Run by the students of Udaan
MumbaiWeekly Volume 01 Issue 10
MONDAY, 26 March 2012
people
metro
culture
sports
Sach a 100!
Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar arrives at his Mumbai residence after Asia Cup 2012 on 21 March 2012. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly After scoring his 100th hundred during the Asia cup match against Bangladesh, it was obvious the kind of euphoria this was likely to cause back in India. The Asia Cup tour ended,
and the fans and media began gathering outside Sachin Tendulkar's newly built home to congratulate and speak to him. The scene outside his newly build home in Bandra was
that of friendly chaos and anticipation. Some of his fans, carrying bouquets of flowers waited for the moment when they would get the chance to hand it over to the man
himself. Meanwhile, members of the media were waiting to break the news of his arrival in his home, and clamoured towards him as soon as his car was spotted.
Acknowledging the presence of his fans and the media, Tendulkar thanked everyone, and after briefly speaking to the media, he went inside his home. The fans, well wishers and
Dust cover on Mumbai
Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly
members of media hoped that he would appear in his balcony, but he did not. While it was a bit disappointing, he certainly deserves time with his family. All said and done, many
consider him as a God of cricket, and after he achieved his landmark century, more so. But he has always refuted this by modestly maintaining that he is 'just human'.
Whatever it is, Tendulkarâ€&#x;s glory is matchless - ton or no ton! (Coca Cola press conference of Tendulkar on Page 8)
Mumbai woke up on 21st March, 2012 to see a thick dust cover over the whole city. According to the Meteorological Department of India this happened because of a dust storm in Rajasthan and the wind affected parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. But according to some meteorologists the reason behind this haze is a dust plume stretched across the Arabian Sea coast from Oman to India, resulted from convergence of two storms. One carried dust from Iraq and Kuwait, second caused a low pressure and gathered dust from southeastern Iran. Because of this alteration in wind cycle across Arabian sea, strong winds started blowing from Oman region towards India and the dust migrated to the Indian coast. The dust haze reduced the visibility level to six times than normal and pollution level was increased by nearly 500%. Along with that suspended particulate matter (SPM) level rose from 200 units to 1200 units per cubic meter. People suffering from asthma , diabetes or chest infections were advised to avoid going out early morning and late evenings as more particles settle down at that time and that can cause certain problems. But it was also ascertained that there is no need to panic. The haze started to clear out by Thursday evening but the increased pollution level and the particulate matter will take a longer time to settle down.
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PEOPLE
MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
Above: Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly, Below (Left): Arkadripta, / Mumbai Weekly, Below (Right): Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
DEEDS: Empowering the hearing impaired Those with hearing disability have got a someone to listen to them – in the form of DEEDS (Development, Education, Empowerment of the Disadvantaged in Society), a voluntary organization based in Mumbai. DEEDS aims to empower the those with hearing disability to cu-
rate a successful career and life for themselves. A unique initiative in achieving this goal is DEEDS Catering Institute in Mumbai. Under principal Mrs. Sharda Pargal, DEEDS Catering Institute offers a one-year full-time diploma course with stipend in catering certified by the Maharashtra State
Vocation Board. Every year, around 20 students with hearing disability are admitted to this course. The teaching staff consists of three teachers, out of which one specializes in talking to the students in their language of gestures. After successfully completing the course, students are placed in
hotels and restaurants. Some of the students have gone on to work in luxury hotel groups like Taj, ITC, Sheraton and Marriot. The students are mostly from a very poor background, who lack formal education, medical care as well as self confidence in many cases. The institute teaches these
students for free, provides them with a stipend and a proper meal, builds up their confidence and also tries to generate funds for few students, who have serious medical conditions apart from the inability to hear. Being a voluntary organisation, the institute runs totally on donations.
Dharavi‟s acting classes While on assignment in Dharavi, touted to be Asia‟s largest slum, Mumbai Weekly photographer Shailesh Andrade noticed a number of hand painted signs advertising for acting classes. Tickled with the concept of trained and groomed „slum dog millionaires‟ he followed a trail which led him to the „Five Star Acting Classes‟ run by a very amusing Baburao Ladsaheb. The studio is actually a one room house that shares space with a cooking area, a bed and a bathing area all painted in bright pink. Steel cupboards hide behind velvet curtains, hand written posters display the course timings with fees and kitchen utensils all stacked neatly on a stand adorns one side of the wall. A neat pile of photo albums, Baburao‟s personal achievements and laminated cutouts of newspapers sit next to a fridge. Every Sunday this room is class to animated children dragged in by optimistic parents, men with one size smaller T shirts and women dressed with clothes only heroines will wear, all belonging to this bottomless pit of aspirations and dreams called Dharavi.
Mumbai Weekly
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MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
metro
Mumbai Weekly
Spreading AIDS awareness, from one city to another
People walk in front of the Red Ribbon Express on a railway station in Mumbai on 15 March 2012. Awareness programs for AIDS were arranged in nine cars of the train. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
Taxi fare hiked by one rupee A Taxi ride has become more expensive from this week. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) has permitted a hike in the Taxi fare in the city by Rs. 1 for the minimum distance of 1.6km and 50 paise per Km thereafter. The new rates will now become Rs 17 and 10.50 /km thereafter. This new rate structure came into effect from March 18. The rate hike was in reply to a strike threat by taxi unions demanding a raise in fare to meet rising CNG costs. The rates of CNG saw an increase from Rs. 31.47/ kg to 33.10 /kg. Alt-
Taxi drivers go through new taxi fare chart in Mumbai on 18 March 2012. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
hough the new rate structure was below the Taxi unions demand of Rs 4 for minimum distance and Rs 2/Km subsequently, the strike was called off. Taxi users were not too pleased with this fare hike. According to Government records there are 58000 taxiâ€&#x;s registered in South Mumbai and 98566 in the suburbs. Newer vehicles have begun to replace the old models over the last couple of years and the mechanical meter has been replaced with an electronic one however with this fare hike no change in service is expected.
A periodical for visually impaired The Reliance Foundation launched the country's first national Braille script Hindi periodical 'Reliance Drishti' on 19 March, 2012. As far as the content of the newspaper goes, news reports mentioned
that 30 per cent of the space in the magazine will be devoted to news, while the rest will constitute detailed pieces on varied topics written exclusively for visuallyhandicapped readers of Reli-
ance Drishti. The periodical will be a fortnightly and edited by former editor of Marathi Braille periodical Swagat Thorat called 'Swapnasparsha'. Reliance Drishti is expected to have a
readership of 20,000 people and will be distributed free of charge through 320 institutions across India. Mumbai Weekly photographer Pratham Gokhale was at the launching of its first edition.
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EDITORIAL
MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
Mumbai Weekly
OPINION : Do you want a puppy?
Chirag Sutar
During a drive to the
outskirts of my city, I came across two village boys I assume they were coming back home from their nearby school. One thing that intrigued me about them was; one of them was holding an adorable little puppy - and with such loving tenderness! As I passed them, I casually asked the boy about his puppy‟s name. He said that it did not belong
to him, and that he had found it loitering on streets a while ago. To me, that sounded interesting. The way in which he was holding the puppy, I was sure he would take good care of it, but I chided him nevertheless - just to get his reaction. “What if the mother is around? And what if she is looking now for her puppy?” I asked. My sudden tough stand did not bother him much - he was sure the puppy was orphaned as he had looked around well for his mother before picking him up. By now, even I had begun petting the little puppy. Within minutes, and
showing spontaneity that only a child could show, he offered me to take the puppy home. “Do you want it? Here! Take him!” he said. Who could resist such an offer? But I could see that the puppy was lying royally in the hands of his savior - perhaps, the boy was his best caretaker. “There is no one in my home who can take care of it,” I told the boy. But I think my response made him curious. “No brother or sister? No parents?” he inquired. “They are all busy,” I said. For a village boy, what „busy‟ means I would not know but he appeared flummoxed. After petting the little puppy some more, I
bid the boys good bye. The next day, not too far from the place where I had met these boys, I saw a puppy (a different one) lying in a pool of blood and it was probably a victim of road accident (maybe it was loitering dangerously close to the streets). It was a disturbing sight. Just a day ago, the kids had done such a great job of saving a life but an adult (presumably busy or hurried) couldn‟t even drive carefully. Photographs by Chirag Sutar / Mumbai Weekly
POINT OF VIEW: Are we mere spectators?
A man sits in an auditorium in Mumbai on 23 March 2012. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly to power and another inquiry into a case Shailesh comes back with no Andrade results. That is the news carried by newspapers and news channels almost everyday. How do nother scam unwe react? I have often earthed, another person been met with a rekilled in the name of sponse „there‟s nothing religion or community, a single person can do!‟ another politician with a which is true what can a criminal record comes single person caught in
A
the rat race of survival in Mumbai do? A great despair lies both in the observation and in the conditioned response to it. What can a single person do? A single man armed with a „lathi‟ united a country and freed it from tyranny, a single soft spoken woman showed the world how to love and
care for lepers abolishing the concept of untouchability, just recently a single senior citizen united Indians from all over the world in a crusade against corruption Let us keep aside these big acts of heroism for now. I recently met a friend, Jayram who fought the Income Tax Department, allegedly
for a wrong charge levied on him for seven years, refusing to give in to all their settlement offers. Initially I saw his actions as naive and his perseverance a reflection of its insanity. Too much time on his hands I thought to myself, after all what change has he brought around, the social and
economic decay still remains the same. After all, what can a single man do? My respect for Jayram changed in retrospection. Here was an individual who refused to succumb to powerlessness, instead he stood up for what he believed, in what were his rights trying to bring reform
to the system and society. Imagine if some of us stood up like Jayram, then some more and some more soon we could have a revolution in our hands bringing about change. Tomorrow we will be spectators once again to the same scams, the same injustice, the same power abuse, something
I call the „Great India Tamasha‟. How are we going to react? Are we going to be mute spectators invisible to all that is happening or do we stand united in support of the few who have chosen to be vocal demanding for what is right. We have a choice, let us use it wisely.
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MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
feature
Mumbai Weekly
A boy stands in between a partly dried agricultural field on 19 March 2012. Arkadripta / Mumbai Weekly
Make every drop count World Water Day is observed on the 22nd of March every year since 1993 as per a United Nations declaration. But how many are truly aware of it? As part of this observance, many supported the idea by not using their taps for the whole day. But that what started off as a day to mark the importance of water has ironically reduced to a day of mere academic existence. Water is the key component that determines the quality of our lives. Although Water covers more than 70% of the Earth, only 1% is available as a source for drinking. Yet, our society continues to contaminate this precious resource. Water being a universal solvent, comes into contact with many different inorganic substances and chemicals before it reaches the consumer. Many public water systems treat water with chlorine and destroy disease producing contaminants. Though disinfectants are used to prevent diseases, they can create byproducts which may pose potential health risks. Today, drinking water at the point of use has become a necessity. When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure, we cannot pretend that the problem is elsewhere. Gitartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly
Arkadripta / Mumbai Weekly
Arkadripta / Mumbai Weekly
Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly
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BUSINESS
MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
Mumbai Weekly
A man walks past an Automobile Showroom in Mumbai on 25 March 2012. Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer, on Wednesday announced an increase in prices of its model range available in India. While the Fully Built Units (FBU), Audi A7 Sportback, Audi A8 L and Audi RS5, have seen an increase of 13 to 14 per cent in their prices, the Audi models Audi A4, Audi A6 and Audi Q5 which are locally produced in India are now costlier by 3.4 to 3.7 per cent. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly
Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
A labourer works at a steel utensil workshop in Mumbai on 18 March 2012. Pratham Gokhale / Mumbai Weekly
Steel stocks lose strength According to reports, shares of companies in steel business plunged due to allegations of scam in shares of steel companies. Following these reports, Jindal Steel plummeted by 7.26 per cent to settle at
Rs 546.55 (about $ 10.92) , while JSW Steel was down 7.53 per cent at Rs 719.75 (about $ 14.38) on the BSE. According to news reports, investors also abandoned stocks like Steel Authority of India,
Tata Steel and Bhushan Steel which lost 4.43 per cent, 4.55 per cent and 0.56 per cent, respectively.
Initial audit report estimating Rs 10.67 lakh crore (USD 208 billion) loss to the exchequer on account of allotment of coal blocks Adding to the woes was during 2004 to 2009 withhuge losses to government out auction. in coal block allocation.
Indiaâ€&#x;s IT workforce in US doubles Many of the global Infotech products in the world have Indian brains behind it IT giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook have a sizable num-
ber of Indians working for them. According to a report, the workforce of Indian information technology firms in the US was 107,000 in the last
fiscal year to March 2011, up from 58,000 in 2005/2006, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). India's IT outsourcing
sector has nearly doubled the number of jobs it has created in the US in the last five years and now employs more than 100,000 people, an industry group said.
Mahindra merger a good move: Analysts
(Left to Right) C P Gurnani (Director and CEO Mahindra Satyam), Vineet Nayyar (Vice CMD Tech Mahindra) and Sonjoy Anand (CFO Tech Mahindra) at a press conference to announce the merger of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam in Mumbai on 21 March 2012. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam announced their merger on March 21, 2012. According to news reports, analysts have given a thumbs up to the USD 1.8 billion merger deal. The combined sized of these two IT firms will enable the firm to get better clients, suggest reports. The projected revenue of the firm is USD 2.4 billion - Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam are now considered as India's fifth largest software firm. According to SMC Global Securities Strategist & Research Head Jagannadham Thunuguntla, this merger will be a win-win situation for all the parties involved, as this enables Mahindra Group to consolidate their infotech assets under one roof.
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MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
culture
Mumbai Weekly
Gitartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly
Mumbai celebrates
Gudi Padwa While Mumbai is known to be a metropolitan city, the roots and culture of the city lie in its strong native population. Gudi Padwa, also known as the Hindu New Year, is celebrated in gutso and color in cultural hotspots where residents have been living for generations.
People participate in a rallies to welcome new year by wearing traditional outfits. According to the Hindu Calendar, the festival is celebrated on the first day of Chaitra month (FebMarch) to mark the beginning of the Hindu New Year. According to Hindu religion Gudi Padwa
is an ideal day to start any good things in life. According to Hindu mythology, this is the same day when Lord Ram returned from exile to his native Ayodhya. The most colourful processions related to the festival are held in Girguam, Prabhadevi, sub urban Thane and Dombivili. Arkadripta / Mumbai Weekly
Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly
Nikhil Sangale / Mubai Weekly
Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly
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SPORTS
MONDAY 26 MARCH 2012
Mumbai Weekly
Mumbai hosts International Polo Cup
Players of Amateur Rider‟s Club (India) and Argentina-Arandu (Argentina) fight for the ball during the YES Bank International Polo Cup match at the ARC Polo grounds Mahalaxmi in Mumbai on 24 March 2012. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly This week, Mumbai witnessed world class Polo matches, which is usually called a sport of the royals. Amateur Riders' Club (ARC) one of the oldest and largest private civilian horse riding clubs in India along with YES Bank held the YES BANK International Polo
Cup match between India ARC and Argentina-Arandu Polo Team on 24 March 2012 Mumbai. The match turned out to be a thriller with India ARC scoring in the dying minutes of the game to beat the guests 5 – 4. This annual International Polo Championship is one of
the world's premier polo events. It has an iconic status in India with the best teams and players competing. Polo is piped to be the „Sport of Kings‟ and it was no surprise that the event was „by invitation only‟. Lt. Gen. MunishSibal AVSM, Quarter Master General was
the Chief Guest for the evening, while H. E. Mr. Tomás Ferrari, Consul General of The Argentine Republic in Mumbai was the Guest of Honour at the event. True to the spirit of polo Mumbai‟s most fashionable attended the event along with eminent business
men and the top corporate brass of the city. Mumbai Weekly photographer Shankar Narayan attended the event to bring back the excitement, style and glamour all associated with this ancient sport.
Martial Arts in the form of Kalaripayattu
Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA), India‟s premier arts and culture institution. The first multi-venue, multi-purpose cultural centre has been committed since its inception to promoting and preserving the country‟s rich and vibrant traditions in music, dance and theatre, as well as
catalyzing new and innovative work in the field of the performing arts. NCPA will be conducting Kalaripayattu Workshop - Martial Art form of Kerala. A rare form of martial art which is used by experts in all the dance forms.
Training methods of Kalaripayattu which broadly comprise of leg lifts and intense body postures lead to greater flexibility and removal of blockages from the energy centres, thus systematizing the flow of energy in the body and also helping in weight loss. The scientific techniques employed
also enhance body-mind balance, thus enhancing focus and concentration and leading to a visible increase in stamina and endurance. It reduces stress, strengthens the immune system, improves body posture and leads to better neuro-muscular co-ordination.
Coca Cola felicitates Tendulkar
Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly
Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar addressed the media after scoring his 100th ton during a function to honour the cricket star by Coca Cola at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai on 25 March 2012. It was an event where Coca Cola celebrated Tendulkar‟s remarkable feat by introducing a limited edition „Golden Can‟ dedicated to the celebrity. Wasim Basir, Director Integrated Marketing Communications, Coca Cola India, spoke on the occasion, “Coca Cola is privileged to be associated with Sachin Tendulkar. Every time Sachin scores well, 1.2 billion people across India ‟Open Happiness‟.”
Published by: Udaan School of Photography. Editor: Pratham Gokhale Photo editor: Gitartha Goswami Chief Photographer: Shankar Narayan Email: editor.mumbaiweekly@gmail.com