Chennai: At the age of 80, when most people plan to go on a pilgrimage, D Hemachandra Rao aka D H Rao wants to visit all lighthouses in the country. This Virugambakkam resident’s fascination towards ships, lighthouses and canals is something that is unusual for any man. Recently, he inaugurated a maritime museum in the neighbourhood in his own house.
Having converted almost 70 per cent of his house into a museum, Rao wants the world to know what he has learnt about history from his young age.
‘News Today’ interacted with this octogenarian, who is Kochi-born but moved to Chennai around 75 years ago.
“I always loved ships and maritime history. I have visited all 24 lighthouses in peninsular India,” he says. His next destination is Andaman and Nicobar Islands to check out lighthouses there.
But, he is not stopping with just the sea.
He says, “I have travelled along the Buckingham Canal from end to end – Marakkanam to Peddaganjam. After exploring what I have found is that the canal is actually not of Peddaganjam origin, but Madras. It was from here Britishers wanted to extend the trade routes in both directions – north and south.”
Rao shows what he has collected during his research along the canal.
“They have traded spices, dried fish, red chillies, tamarind and a few other goods through the Buckingham Canal,” he says and further points out that the purpose of the construction of this man-made waterbody has always been a misconception.
“Flood control was one of the reasons but not the only reason,” he adds.Rao also has put up a few other articles he found during his travel to waterbodies. He showed a piece of whale’s skull he got during a visit to a lighthouse.
Hemachandra lives alone after his wife passed away in 2014. “I was down for over a year and from 2015 I started to travel and progressed towards my passion. Since I do not have children, my commitments are less. So, from then on, I have been living like a traveller,” he says.
He has made this museum with what he has collected so far and adds that he will add more in the days to come when as he travels and collects more maritime stuff. “See, I have a lot of empty decks in these shelves,” he points out.
“My house will be a permanent exhibit hereafter,” he says.
About his love for ships, Rao also has made a miniature of a catamaran that was used to sail through the 262 mile Buckingham Canal.
“The actual length of the catamaran would be 90 feet. I have scaled it to this level,” he says. Apart from that he has a collection of over 1,000 navy-related coins from across the globe.
“All these coins have imprints of ships on them. Similarly, I have liquor bottles from various countries that have pictures of ships,” Rao adds.
He wants kids of the next generation to visit his house-turned-museum and know the basic maritime heritage of India. “It is open to all and free. I wish schools in the local area visit my place with their students,” he says.Rao’s Maritime Heritage Museum is located on First Street of Elango Nagar, Virugambakkam, Chennai. He can be reached at 9840870172.