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.
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
4 comments:
Wonderful snaps Dev, thanks for sharing here. I had no idea Ambedkar was born in Mhow. We have seen so much of Mhow through you here, it almost feels like I have visited it. You know, you got to do a sketch of the town, scan and post it.
Howdy Mhow Chronicler? The snaps did connect and had a special vibe - each one of them.
Please do a sketch of the town - may be something along the lines of Malgudy, the Mhow version of course.
Hi Sunil... Thanks for the feedback... Mhow is a charming town and I love sharing info about it through my blogposts... Will keep posting more pen-sketches and camera-sketches about this 'sleepy semi-hilly town' (as The Illustrated Weekly of India had described it more than 3 decades ago)... for a fact filled article there is this wikipedia entry on Mhow most of which has been written by me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhow
hi Rajesh... interesting that you use the name Malgudi... many people who have lived in Mhow have described it as a Malgudi of Central India...
expect more on Mhow in the coming days... as they say watch this space...
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