Residents rally to protect crumbling Vazhi Ambalam in Kollam

KOLLAM: Once a vital rest stop for weary travellers under the Travancore dynasty, the more-than-a-century-old ‘Vazhi Ambalam’, a traditional roadside waiting shed, still stands in Kollam, albeit in a crumbling state.

Alongside it lies a Chumaduthangi (load-relieving stone), a structure used by travellers to keep the heavy load they carried on their heads. An adjacent travellers’ well, a crucial source of water in its time, is already in ruins.