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This morning dressed in saffron, barefeet I left home to go to Murud Janjira to shoot the bullock cart race 2010 , a race that I have shot with a passion over the years, I shot it last year too.
So I took a train reached Gateway and was surprised there was not a single photographer going to Murud.
I took a PNP boat paid Rs 110 for the upper deck, reached Alibagh , had some snacks at Sumangal , my first halt at Alibagh , the road was burning hot my barefeet took the brunt , I caught a bus from Alibagh to Murud Janjira paying Rs 55 ..
On the way near Nandgaon , a guy told me the race was canceled due to a court order but I continued my journey.
I arrived at Vinayaka restaurant on the Murud beach met the owner Sunil Dhamal..who reconfirmed the race was canceled.
I had not carried my mobile phone but I spoke to my journalist friend Kiran Batham of Sahara Samay, he was at Mahad..he is a Murud local.. he did not know the race was canceled either.
I shot a few pictures on the desolate beach , and was told by the kolis that the race was shifted to Nandgaon , I took another bus reached the Ganesh Temple at Nandgaon , but the race had been canceled at this venue too by the cops..
I met a local farmer of Nandgaoon , Vishnu Nangaonkar and he told me the race was at another village close to Alibagh , but I had no strength to continue, I got a bus after an hour , reached Alibagh , rushed to Maldar boat office and took the catamaran for Gateway all this at 6 pm..
On board I met a French guy an artist Fredrick , we got off at the pier , we walked till Lions Gate I offered him tea and he stays at a hotel at Metro Cinema and was walking back to his hotel, so I walked too till Churchgate caught a train and reached home dog tired exhausted at 9.30pm..
One person who lit up like a Xmas tree on seeing me was my 2 year old grand daughter Marziya Shakir .And I had made sure I carried two packs of wafers for her , she was overjoyed
And I showered had my dinner and this is my bum trip to Murud and back..
I had left Bandra at 9 .30 am today Gudi Padwa day.
Tags: trip to murud bullock cart race gateway of india street photography murud janjira trip gudi padwa canceled bullock cart race
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When I was a little child studying at Holy Name High School Convent Street , I would come to do my home work at the enclosure within the Gateway of India now close to the public..so Gateway of India has painful and sad memories too..
I learnt swimming here , somebody had pushed me off the pier and I paddled my arms to get ashore..and Philip Vaz son of Chic Choclit and I normally dived from here in the nights ..
The chanawala an old man a Bhaiyya was a nice guy gave me free channa when I studied here.
But the most sad memories I saw later in life when an alcoholic friend Putar hungry would come here and collect the channa thrown to the pigeons early mornings and eat it hungrily and than beg a few bucks for the utara at Kamla Mansion..
I would watch all this with a frozen heart..and scared too...I did become an alcoholic but God saved me from this final degradation and in a way I think Putar saved me from myself..I never saw him again but we drank beers at Aunty Wales close to Strand and the Hanuman Mandir..when we had money to blow...
Tags: trip to murud janjira street photography murud janjira trip gudi padwa canceled bullock cart race
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I once worked here at Burlingtons of Bombay in the early70s
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower is a five-star hotel located in the Colaba region of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, next to the Gateway of India. Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this building is considered the flagship property of the group[citation needed] and contains 565 rooms. From a historical and architectural point of view, The Taj Mahal Palace and the Tower are two distinct buildings, built at different times and in different architectural designs.
The hotel has hosted notable guests including The Beatles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac, The King & Queen of Norway, The Duke & Duchess of Kent, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, Roger Moore, Joan Collins, Mick Jagger, Deep Purple, Michael Palin, Hillary Clinton, Michelle & Barack Obama as well as professional cricket teams on tour. According to the BBC, after the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 by terrorists, the hotel serves as a symbol of Mumbai's resilience.[citation needed]
The Taj Mahal Palace hotel resort was commissioned in Indo-Saracenic style by Tata and first opened its doors to guests on 16 December 1903.
It is widely believed that Jamsedji Tata decided to build the hotel after he was refused entry to one of the city's grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted to 'whites only'. However, this story has been challenged by some commentators that suggest that Tata was unlikely to have been concerned with 'revenge' against his British adversaries. Instead they suggest that the Taj was built at the urging of editor of the Times of India who felt a hotel "worthy of Bombay" was needed.[1]
The original Indian architects were Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya, Ashok kumar and D. N. Mirza, and the project was completed by an English engineer, W. A. Chambers. The builder was Khansaheb Sorabji Ruttonji Contractor who also designed and built its famous central floating staircase. The cost of construction was £250,000 (£127 million today).[2] During World War I, the hotel was converted into a 600-bed hospital. The dome of the hotel is made from steel as used in the Eiffel Tower. Jamsedji Tata imported the same steel during that time. The hotel was the first in India to install and operate a steam elevator. The hotel imported American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths and English butlers, for the first time in India
The side of the hotel seen from the harbour is actually its rear. The front faces away to the west. There is a widespread misconception that the architects' building plans were confused by the builder so that he built it facing away from the harbor. This is not true, as the hotel was deliberately built facing inland, possibly because the horse carriages in which guests came to the hotel could more easily approach the hotel from the city.[citation needed] The carriages were then taken to Wellington Mews. 40 years ago, the old front was closed off, and since then, access has been made through the harbor-side entrance. Wellington Mews has now been converted into luxury service apartments operated and owned by the Taj group.
On the site where the tower wing now stands used to be a hotel called Green's Hotel. Green's was popular among sailors due to its low cost and was notorious for its wild parties.[3] at the Apollo Bunder, which was purchased by the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was at the Green's Hotel, that a small group of pro-Indian Goans assembled and formed the Goan Liberation Council demanding that Portugal cede Goa to India, in the 1950s. This was done at the instigation of Jawaharlal Nehru, and funded by the Kamani Group of Companies. In 1973, Green's hotel was demolished and the present Tower wing was constructed in its place.
At the time when Mr. Jamshyd D. F. Lam of the Taj Group was the General Manager from the year 1980-1985 the Hotel the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower the hotel ranked as the 5th best Hotel in the world and carried on the rank for the year after too The Hotel in 2010 is ranked 20th in Asia in the prestigious Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards.
Tags: trip to murud janjira street photography murud janjira trip gudi padwa canceled bullock cart race The Taj Mahal Hotel
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I admire these guys that left their various profession to become photographers , some of them worked at a barbers salon , another guy was a tea man and another guy a bhajiwala but today they earn with dignity.
This guy had befriended me at my last trip and I took a picture with him and several of his colleagues.
This is my tribute to the street photographers of Gateway of India.
Tags: trip to murud janjira street photography murud janjira trip gudi padwa canceled bullock cart race
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Tags: trip to murud janjira street photography murud janjira trip gudi padwa canceled bullock cart race
© All Rights Reserved