Janardhanam did not move into Rajahmundry district when he heard this news from Ramanujamma. He made his own enquiries to confirm the news. Anyway the words of the girl were only half-true. By the time she told Janardhanam of the great bridge, the project had already been executed to a great extant, and much water had flown down river Godavari, and the actual bridge had already taken a clear shape in stone and mortar.
Sir Arthur Cotton presented the Godavari Bridge Project before the British Parliament and sought its approval. He also contemplated an anicut at Dhavaleswaram to go with this project. The members of the parliament questioned Sir Arthur Cotton what benefit The British Raj would gain by spending such huge funds on a strange project meant mainly for providing irrigation to Indian farmers. Sir Arthur Cotton convinced the Parliament that the irrigation canals that flow from this project would provide inexpensive transport for farm and forest produce. These irrigation canals can function where construction of roads could hardly be contemplated. The Parliament saw a point that Sir Cotton did not think of. It felt the irrigation canals could be used to transport the entire wild life produce under the Godavari river basin to Britain. The Parliament granted its seal of consent once the usual debates and skirmishes over pros and cons over this project were duly concluded.
Several unverified stories about Sir Arthur Cotton were in good circulation in Rajahmundry district. It seems that Cottons did not have children. Lady Cotton used to ask her husband to find a small child from Rajahmundry for adoption so that she could spend her time in their large bungalow in Dhavaleswaram. She was afraid of being alone. Her husband used to spend most of his time outside on the field surveying for a suitable place where the construction of the dam on Godavari would take shape. Arthur Cotton used to go on his horse for the task of surveying the land where he intended to erect an anicut. One day he could not sleep, and woke up several times in the middle of the night. Madame Cotton remembered in the morning that she hid a coin under his bed. They understood that the presence of a small coin made Sir Cotton restless for the entire night. That was his sensitivity to objects and their shapes. His sensitive mind would easily detect even a small unevenness in any material, and he would not rest until he set it right. Madame Cotton complimented her husband about his keen sensitivity, and told him that she was convinced that the projects that he undertook would be totally flawless. She handed over him the coin that was lying under his bed, and pleaded with him to find a child in Rajahmundry to keep her company. Sir Cotton went to Rajahmundry as usual to supervise his work. Those were the days of a great famine in Rajahmundry district, and people were starving for lack of food. He found several women selling their children openly in the market. He thought that only a dam would help raise crops in the Rajahmundry district, and the famines made his resolve to erect an anicut stronger. He thought of the loneliness of his wife at his Dhavaleswaram bungalow. He purchased a girl child with the coin his wife gave him that day. That anonymous girl child became the legal heir of Cottons. Several decades later, the daughter of that girl child authored the biography of Sir Arthur Cotton.
When Janardhanam looked at river Godavari he was filled with a marvellous feeling. He had seen several narrow streams and could visualize the bridges over them. These bridges merely helped people to cross the streams. He was told that Sir Cotton was going to construct an anicut at Dhavaleswaram to stop the waters of Godavari and use them for irrigation. He could not comprehend the shape, breadth, and length of the river. He thought that only angels could build such bridges using their divine vision.
Sir Arthur Cotton was the hero of those times. His fame extended far and wide cutting across geographical barriers. Janardhanam could find several construction workers from his district migrating to Rajahmundry to work under Sir Arthur Cotton. Janardhanam did not want to work as a construction worker for any one. He wanted to build tall buildings with Godavari Bridge as his inspiration. He wanted to come back to Rajahmundry after making money to be a builder on his own.
Janardhanam felt that Rajahmundry was the land of his destiny
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