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.

Reverence And Ruthlessness....




For a detailed photoreport click here to get to a post in my sulekha weblog titled Nature Note From Mhow:Reverence and Ruthlessness

Thats Me... I mean the guy with the cap...



June 5 2008. World Environment Day. Function at Sirpur Lake Indore. I was talking to Ishaan Ratnam and his team-mates from Radio 93.5 (an FM channel) when the Hindustan Times photographer clicked us. The next morning I see our snap with Ishaan's face circled. That entitles him to two meal tickets at Sreemaya. Sigh, some people have all the luck :))) Don't eat too much Ishaan.

p.s. I had visited Sirpur Lake in February 2008 to attend a bird watching camp.
Click here to see a blog post on that visit.

Celebrating Dr. Ambedkar's Birthday in Mhow, 14 April 2008






I wrote and posted two entries in my weblog on sulekha. here are links to both:

(1) A Meeting With a Young Dalit Activist in Mhow

(2) Jai Bhim: A Photo Report on Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations in Mhow

Aruna Rodrigues of Mhow - Fighting Against GM Foods

Aruna Rodrigues of Mhow is the chief petitioner in a PIL on Genetically Modified crops filed in the Supreme Court of India in 2005.

On Feb 13 2008 there was a hearing in New Delhi in the Supreme Court of India.
In an article titled Dancing With Frankenstein in the section Engaged Circle in the weekly Tehelka (Vol 5, Issue 12, Dated Mar 29, 2008) Aruna gives us detailed information about her campaign against GM Foods. As mentioned at the end of the article: "This article is based on the evidence submitted in Court, which includes statements of leading world scientists prepared for the Court."

Click here to read this well researched article on an issue of utmost importance.

A Report in Priya Pathak - the Hindi Weekly from Mhow

April 14 2008 was a big day for Mhow. The birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was celebrated here in a big way. Thousands of Dalits, especially Mahars, visited Mhow on that day. Not to mention politicians from all the leading political parties.
I had taken spot interviews of a few of the visitors that day. And some of these were published in the Hindi Weekly Priya Pathak (April 19-25, 2008) which is published from Mhow by Dinesh Solanki. The title of the article was 'Ambedkar Jayanti Par Daliton Se Sakshatkar - Report Dev Kumar Vasudevan duara'.

CIRCUS IN TOWN

Chalna Hai?

If I remember rightly I attended a show of this circus in Delhi (in 1968!)... Must check whether this is the same circus....




Will try my best to take a visit and click some pictures before they leave town.
Keep watching this space

Visiting a Plants Nursery

Prince Nursery Mhow.

13 March 2008. About 2 pm

Camera Used: SONY DSC H9




More images in a blogpost in my sulekha weblog: Click here.

'Bat watching' at St. Mary's Convent Mhow


Thursday Feb 28 2008

St. Mary's Convent Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India




Detailed report with photographs and embedded video in my sulekha weblog. Click here

Ramesh Kher... An Artist From Mhow...

It was by accident that I discovered the work of artist Ramesh Kher who was born in Mhow and is based in Indore. I was doing a google for another artist based in Indore...

Some of his work is shown in the online Reflections Art Gallery. Please click here to see his page in the same gallery.

According to this website:

Ramesh Kher 1950- Born in Mhow. He did his Diploma in Fine Arts from Indore. He has held solo shows in indore, Mumbai, Bhopal and New Delhi. He is a recipient of several awards, has come out with an untitled work done in oil on canvas for the ongoing exhibition. He has shown his paintings across the country and the US through a number of group shows, has come out with a marvelous piece of work for the exhibition. He works in Indore.

Down Memory Lane

St. Mary's Convent Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Session: 1968-69.
The boys of Class II with their class teacher Mrs. Dubey.





I am third from right in the second row. I had come on transfer from Mount St. Mary's Delhi Cantt where I had studied Class I and four months of Class II. But the sessions in Delhi used to be from January to December. And in Mhow they were from July to April. I have been told that boys were admitted to St. Mary's till the early eighties. They studied here till Class III. Those senior to me tell me that there was a time when boys studied here till Class VII.

My younger brothers have also studied in the same school. I studied here for two sessions. Class II (1968-69) and Class III (1969-70). For Class IV the boys shifted to Rajeshwar Vidyalaya (Sacred Hearts Convent). And I studied there for two sessions - Class IV (1970-71) and Class V (1971-72). We left Mhow after that as my father was transferred to Alwar (Rajasthan) and I shifted to Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) Alwar.

THE PUNCHED CARD (HOLLERITH CARD)

Ever seen a punched card? These were used as input media for first, second and third generation computers. I did my first computer programming course in 1980 at the Computer Society of India's Mhow Chapter which was housed in the Computer Wing of the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering Mhow. The computer we used was TDC - 316. The language I learnt was COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language). The programs we wrote were punched onto cards. There was one card per line of the program. Each line on a coding sheet could accomodate eighty characters. We would write our programs on coding sheets using a pencil. These sheets were then given to a punch operator to be converted into a deck of cards, one card per line of code. Each card could also hold eighty characters. If you peer at the fine print in the cards below (just below the first row of zeros) you can see a serial number list from 1 to 80.

When the programs were compiled by the computer they were checked for correct syntax. The error list was printed using the printer. If we found an error on, say, line 20 then that line was rewritten and a fresh card was punched for that line and inserted in the deck at the correct place. This process was repeated till all serious errors were removed and then the output was obtained. As the classes were held on alternate days it would often take upto a week to remove the errors and obtain the outputs.



In 1981 I used such cards again while learning another programming language named FORTRAN (Formula Translation). That was the last I used them. The code used to punch characters onto these cards is known as Hollerith code and I had memorised it. So I could 'read' a card fairly comfortably. In fact it was useful to show off in front of the girls who were doing the course with us.

It is mind boggling when I think of how computers have evolved in these twenty five years. In those days a select few could use these costly machines. Today almost everyone can thanks to the mouse and user friendly software.

I found these cards while sorting out old books. I have a few 'decks' of these cards lying in the garage. COBOL programs were long. So, if there were a hundred and twenty lines in a program the deck of cards which were punched would have an equal number of cards....

Let us see. It is possible that a few decades from today my nieces can sell these cards at some auction site and earn a few million dollars. That is one way of ensuring that they do not forget their crazy uncle...

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26 January 2008. Honorary Captain Shankar Laxman Stadium (Garrison Ground) Mhow






















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