Happy Republic Day

The Preamble to the Constitution of India presents the principles of the Constitution and indicates the sources of its authority. It was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly and came into effect on 26 January 1950, celebrated as the Republic Day of India. It was amended during the Indian emergency by Indira Gandhi where the words "socialist", "secular" and "integrity" were added.

The preamble is based on the Objectives Resolution, which was moved in the Constituent Assembly by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946 accepted on 22 January 1947 and adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, coming into force on 26 January 1950.

 B. R. Ambedkar said about the preamble:

It was, indeed, a way of life, which recognizes liberty, equality, and fraternity as the principles of life and which cannot be divorced from each other: Liberty cannot be divorced from equality; equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. Without fraternity, liberty and equality could not become a natural course of things.

Ref: Wikipedia.

Mumbai history

History of Mumbai in an art installation by Sameer Kulavoot and Sandeep Meher at the Mumbai Art Festival at the Sassoon docks. Mumbai, originally a city of fishing folk forms the foundation (crates used to cart fish) of modern Mumbai of skyscrapers.

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Central Railway Hospital

The magnificent historic Babasaheb Ambedkar Central Railway Hospital in Byculla. Click here for its history over the years.

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Kala Ghoda (Black horse)

The name Kala Ghoda (Black Horse) is a reference to the presence of a black stone statue of King Edward VII (as the then Prince of Wales) mounted on a horse that was built by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, although this statue was removed from the precinct in 1965 and subsequently placed inside the Byculla Zoo. A local legend stated that the statues of King Edward and the one of Shivaji on a horse at the Gateway of India came to life after midnight and battled it out on the streets.

In 2017, the 'Kala Ghoda' returned to the area with a new statue of a similar looking horse without a rider, being commissioned by the Kala Ghoda Association. The statue, titled 'Spirit of Kala Ghoda' was designed by architect Alfaz Miller and sculpted by Shreehari Bhosle. Ref Wikipedia.

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Windows

Beautiful windows of the Ma Hajiani dargah (tomb) in Worli.

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Windows

Bare windows of Sion Fort.

The Sion Hillock Fort was built under the regime of the English East India Company, between 1669 and 1677, atop a conical hillock when Gerard Aungier was the Governor of Bombay. When it was built, the fort marked the boundary between British-held Parel island and the Portuguese held Salsette Island that lay to the north across the creek.

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Banyan tree

A grand old banyan tree opposite Gateway of India. It must have seen so much happening there in its lifetime!

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Gateway of India

The Gateway of India is synonymous with Mumbai. It was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Mumbai (then, Bombay). It was designed by the British architect, George Wittet. In the past Gateway of India used to be the arrival point for visitors from the west. Ironically, when the Raj ended in 1947, this colonial symbol also became a sort of epitaph: the last of the British ships that set sail for England left from the Gateway.

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Haji Ali

 The tomb of Haji Ali in Worli.

Haji Ali Dargah is one of the most popular religious places in Mumbai, visited by people of all religions alike. Haji Ali Dargah is one of India’s most famous and prestigious landmarks situated about 500 yards from the Mumbai shoreline in the middle of the Arabian Sea off Lala Lajpatrai Marg.

 

The structure was erected on a set of high rising rocks and was given its present day shape in the early 19th century after the Trust was legally formed as an entity in 1916.

 

Haji Ali Dargah is the complex housing the tomb of the Muslim Saint Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari (R.A.). Along with the tomb, there is also a Masjid at Haji Ali. This monument has been sentinel to the shores of Mumbai since a long time.

Once upon a time...

...there must have been a stone wall, now a mountain of rubbish in Bandra.

Kanheri caves

The Kanheri Caves are a group of caves and rock-cut monuments cut into a massive basalt outcrop in the forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in the western outskirts of Mumbai, India. They contain Buddhist sculptures and relief carvings, paintings and inscriptions, dating from the 1st century BCE to the 10th century CE. 

Drinking water fountain

A now defunct drinking water fountain in Bandra, presented by Jafferbhai Ludha Chatu Esq., to the Municipality of Bandra in 1894.

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Ashram

An ashram in the Babulnath temple premises.

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Windows

Godly windows at Babulnath temple.

Our Lady of Fatima

In front of the shrine of Mount Mary in Bandra stands the oratory of Our Lady of Fatima built to commemorate the National Marian Congress held in Bombay in December 1954. It is also a fine specimen of archi­tecture with a round staircase on both sides with arches below and over a central arch a structure with four minarets and a central spire.
Info sourced from Maharashtra State Gazetteers.

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Jai Shankar

Steps leading to Babulnath temple that was built on a hillock in 1890 dedicated to Lord Shiva. A popular destination for tourists and pilgrims in Mumbai.

St.Stephen's church

Built in 1853 St.Stephen's church stands beautiful in a cute corner of Bandra close to the Mount Mary church. 

To learn more about this cute church head here

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Babulnath temple

The Babulnath temple in Mumbai dates back to 1890. It is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located on a small hillock near Girgaum chowpatty.
For some interesting stories and history of the temple please click here

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Profile of Mount Mary church

The shrine of Our Lady of the Mount popularly known as Mount Mary or Mat Mauli, the corrupted form of Mata Mauli or Mother Mauli, is one of the most famous Christian shrines in India. The shrine, at that time a modest little hermitage, was founded by the Jesuits round about the years 1568-1570. In 1640 the hermitage was enlarged into a chapel. However another reference states, " In the year 1678 a chapel was built by the Portuguese and named Capella de N. Senhora do Monte, which was made filial to the ancient church of St. Anne."( B. L. D'silva in the Indian Antiquary XIX, pp. 443-44.) However one thing is certain that by 1679 it had become a famous place of pilgrimage frequented by Christrians and non-Christians alike. The present church which is a fine example of Gothic architecture with its noble facade and its soaring spires was built in 1904. he status of the shrine of Mount Mary was raised to a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII, at the time of the centenary celebrations of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
A huge fair is held in honour of Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ and is celebrated during the Octave (Sunday to Sunday) following the feast on 8th September. During the period thousands of devotees from all walks of life with no discrimination of caste and creed throng the road leading to the chapel of Our Lady of the Mount that goes to show the secular nature and cosmopolitan character of Bombay city.
Info sourced from Maharashtra State Gazetteers 

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Mahalakshmi temple

Way to Mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai. This is one of the oldest temples in Mumbai built in 1771 A.D.
The legend is that 3 idols of the deity were immersed in the sea off Worli by the devotees to avoid desecration by the Muslim invaders. This was when Bombay comprised of 7 isalnds. Subsequently during British rule the British Governor William Hornby entrusted the task of connecting all the islands by a causeway to an Indian engineer Prabhu. The link between Worli and Malabar Hill kept breaking and one night Goddess Mahalakshmi appeared in his dreams and suggested he recover the idols from the sea and construct a temple on the coast, which he did, and all the islands of Bombay were successfully connected. Today it is one of the most visited temples in Mumbai
Due to restiction on photography of the temple, this is the best image I could get using my phone camera.