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A spot of green at Colaba: Sagar Upvan aka BPT Garden

Most people in the city don’t even know that a green patch of serenity exists next to Colaba bus depot.
by Adithi Muralidhar

Part 1 of the ‘Green Hangouts’ diaries

With a population over 12 million, it can get a little suffocating when a Mumbaikar wants some space for himself. Invariably, the jaded Mumbaikar then seeks to retreat to a nearby hill-station or farm house in the outskirts, where he or she can relax, retreat and get rejuvenated.

If you notice, being close to nature is (very subtly) the basic requirement in such retreats! Well, there is some good news for all Mumbaikars. Khandala, Karjat or Lonavla are not the only destinations for weekend get-aways! You would be happy to know that the city itself harbours several green spaces amidst the urban concrete jungle. This piece explores one such green place in Mumbai, which would surely make you love the city a little bit more (at least, more than you already do!)

Sagar Upvan or Mumbai/Bombay Port Trust Garden aka BPT Garden

View of the Arabian Sea from BPT GardenA green hangout situated at the tip of South Mumbai, Colaba, the Sagar Upvan is owned by the Mumbai Port Trust and maintained with the help of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and is truly a nature enthusiast’s delight! Spread over a meagre 12 acres, this garden offers some beautiful sights of the Arabian Sea from one side of the garden.

Beautiful green lawns and mounds, with sea facing benches, under the canopy of samudraphal trees; this tranquil piece of land commendably blocks out all the traffic noises from the outside. The sea breeze that cruises through one edge of the garden fills the air with a salty fresh fragrance. There are neatly paved walking tracks all through the garden and one can lie down in the green lawns if you need to catch up on your sleep!

There are hundreds of plants in the garden with special sections on palm trees, medicinal plants, rock garden and cacti section. The bright green flouresentish leaves and purple flowers of duranta plant attract loads of butterflies. The coppersmith barbets, purple-rumped sunbirds and tailor-birds dominate the avian group, while striped squirrels fumble up and down the trees. Bustling garden lizards and skinks come in your way if you wander into the bushes, but if you sit down in one place and just observe, you will be treated to an array of life that lives within these garden limits.

What else? There is also a sewage recycling plant near the garden that was developed by the MPT management so that there would be no shortage of water supply in the area. Apart from recycling the sewage, the plant also ensures a regular supply of water to the garden.

If you reach early enough, or during the late afternoons, you are likely to find young couples cuddling on the bench that face the sea. Senior citizens take strongly to this garden as their morning walking place. Very often, one even sees school and college students visiting this garden as part of their ‘local-educational-visit’.

While interacting with people, I found that many Mumbaikars did not even know about the existence of such a green patch in the middle of South Mumbai. I myself was introduced to sagar-upvanthis place just a couple of years ago and since then, I have strongly recommended that others visit this park at least once. Those of you who work in South Mumbai can steal away some moments in the day in this garden, as it is well connected by road.

The nominal fee for entering the park is Rs 2 and a camera fee of only Rs10 is charged. The park has free entry for senior citizens.

Getting there: The park is located on WG Union Road, beside Colaba Bus Depot. It is open on all days, from 6 am to 11 am; 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm. The nearest railway station is Churchgate (on the Western Line) and CST Station (on the Central Line). The nearest bus stop is Colaba Bus Depot.

Adithi Muralidhar currently works in the field of science education research, in Mumbai. She is associated with Hypnale Research Station where she assists with various environment, wildlife conservation, education and community-related projects. She is a strong advocate of nature education.

Green hangouts is a series of stories celebrating Mumbai’s place in the green scheme of things, to coincide with Wildlife Week, which is celebrated from October 1 to 7 every year. 

(Pictures by Adithi Muralidhar)

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‘The body achieves what the mind believes’

The Mumbai Marathon is here. A participant tells us how he’s been shaping up for the race that happens tomorrow.
by Akshay Kapur

Concluding part of the ‘Mumbai Marathon’ Diaries

Though I’ve maintained an active lifestyle, I started training specifically for the Mumbai Marathon about four months ago. I trained both outdoors and in the gym.

Some people train really intensively for the Marathon, but I made sure that my normal training duration did not exceed one hour, six days a week. Prior to the Marathon training, I did a lot of compound activity and functional training. Training for the upcoming run on Sunday has had a very beneficial effect on me – it has helped me remain very focussed on my fitness goals. Running this particular Marathon has always been an amazing experience for me.

I modified my fitness regime for the Marathon a bit – I incorporated more of cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance exercises. I have also been following a very good eating pattern, reducing my carbs and fat intake and increasing protein intake. I’ve been leading a very disciplined lifestyle overall. I didn’t hire a professional trainer to guide me for the training, but the team at my gym has given me a lot of guidance and motivation.

When I first participated, I wanted to push my fitness to the next level. And every time I have participated in the Marathon, I have crossed another barrier that I never imagined I would. I guess the body achieves what the mind believes!

Akshay Kapur is 30 and works as a sales manager.

(Picture courtesy Akshay Kapur and hindubusinessline.com)

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Training days

So how did you train for the Mumbai Marathon? Did you train right? An expert offers a quick ready reckoner.
by Deepak Rawat, fitness training manager, Fitness First, clocked in 4 hours 45 minutes in the full marathon, 2012.

Part II of the ‘Mumbai Marathon’ Diaries

Exercise programmes for people participating in marathon runs are designed based on their current fitness levels. Cardiovascular exercises are given more importance as an exercise modality. For a marathon, long distance and interval cardio training are the main features of the exercise programme. However, one must not focus only on cardio but also do endurance training. Single leg, core and bend-to-extend pattern are the main focus areas in muscular endurance training.

On a weekly basis, I advocate a run that takes you to a distance of 30 to 40 kilometres. You can slowly extend this while running and take it up to even 70 km.

I have noticed that some people have the tendency to over-train for events like marathons. Over training can lead to injury, and cause other surprising issues like appetite loss, irritable behaviour and a drop in performance. As soon as this is noticed by trainers, he/she should point it out to the runner immediately.

Those who should not train for the Marathon are people with a higher BMI or with existing health concerns. I have had to tell people not to train for the run owing to physical constraints on their part. We also advise people to rest well during training, but resting times depend on the person’s age and current fitness level.

Besides this, all runners should bear in mind that the knees and ankles are the most prone areas for injury, so they should train carefully. Plus, ensure that you keep yourself well hydrated, and consume up to six litres of water every day while training.

Lastly, during your training and on the day of the race, wear running shorts, a comfortable vest (dri-fit), and running shoes with adequate cushioning based on the arch of your foot.

Diaries is a series of stories on one theme. The Mumbai Marathon diaries aim to lay the ground for the actual event on Sunday, January 20, 2013. Watch out for Part III tomorrow, where a participant tells us about achieving his fitness goals through the Marathon.

 

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Eat right, run better

A nutritionist explains what a marathoner’s diet just days before the race should be. Plus, diet tips for Marathon runners.
Part I of the ‘Mumbai Marathon’ diaries

Ritesh Shaiwal is fitness manager and nutritionist at Fitness First, Mumbai. He has been consulting on nutrition and training for the last five years, and on a year-to-year basis, he has counselled close to 25 runners. Of these, four are participating in the Mumbai Marathon on January 20, 2013.

If you’re participating in the Marathon this Sunday, Ritesh’s tips on eating and drinking right will hold you in good stead.

What your diet should comprise of:

The diet for someone running the Full Marathon would be completely different from that of a Half Marathon runner. The percentage of complex carbohydrates in the diet of a Full Marathon participant would be at least 30 per cent higher than that of a Half Marathon runner, as he/she would require more energy to complete a 42 kilometre run. The diet for both categories would change every four to six weeks if one has to design a one-month nutrition plan. Complex carbs would increase by five to eight per cent every week, with not too many changes in the percentage of protein and fat consumed.

What to eat while training:

Primarily, the foods that are good to go are whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, vegetables and salads as mid-meals, plus for dinner, along with a dry fruit meal, peanut butter plus chicken/fish/mutton/tofu/soy will get you all the protein nutrition you require. And last but not the least, a regular intake of fruit will help pace your run as well as your training routine.

What to eat till the race:

The diet, say one week before the race, would be: Carbs (50 per cent), Protein (35 per cent) and Fat (15 per cent) where one should consume complex carbs for breakfast and lunch. A week before the run, one should change the carbohydrates percentage from 50 per cent to 60 per cent, and include complex carbs for dinner. A night before the race, have a good heavy complex carb meal of pasta and chicken because you need the energy for the race the next day.

On race day:

On the morning of the race, two bananas with a slice of peanut butter sandwich does the trick for me. During the race, ensure that you have Electral or Gatorade, as your body requires the nutrition to sustain a long run. Post the race, you can go back to a normal, balanced diet.

Opt for these slow energy foods:

Slow energy foods are basically complex carbohydrates. The best sources for these are oats, whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat grain roti and whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta is my personal favourite complex carb, along with chicken, on the night before the race.

Avoid:

Aerated drinks and chocolates while you are training, as also chips and cookies. These are high in unsaturated fat.

The deal with energy drinks:

Energy drinks are great while training and during the run, as they contain simple carbohydrates which provide instant energy to the body, as compared to complex carbs. So having an energy drink while training or running is important so that your body does not go into starvation mode and gets instant energy. But be sure to only sip on the drink, don’t gulp it in large quantities.

Hydration on the go:

Hydration is key when you are running a long distance. For every kilometre or 1.5 km, one should sip about 100 ml of water, so that your energy levels are up and about. Once you are in the run for, say 45 minutes to 60 minutes, energy drinks should be introduced as a part of the hydration programme, apart from water. Keep sipping while you are on the run – don’t stop to sip as it will affect your timing.

Diaries is a series of stories on one theme. The Mumbai Marathon diaries aim to lay the ground for the actual event on Sunday, January 20, 2013. Watch out for Part II tomorrow, where we speak with a trainer on exercising for the Marathon. 

(Featured image tumblr.com) 

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Celebration of the year

Nothing celebrates Mumbai like cinema can. The Bollywood Art Project does just that, with an emphasis on community visual art.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Concluding part of the Yearender Diaries

You can’t really divorce Mumbai from its film industry. It’s like one is a function of the other, inviting every person for a tantalising glimpse of the fabled world that is a remote as it is seemingly within grasp. And whatever the degree of trouble we’re in, or whatever the level of our happiness, we are diverted fully by the escapism of Bollywood. Heck, sometimes we’re even totally divorced from our own realities by those in Hindi films.

So what better way to celebrate the city than to celebrate Bollywood?

That’s how the Bollywood Art Project (BAP) was born.

Started this year by artist Ranjit Dahiya (read up on him here), the BAP is “a social community project which aims to remind, recognise and exhibit Bollywood in various art forms.” Speaking to The Metrognome, Ranjit said, “I came to Mumbai in 2008 and started living here and working with a website. I was always in awe of Bollywood, and I loved the brand of escapism our films provided – only in our films could you find a hero who would still be alive after being shot five times!”

Ranjit was invited to Paris in 2009 as part of a cultural fest, in which the Hindi film industry was to be honoured. Later, he had a Bollywood showing in another French city. “This made me understand the impact that our films have even on people outside India, because at both places, there was a lot of interest and knowledge about Hindi films and its actors and directors. When I returned home, I felt that we should celebrate Bollywood in Mumbai before we take it to the world,” recalls Ranjit.

The idea for this celebration came only this year. “Since the film industry celebrates 100 years of cinema next year, I decided to do something to contribute to the celebration in my own way,” Ranjit says. The specific idea for this, however, came after the death of yesteryear superstar Rajesh Khanna in July this year, when Ranjit painted a full wall depicting Khanna in all his glory, at Bandstand, Bandra (see pic on left). “It was well-received, and several people remarked that nobody was painting film posters any more,” he muses. “The city lacks the sort of visual art culture that it rightly deserves. Apart from The Wall Project, there is not much happening in terms of visual art anywhere in Mumbai. Besides, there is an instant connect between the city and popular faces in cinema. And when I paint on walls in public spaces, the area comes alive.”

The BAP aims to create visual spaces for people to come and glimpse popular moments and people in Hindi cinema, and hopefully, offer a few minutes of nostalgia as well. “The only film-related landmarks in the city are stars’ homes and film studios, and the general public can’t access both. So the BAP aims to make cinema instantly accessible to the people, and to promote a culture of discussion about cinema on the streets. It’s a community project, so everybody’s invited to come take a look and participate,” Ranjit says. “When I had finished painting Anarkali (featuring Beena Rai and Pradeep Kumar), a Muslim woman stood staring at the painting and whispered, ‘Mashallah! Yeh aapne banaya? (Did you make this?)’ It feels great to have people stop and watch, it adds a whole new vibe to an area,” he says.

For know the latest work under BAP and to sponsor the project, check out www.facebook.com/BollywoodArtProject.

(Pictures courtesy Ranjit Dahiya. Featured image by The Metrognome)

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year.

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Trend of the year

Moving from armchair activism to armchair argumentativeness, we bared our souls on social networks, and hit back hard in disagreement.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 10 of our Yearender Diaries

They say a society unites in times of collective crises. That crises struck us, again and again this year, and in several different forms, was a fact nobody could have missed even if they wished to. Corruption. Scams arising out of corruption. Dismaying crimes. Absurd arrests. Several freedoms curbed repeatedly. Apathy from the authorities in the face of demonstration. Forced imprisonment inside our homes as somebody’s funeral cortege passed through the city. Women being murdered inside their homes by building security men, or by men they knew.

And we protested in the best way we possibly could. We logged on to Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve been so good at protesting online, that we’ve actually assumed an entirely new social role on the Internet – we have a reputation on Twitter and Facebook, and we work really hard to cultivate that reputation and keep it consistent. If we’re a weepy kind of soul, we tell everybody on our friends list about our latest heartbreak (even if it’s a cooking disaster in the kitchen). If we’re the demonstrative kinds, we put up pictures of everything happening in our lives. If we’re the ‘keen, media professional types’, we demand that others put up pictures of everything happening in their lives, as proof that it happened at all.

And out of this last, arose the Trend Of The Year – general argumentativeness over social networks.

This was also the Year of Short Tempered Sniping. The moment somebody said something even remotely sensational or contrary, there were 99 people vehemently disagreeing with that person or calling him/her an ass, and one person demanding a Twitpic or it didn’t happen (this ‘How many snipers does it take to pull down a Tweeter?’ joke tells itself). If a stand up comic made a joke out a situation that saddened everyone else, everybody united to call that stand up comic a joke on humankind. If a celebrity died, everybody was supposed to say ‘RIP’, not ‘I’m so glad he’s finally dead.’ Any behaviour not adhering to these norms was swiftly censured and publicly humiliated.

It’s like we’ve forgotten the time when we weren’t so combative. When we actually took the time to understand a contrary point of view and have a healthy discussion about it. When we, even when we wondered if somebody was telling the truth, gave them the benefit of doubt and gossiped only amongst our friends. When we didn’t butt into conversations two other people were having, only to either say one or the other party was being really funny, or being an idiot. When we still had some manners and didn’t count the general mood of society through the number of ‘Likes’ on a page, or the numbers of Retweets. This year, we challenged others’ opinions with impunity, staunchly defended our own and demanded that others agree with us as well, besides ganging up against those whose words or actions did not fall in line with ours.

This year, we shot down the message, the messenger and everybody else in the vicinity. Then we sat back in our armchairs and felt morally superior, because we’d actually gone out there and ‘done’ something.

(Picture courtesy theaggressor.blogspot.com)

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Look out for Celebration of the Year tomorrow.

 

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