The two large steel levers were the only things holding the gates at bay, and when Vijay and Agni pulled the levers, it happened. Unable to resist the pressure of the water, the sluice gates slamd open, "boom!" The sound was harsh and deafening even with the rubber straps pasted on the wall. The impact force was sent straight through the ground, sending vibrations into everyone’s feet.
The vibration seed to have woken Vijay up as the divine image in his mind disappeared, and his eyes regained their human colour.
"Bizzzz!"
The water from the Kollidam River ca like a torrential wave or even a tsunami as it rushed into the newly built canal at full force. When the water impacted the canal wall, water mist rose up into the air and hit the people in their faces like a divine blessing. Soon, a rainbow was ford, appearing as a miracle, and the people started to shout in amazent.
"Wahhhh!!"
"Oh, Gangaa!!"
"Oh Deva, bless Bharatha"
The water was like a giant dragon, washing away everything in its path. In the blink of an eye, it already reached Kodumudi.
Pawan Kalyan, Ravi Shetty, and other large industrialists of the empire stood at the bank and looked at the surging tide with amazent.
"Can’t believe we really did it," Ravi Shetty muttered in amazent.
The massive ritual they held, which was composed of 1000 smaller rituals, reached a climax. This was when the people got up and threw turric and flowers blessed by the sacred fire into the surging water.
A similar scene happened in Erode, with Ghana Prabhu Berunda directly pouring the water of the seven sacred rivers he had collected from throughout the empire into the canal. In Tripura, the fellow villagers placed the lamps on top of large leaves and let them float on the surface of the water that was gushing into the canal. In Pallidam, all the major shipping company owners stood in a line and poured the sacred water of five dhams into the canal.
On top of the Nilgiri Hills in the north, and Anaimalai Hills in the south, the tribal people could be seen bowing down on the ground as they witnessed the water flowing through the canal in the distance.
The foreign diplomats, feeling the strong flow of water, a hint of amazent and jealousy rose up in their hearts. Why didn’t their nations have such a rich history, why didn’t they have the population, why didn’t they have such a wise monarch? In the end, nothing was said, only constant sighs were heard.
" The Bharatiya’s are really amazing ", Oscar Anderson comnted.
" True, I believe there is no one in the world who is willing to undertake such a massive project, which spans over one and a half decades, to construct a canal that cuts through the whole nation and connects two large seas. Maybe only the Chinese can do sothing similar, " Jan Kavlovsky chipped in.
" To be honest, I did not believe it was possible to connect the two rivers and the two seas. I always thought it was a joke made by the Bharatiyas. So when the excavation really started, I had a surreal feeling, still not believing that such a feat could be achieved, and the Bharatiyas were in over their heads, and even now, as I am witnessing the turbulent tide, I am having a hard ti reconciling what I am seeing with my eyes. "
" I’m not hallucinating, am I? ", Heinrich Muller asked in a light-hearted tone, causing a few people to chuckle, but their laughter eventually turned bitter since they had similar thoughts as well.
Now the surging river right in front of them was the biggest proof to shut their mouths up.
On the side, a group of Southeast Asian diplomats also spoke to each other in hushed voices.
" Only the Bharatiya Empire could take on such a big infrastructure project "
" Now the travel ti has been cut by 1/4, isn’t it? "
" Correct, but that’s only part of the reason why the Bharatiya Empire has built this canal "
" What do you an "
" The canal is less about making a trade with other countries easier and more about for the Bharatiya Empire’s own convenience "
" With this canal now in operation, ships of the empire can travel from its east coast to west coast much faster, bringing a large quantity of goods from eastern part of the empire to the western part at the fastest speed, and vice versa "
" The canal can also be used to boost the trade in the southern part of the empire, boosting the internal trade system and waterway transportation system "
" I heard that a lot of water conservation facilities and river diversion channels have been dug right next to the canal in a lot of places, so this evergreen canal supported by the water of the Bengal Sea and the Arabian Sea can continue to provide water resources to the interior of the southern part of the empire "
" Overall, cutting down the travel ti of the western part of Bharatiya Empire to our countries can only be said to be a byproduct and not the actual result "
At Palakkad Gap, the water finally ca to a halt as the twin gates giving way to the water of the Bharathappuzha River were still firmly blocked.
Right, there was the place where all the construction companies that participated in the construction of the canal were located.
People from Singha, Shetty, Kalyan, Bhosle, and Frontier Construction all had their own rituals. Now joining their hands in two pairs, putting all the strength in their feet, they pulled the lever which caused the gates to finally open up, causing the water to rush into the canal whose water had gone a little thin.
People standing all over the canal in Tripura, Erode, Kadumudi, Pallidam, Velour, and Coimbatore all clapped in joy as the water level of the canal, which had been reducing every mont, slowly rose up until eventually water filled up the canal over 70% of its volu.
Back at Velour, where it all started, Vijay finally concluded the ritual and ordered the first ship to sail through the canal.
Imdiately, amidst the cheers and applause of the people, a small coast guard ship slowly sailed over along with the tide of water.
Vijay wanted to be on the first ship flowing through the canal, however, unfortunately, the waters had not been tested yet, at least not to the full extent, so he stopped himself from doing sothing so dangerous.
Hours after the patrol ship left, Vijay finally got on board a small vessel with Kavya and started his tour of the canal, his children were coming on a different ship from behind.
As people were constantly clapping and cheering for him, Vijay could not take back his smile and he kept waving his hand in acknowledgent.
Thankfully, the journey was not bumpy; it was extrely smooth, but that was to be expected because the canal was dug with the possibility of a 10,000-ton ship travelling through it in mind. In fact, a kilotre in both directions of the canal has been completely taken over by the governnt in order to expand the canal to a larger size in the future if needed.
Vijay looked at the water. It was still muddy, but he was not surprised since the canal was not made up of cent. No one has been successful, yet, in researching a type of cent that is waterproof, so for now, only large gravel rocks have been used to line the walls of the canal.
The journey continued as Vijay saw many familiar places in his travel, like his uncle who kept waving at him with a smile, the ministers who did namaskara from the shore, and the lock gates used to raise and lower boats between stretches of water at different levels, and the diplomats who shouted their congratulations from the shore in loud voices.
In the end, he even saw that soone lit a load of fireworks, making stars appear in the sky even though night was still a few hours away.
Vijay finally got off at Palakkad Gap, held a congratulatory ceremony, and awarded all the construction companies with their honours.
" Finally done! " Vijay muttered. The Great South Bharatiya Canal project was very important for the empire because this was the first giant project the empire had undertaken. Road construction and railway construction do not count because each of those projects consists of thousands of individual small projects, which, although taken in scale, can be seen as difficult; individually, they are not so challenging, just tiring and resource-intensive. But the canal is a whole different matter altogether.
Moving millions of tons of sand, gravel, and other things from one place to another, engineering gates in several places so that water does not flow back and can maintain a level for travel, building bridges, dams, and other supporting infrastructure and everything else was extrely daunting.
With the Great South Bharatiya Canal finally being put into operation after 16 years since the project started...well, theoretically 13 since the infrastructure was built three years ago, but the canal had to be used as a water diversion for other projects... but anyway, with the canal being finally put into operation, it can prove to the outsiders that the Bharatiya Empire doesn’t do empty talk and it stands on its words.
It is also proof for the people in the empire who are skeptical about several large-scale projects that have started in the north in order to combat the weather changes that will be brought about by several greenery projects in Suvarna Dwipa.
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