Kanadukathan airstrip

Our hotel offered a bike tour around the village starting at 6.30 am before breakfast (when it is still cooler). Quite a surprise to find us suddenly on an old 4000m long airstrip. But Kanadukathan is not just a simple village. In the past it was the centre of the very wealthy Chettiar community who built some 25‘000 mansions, some even palaces with up to 1‘000 windows (!) in this region. Unfortunately most of them are in a bad state as there is not enough money to keep them maintained.

Some more background information:
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/shoot/the-inheritance-of-loss/article9727823.ece/photo/1/

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/heritage/story/19900930-like-troubling-memories-the-crumbling-mansions-seem-to-mock-the-chettiars-813077-1990-09-30