After our inspection of the construction, it was time to head over to the real attraction.

I’ve been dying to get up on the top.  In 1989 I went up the scaffolding on the dome of the Puspa Samadhi but this is a whole different beastie.

Looking up from the base, it was slightly intimidating

and there’s no other way up than to climb the many flights of rungs ascending its steely innards.

I confess I had to stop half way up to catch my breath

and there was a tricky bit when we had to pass through the swivel gear just below the top

but in just a few minutes we were finally there, on the TOP of the TOVP

Fabuloso!

Here we are on top of the counter weights at the back of the crane

Wonderful vistas of Mayapur from 190 feet up (57 meters) (except for the perpetual haze that seems to hang over most of India nowadays).

North

South

East

West

Straight down

The Samadhi looks spectacular from above. A whole new perspective made me appreciate the design of Saurabha prabhu all the more

And you can really see a whole new township developing on what was just just open paddy fields just a few years ago

The Yoga-pitha could be seen in the distance

The jib of the crane is nearly as long as the crane is high

It can extend over the front gate and pick up a load from truck parked out on Bhaktisiddhanta Road

The site is fast developing and it won’t be long, about one year, before we see the superstructure of the whole building appear.

In a couple of months another tower crane will be erected diagonally opposite to this one and the pair of them will eventually extend to 400+ feet high. The blue middle section of the crane is actually a giant hydraulic jack

It splits the mid-section, raising the top half of the crane, then a new piece of the stem is picked up and is added into the gap and the top lowered back down onto it. Piece by piece it can be extended upwards to about 450 feet high (can’t wait to get up that one!).

To save the workers a long climb when the structure grows,

a special cage has been made to transport them to the top of the building via the crane

It will certainly make it easier to take photos from the top when the crane gets bigger

That’s it for now folks – watch this space for more updates in the coming weeks. Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir Temple of the Vedic Planetarium ki jaya!