DR. AMBEDKAR, EARTHQUAKES AND THE REPUBLIC DAY IN MHOW

The first Republic Day was celebrated throughout India in the year 1950, and this was the first time 26th January was declared a public holiday.
That year Mhow also celebrated its first Republic Day. However its not very clear as to how exactly. You see there were very few schools in Mhow then mainly KBEP Memorial School, Rajeshwar Vidhyalaya, Saint Mary's School, etc.. Rajeshwar Vidyalaya participated in the Republic Day celebrations itself. That year the Commandant of Mhow was Brigadier MacDonald. St. Mary's School joined in by 1954.

Its also a lovely coincidence that this day is also closely linked with Dr. Ambedkar, Mhow being famous worldwide as his birth-place. Dr. Ambedkar had played a leading role in the framing of this Constitution, said to be the longest ever Constitution, which came into force on 26th January 1950, which is why we celebrate Republic Day.

Every Republic Day there is a Parade, Mass Drill etc. on Garrison Ground in Mhow. The Grounds name has changed to Captain Shankar Lakshman Stadium but traditions still continue. In the year 2001 while this Parade was on, Mhow shook quite hard with tremors felt due to the massive Gujarat Earthquake. Do you remember?

Garrison Ground has always been the venue of Republic Day Celebrations in Mhow right from the beginning in 1950 to this year. These celebrations have been managed by the Cantonment Board from then till now - making it 58 years! Thats right, Republic Day has been celebrated 58 times; This year, its the 59th Republic Day celebrations today.

Jai Hind!

Dr. Guerra's wife is No More

My Grandma expired at 4 o'clock yesterday in the morning. She died peacefully in her sleep. She was in her 90's although her exact date of birth is not known. You see, she and others of her family were born in East Africa(now Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). Thats why they didnt have their birth certificates. Goans in those days(early 1900s) were mostly employed in East Africa...My Grandma was Bertha Elizabeth Pereira. She was the daughter of Antonio Joao Pereira and Victoria Saudina Coutinho. They lived in Colcondem, Parra, Bardez, Goa although her mum was from Carmulim.Her brothers and sisters were Albert(children in Australia), Aggie(children in UK), Eddie and Victor. All are no more and Grandma was the last surviving sibling.Grandma married Dr. Jerome Guerra in 1937. They had 5 children, Phoebe Pereira(Canada), Gwen Lobo(Mhow), Late Vernon Guerra, Avril Lobo(Canada) and Valerie Rodrigues(Goa).My Grandma was blessed with parents who gave her wonderful moral values( which made her live to about 93), God blessed her with a great husband who everyday when returning home from work would bring her a gift, she was blessed with children and grandchildren and even great-grand children. She was blessed with a good nature, and most of all she was blessed with one daughter Gwen who was with her always.

HE WHO LOOKS AFTER WIKIPEDIA MHOW

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, having millions of entries, got Mhow as an entry thanks to I don’t know whom exactly. However, it does get input from quite a number of Mhowites including myself, but the person who contributes the most for it, and even more, updates it, regularly is Mr. Dev Kumar Vasudevan(dev.kumar.vasudevan@gmail.com)

BROAD-GUAGE IS COMING TO TOWN !

As good as Santa Claus coming to town, is the BROAD GAUGE RAILWAY that’s really coming to town!
Mhow has been a metre-guage station for years and now from 2008, it will finally get a broad guage railway line after a long wait! Leading newspapers state that approval has been given for gauge conversion of the Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa-Akola line which is 472.64 km long.
Because Mhow was MG( Metre Gauge) we were deemed ‘not connected’ to many of the big junctions making us have to go to Indore, Ratlam, Khandwa etc and change trains to reach destinations like Bombay or Delhi and all. Like, when we come from Bombay to Mhow, we have to get off the train at Indore. Waste time and money reaching Mhow…...What a bane!
Now broad gauge will take us to places like this straight, without having to change trains!
This work of changing MG to BG will take about five years for completion.

You can read more about this in the Mhow entry on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhow

OBITUARY -Pastor Rajnish Stephen's Grandmother is no more

Today was the funeral of Mrs. Sara Stephen, beloved wife of late Mr. Stephen Roopa. She is survived by three of her four sons, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Known to all at Builder Memorial Church and Rasalpura as a firm, strong-willed and independent lady till God took her away in her 93rd year. Pastor Rajnish’s friends who used to call her ‘Dadi’ remember her single-handedly cooking food for their big group sometimes even at midnight, and appreciate this selflessness of hers. May her soul rest in peace.

'THE WONDER YEARS' AT MHOW'S KUTUB MINAR

In today’s world its hard to keep up with all that is changing. One such change in Mhow is that the Laakhan family has shifted out from the Red Bakery after what could be a period of thirty years!
The red bakery , actually ‘7 Old Bakery’ is the row of old red coloured but black-stone houses opposite the Post Office, with a red chimney that is so high that it makes one remember the Kutab Minar!
It is Mhow’s Kutub Minar, humorously speaking. Anyway, years and years have seen this Laakhan family here. Some people cutting across their house up to the Hospital or Sacred Heart Church would remember an old man sitting there a white dog at his feet. This was the head of the Laakhan family, originally from Rajasthan, his son the friendly Poonam Laakhan of Poonam AutoGarage fame opposite the Orpheum.
Younger generations will recall A LOT of fun here at the red bakery with the Laakhan family, and now with them shifting the era of the Laakhans at Red Bakery ends.
Those who know them, including myself, will vouch for a wonderful sunny childhood spent there with countless friends. Probably no better place in Mhow to have spent ‘The Wonder Years’ than with the Laakhans at the old bakery!

CELEBRATING 6 YEARS OF A MHOW WEEKLY

On Sunday the 13th of January 2008, there was a celebration! It was to mark 6 years since Mr. Dinesh Solanki had brought out his first issue of ‘Priya Pathak’ in Mhow.
Mr. Prakash Hindustani from Sahara News lauded the journalist for bringing out this weekly paper successfully and more so - consistently for six whole years, never giving up even when funds were less, joking that “The best way to take revenge on your enemy is to encourage him to start a newspaper. It will drain him out forever!”
But Dinesh Solanki has taken out his 8-page weekly without fail these last six years.
There were no parties marking this Weekly’s milestones through these six years of hard work, and its believed that the 7th year is a very important year religiously as well as historically. Mr. Om Prakash Bharadwaj among others called for a party! So the journalist decided to give his friends a small party. His friends , ‘the Deepak Jaju Mitra Mandal’ instead threw a BIG party in his honour! So we have the celebration of the 13th! With over 300 guests including Mr. Tulsi Ram Silawat, Mr. Harish Trivedi, Patrakar Mr. Dholi, Mr. Yogesh Yadav among others, the last three calling this paper ‘Mhow ka Andolan’ (A Movement in Mhow)
On the 13th of January 2008, Dinesh Solanki’s received the felicitations from his ‘Dear Readers’, or ‘Priya Pathaks’.

'Dear Reader'

‘Priya Pathak’ translated as ‘Dear Reader’ is a weekly newspaper in Mhow which is taken out by the famous journalist Dinesh Solanki.
The first issue of this Weekly came out in December 2001 and has completed six years. It covers burning issues of Mhow so much so that Mr. Solanki has called it ‘Khabron ka Nashila Akhbar’ meaning ‘An intoxicating paper of news’! Which it is. Every issue of this journalist is quite a masterpiece.

Denzil Lobo

English Teacher

Local Historian & Chronologist

Mhow

I am from Mhow's old Guerra Photographer family

grandson of Dr. J. Guerra

Dad Cyprian Lobo was in the Merchant Navy

& my Mother Gwen was an air-hostess

lobo.denzil@rediffmail.com

MHOW HAS A LOCAL HISTORIAN

I'm Denzil Lobo, born on 25th December 1974.
I am an English Teacher by profession and a local historian and chronologist by hobby.

When Philly Desai came to Mhow last year researching his mother’s family roots in this cantonment town of yore, little did I know that our meeting initiated by Mrs. Dolly Masani, would bring about a surprise for me.
After returning to England, Philly sent me a draft of his research titled “The Bharuchas of Mhow” . The first page of this manuscript had him referring to me as a “local historian”. I was taken aback then, later amused by this name I had received, and it set me thinking. It had been years I had been researching the history of Mhow, yet never been called so.
After that, all through 2007 this term describing me and my work so aptly “local historian”, did crop up here and there. At times I made it “crop up” myself. I admit I have encouraged this “cool” usage for many reasons, some even selfish.
Anyway I feel proud that no one has been called ‘local historian’ in Mhow before. This name has given me direction in my hobby which is the research of the history of Mhow and a sincere purpose of preserving this interesting history even more!