Sunday, October 23, 2011

200-year-old Mumbai milestone TO SHOW THE DISTANCE FROM ST THOMAS CHURCH

The city’s original 16 milestones, that are spread across the city were installed over two hundred years ago and served as the backbone of the seven islands that once Mumbai was. According to civic records, the one at Dadar reads as VII miles and was placed between 1816 and 1837.

The latest list of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority's Heritage committee lists 16 original milestones, including the one kept in the premise of the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla.

I MILE

3 MILES

4 MILES

These milestones were built between 1816-1837 and these basalt stones, originally three or four feet tall, mark the distance in miles from St Thomas’s Church (today St Thomas’s Cathedral at Fort) which, in the eighteenth century, comprised the city-centre. This means they measure the distance of a particular location from the city's centre.

Of the 16 milestones listed, many are missing or have sunken into the ground during various road-widening projects or footpath building projects. BMC's heritage committee chairperson Dinesh Afzalpurkar, however, refused to comment on the issue.

Saint Thomas's Church, Bombay-

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

video of old haunted fort of Bhangar in Rajastan at night

In search of the paranormal in Shimla

Rocky-Mayur in the haunted city of Bhangarh

Google Map of Bhangarh abandoned city

Info

Map

Comments (0)

Related Files

Bhangarh (Devanāgarī: भानगढ़) is a town known for its historical ruins, situated in the Alwar district of the state of Rajasthan, India.

Legend has it that due to a curse of Guru Balu Nath, the whole town was vacated overnight. Balu Nath sanctioned the establishment of the town but said: "The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!" Ignorant of such foreboding, one ambitious descendant raised the palace to such a height that its shadow reached Balu Nath's forbidden retreat and the town was devastated. The small samādhi where Balu Nath lies buried is still there.

The other myth is as follows: The charm of princess of Bhangarh Ratnavati was said to be matchless in all of Rajasthan. Being eighteen years old, the princess started getting matrimonial offers from other states. In the same region there lived a tantrik, a magician well versed in the occult, named Singhia who was desperately in love with the princess knowing that he would never be allowed to even see her, let alone meet her. One day, he saw the princess' maid in the market buying scented oil for her. Seeing this, he got an idea by which he could meet the princess. He used his black magic and put a spell on the oil which would hypnotize the princess by her merely touching the oil, and she would surrender herself. The princess foiled this plan though. She had seen the tantrik enchanting the oil, and she therefore threw it away, whereupon the flagon rolled over a stone. As soon as the oil touched the stone, it started rolling towards the wicked tantrik and crushed him. While dying, Singhia cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it, without any rebirth in their destinies. The very next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh and no one survived, not even the princess Ratnavati.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put up a signboard at Bhangarh stating (among others): "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited."

Some people who visit this place say that there is a strange feeling in the atmosphere of Bhangarh, which causes symptoms of anxiety and restlessness. Nevertheless, most of people like Bhangarh, and even those who went there at night didn't notice anything strange.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangarh

INDIA POST AND MAIL SERVICE 1500 ONWARDS

A traditional container for formal letters that were to be delivered by a special herald or messenger;

*"A kinkhab bag, Kharita, used as an envelope by the princes of India, with the seal of H.H. Tukoji Rao Holkar... engraved by Shekh Nisar Mahomed of Delhi," from the Journal of Indian Arts, vol. 1, London 1886*

"Diorama of the route of the overland mail to India-- Leaving Suez," from the Illustrated London News, 1850

Tallis maps from 1850′s were very interesting. It gives you a sense of place, a sense of geography and a sense of images from the place.
Like the one above, it has the map, it has the color coded overland routes to India and is adorned with little vignette of the images and those little camels and lions are just so adorable.
In the 1830s, the Suez route—steamship to Alexandria, overland to Port Suez, steamer across the Arabian Sea—halved the travel time from London to India: three months rather than six. (It would halve again with the opening of the canal in 1869.)

For all England's pride in its empire, few Englishman had any sense of it before the 1850s.

The Arab slave trade passed mainly over land routes

Click anywhere on the image to zoom. Click and drag the image to pan.

"Mail-gary in the northwest of India," from 'Ballou's Pictorial,' 1856

"Dawk Walas (Postmen)

"Slinging letter-bags in the rainy season," from the Illustrated London News, 1858

The catamaran postman"*

"Her Majesty's Mail in India," from the Illustrated London News, 1867

Successive postmarks on a letter to the Nawab of Rampur, 1867

The postmarks show that the letter travelled from Delhi to Meerut, then on to Calcutta, then on to Aligarh, then to Rampur, where it finally caught up with the Nawab.

"The postal services carriage," by A. de Neuville, from 'Le Tour du Monde', 1873

A special postal office was set up on the Prince of Wales's ship (Illustrated London News, 1875);

Loading mailbags into the Prince of Wales's ship, from The Graphic, 1875*

"Gwalior: The Dak-Ghari," from 'India and its Native Princes' by Louis Rousselet, 1878

A letter sent from Diu to Karachi in 1881; the envelope has been secured with sealing-wax

c.1900, from India : across the man's chest is a leather strap, leading to his letter pouch; in one hand he carries a package, and on his shoulder is a large metal badge that reads "Post Office Delivery Peon No. 11