Call 1090 for help....a boon for senior citizens...

Telephone number 1090 is the important number for senior citizens of Mumbai. It is the number which senior citizens can use for asking for anything and everything under the sky.

It can be used by those callers who are longing to have a chat when they feel lonely or neglected at home. It can be used for calling with requests to buy them medicines, to help them cross roads and railway bridges and complaints of physical and mental abuse by family members.

There is a caring cop on the other end of the line who listens and counsels them on their problem and can even coax their children to mend their ways and take care of their parents. There are six constables on that line who are trained in soft skills and inter-personal communication to deal with calls from senior citizens.

This service is a boon for senior citizens who are living alone in Mumbai city and who have nobody of their own to care for them.

Cricket Camp from April 11-15 at MIG Cricket Club at Bandra

The MIG Cricket Club ground is used by nearly all of Mumbai's cricketers who live in the suburbs of the city.

Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar plays practice games at the ground and it is kept open to public like any other ground, but with some restrictions.

The Mumbai Indians, the local city team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be having their practice camp starting on April 11 at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground.

The camp will go on till April 18, the day IPL begins. This is good news for local cricket buffs as very few will be travelling to the DY Patil stadium, Nerul to watch the IPL matches.

Rohan Shedge, an under-19 Mumbai player who resides at Bandra said, “I’m not sure whether I will go for the evening matches to Nerul. But I will definitely go and meet my heroes at the training camp.”

Added Aditya Khanvilkar, a Kanga League player, “We will never get this opportunity to see Jaysuriya and Tendulkar together in the nets, hence I will going to the BKC ground everyday.”

Lalchand Rajput, coach of the Mumbai Indians informed, “The basic idea behind the camp is to help Indian and foreign players gel with each other.”

Cricketing greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Robin Uthappa, will be seen at the BKC ground.

The coach also seems certain that Sachin Tendulkar who is nursing a groin injury, will be spending time at the camp. “Sachin cannot remain without cricket for long. Since this camp is in Bandra he will definitely come to the nets and spend time with our team,” added Rajput.

Mumbai Indians boast of three quality openers in Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jaysuriya and Robin Uthappa, besides Harbhajan Singh in the bowling department.

source: http://www.mumbaipluses.com/

Days are numbered at Crawford market....if we allow it....

Crawford Market is more than just an old bazaar. There is so much life in the architecture. The V-shaped building features a central hall, roomy gateways, a soaring clock tower, a weathervane and two fountains. Kurla stone holds up arches made with stone from Porbunder and Bassein while a network of iron frames and columns supports the 50-ft-high roof, illuminating the enclosed market with natural light.

Now, as it faces the destruction of the building we notice at the entrance, a stone water fountain, now defunct and painted over in garish colours. Another repainted stone fountain, in the outdoor courtyard depicts Indian river goddesses and creatures as diverse as a camel, sea-horse, crocodile and ram. Sculpted by John Lockwood Kipling, Rudyard Kipling’s father and sculpture professor at the nearby JJ School of Art, the fountain is aesthetically and culturally significant enough to warrant a separate entry in Mumbai’s list of heritage sites. Lockwood Kipling’s other contribution to the market are the bas relief sculptures depicting Indian peasants, which adorn the arches at the entrance.

We know that Crawford Market is filthy, it’s disorganised, it’s in danger of falling to pieces and it needs to be saved. But more than rats, old age or general chaos, what it needs to be saved from is greed. Over 22,000 sq mts of public land will be transferred lock, livestock and basil to a construction firm that will build three malls that will tower over the old market building. The so-called redevelopment plan will destroy the architectural integrity of our most significant heritage precincts and, citizens’ groups allege, earn the construction firm a massive profit that should rightfully accrue to the city.

Here’s what happens now: the proposal must be passed by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee before it gets to the municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak. But even if the committee does not approve of the proposal, Phatak could pass it, so long as he states valid reasons. The proposal also has to be cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and by the Traffic Police. Once these permissions come in, Maharashtra’s Urban Development Department could still stay it or even reject it, if it is satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so. If everybody passes it, a public interest litigation can then be filed as a last recourse.

Meanwhile, a corporator can ask – again – for the proposal to be reopened three months from March 10, when it was last brought up in the house. You can call your corporator and harangue him to explain why he supported this proposal, or convince him to reconsider it. You can also call the leaders of political parties in the BMC and demand answers for why they are insisting on going ahead with the project. You can inform the municipal commissioner of your views. You can also call or write to the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who heads the Urban Development Department.

Source:http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/