew to Britain, sold and sacrificed all his family belongings and returned Theni with a fortune.

Hard work pays, it took them another few years , but this time Mullaperiyar dam rose enormously. This time the nature collaborated. In addition to  Mullaperiyar dam, water was also distributed across multiple districts around Theni thru giant underground water pipes. The dam stood 176 feet tall from the foundation. It cost Rs 1.04 million to its value at that time (!).

More than 3 million acres of land was served with fresh water. It served thousands of farming families and it provided drinking water for millions of people.

Despite all these so many critics and engineers predicted that the dam will last 50 years, he was made fun of. But after 118 years its still strong. The dam of Rs. 1.4 million is worth billions today...

#funfact - Even today many kids around those villages are named after him.

Hero of the Great Revolution .. John Pennycuick! 

Thanks to #Lingaa and team for a wonderful movie that reminded us of a great man.

Genre - Documentary  (May visualize this as a commercial flick)
Rating - 3