Gandhiji ate here


History lesson
The Friends Union Joshi Club was started by Govindram Shankarji Joshi and four of his friends in 1945. Originally from Rajkot, Gujarat, Joshi came to Mumbai in the early 1940s, after several unsuccessful attempts to find work in Ahmedabad. "My grandfather was a freedom fighter. He went to jail for eight months, along with Gandhiji, Morarji Desai and UN Dhebar. 

When he was released, he found that his home and his (soda water) factory were auctioned by the British. He had eight dependents and no profession to pursue," shares Anand Joshi. In Mumbai, GS Joshi met old friends Morarji Desai and UN Dhebar, since the Congress had its head office here. 

Dhebar put GS Joshi in charge of organising meals for the five of them. Over time, the group expanded to 30, which is when they thought of opening an eating place. "The British initially denied my grandfather a license. They said it would only be possible if they formed a club with more than 100 
members," says Joshi.Resolute, GS Joshi and four of his friends contributed Rs 100 each towards the effort, and managed to get 100 'members' to sign up at the 'club' for a monthly meal service. "And that is how it came to be known as The Friends Union Joshi Club," shares Joshi.


At the time, the 1,500 sq ft eating joint that can seat up to 50 people, did not have its trademark benches. "There was a separate patla (wooden stool) to sit on, and another to place the thali," says Joshi.

In keeping with their Gandhian beliefs, Joshi says that the place was closed on Sunday evenings; a policy that is practised by the current owners as well. "My grandfather (and father) believed that just as we need a day's rest, so does the stomach, which is why we (are) the only restaurant in the area to remain closed on the busiest day of the week," says Joshi.


The Friends Union Joshi Club might be a far cry from today's swish thali joints with their gleaming counters, but what loyal diners return for is a wholesome Gujarati thali, service that's kind, and a chance to reminisce over history.

If crammed, functional thali joints are not your cup of tea, then skip this one. If one thrives on the colourful cacophonies of Kalbadevi, the hunt for this first-floor spot and then slipping into a large, functional, clean restaurant. settle down on the well-arranged chair and table, and get down to the business on the  plate. Here, we are served  pure-vegetarian Gujarati Thali and every morsel is a delight! A variety of fresh, delicious and home-made items make their way to your stomach, so enjoy! There is an extra charge on sweets during weekdays,It is indeed a bit hard to find - while on Kalbadevi Road walking from the Princess Street end, look for a small lane on the right side - Babu Genu Road. Friends Union Joshi Club is on the first floor of the next building on Kalbadevi Road and there's a big sign outside saying Joshi Bhojanalay. 
AT: The Friends Union Joshi Club, 381-A Narottam Wadi, first floor, Kalbadevi Road.CALL: 22058089Timings: 11 am to 3 pm; 7 pm to 10 pm. Closed for dinner on Sundays.

FOR: Rs 110.[$2] The thali is unlimited and includes farsan, 4 vegetables, 3 types of roti, dal, rice, and the usual papad, salad, pickles and a glass of chaas. All for a price of $2 Dessert is an additional Rs 20. Sunday lunch is priced at Rs 150.

photo at Paris - Mahatma Gandhi travelled BY ship to Europe IN 1930'S on the way to London 

PHOTO OF HAJI ALI MOSQUE IN THE SEA

Timeline of Mumbai--600B.C. ONWARDS

Timeline of Mumbai

Up to 18th century 600 BC — First known permanent settlement. 300 BC — Part of Ashokas Empire. 900 to 1300 — part of Hindu Silhara dynasty. 1343 — Part of the Gujarat sultanate. 1431 – Haji Ali Dargah built. 1508 — Francisco de Almeida sailed into the deep natural harbour. 1534 — Bombay ceded to the Portuguese. 1661 — Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza brings Bom Bahia to King Charles II of England as part of her marriage dowry. 1668/1669 — British East India Company leased the seven islands of Bombay from Charles II 1670 — First printing press imported to Bombay by Parsi businessman Bhimji Parikh 1672 — Consecration of the first Tower of Silence and first Fire temple (Hirji Vachha Agiary, now defunct) 1675 — Population estimated to have risen to 60,000 from 10,000 in 1661. 1675 — The Mumba Devi temple built near the main landing site on the former Bori Bunder creek or inlet, against the north wall of the English Fort Saint George. 1709 — First attested private Parsi Adaran (in the home of Banaji Limji). Continues to be the oldest continuously-burning Zoroastrian fire in Mumbai (now in the Limji Agiary, Fort). 1735 — Start of shipbuilding industry (Wadia docks, Duncan docks) 1750 — Asia's first dry dock built by Lovji Wadia in Bombay 1777 — First newspaper published in Bombay by Rustom Kersaspjee 19th century 1801 – Siddhivinayak temple built at Prabhadevi. 19 June 1810 — HMS Minden floated, first Royal Navy ship built outside the British Isles and from the deck of which the Star Spangled Banner would be composed 1822 — First vernacular language newspaper in Bombay, Mumbai Samachar published by Fardunjee Marzban. India's oldest newspaper still being published. 1838 — First edition of Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce launched 1845 — Grant Medical College founded. 1846 — Mahim Causeway between Salsette and Mahim completed. 16 April 1853 — First railway line in India between Bombay and Thane. 1854 — First cotton mill started. 1857 — University of Bombay established. 1858 — The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China opens its Bombay branch. 1864 — The Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (later merged with other railways to form Western Railway) is extended to Bombay. 1870 — Bombay Port Trust formed. 1872 — Bombay Municipal Corporation founded. 1885 — Indian National Congress formed at Gowalia Tank Maidan. 1887 — Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute(VJTI) established. First and only institute offering degree in engineering until 1960. 1890 — Robert Harris, 4th Baron Harris arrives to take over as Governor of the Presidency of Bombay. 1893 — Sectarian rioting between Hindus and Muslims. 1896 — Famine followed by break out of bubonic plague. Waldemar Haffkine begins plague research at Grant Medical College. 1897 — Haffkine announces plague vaccine, tests it on himself and on volunteers from Byculla Jail. 1899 – Bombay plague epidemic 20th century 1900 — By this year, 45 trains of Western Railway in each direction were carrying over one million passengers annually. 1911 — King George V and Queen Mary visit Bombay. Gateway of India is built to commemorate their arrival. 1913 — Sydenham College established. The First College of Commerce in Asia. 12 January 1915 — Gandhi returns to India from South Africa at Mumbai. 22 January 1926 — King Edward Memorial Hospital inaugurated. 15 July 1926 — First motorised bus ran between Afghan Church and Crawford Market. 1928 — The first electric train runs between Churchgate and Borivali. 1930 — Bombay Cricket Association established. 15 October 1932 — J. R. D. Tata flew from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad landing on a grass strip at Juhu paving the way for civil aviation in India. 1934 — UDCT established. First institute dedicated to research in Chemical Engineering in India. 1940 — reclamation of land that will become Nariman Point begins. 8 August 1942 — Quit India Movement declaration passed at Gowalia Tank Maidan. 14 April 1944 — Bombay Harbour Explosion kills scores of people and hurls debris up to 3 km away. 1958 — IIT Bombay established in Powai. 1960 — Flora Fountain incident": 105 Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti demonstrators killed in altercation with the police 1 May 1960 – Bombay becomes the capital of newly formed Marathi state Maharashtra. 31 March 1964 — Last tram made its journey from Bori Bundar to Dadar. 1982 January – Great Bombay Textile Strike started, by mill workers of Bombay, under trade union leader Dutta Samant. December 1992 – January 1993 — Over 2000 people killed in Hindu-Muslim communal riots following the Babri Masjid destruction. 1993 — Serial bomb blasts across Bombay, masterminded by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, kill 300 and injure hundreds more. 1995 — Bombay renamed to Mumbai. Subsequently University of Bombay renamed to University of Mumbai. 21st century 26 July—1 August 2005 — Torrential July rains and flooding – the worst in 120 years – push the death toll to nearly 450. Terrorist acts 12 March 1993 – Series of 13 bombs go off killing 257 6 December 2002 – Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 2 27 January 2003 – Bomb goes off on a bicycle in Vile Parle killing 1 14 March 2003 – Bomb goes off in a train in Mulund killing 10 28 July 2003 – Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 4 25 August 2003 – Two Bombs go off in cars near the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar killing 50 11 July 2006 – Series of seven bombs go off in trains killing 207 26 November 2008 – November 2008 Mumbai Attacks

The Bombay Photograghic Company S. Hormusji on Kalbadevi Road was one of Bomabay's early, Parsi photography studios

Dario Mitidieri, Lunch time at Dongri Children’s Remand Home. It is Asia’s largest remand house and its archaic system is every child’s nightmare, from the Children of Bombay series, 1992

Dario Mitidieri’s Children of Bombay

Dario Mitidieri, Savita, a two and a half years girl from North Bombay, performs for Arab tourists near the Taj-Mahal Hotel, from the Children of Bombay series, 1992

BOMBAY AND THE FIRST FILM SHOW IN INDIA 1896

In 1896, India was first exposed to motion pictures when the Lumiere Brothers' Chinematographe showed six soundless short films on July 7 in Bombay.

BOMBAY WATSON HOTEL 1886-IN THIS HOTEL THE FIRST FILM WAS SHOWN

[Watson's Hotel, currently known as the Esplanade Mansion, is India's oldest surviving cast iron building. It is located in the Kala Ghoda area of Mumbai (Bombay). Named after its original owner, John Watson, the building was fabricated in England and constructed on site between 1860 and 1863. (Wikipedia)]

Among the hotel's notable guests was Mark Twain, who wrote about the city's crows he saw outside his balcony in Following the Equator. It was also the first place in India to screen the Lumière Brothers' Cinematographe invention in 1896. However this was witnessed only by Europeans.

A popular myth surround the hotel was that the staff at Watson's Hotel denied Indian industrialist Jamsetji Tata 
access to the hotel. In retaliation he opened the Taj Hotel,
 a hotel that stands near the Gateway of India, in 1903. However, author and historian Sharada Dwived idebunks this legend. She points out a lack of evidence to prove that Tata was a man of vengeance.

On 13 June 2010, the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) gave its approval for the 130-year-old structure to be restored. The restoration work will be carried out by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The Lumière Brothers Les frères Lumière
Auguste Lumière (left) and Louis Lumière (right)
Place of birth	Besançon, France
Auguste	Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière October 19, 1862 April 10, 1954 (aged 91) (Lyon, France)
Louis	Louis Jean Lumière October 5, 1864 June 6, 1948 (aged 83) (Bandol, French Riviera)
Occupation	Filmmakers
Education	La Martiniere Lyon
Parents	Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1895)
Awards	Elliott Cresson Medal (1909)

Bombay(Mumbai) Esplanade 1905

Watson's hotel, now known as Esplanade Mansions at Kala Ghoda

Coordinates	18.9283°N 72.8311°E
Structural system	Cast iron
Town	Mumbai
Country	India
Client	John Watson
Started	1867
Completed	1869
Architect	Rowland Mason Ordish
Engineer	Rowland Mason Ordish

Oldest photographs in the world1826

Edison kinetoscope films 1894 -1896

The Lumiere Brothers' - First films (1895)

The world's first film poster, for 1895's L'Arroseur Arrosé

l'arroseur arrosé:-FILM

Cinematographe Lumière. Museu del Cinema[FILM PROJECTOR 

1896]

The Frenchman Louis Lumiere is often credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895. But in truth, several others had made similar inventions around the same time as Lumiere. What Lumiere invented was a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe, three functions covered in one invention.  In 1895, Lumiere and his brother were the first to present projected, moving, photographic, pictures to a paying audience of more that one person.

Later in 1896, Edison showed his improved Vitascope projector and it was the first commercially, successful, projector in the U.S.. Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope Open - Film was threaded on rollers as a continuous ribbon.

Mumbai will honour oldest driving licence holders[ AND SOME CARS AND SCENES FROM THAT ERA] Jan 6, 2011,

MUMBAI: They've seen the city gain dizzying height from their windscreens, watched towers rise from their rearview mirrors and heard the din of honking cars grow around them. Mumbai's oldest driving licence holders, whose wallets have housed the yellowing paper for more than six decades, will be felicitated on January 16 as part of the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) and Mumbai Traffic Police's celebrations of 90 years of motoring.
Nitin Dossa, executive chairman of WIAA,

describes these senior licence holders as chroniclers of the changing face of the city. That's clear when J M Ashar, an 87-year-old Sion resident and retired insurance officer, fondly remembers sepia-toned days when he took his first ride in a two-door English make Hillman in 1951. "Roads were wide and there were few cars in those days. It was a joy," says Ashar, lamenting the state of traffic now.
Pravin Nanavati, an 83-year-old retired stock broker, too would rather drive down memory lane instead of the choked streets of Mumbai during peak hours. "I drive now in the mornings only when the traffic is slow," he says, remembering how he would drive his father's Morris and then his own Padmini every morning through C P Tank, Chowpatty and Elphinstone on his way to Dalal Street. 

J.J. HOSPITAL BOMBAY 1890'S

Sir (Rustomjee Cowasjee Cursetjee) Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 5th Bt; Sir Charles William Cayzer, 1st Bt; Miss Cayzer; Miss Jejeebhoy; Sir Jamsetjee Manockjee Cursetjee Jejeebhoy, 4th

1902 CAR IN BOMBAY:-[cars were originally called as 'horseless carriages']

BOMBAY FLORA FOUNTAIN (PHOTO BELOW)JUST BEFORE ARRIVAL OF CARS C:1890?SHOWING HORSE PULLED TRAMS AND CARRIAGES;AND WATER TANKERS ON BULLOCK CARTS TO SPRINKLE WATER ON DUSTY ROADS SEEN ON LEFT SIDE OF PICTURE -(NO TAR ROADS THEN) 

BELOW PHOTO:-BOMBAY VICTORIA RAILWAY STATION(NOW C.S.T.STATION)BEFORE ARRIVAL OF CARS 

According to the WIAA, the first car landed in India in 1898 (ONE OF FIRST CARS IN BOMBAY C:1900 IN FORT AREA;PHOTO BELOW )SEE THE REGISTRATION NUMBER PLATE:- JUST NO:36;MAY BE THE 36TH CAR IN BOMBAY ?INDIA?

BELOW:- A NEWS PAPER CUTTING ON EARLY CAR RACE! IN INDIA -1906

OLDS MOBILE CAR 1900

and was driven by a municipal engineer called B H Hewitt. "At the turn of the twentieth century, three Oldsmobiles 

Some other issues remain too, like the stereotype of the woman motorist. Indumati Merchant, one of the licence holders being felicitated, has been zipping up and down since 1949 before she was married. "I used 

BABY FIAT 1940'S

to drive a Baby Fiat

were imported for Jamsetji Tata, attorney Rustom Cama (the estranged husband of political revolutionary Madame Bikaji Cama) and Kavasji Wadia of Bombay Garage. "Within ten years of the first automobiles in Bombay, there were 1,025 cars zipping across the city," says Dossa and adds that the WIAA started as a social club for the elite. "But the concerns were the same then too. Much tarmac has been poured on the roads since, but issues like demand for better roads and affordable fuel remain."

 and I was so short that people could not see me behind the wheel. They would think the car was moving by itself," she says with a smile.

IN SOUTH INDIA :- [1950'S]->THE CARS WERE MAINLY 1930 TO  1940 MODEL FORD; CHEVROLET;MORRIS;AUSTIN ETC 


OLD DRIVING LICENSES :-
1898 DRIVING LICENCE FROM GERMANY[ issued in Linz on the 28th of June 1898, folded document in map 8.2x12,2cm, that time most car companies did not even exist, commercial car production was started 1899 an no car-licence was needed;MAINLY FOR BICYCLE]

1931 GERMAN DRIVING LICENCE


1928 DRIVING LICENCE FROM ITALY

1940 DRIVING LICENCE


1943 DRIVING LICENCE(BELOW)

 Thursday, November 25, 2010
 Oldest driver - world record set by Verna Truax
 PARKERSBURG, Iowa, USA--Verna Truax, 105 years old, of Parkersburg, stistill hops into her maroon Pontiac Sunbird LE to go to the grocery store or the doctor's office to get her blood pressure checked and recently renewed her driver's license - setting the new world record for the Oldest driver.
   Photo: Verna Truax, 105 years old, of Parkersburg, still drives her own car and recently renewed her driver's license - setting the world record for the
Oldest driver. Photo by: Rick Chase (enlarge photo)

  Born in 1905, Truax began driving Model T's (when they were the dominant vehicle on the road) in the 1920s with no license at all - "We didn't have to have driver's licenses that long ago," she said - and in that entire time she says she's never been in an accident and never had a speeding ticket.