68th Raising Day of MCTE Mhow...

Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE) Mhow was born on Oct 1, 1946 as the Indian Signal Corps School. It was renamed the School of Signals on June 25, 1948. On Oct 1, 1967 it became the  Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE). The college is the alma mater of the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army. 

A Pagal Gymkhana (fun n games) was held on Sunday 28 Sep at the Raman Training Ground of the during the  to celebrate the 68th Raising Day of the college 

"Aayo Gorkhali..." Khukri dance by soldiers of the 1st Gorkha Rifles 

 

Pics courtesy: MCTE  Mhow. 

Roopmati's Pavilion at Mandu

From my archives: A young couple at Roopmati's Pavilion. Mandu August 2007,
Clicked with my Yashica MF-2 film camera...

The Patalpani Kalakund Ghat Section

The Patalpani Kalakund Ghat Section - a very beautiful stretch as one travels south from Mhow/Indore towards Khandwa. There are four tunnels in this route. These tracks were laid here in the 1870s as part of the Holkar State Railway. Clicked in April 2012.

A Letter For You....

Tuesday, 23 Sept 2014

Posted a letter after ages... used this letter box kept outside the Cantonment Post Office Mhow.... 

Clicked with my smartphone....

The Gambhir - Mhow's River

                     Sept 14, 2014: The Gambhir as seen from the Khade Hanuman temple.This is a small river which begins on the hill of Janapao 15 kms from Mhow Cantonment, it flows into the Kshipra near Ujjain which flows into the Chambal (interestingly the Chambal also begins from the hill of Janapao)

Commonwealth Games Shooting Heroes Arrive Home

Above: Home are the heroes... Shooters Jitu Rai and Gurpal Singh who won Gold and Silver respectively in the 50 m pistol event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games being received at the Indore airport by their comrades of the Army Marksmanship Unit Mhow, on friday (01 Aug)  evening....Pic courtesy AMU Mhow.

                 Above: Jitu Rai in action. Pic courtesy: AMU Mhow

Above: Gurpal Singh in action. Pic courtesy: AMU Mhow

A Simian Visitor

This was on 22 May 2014. There were three of them. They went up to our terrace and then vanished after a minute or two.

The Langur who visited us.

A New Shooting Star from Mhow

Naib Subedar Jitu Rai of Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) of the Indian Army gave two back to back sterling performances at the ISSF World Cups held at Munich, Germany and Maribor, Slovenia, by winning Silver medals at both events.

On 11 Jun 2014 Naib Subedar Jitu Rai won Silver medal in 10m Air Pistol event at ISSF World Cup, Munich and on 16 Jun 2014 he has also won Silver medal in 50m Free Pistol event by scoring 568 out of 600 at ISSF World Cup, Maribor and established New National Record in the event.

Sep Neeraj, attending his first International tournament, brought laurels to the nation at the ISSF Junior World Cup (25 May to 01 Jul 2014), Germany by winning two Silver and one Bronze medal . The Army Shooters have done the country proud by their superb performance. 

The Owl in the Gul Mohar Tree

Sunday 18 May 2014

My friend Ulloo the Spotted Owlet (Athene Brama) was very much there in the hollow of the Gul Mohur when I passed by on Sunday... 

Brahminy Mynas Getting Ready....

From my archives... 21 Jan 2012 A pair of Brahminy Starling (ब्रह्मणी मैना Sturmus pagodarum) 
enjoy the morning sunlight...

Royalty is Royalty....

04 March 2014, Tuesday

Army Despatch Rider's Royal Enfield Motorbike in Malwa Market Mhow

Old houses, old memories...

November 28 2013
That old bungalow at one end of Post Office Road.... If only its walls could speak....
Clicked with my mobile phone camera...
I remember visiting this house in 1971 when a family was living here... 

A Church in Mhow.. St Anthony's Church

Tuesday November 5 2013:
I enjoyed the sunset sitting outside St Anthony's Church, Mhow. One of the lesser known churches in Mhow this is in the Infantry School Mhow campus. It was built in 1892 for troops from South India especially the Tamil troops. St Anthony of Padua is a revered figure in South India.

Blade Runner Major D P Singh and the Infantry Run

Infantry Run held as part of Infantry Day Celebrations 2013
A Photo Essay....

Major D P Singh, India's first blade runner who lost a leg in the 1999 Kargil War was the star attraction in the Infantry Run conducted in Mhow on Saturday 26 October 2013. This run was part of Infantry Day celebrations conducted in Mhow by the Infantry School - the alma mater of the Indian Infantry. D P Singh participated in the 10 km run and was a figure of admiration for each one of us who was there.
A majority of people who were there would not remember who the actual winners of the 3 km and 10 km race were... But we can forgive them after all it was DP's day... I too dedicate this blog post to the indomitable spirit of the soldier in Major DP Singh...

With Army officers before the run began...

With members of the NGO Swayam Jyoti which assisted Infantry School in conducting the Infantry Run...

With Lt General Rajesh Pant, AVSM, VSM, Commandant MCTE (Military College of Telecommunication Engineering) Mhow and Senior Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Signals. 

Encouraging and accepting the greetings of the participants of the 3 km race....


Some of the young participants in the 3 km run.


This group of ladies was also raring to go.....


Some of the veterans who participated in the run.


The Equestrian Squadron of the NCC (National Cadet Corps), RVC (Remount and Veterinary Corps)
was also in action helping in the smooth conduct of the run.  

Loosening up after the race. Nobody expected DP to go out of the stadium and he was left alone (something very unusual for this visit of his) for quite some time. 

Above and below: With some of his innumerable admirers.....

With a young subaltern...

Major DP Singh with Lt Gen A S Nandal, UYSM, AVSM, SM, Commandant Infantry School, Mhow


Major DP Singh being felicitated by Lt Gen A S Nandal, UYSM, AVSM, SM, Commandant Infantry School Mhow

                                        
The winner of the 10 km race young Pankaj Kumar Pardesi .... Wishing him many more successes in the future...

                             
Smartly turned out soldiers of the Sikh Regiment who made sure that the event went off peacefully.
Hats off to them....


===========================================

The Infantry school, Mhow organised an Infantry Run on Saturday 26 Oct as part of the Infantry day celebrations, which falls on 27 October, and is celebrated every year to commemorate the landing of first elements of the Indian Army at Srinagar airfield on 27 October 1947  thus preventing  Kashmir from falling into Pakistani hands.

 Approximately 5000 people from all spheres of life including defence personnel, civilians and school children participated with full zeal and enthusiasm. The run was conducted in two categories of 10 Km and 3 Km. Mr Pankaj Kumar Pardeshi in age group of 18 to 35, Nb Sub Amarjeet Singh in age group 35 to 45 and Nk AN Pandey in age group 45 to 55 came first in 10 km category whereas 3 Km run was won by Kumari Seema Awase in girl child category, Master Naveen Chauhan in boys category, Capt Sadhana Singh in ladies category and Mr N Sanjeev in senior category.  

 Many senior army officers and civil dignitaries participated in the run to support the spirit of Infantry Men who always leads from the front and are always ahead in war, counter insurgency operations or humanitarian relief during natural calamities.

 Major DP Singh, the first blade runner of the country and a Kargil war veteran also participated in the Infantry run as a special invitee and was felicitated by Lt Gen AS Nandal, UYSM, AVSM, SM, Commandant Infantry School.

Yashwant Nagar Talab... Beautiful and unspoilt...

Sunday Oct 27 2013
A visit to Yashwant Nagar Talab with a visiting friend.
The dam you see below was constructed by the Maharaja of Indore during the British Raj.
I came here for the first time in 1969 as an eight year old boy. The occasion was the festival of Holi and a group of officers from MCTE (Military College of Telecommunication Engineering) had arranged a picnic.
My parents were not part of that group but my friend Bunny's father - who was  then the Commandant of MCTE Brigadier Talwar had requested my father to send me and my younger brother with them.

When  I returned to Mhow in 1979 I remember an occasion when I and my classmates bunked college and cycled down here. One of us had even jumped off the dam (where the water can be seen overflowing now) and swam across the lake. I have cycled till this lake quite a few times. This lake has also been part of treks in the beautiful countryside sorrounding it. 

The Rest house of the Irrigation Department  ... Unchanged since many decades...

Love the sight of these stones which make these steps...

                                       The watchman's quarters attached to the  Rest House  

An Image from Colonial Era Mhow

Sola topis and doggie mascot ...   Mhow of the colonial era. A group photo by Guerra and Sons. Pre-1920.
Just love the tiled roof....

Owner: FIBIS Source: Original postcard owned by Valmay Young. Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Unported. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Mhow Barracks in the early 20th Century.

A peek into the early 20th century. Wellesley Barracks (WB1 and WB2) where the British soldiers were kept  aka Gori Paltan (White Battalion) as opposed to Kali Paltan (Black Battalion) in the present day Infantry School area where the 'Native' battalion was kept. The highest point of Mhow. 

Presently part of the  MCTE (Military College of Telecommunication Engineering),  which was known as the School of Signals till 1967. The highest point of Mhow.  One reason the British Battalion was kept here was that they could overlook and protect the road to Bombay (Presently the road to Badgonda and then Mandleshwar).




Photograph by Guerra and Sons pre-1920. 
Printed glossy (black and white) (137mm x 87mm)
Author: FIBIS, Source: Original postcard owned by FIBIS; 
Licence:CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Unported;
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Old Pic of Mhow "Scotch Kirk"

"Mhow Scotch Kirk" clicked in the early 20th century... sent to me from Canada by the descendants of Reverend Norman Russell who was a priest at the Builder Memorial Church Mhow and died in Mhow. I was lucky enough to find his grave in the cemetry near the Railway Station when his great grand nephew sent me a request via a message on Youtube... The commune of 'Rasalpura' on the outskirts of Mhow is named after Russell...

Pic Courtesy: Mrs Peggy McQuirk of Canada, a descendant of the late Reverend Norman Russell, priest at the Builder Memorial Church, Mhow in the late 19th and early 20th century...

Squirrels Sunbathing on a winter afternoon

December 20 2012

From my nature diary entry of Dec 20: A beautiful sight I saw this morning... Four squirrels
sunbathing on a Siris branch... A fifth one couldn't fit in the frame :-)

Diwali 2012 ... A photo essay...

Diwali is celebrated in a unique manner in Mhow. Unlike other parts of India where the day of Lakshmi Puja is the main day of this festival in Mhow the next day is the main day. It is known as 'Dhok Padwa' (aka Govardhan Puja - the day cattle are worshipped).  It is a unique sight one sees in the Mhow market.  People  get dressed in their best and visit one’s their neighbours, friends and acquaintances.  Friends embrace each other and wish each other a happy Diwali. The young bend down and touch the feet of their elders as a mark of respect and receive their blessings.  The word “dhok” refers to the respectful  obeisance towards one’s elders which the young pay by touching their feet.  

The Mall - All lit up. Midnight of 12-13 November 2012. 

Firecrackers being sold on the outskirts of Rau, near Mhow. 

Garland seller near the Mhow Fort, selling garlands at Rs 10 per garland. 

Sreyas and Shruti were with their grandmother during Diwali. They do not like the Diwali of Mumbai. 

The Member of Parliament from Indore Mrs Sumitra Mahajan visits Mhow without fail on Dhok Padwa and wishes the citizens here a happy Diwali. 

These boys told me that I had clicked them on Holi and so I MUST click them on Diwali as well!!! Impeccable logic, I must say....

The Sai Bhaktas wishing every one a Happy Diwali.... 

Mr C Kulkarni with the model he made for his grand-daughter. 

Rangoli made by 70 year old Mr Dhodapkar....

Rangoli (Maharashtra Samaj area)

Rangoli being made at the Kulkarni house. 

Rangoli competition at the Maharashtra Samaj...

Rangoli with a Radha Krishna theme being made in a house in the Maharashtra Samaj area...

Celebrating Dhok Padwa.... 

These gracious ladies readily agreed when I requested them for a 'Dhok Padwa' shot... 

Last but not least.... 

On Main Street in Mhow Bazaar... Clicked by Raj Kumar Saini...