Saturday, November 26, 2011

Fishing boats @ Sassoon Docks... Mumbai.

     Sassoon Docks are the only docks in Mumbai open to the public. It harbors the biggest fish market of Mumbai. Early morning the boats start docking with their booty. By 10 AM the place is deserted! The place happened to be quite unorganized till sometime back. There were no checks on who entered or went out... till the perpetrators of the 26/11 terror attack struck. This was the dock from where the terrorists entered and created havoc in the city. Things have changed now.Unknown faces raise eyebrows. Some semblance of checks have been established. But fortunately life has not changed otherwise. It is still the biggest fish market here and the catch still gets sold out by 10 AM.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Sheesh Gumbad

     Lodi Garden is a 90 acre park in the heart of Delhi. There are numerous tombs in the park dating back to the 15th century. They were mostly built during the rule of the Lodi dynasty. The 'Sheesh Gumbad' or 'Glass Dome' is the only one having unmarked graves. It gets the name because of the remains of blue glazed tiles on the top half. Probably earlier the entire top was covered with these tiles. Any way the identity of the inhabitants of the graves remains a mystery. They must have been important, judging by the grandeur of the tomb. Delhi-ites frequent this garden for their walks, or in search of some peace away from the hub-bub of the city. An occasional vagabond may be found sleeping right next to the graves, oblivious to the missing piece of history.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Ghantaghar

    Kanpur is an old dusty town in northern India. Till some time back it was one of the most industrialised cities in the country. It was in fact called the Manchester of the east. However due to labour union troubles and bad politics most of the industries have moved out.All that remains are the relics of a by gone era. The Cawnpore Woolen Mills was established in 1876. It kept sputtering and finally closed down a few years back. To remind us of the good times remains the Clock Tower or 'Ghantaghar' which was a part of the mill structure. It continues chiming undeterred.