Latest news with #Cubbon
Hindustan Times
20-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
The day the Bangalore Mail steamed into town
With the southwest monsoon making landfall over the Andaman Islands last week and our beloved 4 pm rain showing up in tandem - and how! - Bengaluru's brief summer is truly done. Since we can no longer moan about the heat, we must shift our baleful gaze elsewhere; this year, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), with its interminable delays in the opening of the Yellow Line, has offered itself up for the honour. But let us leave the metro aside for a moment, and focus instead on its predecessor, the railway. 2025 marks the centenary of the first electric train in India, which ran between Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) and Kurla in Mumbai on February 3, 1925; today, close to 97% of the country's broad-gauge network, which is 97% of our entire railway network, has been electrified. Karnataka's own broad-gauge network has been 100% electrified since early 2024. Almost 75 years before the first electric train, the very first Indian passenger train, a 13-carriage beauty pulled along by three shiny steam engines named Sahib, Sultan and Sindh, puffed out of Bori Bunder station (later Victoria Terminus) on April 16, 1853, completing the 34 km distance to Thane in 57 minutes. This line, like most early railway enterprise in India, was wrought by private entrepreneurship – specifically, by Mumbai businessmen Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and Nana Shankarsheth. 'Nothing,' exulted the venerable Times of India (estd 1838) on the occasion, 'could've been more magnificent…' In Madras Presidency, after a brief hiatus in operations, MRC began construction of the first passenger railway line between Madras (Royapuram) and Arcot (Walajahpet, now Walajah Road Jn) in 1853. On its completion in July 1856, Cubbon lost no time in petitioning MRC for a railway line between Madras Presidency and Bangalore Cantonment. His sustained advocacy won the day, and Cubbon had the pleasure of laying the foundation stone for the Bangalore Cantt station in 1859. When the Bangalore Mail steamed into Bangalore Cantt on its debut run in 1864 – the same year, incidentally, that north India got its first railway station, Delhi Junction – down the 149-km broad-gauge line from Jolarpettai, it was welcomed with great rejoicing. In the years to come, the Mail would bring trade, commerce and, inevitably, waves of new settlers into Bangalore. It would also prove invaluable in transporting relief supplies to the city during the devastating Mysore famine of 1877-78, which would claim a staggering 1,25,000 lives, a fourth of the kingdom's population. Something to think about the next time you ride the Bangalore Mail! (Roopa Pai is a writer who has carried on a longtime love affair with her hometown Bengaluru)
Hindustan Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Horse power: The bronze equestrians of Bengaluru
In less than two weeks, Bangalore's summer racing season will kick off at the century-old Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) in the heart of the city. Way back in 1916, Maharaja Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar leased out 92 acres of prime real estate in the neighbourhood known as High Grounds to the stewards of the Bangalore races, under the condition that the land be used exclusively for horse racing. On May 20, 1921, those stewards created the Bangalore Race Club (which, in 1956, became the BTC). Horses and horsepersons have been around in Bangalore well before the BTC, of course, as the number of equestrian statues dotting the city reveal. The oldest is the statue of Sir Mark Cubbon, Commissioner of Bangalore from 1834 to 1861. Respected both by the locals and his fellow officers, the horse-mad Cubbon personally owned 60 fine steeds, which he stabled in the extensive grounds of his home (today the Karnataka Raj Bhavan) in the High Grounds. His statue, cast in bronze by Baron Marochetti, a Chelsea sculptor who was the toast of London society, arrived in Bangalore in 1866, and eventually found a home in the park that was named after him. About a hundred metres behind Cubbon, in the forecourt of the Vidhana Soudha, stand two equestrian statues unveiled in March 2023, mere weeks before the Karnataka state elections. One features Kempegowda I, who established, some two kilometres to the south of his statue, the original pete of Bengaluru in 1537. In recent years, giant (non-equestrian) statues of the founding father – recognisable by his turban, his naked sword, and the ultimate symbol of south Indian machismo, a luxuriant moustache – have mushroomed all over the city, including at our eponymous, beautiful airport. (Similar iconography marks the statues of 19th century Belagavi revolutionary Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, after whom the City railway station is named - the only difference is that KSR holds a shield.) The other statue is of Basaveshwara, saint, poet, political administrator and reformer from north Karnataka, who launched a radical movement for social change in the 12th century, and whose deeply inclusive philosophy, expressed as simple, accessible Kannada poetry, is evoked to this day, often in the well of the Karnataka legislative assembly behind him. Very close to this statue, on the Race Course Road, is another, bigger, equestrian statue of Basava. Both statues are distinguished by Basava's crown, his sheathed sword, and the linga at his throat. Basava's followers, the Lingayats, form one of the two most populous, powerful caste groups in the state; the other is the Vokkaligas, to which community Kempegowda belonged. The only equestrian statue of a woman is to be found next to the Puttanna Chetty Town Hall on JC Road. From atop a pedestal that most resembles an upside-down wedding cake, the valiant Rani Chennamma of Kittur (in Belagavi district) presides fiercely over one of the most congested junctions in the city. In 1824, decades before Lord Dalhousie enforced the infamous Doctrine of Lapse, which did not recognize adopted children as royal heirs, Chennamma went to war against the East India Company to protect the rights of her own adopted son. An early victory turned her into a Kannada folk hero for the ages; sadly, she was arrested soon after and died in captivity in 1829. In the verdant surrounds of Lalbagh stands the equestrian statue of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X, another adopted heir, who took the reins of Mysore back in 1881, following half a century of direct British rule. Executed in classical European style, and flanked by the goddesses of Liberty and Justice, the beautiful bronze statue is a tribute to a visionary ruler who ushered Mysore into a brave new age of science, modern industry, and representative government. And then there is the equestrian statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who could never be mistaken for anyone else, on the ramparts of an ersatz fortress at the Sankey Tank in Sadashivanagar. Bangalore was once the fiefdom of Shivaji's father, Shahaji Bhosale, and Chhatrapati spent a few happy years of his boyhood here, in blissful ignorance of what the future would bring. (Roopa Pai is a writer who has carried on a longtime love affair with her hometown Bengaluru)
Calgary Herald
01-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
This Caribbean island is an ideal getaway for food lovers and families
Article content Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content We heard the waves long before we saw them, wandering down a secret stone trail surrounded by mangroves. As we turned the corner, I heard my husband and 19-month-old son shout in unison: 'Wow!' Turquoise water and a secluded slice of beach awaited us at the bottom of the stairs. At that moment, it felt like we were the only three people on the island. Article content Article content Article content Just 10 minutes earlier, we had downed an invigorating concoction of juices, with hints of apple, carrot, orange and a zesty dose of ginger at a poolside brunch spot. 'You can't leave without walking the path,' Canadian-born chef Maureen Cubbon said with a knowing smile as she laid out a colourful assortment of plates in front of us. 'I don't want to ruin the surprise, just wait and see.' Article content Article content Article content Article content Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands, is situated deep in the Caribbean Sea, nearly 450 kilometres south of Cuba. The British Overseas Territory has a thriving expat community accounting for nearly half of the island's population of about 88,000. Cubbon, the culinary director at Nourish, first came to Cayman 27 years ago and was one of the many Canadians we met on our trip. English is the official language, and the Cayman Islands dollar is the primary currency, although U.S. dollars are also widely accepted. Article content Best known for its famous stretch of pearl-white sand called Seven Mile Beach, the Cayman Islands is also a popular diving and snorkelling destination with shallow reefs and shipwrecks to explore. There are 365 dive sites scattered around the archipelago, teeming with tropical fish, nurse sharks, stingrays and sea turtles.
