(reproduced from http://the-strawberry-fields.blogspot.com with permission from the author)
" I Told You So"
That's what S.K. Patil and Nehru would have said if they were alive today. They aren't alive, but you can almost hear them banging their heads against a wall in dismay.
First, a bit of history...
Prior to independence, British India was divided into provinces and princely states, each of which had elected legislatures and governors. In 1947, it was granted independence and was divided into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The princely states were encouraged to join one of these countries. Bhutan and Hyderabad opted for independence, but Hyderabad was eventually brought under Indian control. Till 1950, there were 27 states
not quite the same as we have now), excluding Jammu and Kashmir which had special status till 1957.
The Indian National Congress had promised that states would be divided on a linguistic basis. Andhra was the first state to be formed where the Telegu-speaking part of the Madras State was merged with Hyderabad. Nehru was vehemently opposed to the linguistic divisions. He said "If you succeed in creating so-called linguistic states now, what will happen ten or twenty years hence? Are you going to stop people from moving from one state to another? This movement will change the linguistic composition of the state." Eventually he had to give in, and the Government set up the States Reorganization Committee in 1953. In 1956 the States Reorganization Act came into place. It recommended the division of India into 14 states and 7 union territories. The Bombay State was to include Saurashtra, Kutch, Marathi-speaking Nagpur district of Madhya Pradesh, and Marathwada part of Hyderabad.
A major controversy surrounded the future of Bombay city. The Gujaratis felt that they had invested so much in the city's development, that it should be handed over to Gujarat. Maharashtra laid claim to it on the basis that there was a majority of Marathi-speakers. However, given the cosmopolitan nature of the city, Nehru proposed that Bombay be a city-state.
The issue was discussed in the Lok Sabha in 1955. S.K. Patil, a Marathi-speaking MP from Bombay, said that his city had a "cosmopolitan population in every respect" and that it had been "built with the labour of everybody". His hopes were for Bombay as a "a miniature India run on international standards", "a melting pot that will evolve a glorious new civilization" and he said it was "an extraordinary coincidence that the population of the city should be exactly one percent of the population of the whole country. This one percent drawn from all parts of the country will set the pace for other states in the practice of secularism and mutual understanding". He asked the Maharashtrians to give up their claim on Bombay, in the spirit of compromise.
N.V. Gadgil, a fellow Congressman, refused to accept Patil's proposition. Gadgil was categorical in his demand for a united Maharashtra (or Samyukta Maharashtra, as the movement was called). He said that if "these sentiments were unheeded, the future of Bombay would be decided on the streets of Bombay".
It was eventually decided that Bombay will be a city-state. This led to widespread protests led by the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, whose leaders included Keshavrao Jedhe, Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray (yes, now you know where the genes came from!) and Senapati Bapat. There was rioting on the streets of the city and several demonstrators (~105) were fired at and killed by the police at Flora Fountain. Morarji Desai, the then chief minister of Bombay State was asked to resign (a tradition that continues today), and was replaced by YB Chavan. Eventually the Government had to give in, and in 1960, the state of Maharashtra was formed.
Fast forward to the present. 26/11 has started this debate all over again. The need for a CEO of Bombay, or a directly elected mayor. Our city has been held ransom by the state for long enough, but has anything really changed to allow for an independent state this time around?
An article in The Hindu puts it nicely, even though it was written over 5 years ago:
"To recall the debate between Patil and Gadgil is to remember a time when Indian parliamentarians were both independent-minded and intelligent. Patil's case, for retaining Bombay's cosmopolitan character, was made with logic and eloquence. But Gadgil's case, for the centrality of the city to Maharashtrian identity was compelling as well. Here were politicians from Maharashtra who could argue on the basis of principle and believe in what they said too. Can one say the same for their latter-day epigones?
In some ways, one can still hear the echoes of that old Lok Sabha debate. For, tragically, what was to N.V. Gadgil a matter of legitimate cultural pride, has degenerated, under a different kind of Maharashtrian leadership into an insular parochialism. The battle for Bombay continues. On the one side are those who see it as a truly cosmopolitan city, which can still set the pace for other states in the practice of secularism and mutual understanding". On the other side are the visceral chauvinists of the SS" and MNS.
*Addendum*
By sheer coincidence, I was emailed this link today, which is relevant to what I've written, so I'm adding it here. It's a letter written to the Linguistic Provinces Commission by B.R. Ambedkar in 1948. While his overall conclusion is very different from what I believe to be the solution, his is a very balanced and well-expressed argument, definitely worth reading. He says:
"While accepting the principle of Linguistic Provinces it must provide against the break-up of India's unity. My solution of the problem therefore is that, while accepting the demand for the re-constitution of Provinces on linguistic basis, the constitution should provide that the official language of every Province shall be the same as the official language of the Central Government. It is only on that footing that I am prepared to accept the demand for Linguistic Provinces."
"The idea of having a Linguistic Province has nothing to do with the question of what should be its official language. By a Linguistic Province, I mean a Province which by the social composition of its population is homogeneous and therefore more suited for the realisation of those social ends which a democratic Government must fulfil. In my view, a Linguistic Province has nothing to do with the language of the Province. In the scheme of Linguistic Provinces, language has necessarily to play its part. But its part can be limited to the creation of the Province, i.e., for demarcation of the boundaries of the Province. There is no categorical imperative in the scheme of Linguistic Provinces which compels us to make the language of the Province its official language. Nor is it necessary, for sustaining the cultural unity of the Province, to make the language of the Province its official language. For, the cultural unity of the Province, which already exists, is capable of being sustained by factors other than language such as common historic tradition, community of social customs, etc. To sustain Provincial cultural unity which already exists it does not require the use of the Provincial language for official purposes. Fortunately for the Provincialists there is no fear of a Maharashtrian not remaining a Maharashtrian because he spoke any other language. So also there is no fear of a Tamilian or an Andhra or a Bengali ceasing to be a Tamilian, Andhra or Bengali if he spoke any other language than his own mother-tongue."
"Under no circumstances, we must allow the Linguistic Provinces to make their Provincial languages their official languages."
For those interested in reading more, you should see:
The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, 1946-1960
The 2003 Hindu Article mentioned above
Nehru Said It All
Nehru and Linguistic States
Merry Christmas everyone!
By,
Sanjana
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Review of 'All Thieves'
Summary : Interesting. Thought-provoking. Witty / cynical / tongue-in-cheek. Definitely worth a watch.
Those who want to know more can read on.
‘All Thieves’ is produced by ‘Motley’, with Denzel Smith, Heeba Shah, Imaad Shah, and Ankur Vikal as the cast. ‘All Thieves’ is not one full-length play, but a collection of seven short stories. Four of these are borrowed from Italo Calvino (‘The Black Sheep’, ‘Making Do’, ‘Good For Nothing’ and ‘Conscience’), and the rest from Haruki Murakami, Mohan Rakesh and Kamtanath.
A wide variety of themes are explored in these stories - love, marriage, people’s reactions to authority, outliers creating disorder where there was order (of a kind), the reason for being part of a war etc. Some of the stories are a wry and cynical look at social phenomena, while some twist an aspect of common happenings and then humourously focus on them. The dialogue is crisp and the denouement swift in most pieces.
Apart from an economy of words, the play also uses props sparsely; mostly minimal furniture, and in one story, a blackboard used well for maximum effect. The background score comprises some really good music, ranging from the song 'Bombshell Baby of Bombay' from an obscure Hindi movie called ‘Ek Phool Chaar Kaante’ to 'Everybody Knows' by Leonard Cohen and lots of jazz / blues.
I could feel my attention wandering during the two Hindi pieces and feel these would have benefited from tighter editing. Other than this, I have no quibbles with the play and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pieces written by Italo Calvino, in particular, were my favourites and I have decided that this is one author/playwright I must read in future.
By,
Zenobia D. Driver
(p.s. Links to two of the songs below :
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/compilations/s/album.9035/
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leonard+cohen/everybody+knows_20082809.html)
(p.p.s Link to a review of the play that expresses an opinion different from mine -
http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/theatre/theatre_details.asp?code=182&source=1)
Those who want to know more can read on.
‘All Thieves’ is produced by ‘Motley’, with Denzel Smith, Heeba Shah, Imaad Shah, and Ankur Vikal as the cast. ‘All Thieves’ is not one full-length play, but a collection of seven short stories. Four of these are borrowed from Italo Calvino (‘The Black Sheep’, ‘Making Do’, ‘Good For Nothing’ and ‘Conscience’), and the rest from Haruki Murakami, Mohan Rakesh and Kamtanath.
A wide variety of themes are explored in these stories - love, marriage, people’s reactions to authority, outliers creating disorder where there was order (of a kind), the reason for being part of a war etc. Some of the stories are a wry and cynical look at social phenomena, while some twist an aspect of common happenings and then humourously focus on them. The dialogue is crisp and the denouement swift in most pieces.
Apart from an economy of words, the play also uses props sparsely; mostly minimal furniture, and in one story, a blackboard used well for maximum effect. The background score comprises some really good music, ranging from the song 'Bombshell Baby of Bombay' from an obscure Hindi movie called ‘Ek Phool Chaar Kaante’ to 'Everybody Knows' by Leonard Cohen and lots of jazz / blues.
I could feel my attention wandering during the two Hindi pieces and feel these would have benefited from tighter editing. Other than this, I have no quibbles with the play and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pieces written by Italo Calvino, in particular, were my favourites and I have decided that this is one author/playwright I must read in future.
By,
Zenobia D. Driver
(p.s. Links to two of the songs below :
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/compilations/s/album.9035/
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leonard+cohen/everybody+knows_20082809.html)
(p.p.s Link to a review of the play that expresses an opinion different from mine -
http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/theatre/theatre_details.asp?code=182&source=1)
Friday, December 05, 2008
Bombay Blast Aftermath
The last few days have exposed the gaping holes in India’s security. No one had a clue that such large tranches of arms and ammunition were being moved along the coast. The agencies which did suspect it passed on the information to people who could act but who chose not to act. When the terrorists struck, the Mumbai police was clearly out of its depth. It took the NSG ten hours to land in the scene of action. The media became a liability by providing information on what was happening at the three locations. Shivraj Patil in his interview to the media in the middle of Wednesday night sounded as clueless as the media about the reason behind the attacks and the scale of it. People stood around Nariman House cheering commandoes like a Trapeze artist had just finished his show in the circus and a couple of bystanders gawking at the scene in Taj actually got hurt in the crossfire.
The whole thing sounds like an unbelievable novel set in some impoverished nation in the 70s. Not like it happened in one of the world’s rapidly growing economic and nuclear powers. As a citizen of one, I would so love to kick some butt.
Why is our security not better than this?
We are surrounded by an elite crop of neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, and China. Pick any one name off this list and you cannot but wonder how we can be lax on security. What are we spending our money on if we don’t know what is going on right beneath our noses? And once hit, why is our response time so bad? While it is understandable that local cops can’t be expected to respond to extraordinary situations like this, why don’t we have specialized cops in all key places? It is not like this is a sudden occurrence. After all Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Assam – all of them were hit just this year. What is our strategy in the face of terror attacks and hostage situations? Do we fumble around before getting our act in place? Why did we have to lose our head of the Anti Terrorism Squad in the line of fire so early on when, with all due respect, he should have been planning strategy?
The fight going in the media about the exact number of terrorists was incredulous. Central sources claimed 15. Mumbai police said 10 landed and 5 went back. I am having a tough time trying to visualize 5 young, determined terrorists training for a year coming to Mumbai’s coast and saying to themselves ‘Oh dear, I don’t feel up to it. I am heading right back to Karachi’. The hatchet was buried when the Police commissioner clarified that the number was indeed ten and all terrorists were accounted for.
What are we doing about our esteemed neighbour, Pakistan, the hotspot of terrorists?
If anyone remembers Dawood Ibrahim (from the 93 Mumbai blasts, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Mumbai_bombings), it is probably from his sightings at social functions in Pakistan. The man will die a natural death before we can even extradite him. Our failure in bringing to task a man wanted in one of India’s most horrific attacks certainly sends out signals that we either don’t care or are incapable. Forget Dawood, the closest we have got to his on-the-ground guy in India, Tiger Memon, is to arrest his family including his younger brother, Yakub Memon, when they finally came back to India.
The universally accepted fact is that if ever a list of best training grounds in the world for an ambitious terrorist were to be made, Pakistan would be right up there in the list.
Does that mean we go to war with Pakistan?
Certainly not. If we did go to war, where would it stop? Unlike a boundary dispute where you know the purpose of aggression, this would just be ‘we will show them’ kind of war with no end in sight. On the other hand, the time has come to gang up with other nations. If Pakistan were to make inroads into Kashmir, it becomes a bilateral boundary dispute. If Pakistan were to train people to create terror situations, it is a global problem. The time is right, with such an outpouring of support from nations across the world, including the big daddy of all, the U.S., to put pressure through cutting them off. Stop dealing with them till they manage to demonstrate that they have put an end to ISI’s training-terrorists activities or managed to get some kind of control over the apparently wild North Western frontier which acts as a freeway in the arms trade.
So what are top honchos doing?
Bickering on TV. Vilas Rao Deshmukh had nothing useful to say and sulked in his interview (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ8iIib3A0&feature=channel) outside the Trident on Friday, implying that Narendra Modi should have stayed at home. Then he decided to get some goodwill for son Ritesh by taking Ritesh and Ram Gopal Varma on a guided tour of the Trident (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qXqHP3peBUs) (Note to father and son – RGV’s films suck these days. You could have bet on someone else). R.R.Patil displayed his sensitive side by making a remark that sounded like a DDLJ quote on how small things happen in big cities (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Small_incidents_like_this_do_happen_RR_Patil/articleshow/3773971.cms). Kerela CM Achuthanathan’s massive ego made him make rude remarks about Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s family(http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1712278). Surely, these guys are not for real ?
Do we sack them ?
Oh yes. Deshmukh deserved to go. I don’t believe for one minute that his likely replacements are more competent or less corrupt than he is. What we however need to demonstrate is the minimum standards that we, as the voting public, expect from our leaders. We expect that they understand that it hurts to live in fear of where the next bomb would go off. We are shocked by how easily the sequence of events happened. We are outraged by the general air of cluelessness and silliness. We will put up with a lot and we do put up with a lot. But expecting us to put up with incompetence that threatens our lives, is really pushing us too far. If people in charge of our security cannot deliver, then we would like to see them pay for it.
So what do we do now?
No clue. Really. Taking part in candle vigils does not work for me. I can see it is a great outlet but am not sure if it is much of a solution. Not to mention, I am worried that it may provide an attractive venue for any leftover terrorists who did not take the boat back to Karachi as the Mumbai police claimed. Not being resilient and sitting at home is not an option. I have to pay my rent and feed myself.
I don’t think that voting out a particular party is enough. My only hope is voting out specific politicians who screwed up this time. It is one thing when your party does not come to power. But it hurts at a very personal level if you lose and are faced with the threat of becoming inconsequential within your party.
I am certain that Shivraj Patil (http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14808590) will bounce back after a while. But in the interim, I am sure the ‘perks’ and the power he will lose on account of not being a cabinet minister for a couple of years will pinch. But if he just lost elections again… Presumably, sneaking in through the back door as a cabinet minister would become a difficult option then. Boy, that would sure keep him awake at nights the way I woke up in fits on Thursday night, very frightened. And when he comes back, hopefully, he will keep it in mind and deliver slightly better so as to not be sacked. And hopefully, other politicians in similar jobs will also sit up and take notice of how ephemeral their posts are when they don’t deliver.
I still have faith that you can use your vote to make your voice audible. Just think about what your minimum standards are.
By Anita B
(reproduced with permission from http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
The whole thing sounds like an unbelievable novel set in some impoverished nation in the 70s. Not like it happened in one of the world’s rapidly growing economic and nuclear powers. As a citizen of one, I would so love to kick some butt.
Why is our security not better than this?
We are surrounded by an elite crop of neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, and China. Pick any one name off this list and you cannot but wonder how we can be lax on security. What are we spending our money on if we don’t know what is going on right beneath our noses? And once hit, why is our response time so bad? While it is understandable that local cops can’t be expected to respond to extraordinary situations like this, why don’t we have specialized cops in all key places? It is not like this is a sudden occurrence. After all Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Assam – all of them were hit just this year. What is our strategy in the face of terror attacks and hostage situations? Do we fumble around before getting our act in place? Why did we have to lose our head of the Anti Terrorism Squad in the line of fire so early on when, with all due respect, he should have been planning strategy?
The fight going in the media about the exact number of terrorists was incredulous. Central sources claimed 15. Mumbai police said 10 landed and 5 went back. I am having a tough time trying to visualize 5 young, determined terrorists training for a year coming to Mumbai’s coast and saying to themselves ‘Oh dear, I don’t feel up to it. I am heading right back to Karachi’. The hatchet was buried when the Police commissioner clarified that the number was indeed ten and all terrorists were accounted for.
What are we doing about our esteemed neighbour, Pakistan, the hotspot of terrorists?
If anyone remembers Dawood Ibrahim (from the 93 Mumbai blasts, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Mumbai_bombings), it is probably from his sightings at social functions in Pakistan. The man will die a natural death before we can even extradite him. Our failure in bringing to task a man wanted in one of India’s most horrific attacks certainly sends out signals that we either don’t care or are incapable. Forget Dawood, the closest we have got to his on-the-ground guy in India, Tiger Memon, is to arrest his family including his younger brother, Yakub Memon, when they finally came back to India.
The universally accepted fact is that if ever a list of best training grounds in the world for an ambitious terrorist were to be made, Pakistan would be right up there in the list.
Does that mean we go to war with Pakistan?
Certainly not. If we did go to war, where would it stop? Unlike a boundary dispute where you know the purpose of aggression, this would just be ‘we will show them’ kind of war with no end in sight. On the other hand, the time has come to gang up with other nations. If Pakistan were to make inroads into Kashmir, it becomes a bilateral boundary dispute. If Pakistan were to train people to create terror situations, it is a global problem. The time is right, with such an outpouring of support from nations across the world, including the big daddy of all, the U.S., to put pressure through cutting them off. Stop dealing with them till they manage to demonstrate that they have put an end to ISI’s training-terrorists activities or managed to get some kind of control over the apparently wild North Western frontier which acts as a freeway in the arms trade.
So what are top honchos doing?
Bickering on TV. Vilas Rao Deshmukh had nothing useful to say and sulked in his interview (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=hyJ8iIib3A0&feature=channel) outside the Trident on Friday, implying that Narendra Modi should have stayed at home. Then he decided to get some goodwill for son Ritesh by taking Ritesh and Ram Gopal Varma on a guided tour of the Trident (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qXqHP3peBUs) (Note to father and son – RGV’s films suck these days. You could have bet on someone else). R.R.Patil displayed his sensitive side by making a remark that sounded like a DDLJ quote on how small things happen in big cities (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Small_incidents_like_this_do_happen_RR_Patil/articleshow/3773971.cms). Kerela CM Achuthanathan’s massive ego made him make rude remarks about Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s family(http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1712278). Surely, these guys are not for real ?
Do we sack them ?
Oh yes. Deshmukh deserved to go. I don’t believe for one minute that his likely replacements are more competent or less corrupt than he is. What we however need to demonstrate is the minimum standards that we, as the voting public, expect from our leaders. We expect that they understand that it hurts to live in fear of where the next bomb would go off. We are shocked by how easily the sequence of events happened. We are outraged by the general air of cluelessness and silliness. We will put up with a lot and we do put up with a lot. But expecting us to put up with incompetence that threatens our lives, is really pushing us too far. If people in charge of our security cannot deliver, then we would like to see them pay for it.
So what do we do now?
No clue. Really. Taking part in candle vigils does not work for me. I can see it is a great outlet but am not sure if it is much of a solution. Not to mention, I am worried that it may provide an attractive venue for any leftover terrorists who did not take the boat back to Karachi as the Mumbai police claimed. Not being resilient and sitting at home is not an option. I have to pay my rent and feed myself.
I don’t think that voting out a particular party is enough. My only hope is voting out specific politicians who screwed up this time. It is one thing when your party does not come to power. But it hurts at a very personal level if you lose and are faced with the threat of becoming inconsequential within your party.
I am certain that Shivraj Patil (http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14808590) will bounce back after a while. But in the interim, I am sure the ‘perks’ and the power he will lose on account of not being a cabinet minister for a couple of years will pinch. But if he just lost elections again… Presumably, sneaking in through the back door as a cabinet minister would become a difficult option then. Boy, that would sure keep him awake at nights the way I woke up in fits on Thursday night, very frightened. And when he comes back, hopefully, he will keep it in mind and deliver slightly better so as to not be sacked. And hopefully, other politicians in similar jobs will also sit up and take notice of how ephemeral their posts are when they don’t deliver.
I still have faith that you can use your vote to make your voice audible. Just think about what your minimum standards are.
By Anita B
(reproduced with permission from http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Bombay : History of a City
Back to work now, and while everything I'm doing seems trivial compared to the crisis at hand, here are some fun and some useless facts I've learned about Bombay (back when it was still called that)...
- The physical history of Bombay is a story of land reclamation. The Great Breach (now called Breach Candy) was built to stop the ravaging sea waves from destroying construction in Worli and Mahalaxmi.
- 179.96 lakh (where 1 lakh = 100,000) bottles of Energee Milk bottles of 200ml each were produced and distributed in 1984-85, along with 0.7 lakh bottles of masala milk and 0.96 lakh cups of ice-cream
- Commemorative coins were introduced by the Bombay mint every now and then including "Equality, Development and Peace" in 1975, "Happy Child,Nation's Pride" in 1979 and "Rural Women's Advancement" in 1980.
- Licence fees for squatters and hawkers in 1972 were Rs. 2 for itinerant hawkers, Rs. 10 for hawkers using vehicles drawn by animals and Rs. 15 for stationary handcarts
- A 1975 Economic Times article described the opening ceremony of the first train in Bombay as :
"It was a warm sticky, sultry Saturday (16th April 1853) afternoon with the sun shining rather unkindly. That time there steamed from a little wooden station (that was Bori Bunder, 122 years ago), a little train that heralded the introduction of Railway to India and the East. It was a different Bombay which witnessed momentous scene—a Bombay bereft of its architectural beauties and its industrial horrors, of its hurtling trains and roaring buses—a Bombay which one would have to see to believe.
The day was declared a public holiday. A space around the railway shed was thickly thronged with people of all classes, creeds and colours. Bands played, guns fired from the fort's rampart, when, at the signalled moment, the train with 400 guests comfortably started was set in motion and went majestically along its course to the astonishment and wonder of the assembled thousands.
The whole line densely crowded with spectators from the terminus to the flats beyond Byculla, tier after tier of the houses in the native town were tilled as thickly as they could be by men, women and children. The scene altogether was one of the great beauty and excitement."
- The first tramways from Colaba and VT were opened in 1874. In 1920, two-storey tram cars were introduced that became a popular means of transport, with a restricted speed of 8kmph! The last tram ran from VT to Dadar in 1964.
- The Taj Hotel was inaugurated in 1904 and was a cherished project of Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata. He is said to have built this hotel after being denied entry to the Watson's Hotel, which was considered one of the best in Bombay at that time.
- In 1870, the number of passengers travelling daily between VT and Dadar was 37, and between VT and Thana, 160!
How many questions can you answer (without googling of course!):
1) The first railway line opened in 1853, between Bombay and which suburb?
2) On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Air India on 15 October 1982, JRD Tata piloted an old tiny aircraft called Puss Moth. How old was he?
3) What was the original name of what we now know as B.E.S.T or Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking?
4) How much were bus fares on the first buses introduced in 1926?
5) How many female beauticians and hairdressers were there in Bombay in 1911?
6) Even though the Taj was built in 1904, it was not the first 5-star hotel in Mumbai. The first one to have this honour was Sea Princess in Juhu. Why?
Answers:
1) Thane
2) 75!
3) Bombay Elecric Supply and Tramways Co. Ltd
4) Ranged from 2 annas to 6 annas depending on the distance
5) 4
6) The Taj did not have a swimming pool :-)
Check out the online version of the Bombay Gazetteer, for the most comprehensive information you'll ever find on this city (unfortunately the process was discontinued after 1986.
Some really nice pictures of "Lost Mumbai" here, though most of you must have seen these already.
Disclaimer: I'm not entirely sure about question #6. I heard it on the radio as part of a quiz, and thought it was interesting. I haven't been able to verify it yet.
By,
Sanjana
(Read more by her at http://visionmumbai.blogspot.com)
- The physical history of Bombay is a story of land reclamation. The Great Breach (now called Breach Candy) was built to stop the ravaging sea waves from destroying construction in Worli and Mahalaxmi.
- 179.96 lakh (where 1 lakh = 100,000) bottles of Energee Milk bottles of 200ml each were produced and distributed in 1984-85, along with 0.7 lakh bottles of masala milk and 0.96 lakh cups of ice-cream
- Commemorative coins were introduced by the Bombay mint every now and then including "Equality, Development and Peace" in 1975, "Happy Child,Nation's Pride" in 1979 and "Rural Women's Advancement" in 1980.
- Licence fees for squatters and hawkers in 1972 were Rs. 2 for itinerant hawkers, Rs. 10 for hawkers using vehicles drawn by animals and Rs. 15 for stationary handcarts
- A 1975 Economic Times article described the opening ceremony of the first train in Bombay as :
"It was a warm sticky, sultry Saturday (16th April 1853) afternoon with the sun shining rather unkindly. That time there steamed from a little wooden station (that was Bori Bunder, 122 years ago), a little train that heralded the introduction of Railway to India and the East. It was a different Bombay which witnessed momentous scene—a Bombay bereft of its architectural beauties and its industrial horrors, of its hurtling trains and roaring buses—a Bombay which one would have to see to believe.
The day was declared a public holiday. A space around the railway shed was thickly thronged with people of all classes, creeds and colours. Bands played, guns fired from the fort's rampart, when, at the signalled moment, the train with 400 guests comfortably started was set in motion and went majestically along its course to the astonishment and wonder of the assembled thousands.
The whole line densely crowded with spectators from the terminus to the flats beyond Byculla, tier after tier of the houses in the native town were tilled as thickly as they could be by men, women and children. The scene altogether was one of the great beauty and excitement."
- The first tramways from Colaba and VT were opened in 1874. In 1920, two-storey tram cars were introduced that became a popular means of transport, with a restricted speed of 8kmph! The last tram ran from VT to Dadar in 1964.
- The Taj Hotel was inaugurated in 1904 and was a cherished project of Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata. He is said to have built this hotel after being denied entry to the Watson's Hotel, which was considered one of the best in Bombay at that time.
- In 1870, the number of passengers travelling daily between VT and Dadar was 37, and between VT and Thana, 160!
How many questions can you answer (without googling of course!):
1) The first railway line opened in 1853, between Bombay and which suburb?
2) On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Air India on 15 October 1982, JRD Tata piloted an old tiny aircraft called Puss Moth. How old was he?
3) What was the original name of what we now know as B.E.S.T or Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking?
4) How much were bus fares on the first buses introduced in 1926?
5) How many female beauticians and hairdressers were there in Bombay in 1911?
6) Even though the Taj was built in 1904, it was not the first 5-star hotel in Mumbai. The first one to have this honour was Sea Princess in Juhu. Why?
Answers:
1) Thane
2) 75!
3) Bombay Elecric Supply and Tramways Co. Ltd
4) Ranged from 2 annas to 6 annas depending on the distance
5) 4
6) The Taj did not have a swimming pool :-)
Check out the online version of the Bombay Gazetteer, for the most comprehensive information you'll ever find on this city (unfortunately the process was discontinued after 1986.
Some really nice pictures of "Lost Mumbai" here, though most of you must have seen these already.
Disclaimer: I'm not entirely sure about question #6. I heard it on the radio as part of a quiz, and thought it was interesting. I haven't been able to verify it yet.
By,
Sanjana
(Read more by her at http://visionmumbai.blogspot.com)
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