Tuesday, April 16, 2013

India's first passenger train journey

India's first passenger train



April 16, 2013 marks the 160th anniversary of India's first passenger train journey in which 400 invited passengers travelled in 14 carriages on a 57 minute journey from Bori Bunder in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane.
Since that first journey in 1853, railways have have become one of the most important modes of transportation in the country. Here's a look back at the early days of Indian railways in a series of photographs from the 19th century.

A train carying livestock passes Rohtas Fort, India, circa 1851. The area is now part of Pakistan. Original Publication: Illustrated London News, pub. 7th June 1851 (Photo by Illustrated London News/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


12th March 1864: Two storied, third class carriage on the Bombay, Baroda and Central India railway. Original Publication: Illustrated London News - pub. 1864 (Photo by HultonArchive/Illustrated London News/Getty Images)


circa 1867: An Indian station near Calcutta. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


A railway crash on a bridge in India. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


circa 1880: A railway reversing station on the Bhore Ghat Incline, near the town of Poona or Pune in Maharashtra on the edge of the Western Ghats. Pune is the junction point for two railways from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Madras (now Chennai). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


A railway reversing station on the Bhore Ghat Incline, near the town of Poona or Pune in Maharashtra on the edge of the Western Ghats, circa 1880. Pune is the junction point for two railways from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Madras (now Chennai). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


circa 1880: A view of the Scinde Delhi and Punjab Railway, a few miles from Lahore, looking towards Meean Mir on the plains of Punjab in Northern India (modern day Pakistan). (Photo by W. Harris/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


A train derailment during track-laying in India. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


circa 1890: Passengers waiting on the platform at Hyderabad Station in India. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


A view of Victoria Station, Mumbai (Bombay), circa 1900. Built in 1888 to a design by Frederick William Stevens, it is now known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

-=======================================================================--WHAT IS AMUSING IS THAT IT TOOK ABOUT AN HOUR MORE THAN 150 YEARS AGO;AND IT STILL TAKES AN HOUR IF NOT MORE TODAY!!! .SHOWS  INDIAN RAILWAYS PROGRESS IN 150 YEARS 
WHILE THE DOODLE DEPICTS PALM TREES ,ALL WE SEE TODAY ARE REMNANTS OF OLD FACTORIES ;UGLY NEW HIGH RISES,
NOW  SCENERY BELOW 


Siddeshwar Talao in Thane
UNFINISHED SKY WALKS ,AND OPEN AIR TOILETS
THEN
1853




                              KURLA STATION BOMBAY(MUMBAI) 1853
 .WHILE PEOPLE TRAVELLED COMFORTABLY SITTING INSIDE ,NOW IT IS 

NOW
NOW

NETAS DONT CARE FOR COMMON MAN 




Mumbai's rail lifeline a death trap for commuters - CNN.com

edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/.../india.trains.reut/Share
Block edition.cnn.com
Jul 23, 2007 – On average, 4,000 people die a year on Mumbai's railways, crushed ...His office fined about 30,000 people $12 each last year for breaking ...




Mumbai's rail lifeline a death trap for commuters

www.ibtimes.com › Politics › US PoliticsShare
Block ibtimes.com
On average 4,000 people die a year on Mumbai's railways, crushed under trains, electrocuted by overhead power lines or killed as they lean from jam-packed ...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, April 15, 2013


Haji Ali seashore continues to raise a stink, plaints fall on deaf ears

Tuesday, Apr 16, 2013, 9:00 IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Locals say Dargah trustee has been preventing trucks from lifting garbage.
A garbage-covered stretch of the Haji Ali seashore on Monday.
Several Haji Ali residents no longer feel good about residing in posh buildings overlooking the sea. Even as piles of garbage on the shore has become an eyesore, the threat of spread of infectious disease has been haunting the residents for the past few months.

They have been making the rounds of the BMC's D ward office to no avail. Even repeated complaints to seniors and top civic officials have fallen on deaf ears.

An official from the Solid Waste Management (SWM) said the contract for lifting garbage from the shore expired last November and the file for issuing new contracts is still lying in the SWM office. No new tender has been issued either. Also, Haji Ali being 'no man's land', with half of it in G-south and the other half falling under D ward, has led to officials passing the buck.

"For the past few months, the amount of garbage has been continuously increasing and there are no signs of it being cleared. Children and senior citizens are at risk of falling ill. Children play in the building garden, its wall has the filthy shore on the other side," said a resident of the area.

He added, "Garbage invites a lot of strays, rodents, flies, roaches and mosquitoes. It's like having diseases spread on a platter."

Another resident said that this issue has a history as the managing trustee of the Dargah committee, AS Merchant, has had a conflict with the residents over car parking. Now, the trustee, in vengeance, does not allow garbage trucks from D ward to lift garbage from the left side of the shore near Shiv-Tirth and Rewa buildings, while the garbage trucks from G-south, which lift the garbage in front of the shrine, are allowed, the resident alleged.

However, Merchant said it's the buildings' residents who throw garbage on the shore.

When asked if he stopped D ward trucks, Merchant refused to clarify.   

The resident added, "This happens even though the road belongs to the collector and is not a property of the Dargah trust."

Osama Motiwala, who resides in Rewa building, said there is no access for the trucks, excavator machines and dumpers from the road leading to the shore. "We have taken up the issue with the Haji Ali Dargah committee and they have promised us to discuss the issue with the managing committee and come up with a solution," Motiwala said.

Motiwala said that a D ward official has asked residents to forgo clean roads for a few days if they want clean shore. "Also, handling garbage with a hand cart would be difficult for civic officials. They are yet to come up with a solution," he added. 


Woman fidayeens being trained to attack Mumbai, Pune: Patil

, TNN | Apr 16, 2013, 02.21 AM IST
MUMBAI: Woman fidayeens were being trained to carry out terror attacks on Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and other towns in Maharashtra, home minister R R Patil told the Lower House on Tuesday.

Patil revealed this in a written reply to a question raised by BJP legislators Yogesh Sagar and Gopal Shetty during the Question Hour session.

During the session, the two legislators asked the home minister what counter-measures were taken by the government after it received the inputs from the central agency.

Without getting into the details of the intelligence inputs received on January 12, Patil said the government put the police and other agencies on alert. Sagar later told TOI the questions were based on special IB inputs. "We cannot share the details of this inputs," he said.

"The district police chiefs, railway police and other arms of the state police were immediately informed by way of a wireless message to be on high alert," he said, adding that a standard operating procedure was also put in place to ensure terror strikes could be prevented.

Home department officials refused to get into the details of the inputs.

Meanwhile, the food and hospitality industry wants the state police to make security equipment affordable and give permission to install them without much hassle. The police recently made it mandatory for all restaurants, bars and hotels to install CCTV cameras. 

Mumbai police still clueless about intercepted ship MSV Yusufi ...

indiatoday.intoday.in › India › WestShare
Block indiatoday.intoday.in
Apr 7, 2013 – Police in Mumbai are still putting together the puzzle that is MSV Yusufi... Sources say that while the present consignment in the ship may not be .... Hirani and Chopra are ready to wait for Sanjay Dutt to come out of the prison.

'The morale of the Mumbai police was down'

tehelka.com/the-morale-of-the-mumbai-police-was-down/Share
Block tehelka.com
It was not the fault-finding committee it was made out to be. ... I do not think action has been taken yet to make the Mumbai Police better prepared post 26/11 ... Jet-Etihad deal not ready for take off · 1984 riots: Court orders reopening of case ...

AFP: Mumbai needs more modern police, better intelligence: experts

www.google.com/.../ALeqM5huMyeuoXl_mTfyd1vW4GeoZ...Share
Block google.com
Dec 2, 2008 – Mumbai needs more modern police, better intelligence: experts ...better equipment, improving the quality of recruits and training top officers.


  1. Mumbai susceptible to terror strikes - India Today - India Today Group

    indiatoday.intoday.in › Videos › India
    Block indiatoday.intoday.in
    Jan 12, 2012
    ... and lack of police personnel which leaves commuters vulnerable to terror attacks. ... Khadi vs Khaki ...
  2. More videos for mumbai police lacks personal »

  1. Home dept seeks more cops, arms & ammunition for Mumbai police ...

    articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../mumbai/3654...
    Block articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
    Sharad Vyas
    by Sharad Vyas
    Jan 25, 2013 – You are here: Home>Collections>Mumbai Police ...assessment of the police needs and assured that most demands will be accommodated in ...

  2. 'Traffic police needs 1,600 officers' | The Asian Age

    archive.asianage.com/mumbai/traffic-police-needs-1600-offic...Share
    Block archive.asianage.com
    Feb 17, 2013 – Mumbai police commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh on Saturday said that the traffic police needs an ...


  1. MLA goons are reducing Mumbai police to a joke | Firstpost

    www.firstpost.com › IndiaShare
    Block firstpost.com
    Mar 29, 2013 – MLA goons are reducing Mumbai police to a joke ... It needs a leader who will show even the politicians that the law is to be respected. It needs ...

  2. App review: Mumbai Police's new SOS app is unreliable - Sci/Tech ...

    www.dnaindia.com › Sci/Tech
    Block dnaindia.com
    Jan 12, 2013 – After national outrage over the Delhi gang rape rocked the country, theMumbai Police launched a SOS app for women in distress on January 6 ...

Brun-maska in Britain




















Dishoom recreates the charm of Mumbai's Irani cafês in London - the quaintly worded rules, the berry pulaos and the many stories of their quirky clients
A few months after 26/11, a couple injured in the attacks on Leopold Cafê in Mumbai



returned to the well-known Irani restaurant. "I have come back to finish my beer, " the husband said. For two weeks now, such anecdotes have been making patrons at London's Dishoom restaurant stare into their plates a tad longer than an Irani cafê owner might appreciate. After polishing off their keema puffs and brun maska, these Londoners start reading the curious text on their plates. In it, they find a man comparing the soft bread slices of Cafê Excelsior to Cupid's cheeks and also imagine another man smirking as he recalls that some cafês came with small wooden family cabins which were mainly used by courting couples. There's even the story of a gentleman who fell in love with a waitress at a cafê and the amusing one of a man who would shout, "cuckoo" so that the young waiter, who only spoke Farsi, would figure out that he wanted an egg. 



All of these are real stories contributed by a bunch of nostalgic Irani cafê lovers from Mumbai. As part of Dishoom Plates, a campaign by Ogilvy One UK along with Dishoom restaurant, the agency gathered stories from the older generation in Mumbai and the UK, from oral accounts as well the internet. Of these, 80 were chosen and baked onto plates in various shapes - a chilli, a slice of bread or even a beer bottle. Reading them after a meal has the same effect as ingesting sweet caramel custard;a smile is sure to follow. "Everyone asks about Irani cafês after reading these, " says Shamil Thakrar, who calls himself the 'founder-wallah' of Dishoom, which has outlets in both Shoreditch and in Cotton Garden, London. Thakrar is not a Parsi - he's of Indian origin but was born in Uganda and then moved to the UK - but his idea is to introduce Londoners to this quaint, thinning slice of mid-century Mumbai. And everything about his two-year-old restaurant pays homage to these eateries that came with the faded elegance of high ceilings and chequered tablecloth. Thakrar grew up in King's Circle and has fond memories of Irani cafês. Often, outings involved a horse ride at Chowpatty beach (which Thakrar pronounces as 'chapati' ) and a quick meal at a cafê or two nearby. "It was the most democratic place where the taxiwallah could rub shoulders with rich lawyers, " recalls Thakrar, who moved to London a few years ago. But on each of his subsequent to Mumbai, he saw these paragons of social democracy slowly disappearing. Frothy coffee was fast nudging out the comfort of Irani 'cutting chai'. The city was running out of "social spaces that forced the rich and the poor to mix". Cafê Naaz and the quirky Bastaani, which had a long list of don'ts, including "No leg on chair", were gone.


 Where there were once more than 400 Irani cafês, fewer than 20 remained. Clearly pining for this quaint bit of Mumbai, he decided to recreate a part of it in London by opening a restaurant chain inspired by Irani cafê elements. This, decided Thakrar, would also force Londoners to think of a Mumbai beyond clichês such as "Bollywood, cricket, the days of the Raj and curry". South Mumbai, with its gothic architecture and decor so redolent of England, provided a fair bit of design inspiration. Thakrar also scoured the city's Chor bazaar for chairs and old photos. 
Soon, two recreations of mid-century Bombay haunts materialised in London. One, with all its disheveled corners, in the bohemian Shoreditch and another in the upmarket Cotton Garden locality. The menu includes, among other items, warm baked biscuits along with keema puffs (just like the ones at Sassannian), berry pulao, lamb rann burgers and kala khatta. The waiters are called babus and the captains, bade babus. And though the stencilled text on the windows lists 'Do not sit more' among other 'don'ts', the plates campaign makes that one difficult to follow. 


Most patrons of Irani cafês have their favourite cafê stories. Thakrar is no exception. During one visit to Mumbai, Thakrar encountered the famous owner of one well-known example, Britannia. "Do you know how old I am?" asked Boman Kohinoor Irani of Thakrar and went on to answer the question himself. "As old as this hotel. " When Thakrar asked, "What can I have to drink?" the Irani cafê owner launched into an impromptu rhyme - "Nimboopani is nice and sweet. Ideal to beat the Bombay heat. " 
Thakrar plans to keep the campaign to record such vignettes going. The restaurant's website encourages visitors to share stories and memories, of which the best are still being chosen to be baked on to the dishes. Incidentally, at his restaurants, there is no signborad that says, "No stealing of plates".

 | 

Share on Yahoo Buzz Share on Digg
Email this article Save this article 
Print this article Reduce text size Increase text size

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Eastern Freeway 22-km-corridor at a glance-MUMBAI




South Bombay to Chembur in 16 minutes

, TNN | Apr 12, 2013, 05.28 AM IST

READ MORE Joint metropolitan commissioner|EEH
MUMBAI: Nine sets of entry-exit ramps on the upcoming Eastern Freeway, whose first phase is likely to be inaugurated in May, will enable a signal-free 17-km drive between Orange Gate on PD'Mello Road and the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road.

 It will help a large number of daily commuters between south Mumbai and the distant northern and eastern suburbs. MMRDA engineers said some vehicles from even the western suburbs might use the freeway via the existing Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link road (JVLR) and the Sion-Dharavi road. The Santa Cruz-Chembur Link road is expected to be completed by the year-end and the futuristic Eastern Express Highway-BKC connector may also help traffic from the western suburbs access the freeway smoothly.

 By May, a 14-km stretch of the freeway between Orange Gate up to Panjarpol near RK Studios in Chembur will be opened for traffic, the remaining 3km from Panjarpol to Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road will be thrown open by July. However, experts warn of slow traffic towards Orange Gate as vehicles will initially have to be monitored and routed properly. Over 25,000 vehicles are expected to take the freeway daily, which will heavily decongest Dr Ambedkar road and PD'Mello road. Joint metropolitan commissioner Ashwini Bhide however denied the possibility of congestion at Orange Gate, adding traffic arrangements would be made accordingly.

 South Mumbai traffic from Colaba, Nariman Point, Malabar Hills, Mumbai Central, Fort, Crawford, Tardeo, Masjid, Kalbadevi, Girgaum and Byculla will be able to access the freeway from the Orange Gate ramps on PD'Mello road via Sardar Patel road, Carnac bridge road, Yusuf Ali or Meher Ali roads. Vehicles from Lalbaug, Parel, Jacob Circle, Chinchpokli and Currey Road will be able to use Reay Road ramps of the freeway via Dockyard and Victoria roads.

 Traffic to and from Kings Circle, Matunga, Dadar, Sion, Wadala, Five Gardens and areas beyond like Prabhadevi and Worli can take the ramps at Sewri-Wadala-Chembur road towards Barkat Ali junction. Vehicles travelling from the Sewri Nursing home area towards Rafi Ahmed Kidwai road (or PD'Mello road) and Chaar Rasta and vice versa can also use these ramps.

 Traffic from Sion, Dharavi, Chunabhatti, Kurla, Suman Nagar, parts of Wadala, Bandra (including vehicles travelling from the Western Express Highway to the Eastern Express Highway to go to Navi Mumbai or south Mumbai) can take the ramps at Bhakti park, Wadala. Four ramps on and before RC Marg are mainly for traffic from within Chembur, RCF, Kurla, or even for traffic from EEH towards RC Marg and Port road or Mahul road. People beyond RCF railway tracks and inside areas such as Mysore Colony, RCF etc can also use them.

 A pair of ramps at Shivaji Chowk, Panjarpol, near RK Studios in Chembur is for vehicles from Navi Mumbai, Goa, Pune, as well as from Thane, while the ramps at Govandi will provide freeway access to traffic from Chembur, Deonar and Mankhurd. The Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link road ramp will mainly be used by traffic from the EEH.

 MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said for the first few days, vehicles were likely to take the freeway only out of curiosity. He said consultants and traffic authorities will initially monitor crucial areas to suggest changes and ensure the flow of traffic.


 

 






Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)