Month: June 2013

Categories
Learn

Studying coins as a job

You can turn your love for old coins into a profession. This knowledge comes in handy for archaeologists and historians.
by The Editors

At the heart of the University of Mumbai campus in Kalina, in Saroj Sadan, is located an institute that offers a fascinating glimpse into Indian and world history. The Dinesh Mody Institute for Numismatics and Archaeology (DMINA) houses a veritable treasure trove of ancient coins that give the visitor a history lesson he will never forget.

Museum Building 2Interestingly, the University of Mumbai has been conducting the Masters of Arts in Numismatics and Archaeology course through the DMINA for the last six years, and five batches of numismatists have graduated and are out practising. Says Mahesh Kalra, Assistant Professor and Curator, DMINA, “The Dinesh Mody Numismatic Museum is also located here, and was established by Dinesh Mody, a senior Mumbai-based advocate and an eminent numismatist with large collections of Indian and world coins.”

Why study ancient coins?

Numismatics, though a very important research tool in Social Sciences, has been till recently a neglected field in India as no University offered a structured course imparting the necessary skills for expert numismatists. “The biggest advantage of trained numismatists is in archaeological expeditions, where old coins found in excavations can help us date the other objects or structures found in the excavation. Additionally, Indian coins are collected and traded as highly valued objects of art amongst modern collectors and dealers spread across the country,” Mahesh explains.

There is a huge burgeoning market in trading of Indian coins, both nationally and internationally. “Students can expect to be absorbed by the increasing number of auction houses for coins as resource persons, and by the numerous museums both in India and abroad that require expert numismatists to catalogue their collections of Indian coins,” he adds.

The Museum

The in-house museum and the institute are spread over a sprawling 15,000 square feet area. The Museum was set up in 2002 and houses two large breathtaking museum galleries that house more than 25,000 coins of gold, silver, copper, bronze, lead and bank notes donated by Mody from his personal collection.

“The collection of Indian coins range from the most ancient (punch-marked coins) to the most modern proof sets of Republic of India, giving the visitor a kaleidoscopic view of the museum interiorentire range of Indian coinage including the coins of Guptas, Kushans, Satavahanas, Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagara Empire, Dehli Sultans, Mughals and the colonial coinage series,” Mahesh explains. The collection also includes coins and notes from various foreign countries, though these are not included in the syllabus of the Masters course.

Scope of the course

The institute has a team of full-time and visiting faculty from the fields of Numismatics, Archaeology, Palaeography (study of evolution of scripts), Numismatic trade and Archaeological legislations in an endeavour to make the course comprehensive. The syllabus of the course covers the gamut of Indian coinage, right from the ancient punch-marked coins of the pre-Buddhist era (8th  to 6th century B.C.) to coins of various Indian dynasties like Guptas, Kushans, Satavahanas, Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagara empire, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals and the British till the latest coins minted by the Republic of India covering the history of a period of 2,500 years.

In addition, students are encouraged to learn numerous scripts ranging from the oldest Indian scripts, Ashokan Brahmi and Kharosthi to Nagari (the precursor of Devanagari) to Greek, Arabic and Persian as Indian coins are inscribed in these indigenous and foreign scripts. Lastly, the students are instructed about the basics of Archaeology, its methodology and various findings to give them an idea of how various coin hoards are discovered during archaeological excavations conducted throughout the country.

The course also opens avenues for a host of foreign scholarships at foreign institutions with collections of Indian coins like the British Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge University), Ashmolean Museum (Oxford University), etc.

(Pictures courtesy gammillnumismatics.com, Dinesh Mody Institute for Numismatics and Archaeology and Dinesh Mody Museum Numismatic Museum)

Categories
Cinema@100

When Dharam paaji changed clothes on the roads

Up to the 1980s, Indian film stars would change in makeup rooms or people’s homes or even in secluded woods. Vanity vans didn’t exist till the late 1980s.
by Jatin Sharma

Vanity vans are an essential part of film stars’ lives today. Why just film stars, even starlets shooting for music videos or ads get their own vanity van these days, depending on the production house and its budget.

Shahrukh Khan’s vanity van costs almost the same as the budget for a small movie: a whopping Rs 3.5 crore. It has all the facilities that a little house can provide: an air conditioner, a refrigerator, an oven, a master bedroom, massage seats, and many more that one could never imagine were fitted inside what is, essentially, a vehicle.

Salman Khan’s vanity van took about seven months to be designed and finished as it had to be customised for the Khan. His van even has a ramp that allows his car to get in and out.

manmohan desaiThough you’d think that vanity vans have been around forever – after all, how would one dress and put on makeup and rest in between shots, if not for a vanity van – you would be suprised to know that yesteryear megastars like Rajesh Khanna, Madhubala, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan spent most of their careers without a vanity van. In fact, the first vanity van came to Bollywood in the late 1980s when Manmohan Desai (in pic on left) gifted one to Amitabh Bachchan.

This information was shared by the ever-charming Dharam paaji when I interviewed him during the promotions of Yamla Pagla Deewana, in which he starred with his sons Sunny and Bobby. Dharam paaji revealed lot of things about the Hindi film industry, and one of them was interesting story about what stars and indeed, all actors, did before vanity vans became the norm in Bollywood.

I asked him, “How did the stars manage before vanity vans?”

He replied, “Whenever the shooting was in the studio, we would share makeup rooms. We would get an individual makeup room if we were that important. And whenever we used to go to shoot outdoors, we would ask the production people to form a circle and change our clothes on the roads or behind the trees, sometimes.”

In the case of female actors, he said, the story was even more interesting. “They would go to people’s houses in the vicinity of the shoot. And if the location was not closer to the shoot, then a four-pole tribal tent would be erected, where the actress could change. Five or six dharmendraproduction people would provide security for her.”

He added that makeup would be done on the road or in the production bus, whose actual purpose was to shift the film equipment and crew from spot to spot.

“It was Manmohan Desai, the director and producer who was a visionary. He got the first vanity van for himself as he had a back pain. (In it, he is learnt to have fit a bed, a television set and even a mirror to watch the TV even with his back to it!) And later he got the first vanity van for his star Amitabh Bachchan. All the other stars of Indian cinema then got exposed to the luxury of a vanity van, and realised they could enjoy some privacy if they had a vanity van of their own. Now, of course, everybody has one.”

(Pictures courtesy pawanpipalwa.blogspot.com, www.gomolo.com, www.funrahi.com)

Categories
Wellness

50% cosmetics sold OTC are fake?

A study of over 500 cosmetic, beauty products sold without prescription showed that most of them were harmful to skin.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

We follow ads on TV and in the newspapers which point us towards the latest cure for our physical ailments. Some of us want the perfect skin, others want to lose weight without exercise and diet. What’s more, if the product we’re aiming to buy comes from a major pharmaceutical or FMCG company, we’re confident of its results even before using it.

You could be so wrong.

Dr Samir Mansuri holds up one of the products testedA team of doctors conducted an in-depth and comprehensive survey and study of cosmetic and beauty products available in the Indian market OTC (over the counter) and without prescription. Over 500 cosmetic and beauty products were studied for several parameters, most notably on their efficacy, safety of use, whether they satisfied manufacturing and Government norms, and whether they really delivered what the promised. The team of doctors was led by ayurved exponent Dr Samir Mansuri (in pic on left) and it included Dr GK Mansuri, who is a member of the CCIM, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

As per the products tested in laboratories in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, the doctors’ findings were:

– About 50 per cent of all cosmetics and beauty or skin care products sold over the counter in India are either fake or spurious or both, or whose shelf life has expired and are harmful to the human skin in the long run.

– Many products do not have the mandatory Government of India manufacturing license for cosmetic products.
– About 65 per cent of unbranded (or unknown brands) products contain harmful ingredients or compounds including synthetically-produced elements, ingredients and compounds.
– Even ayurvedic products manufactured by FMCG giants contained ingredients obtained from herbs and plants or plant extracts grown artificially and not organically.
– Overdoses of pesticides remained as residues in such ayurvedic products. Most ayurvedic products sold in India as beauty and cosmetic products are not tested for residual pesticides.
– According to Dr Samir Mansuri, if bottled water and colas manufactured by large international FMCG brands and monitored by several NGOs can contain high level of pesticides, onefake drugs can only attempt to imagine the situation with medicinal and non-medicinal cosmetic products manufactured with herbal and plant extracts and sold OTC as ayurvedic medicines.

Dr Samir Mansuri has now launched a ‘Save our Skin’ campaign on the social media to highlight the dangers of buying spurious OTC beauty and cosmetic products that are sold without regulation.

(Pictures courtesy www.cosmeticsdesign-asia.com, www.scoop.it)

Categories
Big story

Mumbai, Thane record highest rain in State

Today, June 10, has been the wettest day for Mumbai’s suburbs and city, and Thane district, than all of Maharashtra.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The rains reached Mumbai and Thane three days before expected time this year, on June 7. Before the monsoon started here in earnest, it lashed Pune, Ratnagiri and the State’s drought-prone regions.

Today, however, as Mumbai and Thane woke up to dark skies and sheets of rain that threatened to never stop pouring, the rest of Maharashtra was spared the battering. As per figures from the Revenue and Finance Department, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai suburbs, Mumbai city and Thane recorded the highest rainfall figures in the State.

As per Government figures, Mumbai suburbs recorded 90.40 mm rainfall, while Mumbai city clocked in 81.10 mm. Meanwhile, Thane experienced the most amount of rain in the State today – 150.02 mm of rainfall.

The only other district to record high rainfall figures today, apart from these three, was Ratnagiri, which recorded 108.31 mm of rainfall.

In Mumbai and Thane, commuters experienced the usual troubles that are now synonymous with monsoon here – incredible road traffic, water logging at the usual low-lying spots, and train schedules thrown off kilter. There were numerous complaints of autorickshaws and cabs refusing to ply short distances.

Keep these numbers handy this monsoon:

BMC disaster control room: 108, 1916

MMRDA control room to report flooding: 022- 26591241 /26594176/8080705051

Mumbai Fire Brigade: 022-23076111

Autorichshaw and taxi complaint helpline: 1800220110

(Picture courtesy dnaindia.com) 

Categories
Big story

Thousands lose their homes while the rain pours down

Several hutments were demolished recently at different spots in Mumbai. Where will these people go while rains lash the city?
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

khar east andolanThe monsoons have set in Mumbai and Maharashtra in earnest, at least three days before expected time of arrival. And while the monsoon brings its usual problems for the average Mumbaikar – water-logged roads, floating garbage, leakages in walls and erratic trains, for some Mumbaikars, this monsoon is going to test their survival skills.

On June 4, 2013, some slums in Mumbai were witness to demolitions via bulldozers and they also suffered their share of police brutality as they tried to save their homes. “Bulldozers mowed down houses at Ganpat Patil Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Indira Nagar and Adarsh Nagar. Around 250 houses were demolished at Ganpat Patil Nagar and more than 300 houses were broken down at Adarsh Nagar-Indira Nagar and Sanjay Nagar,” said an activist attached with the Medha Patkar-led National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).

“As always, the police force was present in huge numbers and disrespectful to the protestors that included men, women, children and the aged. Even the pregnant ladies were not excused of high handedness. With the onset of the monsoon, these people’s vulnerability is increased as they have no roof over their heads and their belongings either crushed or lying here and there,” he added.

NAPM alleges that the demolition drive at Ganpat Patil Nagar was done under the pretext of ‘protecting mangroves’ as per the orders of the Bombay High Court, “which not at all had said anything about demolishing slums. The over enthusiasm shown by the local MLA of Shiv Sena – Vinod Ghosalkar – in demolishing this slum and evicting the families from the land exposes the nexus with the land mafia which wants to transform this locality into high rise buildings and towers. Even the Forest Department has informed that they do not want for demolition of slums but only protection of mangroves.”

At Indira Nagar, Adarsh Nagar and Sanjay Nagar, the demolitions were done to widen a nallah (sewerage line) in time for the rains; demolitions were carried out at the same spots last year for the same reason. Activist Siraj Ahmed, who was detained by the police for protesting the demolition, said that the nallah was never widened despite repeated demolitions.

“Most shocking and deplorable is the fact that in January this year, no less than the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the Chief Secretary had promised to under take a survey of the these khar eastsettlements for the purpose of declaring them as slums and provisioning of basic amenities,” an NAPM release says. “Instead of water pipe lines and toilet blocks, they have sent bulldozers and police force. It seems that the slogan of ‘slum free India’ is to be realised by bulldozing the existing slums and not be upgrading or resettling them.”

(Pictures courtesy tehelka.com, khareastandolan.wordpress.com. Pictures are file images)

Categories
Overdose

Ode to a pothole

So here you are again, in all your glory, just like you promised. Jatin Sharma’s been eagerly waiting for you.

Jatin SharmaMy dear Khadda,
I have been waiting for you to show up. I know that you have always been around, and there is no particular season when you choose to emerge. But this is the most favourable time for you to make an appearance, when my city and its administrators welcome you with open arms.

I am amazed at the sense of variety you have. Sometimes you are big, sometimes you are small and deep, sometimes round and sometimes your shape reminds me of the rotis that I try to cook at home.

I know that you are not so adamant about coming to this city every year, but it is only that you are lured by corruption and malpractices attached to the road construction business. I even know that you have been asked to (or made to?) reappear the moment a road is completed. You are as precious and reverential as the craters that dot the moon, only you dot my city’s roads. I also understand that the construction contractors have failed to understand you from the past 25 years. They (and we) don’t know what it is that makes you so attractive that even after spending crores of rupees on you, they still can’t get enough of you.

There is something about you. I feel that you are a woman because it’s so hard to fathom you. At other times, you’re the pesky neighbour potholethat deserves all the dirty looks you can get. You are so sexy that all monsoon, as the rain pelts the city and while everything is thrown out of gear, I think only of you. And my city loves you so much that no matter what, we will not raise a voice against you. We will look at your vile effects – the way you damage our vehicles, the backaches you provide, the cesspools you create in the rain, but we will still ignore all of these because we know you are here to stay.

Even though I pay taxes, it gives me immense joy to know that a large part of my money goes to nothing and I get to experience you always. Because tum nahin toh monsoon nahin. Some people have always blamed you for their troubles: don’t listen to them, it is just because they look at better cities that are as world class as they claim, and these people want their own city to be like that. To these people, year after year, you say: Ha ha!

But the rest of us are not rude like them. We love you and that’s why year after year, you have occupied not just a permanent place in our hearts, but a permanent spot on our roads. And you getting bigger, wider, deeper. From just being a few in the city, I can now see that you have mushroomed everywhere. You Khaddas have this amazing stage presence, too. With the rains thrashing the city in the last two days, I have heard a lot of people talk about your different shapes. It must feel bad to be spoken of like this (especially if you’re a woman), but kya karein, you are something that we can’t get our eyes off once we leave our homes for work.

potholesI am sure, even this monsoon we would have made all the right moves for you to arrive in style. For you to be present all over the city. We are a world class shitty, I mean city, and we will continue to be so with you in it.

Welcome to my city this lovely monsoon.

Love,
Jatin Sharma

 

Jatin Sharma is a media professional who doesn’t want to grow up, because if he grows up, he will be like everybody else.

(Pictures courtesy www.dnaindia.com, www.afternoondc.in, www.mid-day.com)

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