Run by the students of Udaan
MumbaiWeekly Volume 01 Issue 12
metro
MONDAY, 16 APRIL 2012
feature
sports
entertainment
Mumbai auto rickshaws go on strike are to increase the minimum fare by Rupees ers and owners went on five and the fare for every subsequent kiloa state wide indefinite strike starting from 16 meter by Rupees two. There is also the deApril 2012. The strike is with a demand for a mand for a new formula for auto fare based on raise in the fare. The Maharashtra state gov- the consumer price inernment has decided to dex, and that a committee is to be formed for increase auto fares for this purpose. the second time in six According to Rao, the months already on 13 April. The government strike is planned on April 16 so that all the hiked the minimum schools and colleges are auto rickshaw fare by done with their examiRupee 1, effectively nations and the students from 20 April 2012. There is also a demand do not suffer from the strike. But in a turn of for raise in the fare of subsequent kilometers, events, many of Mumbut it was not approved bai's auto rickshaw unions have welcomed the by the government. government's decision The indefinite strike of the fare hike, and are from 16 April was annow opposing the strike nounced by Sharad call by Sharad Rao. Rao, the president of Auto rickshaw Owners Demands are being met partly by the governand Drivers Action Committee, which is a ment, as it also appointed a one man commitbody of local unions from different parts of tee for revision of the the state. The demands fare formulas. Meter down: A man walks past parked auto rickshaws during the strike by rickshaw drivers and owners in Mumbai on 16 April, 2012. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly
Auto rickshaw driv-
Mumbai prepares for crisis
Now, a machine to clean „Mithi‟ river!
Onlookers watch Mumbai‟s Mithi river getting cleaned on 12 April, 2012 Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Another advantage of this robotic machinery Municipal Corporation is that it is controlled by only one person (BMC) tested a new robot for desilting the sitting inside a cockpit. The deputy chief engiMithi river and the neer of storm water drains of Mumbai on drains department 12 April 2012. (BMC), Mr. Vijay The sewage department of BMC demon- Golwalkar, said to the media, “The device strated the multipurwas bought to modernpose machine on a ize the BMC‟s desiltsection of the Mithi river. The robot, man- ing mechanism. It has ufactured by the Euro- several advantages in pean company Kaiser, comparison to the regis a multipurpose exca- ular JCB, Poclain and vating vehicle, which other dredger machines currently used reduces the use of more than three sepa- by the civic body. It can be used to lift rate machines.
The Brihanmumbai
Civil Defense personnel enact a terror attack scenario during a mock drill to educate people on how to tackle situations like bomb blasts and natural calamities in Mumbai on 16 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly statement, "The purpose of the civil defence is to minifence Society carried out a mize the effect of loss of mock drill in Mumbai on 16 human life and property durApril 2012. ing disaster. Moreover it A Civil Defence Society is a helps to boost the morale of group of people, officially people." sanctioned by the governThe organisation had worked ment, to guide people with on situations like the superbasic safety measures during cyclone of Orissa (1999), a situation of crisis - like Gujarat earth quake (2001) terror attack, earth quake or and Tsanami (2004). During flood. the Mumbai terror attacks, According to the offcial 225 officers and volunteers
Members of the Civil De-
of the civil defence group were in action, mentions the official statement. In India, the Civil Defence Act was passed in 1968. However, in England, such groups have been existing and working since the time of second World War. All class, religion and category people are volunteer of civil defence.IT professionals, businessmen, housewives, students, teachers etc.
were involved in the organization actively. A free training of first aid, fire fighting, rescue, emergency lifting method, nuclear, biological, chemical disasters are given in courses so that the trained volunteers can save life of themselves and others. Mumbai Weekly photographer Pratham Gokhale covered this mock drill. More images on page 2.
heavy things, excavate roads and even cut trees.” The monsoons will start looming over the city by mid June-July, and the BMC is taking serious desilting measures to reduce the flooding of drains in the city during the rainy season. The Kaiser robotic machinery costs around Rupees 8 crore (approximately USD 1.5 million), including three years of operational and maintenance charges.
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metro
MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Mumbai Weekly
Drill to tackle calamities for the first time in city
Top: A Civil Defense personnel rappels on a building during a mock drill to educate people on how to tackle situations like bomb blasts and natural calamities in Mumbai on 16 April, 2012 Right: A policeman recues a girl during a mock drill by Civil Defense Bottom: People lie down on road during a mock drill by Civil Defense. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Mumbai experiences Indo-German festival
German musicians perform during inauguration of „Indo-German mela‟ in Mumbai on 13 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
An Arial view of „Indo-German mela‟ on 13 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
A different kind of mela (fair) is in the city. India and Germany have collaborated to bring the Indo-German Urban Mela at the Cross Maidan Garden in southern Mumbai from 13 to 23 April 2012. Mumbaikars will find a unique blend of science, technology,
culture and entertainment at this urban extravaganza, which is a part of the events titled "Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities", to commemorate 60 years of Indo-German diplomatic relations. The mela is being hosted inside modern
pavilions with the theme "StadtRaume CitySpaces", designed by German installation artist Markus Heinsdroff. Various issues like energy, sustainable urban development, architecture, cultural space, education and art are being dealt in this mela.
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Metro
MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Mumbai Weekly
Larger than life wedding memories
A match making portal unveiled the largest wedding album in the world in Mumbai on Matrimony Day, 14 April, 2012. The album measured 14 feet (4.26 meters) in width, 17 feet ( 5.18 meters) in length and weighed around 1000kgs. It consisted of 16 sheets with eight images on either side of married couples. It was made by employing 15 workers and took a total of 1600 man hours to create. A Guinness World Records adjudication authority present at the site examined the album and announced that it is now the biggest album in the world breaking the previous 2008 entry from Beijing, China. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly
Jewelers protest duty hike
Devotees enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Mumbai on 6 April, 2012. Mumbai Weekly
Pratham Gokhale /
Pilgrimage through the city ing the attacks on the community, like the tion of the crucifixion of persecution of the Christians in Kashmir, disJesus Christ happened crimination towards near St. Anthony's Dalit (a group regarded Church in Vakola, as „untouchablesâ€&#x; in the Mumbai, on 6 April society since ancient 2012, which moved many of the participants times) Christians, antiand onlookers. Accord- conversion laws, targeting to him, this dramati- ed violence, economic deprivation and social zation was a dignified Christian way of protest- boycott.
The final dramatiza-
Jewelers participating in a protest rally in Mumbai on 7 April, 2012. Around 7,000 jewelers from the city protested against the hike in excise duty on gold, implemented in the budget 2012-2013. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
A devotee enacts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Mumbai on 6 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Life line on display Western Railway held an exhibition from 13-16 April 2012, to celebrate its 57th anniversary at Mumbai's Churchgate station. The history of railways go back 150 years when the first train was pulled by bullocks! It was the first narrow
gauge started in Baroda, Gujrat by a division of Western Railway. Spreading over a 1000 sq ft, the exhibition informed the railway enthusiasts with in-house videos and even displayed old and rare pictures of railway stations.
Left: People watch a miniature train during an exhibition of western railway in Mumbai on 13 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
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Editorial
MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Mumbai Weekly
OPINION : Mumbai Diaries
Children stand on a sidewalk near the hand prints of Bollywood stars during an event in Mumbai. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
city of stark disparities. A place where the poor living in dirt and filth coexist with the filthy rich. A place where glamour and Saarthak Aurora Bollywood coexist with one of the biggest slums in the World. Its a city so charged f India is a land of and so alive, as an outdiversity, Mumbai is a sider, it takes a while
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just getting used to. However, once you accept the city and the madness it withholds, it will have you hooked. Everywhere else will seem so bland. Step out onto the streets and every day will show you sights unseen. You might see suffering
and witness pain, but you will also find warmth and feel love. On one hand, the people will squeeze you to death in the train during rush hour, that too if you manage to get onto the train in the first place. On the other hand if they accidentally even brush
their foot against you they will touch you with their hand and kiss it, like they had just committed the biggest sin. One moment, you may find yourself completely lost in the crowd, having just stepped on to the railway platform, the next, you may find
peace like never before, sitting by the sea. I have seen women celebrate on the streets, dancing like there was no tomorrow. I have seen men lying passed out on the footpath as people walked past without a second glance. I have felt the pulse of the
city, walking through its streets with my camera in hand. I have also found myself feeling lonely, despite being surrounded by hundreds of people. When I first came to Mumbai, everyday survival seemed like a challenge. As the months went by, with-
out realizing it, I slowly started to enjoy the energy around me. This city has been such an experience, and also such a mixed bag, that I don't know what to feel about it. Its like a mystery, one that I find myself getting addicted to, more and more, everyday.
POINT OF VIEW : Where the childhood has gone? Twisha The word 'childhood' provokes a lot of thought in your mind, like carefree, joyous, playful, and happy. Childhood has often been used as a metaphor to innocence, spontaneity in literary hierarchy, so much so that a simple act of some unknown kid on some random street brings a smile to our face as we cannot hold our senses to travel back in time and think about our own self at that juncture. But it seems that the time has changed. The words that you can relate to childhood now are, may be, stress, competition, pressure. The children from a well-to-do family are born to be a part of the inevitable rat-race. Their lives are full of studies, private tuitions, all other coaching classes that their parents consider as essential. No time is left for the child like amusements or outdoor games. One may find the children from so-called lower class playing and enjoying their life, but once you seek for the real story, the truth might seem bitter. They are forced to work, to earn to help their family; they cannot afford to go to school to study. At the end, wherever you look, childhood is heavily burdened, troubled and depressed. A boy carries footwear as he walks in suburban Mumbai Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
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feature
MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Schooling in a traditional Indian way oâ€&#x;clock in the morning. They prepare their own food. Every forming religious rituals) forms day, two of them take the responan integral part of the Vedic sibility of making food for every(from the period when the Vedas, one, while others study. After an the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, early morning bath, all the stuwere composed) tradition. Ved dents study till 12 noon and again and Sanskrit School in Sion, start studying after their lunch Mumbai is the only government break, from 2 in the afternoon. recognized school in the city Mr Padhye also takes these stuwhich offers a five year full time dents on the field, to perform course in Paurohitya. Boys from rituals during the course. All stuvarious places of Indian state of dents relax in evening after a full Maharasthra come here to study day of studying. It is not only this art. Around 10 students are about studies in this school, as the currently learning Paurohitya students exercise and play during under their teacher Vedmurti this time. Mumbai Weekly phoShree Suresh L. Padhye. All the tographer Pratham Gokhale students stay in the school itself spent some time with these stuthrough out the course. For these dents and captured few moments students, the day begins at 5 of their daily routine.
Paurohitya (or the art of per-
Mumbai Weekly
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Business
MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Mumbai Weekly
Car sales cross a record two million mark
Vehicles stand at a parking lot in Mumbai on 13 April, 2012. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), sale of four-wheelers crossed the two-million mark in 2011-2012. This is for the first time that car sales have crossed this number. As a hike in excise duty was expected in the budget 2012-2013, the last quarter saw a steep rise in the sales, particularly in March, when many of the automobile companies in the country recorded their highest ever sales. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Loop Telecom to shut shop Loop Telecom, owned by Essar Teleholdings, decided to quit from the telecom market on 10 April 2012. The decision came as a result of the cancellation of 122 telecom licenses by the Supreme Court after the 2G spectrum scam. This closing of operations will impact around 6,000 subscribers. However the 32,50,000 subscribers in Mumbai will not be affected as the services in the city are run by Loop Mobile, a
sister concern of the company. Loop mobile was earlier BPL mobile, which was renamed after a takeover by Essar. The company will soon be issuing job termination notices to all its employees. The company was operating in 13 circles, with largest subscriber bases in Kolkata and Odisha respectively. Loop Telecom is now the third company to wind up its services after S Tel and Etisalat DB, following the Supreme Court verdict. A woman walks pass Loop Mobile advertisement in Mumbai on 16 April, 2012. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
Mumbai least affordable for housing in the world: Report Three centuries will be needed for an average Indian to pay for a luxury home in Mumbai. According to a news paper report, the city is the least affordable in the world for locals. Studies showed that a 100 square meter luxury house in Mumbai costs around USD 1.14 million, which is 308 times the per capita income in In-
dia. Similarly, Shanghai residents will need 233 years and Moscow locals will need 144 years to procure a similar residence. A Singaporean and a New Yorker would need 43 and 48 times of their average annual income respectively. At the end of 2011, houses in the prime locations in Mumbai were being sold for an average of
USD 11,400 a square metre, while the purchasing power of the people was still USD 3,700. Another report has calculated that housing prices in India have rose by a staggering 284 percent since 2001. The same prices have declined the most in Japan with a drop of 30 percent, followed by Ireland and Germany.
Left: A boy sits in front of a billboard in Mumbai on 16 April, 2012 Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
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MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Arts & Entertainment
Mumbai Weekly
Celebrities on the ramp to save the girl child
Well known bollywood actress Sushmita Sen walks the ramp in a fashion show in Mumbai on 11 April, 2012. The fashion show was part of a awareness campaign called 'Save and Empower the Girl Child' organized by doctors of a leading hospital in the city. A central government report stated that in India about 10 million girls have been killed by their parents either before or after they are born in the last 20 years. The average death rate for girls under the age of one was 72 per 1000 compared to 55 per 1000 among boys. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai
Aamir Khan‟s television debut
Global Konkan Festival in Mumbai
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is all set to debut in television with his own production, „Satyameva Jayate‟ (truth triumphs). Khan is said to be working on this concept for over two years before collaborating with Star Plus to get this show on air from 6th May this year. This show is going to showcase the problems of the people around the country. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Performers dance at the Global Konkan Festival in Mumbai on 15 April, 2012. The five day festival was organized by the „Konkan Bhumi Pratishtan‟at the Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai, to globally promote the rich nature, culture, art, tourism and industry of the Konkan region of Indian state Maharashtra. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Sania and Shoib come to B-Town
Indian Tennis player Saniya Mirza was recently in town with husband, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. They visited the sets of NDTV's television show 'Issi Ka Naam Zindagi' where Sania spoke about her love
for the game, her career and her ongoing preparations for the coming London Olympics. Mumbai Weekly photographer Saarthak Aurora was present there to bring us some glimpse of the tennis star.
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MONDAY, 16 APRIL
Sports
Mumbai Weekly
Disney collaborates with the Mumbai Indians
Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse (center) poses for the photographers with players of Mumbai Indians cricket team, Sachin Tendulkar (Extreme left), Lasith Malinga (Extreme right), Harbhajan Singh (Second from right) and owner of the team, Nita Ambani (Second from left) during a launch of „Mickey Cricket‟ merchandise range in Mumbai on 5 April, 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
Twisha / Mumbai Weekly
Mumbai witnesses Brazilian martial art
Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
Capoeira, the Brazilian martial art is said to have originated in 16th century, in the time when Portugal adopted huge number of African slaves. Nowadays this has a become immensely popular all over the world and India is not an exception. In Mumbai Reza 'Baba' Messah founded the first Capoeira school in Khar(west), Mumbai in 2006. He is trained with the
"Cordão de Ouro" (CDO) of Israel, which was started in Brazil and now its branches are all over the world. The main difference between Capoeira and other form of martial arts is the music which accompanies and often leads the attack and defense moves of this sport. The music that is sung by the master and the students, the continuous body movement and minimal
contact sometimes make this sport seem as a form of dance. The two most common ways of playing this game is Angola and Regional. In CDO, these two forms merge. While practicing, Capoeira one can regulate weight, flexibility as well be involved in music and language. All these aspects have made this sport vastly popular.
Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly Published by: Udaan School of Photography. Editor: Pratham Gokhale Photo editor: Gitartha Goswami Chief Photographer: Shankar Narayan Email: editor.mumbaiweekly@gmail.com