The Mobile Shop

The puncture walla and his mobile shop. This is where I get air filled in the wheels of my motorbike. His stall was removed so he drives his shop to work everyday. Talk of innovativeness. ("कभी सोचा नहीं था की कार भी खरीदूंगा" ) "I had never thought I would buy a car," he told me with a smile, "but I had no option now so I bought this second hand car which is a huge financial burden but it enables me to keep my shop going." It may be a burden to him but am sure he will more than break even. This is something which I could not have imagined in the India of, say, 1990.

History. State Bank of Indore Is No More

I wonder how long this board will stay. State Bank of Indore is now part of history. It has now merged with the State Bank of India. Hoarding seen near Modi Garden, just as one crosses the bridge on the Gambhir river.

"All branches of State Bank of Indore will function as branches of State Bank of India from August 27, 2010. Customers, including depositors of State Bank of Indore will be able to operate their accounts as customers of State Bank of India with effect from August 27," the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement.
Click here to read an article on the merger (Business Standard, Aug 27, 2010)

The Large Cuckoo-Shrike

Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Camera: SONY DSC H9

Common Name: Large Cuckoo-shrike

Taxonomic Name: Coracina macei
According to the Wikipedia: "The Large Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina macei, is a species of cuckooshrike found in south and south east Asia. They are mostly insectivorous and usually fly just above the forest canopy. They have a loud call Klu-eep and have a characteristic habit of shrugging their closed wings shortly after landing on a perch."
Thanks to Sumit Sen, founder of Birds of India (www.kolkatabirds.com) for helping me in identifying this species.

Food For The Gods... Ashtami Bhog... Durga Puja, 2010

Oct 15, 2010.

Ashtami - The eighth day of the Durga Puja festival.

Celebrations of the Bengali Samaj, Mhow.

Held at the Narnoulli Dharamshala, Mhow

Camera: SONY DSC H9.

There was a time when I too was young ...

October 20 2010.

Clicked in Mhow Bazaar. Near a Motorbike repair shop opposite the old Kotwali and not far from the Bohra mosque.

Camera: SONY DSC H9

From Army Marksmanship Unit(AMU),Mhow to the Commonwealth Games 2010, New Delhi

Nine shooters from Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) Mhow were part of the 36 member shooting squad at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2010 at New Delhi. These were: Seema Tomar, Vijay Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, AD Peoples, Imran Hasan Khan, C.K. Choudhary, Hariom Singh, Sushil Ghaley, Praveen Dahiya.





Above: Article by Firoz Mirza in HT Live, Indore (Oct 7 2010) a supplement of Hindustan Times.

4 of these nine shooters won 5 Gold, 2 Silver and a Bronze medal either individually or in pairs.

They are: (1) Vijay Kumar - 2 Gold and a silver. Gold in 25 m (Pairs), Gold in Centre fire Pistol (Pairs), Silver in 25m Centre Fire Pistol (Individual)

(2) Gurpreet Singh - 2 Gold and a Bronze. Gold in 25 m Pistol Rapid Fire (Pairs), Gold in 10 m Air Pistol (Pairs), Bronze in 25 m Pistol Rapid Fire (Individual).

(3) Imran Hasan Khan - Gold in 50 m Rifle 3-Position (Pairs).

(4) C K Choudhary - Silver in 25 m Standard Pistol (Pairs).

September - The month of butterflies

Puddling on Cow Dung.



Clicked on Thursday Sept 3, 2009.

The jungles on the hill of Janapao near Mhow. My uncle who is visiting from
Kerala wants to go and see a Shiva temple on a hilltop. We are walking through the forest when I see these butterflies feeding on cowdung. I also see some smaller groups on rocks too ... fascinating...

When I posted this in my facebook account this is what Priyanka - a fellow blogger and nature lover- commented: "Many butterflies feed on nectar from flowers, but they also get essential minerals and salts from mud and animal manures. This large gathering on mud or manure is called mud-puddling. Many an entomologists create their own mud puddles in their gardens in flower beds to attract a wide range of butterflies."

Pic below: Perched on a cactus is a Tailed Jay. Sept 21, 2007 at home.



Pic below: This Common Emigrant had perched on my shoulder and then it floated onto this flower. Clicked on Sept 21, 2007 at home.

Soccer at the Shankar Laxman Stadium (Garrison Ground),Mhow

Sept 18, 2010 - Rajeshwar Vidyalaya Mhow defeated Jagdale School, Indore by 1-0 in the finals of the Mir Iqbal Hussain trophy for schools.

Soccer and hockey have been two of the most popular games of Mhow. Not surprising considering the Army presence here and the support that these sports got from the various regiments stationed here.








We also have a new plaque, a rather huge one at that, in honour of Honorary Captain Shankar Laxman the legendary hockey goalkeeper who was born in Kodariya village of Mhow and had joined the 5th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry. Being a proper Mhow walla he was one of those who bridged the civil military gap in Mhow.

From Mhow to Slovenia in 67 days!!

A postcard to Slovenia took 67 days to travel 6098 km (3789 miles)!!! Posted on 12 July and received on 17 Sept. Now it is my turn to receive a postcard from a randomly selected sender :-)





About three years ago I had registered at the site http://www.postcrossing.com The idea was to send and receive post cards from all over the globe. But after registering I forgot about it. Finally I decided to use my membership and requested for an address to send a card to. The site sent me the address of a young student in Slovenia.

I had a difficult time finding a picture postcard in Mhow. Luckily Zenith Stationery on Main Street had a bunch of old cards. Young Shabbir could not believe that someone was interested in buying these :-)

Anyway I sent the card after purchasing stamps worth Rupees fifteen from the Mhow GPO. Yesterday, 17 Sep I received an email that my card had been delivered adter 67 days!!! Now that my first postcard has been received my address will be given to a randomly selected member and I will soon be receiving a postcard from some corner of the globe. Will upload the pic the moment I receive my card.


I came to know about this site through a lady named Kate Russell. I must thank her and her column Webscape which is part of the program 'Click' which is shown on BBC TV and is also available on the BBC website
Click here to see my card at the website.

The Grave of a Child of the era of the British Raj

The history of Mhow especially the British presence here from 1818 to 1947 is something which fascinates me. I have spent hours exploring the two Mhow cemetries and photographing old British graves. This January I came across the grave of Sandra the infant daughter of Major and Mrs J Drudge-Coates of the British Army Corps of Signals. She had died on Feb 15 1943, aged 15 months.


The epitaph reads: "In Loving Memory of Sandra, youngest daughter of Major and Mrs J Drudge-Coates, Royal Corps of Signals, whom God called suddenly, Feb 15 1943, aged 15 months. An angel took my flower away, yet I will not repine. For Jesus in his bosom wears, the flower that once was mine."






During the early days of the Raj wives and children did not come to India. But the advent of steamships and later the Suez Canal changed that. The Gora Sahib in India stopped keeping desiwives when the ladywives started arriving. Of the many British children born in India many attained eminence. Some names I remember include Eric Blair (George Orwell), Lawrence and Gerald Durrell, Rudyard Kipling, Spike Milligan, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan and even the infamous cricketer Douglas Jardine of the bodyline (Ashes) series.



I do not feel particularly sad when I see the graves of British soldiers in the Mhow cemetry. It is possible that there may well be a hundred thousand British graves in all the cemetries of the Indian subcontinent. The British were here to keep the Union Jack flying and it did not come for free. I remember reading these lines of the poet Rupert Brooke from his poem The Soldier when I was in school:

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England.

Rupert Brooke had died in World War I along with other famous poets like Siegfried Sassoon and these lines were dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of English soldiers killed in the horrible trench warfare in Europe but the same spirit well applies to graves in India. When one is walking among these graves one does feel that one is in England so well have these graveyards been built.

Seeing the graves of women and children is a different matter and I must admit that seeing some of these grave makes me feel sad.


© Dev Kumar Vasudevan., all rights reserved.

Adieu Lt Colonel (Retd) VG Sowani, SM (1920-2010)

On 01 May 2010 Lt. Col (Retd) V G Sowani, SM passed away. At the age of ninety he was the seniormost surviving veteran in Mhow. He was also one of the few surviving veterans who had joined the Army in the pre-independence era. According to a blog of the Corps of Signals these are some of the details about him:
1. Date of birth: 11 Sep 1920
2. Date of Seniority: 04 Feb 1942
3. Date of retirement: 03 Feb 1970



He had settled in Mhow after retirement. I do not remember seeing him in my childhood though my parents knew the family. I remember him from 1979 onwards when I was in my late teens. He and I would often meet on our evening walk. We both would be with a dog. My father had been allotted an official quarter on the Mall which was known as Burmah Shell ka Bungla by the locals of Mhow. And the Sowanis lived diagonally across the road in a house they had purchased after the Colonel had retired from the Army. I also remember him for the side car attached to his Lambretta scooter. And for his impeccable manner of dressing - something very characteristic of officers commissioned in the pre-independence Indian Army.

We left the Burmah Shell Bungalow in 1980 when my Dad retired but we were always in touch with the Sowani family. There is a feeling of sadness when I think of veterans like Colonel Sowani and my dad. These are soldiers who were born in the nineteen twenties and and had served during historic times.





Mrs Vasundhara Sowani and their daughter Dr Abhijeet were kind enough to let me have access to the old photographs in the family albums. I am uploading some of them in this post as a tribute to the deceased soldier.

Marshall's Iora - A beautiful bird

July 2, 2010

I clicked this Marshall's Iora in the Swarg Mandir area of Mhow. It was sitting on the branch of a Chikoo tree.

The One And Only Traffic Lights in Mhow

Chinese Dies!!!!

Anyone will die if the chef is vindictive enough :-))

An old photograph

Station Road Mhow in 1918 when Mhow Cantonment was a 100 years old. This is most probably by Guerra and Sons.

Source: The internet.

The Jarul blooms in May

From my archives. Clicked in May 2008.

New Year greetings from Janak and Jimmy McGilligan, Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, Indore.

www.barli.org