People In Mhow Bazaar On A Rainy Day - A Photo Essay
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Thursday September 11, 2008
Around 12 noon - 2 pm


As the next day was Friday 12 Sept, Onam, I accompanied my mother in an autorickshaw to the Mhow bazaar where she wanted to buy vegetables, provisions and miscellaneous items. We stopped at what used to be known as Kotwali Chowk (because the police station used to be here in the building near the tree.) The monument you can see is known as the 'Coronation Fountain' and was built in 1911 on the occasion of the coronation of the then British monarch.

As it was raining I stayed inside the auto when my mother entered a shop in Tin Gali (Tin Street, which is famous for utensil shops and odds and ends). Luckily I had carried my camera along and I was able to do what the anthropologist Desmond Morris called 'people watching'. I am posting a small selection of those shots in this post. Do let me know how all of you out there like them.



A young boy keenly reads the text on the poster.












These are ladies of the Dawoodi Bohra community. As the holy month of Ramzan is on I am sure they are on their way to the mosque.





Schoolboys enjoying the rain. The best season to return home from school is during the rains.












He saw me!!! :)))


Enjoying the rains with a friend....



These sisters sure spent a lot of time looking at the poster...










As they were leaving the younger one saw me. She was so happy. It was like a reward for me. Bless you my child.





After some time we came and stopped near the Builder Memorial Church (established 1877)



Mhow is synonymous with the Indian Army so here is an infantryman for you.....







A thelewala (cartman)......




A Dawoodi Bohra gentleman. Notice the distinctive Bohra cap he is wearing.



This villager and his wife have bought a fair amount of stuff. No wonder she is finding it hard to sit pillion. I hope they made it safely.





A Bohra lady. When I had arrived in Mhow in 1979 and I had seen a Bohra ladies wearing this outer garment on a sunny day I had wondered why they were wearing raincoats when there was no question of rain. My childhood friend Zoaib who belongs to this community still teases me about it.







Schoolgirls returning home.... Today is one day they aren't in a hurry....





An elderly Bohra gentleman returning after some shopping.







"Papa jaam le do na..." Buying guavas for his son. The local word for guava is not amrood but jaam.







A school girl returning home on an empty stretch while we were returning home. If one looks at the sky one can't believe that it is a rainy day. But just look at the earth.

Letter From Mhow: Waiting For Papa....

July 2008, Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh , India

I had gone to the GPO (General Post Office) in Mhow and I had just emerged after finishing my work. As I headed towards my scooter (not in picture) I saw this little girl sitting on a motorbike waiting for her father. She was wearing the uniform of St. Mary's Convent (it is a new uniform, the school has changed the dress code of navy blue skirt and white shirt it had for many decades)... She keot herself occupied for some time and then her patience ran out. She seemed bored. The cooking gas cylinder tied to the motorbike indicated that she could be from a family in a village on the outskirts of Mhow. After a brief wait her father arrived. Her face lit up and she smiled with happiness. And then they both left for home....

The Holy Month of Shravan And the Kavadiyas.....

The Kavadiyas are an essential part of Shravan the holy month as per the Hindu (lunar) calendar. Some images I clicked when I saw some of these Kavadiyas passing through Mhow one day in July.

According to the traditional (lunar) Hindu calendar the holy month of Shravan or Shravan Maas this year was from July 19th to Aug 16th 2008 in North India and from Aug 2 to Aug 30 in Maharashtra, Gujarat and South India..... The Mondays of this month are especially important and are known as Shravan Somwar. In the temple town of Ujjain special processions are taken out on these Mondays. And they are known as Mahakal ki Sawari.

The Malwa area of Madhya Pradesh of which Indore district forms a part as also the nearby Nimar area where the Narmada flows are totally under the sway of Siva. There are many famous Siva temples here. The two most famous being the Jyotirlinga temples at Omkareshwar and Ujjain. This is the month in which Siva is supposed to have drank the poison that was created after the gods had churned the oceans (Sagar Manthan). Every years during this month I see large groups, mostly men, of devotees clad in saffron passing through Mhow. They are mostly village folk who take time off for this important pilgrimage. They collect the water of the Narmada in small urns from the temple town of Maheshwar where Ahilya Bai Holkar the legendary queen of the Holkar kingdom had her capital. With these urns hung at the end of a pole they walk up and reach the Malwa plateau. The distance from Maheshwar to Mhow must be roughly 70 kilometres. From here they continue walking to Ujjain, another 90 kilometres, via the district headquarters town of Indore. It is a tough walk, more so as it is done bare feet. I must add that I do see many pilgrims wearing footwear. The gods are fairly liberal and I am sure that those who do it barefeet must be earning extra merit.

I happened to see a group of Kavadiyas walking through Mhow one day in late July. I stopped and clicked them as they entered Mhow walking on the AB Road (Agra Bombay Road). I also talked to some of them. They were mostly villagers from far and near. A couple of vehicles travelled with them with an elderly guru and provisions. Their faith moved me. I wonder whether I would be able to do such a long and arduous pilgrimage some day in the near future during Shravan Maas.











There is an unconfirmed theory that the town of Mhow (pronounced Mau) got its name because of the pilgrims who walk from Maheshwar to Ujjain (Ma + U = Mau = Mhow). Some people say that it is due to Maheshwar and Omkareshwar (Ma + O = Mao = Mhow).

Another theory is that Mhow is short for Military Headquarters of War/ Western India.

Some people have also suggested the name of the mahua tree as a possible source of the name Mhow.

I do not know which of these is the true reason behind the name of Mhow.Or is there yet another one?

But every little nugget of folklore adds to the charm of Mhow and the Malwa area of which it is a part....

Also posted in my Sulekha weblog; please click here.

Pandrah Agast Ki Tasveerein.... Images of 15 August

I clicked a few photographs on 15 Aug 2008.
It was an overcast day but the farmers were happy. We have had only 13 inches of rain this year as opposed to 40 inches last year. We seem to be in for a harsh summer in 2009.



Baba Saheb Ambedkar's statue at the town hall was garlanded. He was born in Mhow as his father, a Subedar Major in the Mahar Regiment, was posted in Mhow during the late 19th century. Mhow has been renamed Dr. Ambedkar Nagar a few years ago. Something which hasn't gone down too well with the 'upper castes'. The compulsions of vote bank politics ensured that the state government had no choice...




Flag seller sitting by the side of the road as an Army school bus takes kids back home after attending the I day function at school. Mhow and the Indian Army are synonymous. A Cantonment has existed here since 1818 when the Scotsman John Malcolm led the East India Company troops to a victory over the Holkars who ruled Indore state.



This kid wanted a flag. The flagseller tells me that he is from a village in Depalpur, not far away. He gets good business on 15 Aug and 26 Jan every year so he comes to Mhow along with his family members and sells flags and toys.




The flag seller's mother taking some stock over to her son....




A shy schoolgirl at the middle school of village Gangliya Khedi. The colony where I live with my parents is in this village. The students were given a special treat of puris, aloo subji, laddoos on this day by the school.







The principal and staff pose for a group photograph. It was an overcast day. I have promised copies to each teacher. As the males were fewer in number I told them to sit on the bench. The lady teachers were chivalrous enough to agree...




Back to the bazaar in the evening. This young papaya seller wanted me to click him. "Hamari bhi photo lo na ... " The bazaar was full of people shopping for the festival of Rakhi which was on the 16th.



A flag planted on M.G. Road where the road joining Tin Gali and Hammal Mohalla crosses it.



My blogpost on Republic Day Celebrations at Garrison Ground Mhow

The Rains Are Here


Images clicked on July 3 and July 6 2008







For more images clicked on these two days please take a look at this blog post in my Sulekha weblog.