Bada Ganpati Temple, situated in Indore, is famous all across due to its huge size.
With 25 ft height, this Ganesha idol is considered to be the largest idol of in Asia which was constructed in the year 1875.
As per the legend, one of the residents of the then city of Avantika (now called as Ujjain), Sri Dadhich had a dream of Lord Ganesha and he decided next day to build the statue.
The configuration of the idol is most interesting as it is made of bricks, along with limestone, jaggery and soil of the seven mocha puris. Also it hass mud from the stables of diverse animals including horse, cow and elephant. Even the powder of Pancharatna which includes diamond, emerald, pearl, ruby and topaz and the holy water of all major pilgrimage sites add to its configuration.
Even its metallic frame has gold, silver, brass, copper and iron.
Wow! Indore ranks first as the cleanest city of India for fourth consecutive time as per the Swachh Survekshan 2020 survey.
Surat from Gujarat ranks second while Navi Mumbai of Maharashtra ranks third in the survey and Varanasi meanwhile has been declared as the best Ganga town. Now, let’s figure out why other cities should learn a lesson from Indore and what makes it a surprising news for Indore to garner this acclaim for fourth consecutive year:
Indore is a commercial capital of MP:
Indore is a commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Eventually, business delegates from all across the country and world keep making frequent visits to this city. Despite receiving people from all across, the city has maintained its heritage and culture and has never compromised on cleanliness standards.
It’s city which loves to eat:
Indore is truly amazing when it comes to food. Its rich food culture is what makes it famous all across the world. Also, the variety of food available here might surprise you. It is also being called as the street food capital of India as it houses the street food hubs like Chhappan Dukan and Sarafa Bazar. These hubs serve a wide variety of local specialties like Bhutte ka kees, Poha, Jalebi, Malpua, Garadu, South Indian, Chinese and Italian cuisines. Chappan Dukan is a street packed with food stalls on both sides, Sarafa Bazar is India’s only food street which remains open till two in the morning. However, walking on streets, you will not find any dirt or food remains around as is seen in many other parts of the food streets.
Indore is education hub too:
Indore is a proud city which boasts of both IIT and IIM campuses in its vicinity. Besides these college campuses, it has many other reputed colleges due to which students from all across the country visit here to pursue diverse courses. Meanwhile, these students too adapt to the clean culture of the city and ensure the streets don’t get dirty due to any of their faults.
Isn’t it amazing to see people from diverse class, diverse fields and diverse genre all setting a single goal—a goal to keep Indore streets clean? Let’s wish other cities learn a lesson from Indore too!
Meet the woman of substance Lt Sandhya Suri, one amongst the few women officers to serve on a warship in the Indian Navy, who is busy scripting success stories by donning multiples hats being an author, poet, speaker, Ted-X speaker, entrepreneur, photographer and what not!
Sailing smooth amid tough waters, she strongly believes that ‘You live life once and hence should paint it with different strokes of colours to make a beautiful picture’. This woman has learnt the art of converting her struggles into newer opportunities and hence has been leading from the front by setting examples for other women.
Her Transition Phase
As a single mother of a minor, Sandhya moved to Nigeria to start afresh in the corporate world after rendering her duties successfully as a Navy Officer.
She did request for a long-course specialisation during her tenure as a Naval Officer which was not accepted as it was not permitted in those times.
She alternatively wanted to be an instructor or a certified diver and had also requested for a transfer to SSB Board or Naval Intel. While these requests were not approved, she was asked if she wanted an extension, which was finally shot down by her, as she saw no point in staying back with nothing challenging in hand. “I did not want to push files all the time. I wanted to do more than just that”, she said.
A Go-Getter
After deciding to hang my uniform, I decided to take up my first corporate assignment in Nigeria. I started with sales and marketing and later moved on to administration and human resources. All of these were fresh starts for me though I do believe my tenure in the Navy prepared me in more ways than one to be up for any challenge. I did well in all these segments and my focus was to make a difference no matter where I was. After staying in Nigeria for 10 years, I later moved back to India for family commitments, she says.
Their Only Worry—The Management Degree
When I returned, I was constantly asked to complete my MBA which I thought was quite pointless as I carried with me years of experience,” she laughs. “Also, I was already doing guest lectures for MBA students and conducting vivas for the MBA HR students. It did not make sense to me.
Why is a Master’s Degree so sacrosanct in India and no weightage is given to experience? It never fails to surprise me!”
Her Evolving Stage
Sandhya, while delving into newer projects, was simultaneously evolving herself and hence we can see what she is today—an author, poet, change enabler and a mentor who is working for career transition enabling leadership, diversity and gender inclusivity in workspaces and much more.
She has authored books including Tryst with Destiny – Abhikrama (political fiction) in 2020, the book Boundless 2020 has three of her poems published in special edition USA. The anthology Kai Ankahi has 11 of her poems published in special GLFN 2019 Women’s Special Edition. Her guiding life philosophy now is Ikigai (reason for being), Meraki (putting your soul in what you do) and Kintsugi (becoming stronger and more valuable after being broken)
Love For Uniform Blossomed Quite Early
Although she misses her uniform at times, but she is equally grateful for the opportunities she received later.
“It was a tough call to decide to leave, but I don’t regret things, as there was no time for regret here,” she adds.
Since childhood, Suri had many dreams, one among which was to serve the Armed Forces even before the induction of women. Uniform was something which inspired her.
Initially, she started preparing for IPS exams while pursuing her Masters in English.
While preparing, she received calls for SSB interviews from the Navy and Air Force. “I had completed my Navy SSB and while I was in the middle of my Air Force SSB, I received my call to join the Indian Navy. I did not even go home. I arrived at Jammu station from Dehradun, disembarked and took the next train out to report the Naval Academy in Mandovi, Goa,” she reflects. She was commissioned on August 18, 1994.
26 years ago, life changed and how! It’s a year over a quarter century of being commissioned and donning the uniform, working side by side with teams that didn’t let me down,” she says adding. “18 August 1994 is a long way to come from. It seems just like yesterday and it feels like a lifetime. I have no religion, no colour, no caste, or creed really beyond that. I am an imperfect human being who lives and breathes this freedom every day with utter gratitude to those who have helped me become the person I am today. I miss the whites and blues, the stripes. Yes. I also know, it doesn’t matter where I will be today or tomorrow. Where I stand will still be India” says Sandhya.
Challenges of Being A Lady Officer:
“The biggest challenge was to insist I was an “Officer” and not a “Lady Officer” as this was how we were referred to.”
LT SANDHYA SURI
Being on A Warship:
I was among the fortunate few who had the privilege of serving on board a warship. I was awarded as the Woman of Worth 2019 Award by Pinkishe Foundation for my ‘outstanding achievements and being an exemplary icon for fellow women. Early this year, I was also awarded ‘The Most Inspiring Women of the Year 2020’ by ASSOCHAM.
Are you aware of the history and evolution of selfie which we are clicking daily these days with the help of our mobile phone?
As it becomes a trend to click our own pics, the story of evolution of this Selfie goes back to the early months of 1839 in Philadelphia.
An American amateur chemist and photo enthusiast Robert Cornelius clicked the first photographic self-portrait.
Never ever he thought that what he clicked would be called as selfie in coming times.
As Cornelius set his camera, he took an image of himself in the back of family’s chandelier store and then framed the picture, while clicking the first-ever ‘selfie’.
He mounted a paper on the back of paper and wrote, “The first light picture ever taken 1839”.
Even after 75 years of the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Bose whose ‘death’ remains shrouded in controversy, tributes continued pouring on social media on August 18 as it was this day in 1945 when the plane he was travelling in crashed. However, the BJP government maintained silence on the issue which clearly reflected that they have doubts on his reported death in plane crash. A few tweets posted on twitter include:
75 years back on this day,18/8/1945,netaji #SubhashChandraBose,took off from taihoku airport in erstwhile japanese occupied taiwan.the overloaded plane crashed and there are divergent views about the outcome.he electrified the nation by his life and the desire for independence. pic.twitter.com/vrpOZFn3S9
A tribute to Netaji #SubhashChandraBose, there are different theories on his disappearance but He continues to inspire us through his message of unity and patriotism! pic.twitter.com/NkHaLUrabN
However, no posts were seen on August 18 from any official twitter handle of BJP-ruled Government. Neither PMO or HMO, Ministry of Finance or Ministry of Defense shared their views on his assumed death anniversary.
The BJP leaders never believed that Bose died on August 18.
During the visit of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee to Renkoji temple in Japan in 2011, he was happy to visit Renkoji temple where the ‘smritiyan’ of Netaji lies safe. Atal ji refrained to say ‘astiyan’, which clearly means he did not accept the fact that Netaji died in the plane crash.
The Tutu Mummy, showcased in glass box of Jaipur since last 130 years, had to be taken out recently to preserve it from flood waters which came gushing inside the Albert Hall Museum recently with torrential rains which lashed the city on August 14
As the mummy is that of Tutu, a female member from a priest’s family, it is called as Tutu Mummy.
It dates back to Egypt’s Ptolemaic period (322 BC to 30 BC) and was brought from Egypt to Jaipur and hence is called as the “Jaipur Mummy”.
Imported by the ruler of Jaipur, Sawai Ishwar, from Cairo in 1887, the mummy was preserved in the Albert Hall museum in Jaipur.
The mummy displayed at the Albert Hall Museum was brought from Cairo around 130 years back. Being of a woman named Tutu, it was found in the Akhmin area of the ancient city of Panopolis in Egypt.
In April 2017, the mummy was shifted to the basement of the Albert Hall in Jaipur. Major details related to its history, birth-death relationship, the method of making mummy and X-ray of this mummy were also exhibited for the people visiting here.
Jaipur is known all across the globe as a Gem City. However, not many are aware of the behind-the-scene story of how the Pink City gained credence as the Gem City to make a mark on the world map…
EBNW brings out the interesting story on how Jaipur fought all odds to emerge as the Gem City after combating the initial-day struggles, witnessing tough world war times fighting inflation, amid the instances of hoarding and smuggling as well, but finally, everything went well to bring in happy good days for traders. The story is being shared by Dr. R. Shah, Coordinator, MGJ who has seen it all..
The early history of synthetic stone trading goes back to the year 1945 when the trade started growing by leaps and bounds till the year 1960 where there was a certain check on its growth.
Synthetic stones called in local language as kharad was one of the major trade in stones.
“Emerald in those days was in fewer hands belonging to high net individuals and was being used by few upper class people as ordinary people did not get a chance to buy it due to its high cost.
So the common trade was of synthetic stone which was imported as there were no factories in India. All the material was being imported from Europe as America was still not open for India in those times, he says adding that European countries exporting these stones were Swiss countries, France, Australia and Czechoslovakia etc.
The initial trading started with ‘Kharad’, the raw stone form, which was a thumb-like structure supplied in various colours specially white, red, pink and blue. All these colours matched with the real stones like diamond, ruby and sapphire.
However, I cannot remember seeing any green variety mimicking emerald, says Shah.
Trading
These stones were sold by weight measured as tolas. The traders were using hand balances and traction and it was being sold as one rupee per tola at that currency rate. A couple of colours will bring a little better price than white stones.
War times
During war, the import of synthetic stones were restricted and hence there was scarcity of material. Hence prices went high. From Rs 1 tola, the price shot up to Rs 115 per tola. Traders and even public started hoarding.
But later on, restrictions were eased and the prices collapsed and came back to bottom level. Many people lost their money in the matter of time.
Smuggling from Trichi
Jaipur in those days was a centre of trading and hence Kolkata depended on Jaipur market and other cities as well for healthy business.
Another source market was Trichy, near Puducherry which was a French territory. So the raw material was imported there and smuggled into Trichy and finally it came back to Jaipur. For a time being, smuggling was very active due to the difference between import prices and local market prices. Even some Jaipur traders set their offices in Trichi specially Gokuldasji and many other families.
Story of forming imitation association
These synthetic stones fall under imitation category as they resemble the real stones. Hence, in Jaipur, those days, they were labelled as imitation stones so at this time, the traders came together under a banner to form the imitation association.
The formal start of association
With its office situated at the first floor in Delhi wall building at the corner of Gopalji Ka Rasta, it used to make a bag of 100 tola of raw material, close it and then marked it with an association seal. These bags were the only source of trading which was the reason for price hike.
Imitation association also collected funds to make the ‘imitation walon ki dharamshala’ outside Sanganeri Gate. This was a charitable act on the part of members.
There were many developments reported at the later stage which we shall share with you
(The story continues in the second part of the blog–plz keep on reading…)
The 74th Independence Day celebrations were different in Udaipur as Being Manav, an NGO dedicated to spread smiles amongst the underprivileged children, spent some lovely moments with the slum children and made them aware about the stories related to freedom struggle.
Following the norms of social distancing, these kids were distributed masks and then came the engaging session where these slum dwellers were made aware on how Indians fought hard to shoo away the Britishers to liberate India from the clutches of slavery.
Being Manav in fact, also promoted the book donation drive aggressively in Udaipur on I-Day.
This drive was launched a month back in the city under the joint aegis of Municipal Corporation National Urban Livelihoods Mission, Hotel Radisson and Rotary Club Udai.
Over 500 books collected under the drive will be kept in a library van parked at Fateh Sagar Lake.
The drive which started a month back has books written on diverse range including biography, fiction, subjective, science and poems.
The NGO made a call to all to celebrate this independence day with a difference by donating the books for the welfare of society quoting a reason, ‘Padhega India Tabhi To Badega India’
Don’t you think both the incidents realised the long-cherished dream of renowned poet Rabindra Nath Tagore who wrote some beautiful lines visualising India in a rather different form.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Into that heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake..
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Into that heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake.
August 15 was chosen as the day to liberate India from the clutches of Britishers because Lord Mountbatten considered this date as a lucky day for him.
He personally decided Aug 15 as a date to free India because he strongly believed that August 15 has been a “very lucky” day for his career.
The British officers loved the date as it was on Aug 15, 1945 (Japan timezone) during the World War II that the Japanese Army surrendered before him.
During those days, Lord Mountbatten was the commander of the allied forces).
Why Independence was announced at the stroke of midnight?
Soon after the date of independence was decided during the “June 3 plan” and was announced among public, the astrologers were annoyed all across the country as they considered 15-Aug-1947 as an “unfortunate & unholy” date going with the astrological calculations.
They did suggest the alternative dates however Lord Mountbatten was adamant on Aug 15 (for he strongly believed that day as his lucky date).
Eventually, astrologers started working on a mid-way formula and proposed the most-awaited celebration to be announced in the midnight hour between Aug 14 and 15.
The simple reason was that the new day, according to English calendar, starts at 12 AM, however, according to Hindu calendar, it starts at sunrise.
The astrologers insisted that speech of acknowledgement of transfer of power should be done within the 48 minutes window (as it was considered to be the “Abhijeet Muhurta”) which lasted 24 minutes before and after the 12:15am i.e between 11:51pm & 12:39am.
Nehru therefore had to deliver a speech only within the said timeframe. Also, an additional constraint was put mentioning that the speech had to end by 12 AM. Eventually, the holy conch (Shanka) was blown to herald the birth of a new country at the stroke of midnight hour, which added a new chapter in the history of the world.
The complete synopsis
During world War II, Lord Mountbatten was the allied commander for South East Asia.
In those times, the Japanese surrender was announced on August 15, 1945.
Since then, 15th August was considered as a special day for Lord Mountbatten due to its significance in the end of world War II.
British government passed Indian independence bill in July 1947.
Due to ongoing unrest at that time, Mountbatten decided to implement it at the earliest.
It was made to coincide with 15th August as it was special for Mountbatten due to above mentioned reason.
The Indian flag, shall be hoisted at Times Square in New York, USA on August 15 this year. This shall be the first time ever after India got independence that the Indian flag shall be hoisted in the US.
The Empire State Building, one of the historical heritage, will also be illuminated with three colours including saffron, white and green. The event is being organised by The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA). On this occasion, Consul General of India Randhir Jaiswal will be present in New York as Guest of Honor.
The FIA is the oldest and largest association of Indian people living in the US. It was formed in 1970. According to the FIA, the programme has been scheduled to make this year memorable it being the Golden Jubilee Year of the association. This programme is being done to make it memorable.
Indian consulate will organise a virtual program on this occasion.
Celebrations take place every year on 15 August at the Indian Consulate in New York. But, due to the epidemic this year, the program will be organised in virtual form. It will be telecast live.
