Tag: mumbai

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Big story

Two building collapses in two weeks for Thane

Old buildings continue to fall in Mumbai and Thane. What are the Government and municipal authorities doing to address the problem?
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

After a building collapse in Thakurli last week claimed 9 lives, another building collapse in Naupada, Thane has now torn five families asunder. 12 people have died in the second collapse incident.

At least 5 people were rescued in a joint operation by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Mumbai Fire Brigade personnel. The incident occurred at about 2 am on Tuesday, when the Krishna Niwas building collapsed in under 10 seconds. Ground floor repair work in one of the commercial establishments in the building is being blamed for the collapse. On Monday, residents had been alarmed by wide cracks in the building staircase.

The NDRF personnel had previously been pushed into service in last week’s building collapse at Thakurli, also in Thane. 9 people were killed in that incident. The Naupada building was not on the Thane Municipal Corporation’s list of dilapidated buildings.

Apart from intermittent rains queering the pitch for buildings in Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali, the problem of cessed buildings and the lack of repair continues to plague the city. There are over thousands of old buildings in the city, which fall under the ambit of the Rent Control Act. Owing to the Act, owners of these buildings are not allowed to raise rents for tenants (who may pay as little as Rs 35 to Rs 100 per month as rent). Hence, the owners are unable to gather the funds to carry out repairs and restoration works for the buildings. Naturally, the buildings continue to stand in a state of increasing disrepair – till they ultimately collapse and claim lives.

Residents of old buildings in a dilapidated state are warned to vacate the premises after municipal authorities conduct checks for stability. However, most cannot afford to pay high rents or purchase property in Mumbai and Thane. The prices of real estate in Mumbai are the highest in Asia, and most people are unable to afford a home purchase.

Building owners in Mumbai and Thane are increasingly opting to redevelop their properties. However, the process of redevelopment is a long-winded one, requiring consents from tenants and owners, a mutually agreeable discussion on area allotment, permissions to be procured from the municipal authorities, and so on. It is being said that the Naupada building was locked in a dispute between a builder wanting to redevelop the property and the five families that had stayed behind in the building. Sadly, the survivors of the building are now left to grapple with the loss of their homes and loved ones.

(Picture courtesy www.indianexpress.com)

Categories
Event

Typewriters will come to life in Mumbai

World’s leading sculpture artist Jeremy Mayer will create an unusual masterpiece using typewriter parts. Do not miss this unique live event.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Godrej Archives, the business archive of Godrej Group, in line with its philosophy ‘Restore. Reflect. Reimagine.’ is lending a new lease to its last batch of typewriters by collaborating with the world’s only known typewriter sculptor, Jeremy Mayer.

Jeremy Mayer Jeremy will treat the city art aficionados to surreal sculptures and mandalas created using parts of the typewriters. He is a renowned sculpture artist who disassembles typewriters and reassembles them into full scale, anatomically correct figures. He does not solder, weld or glue the pieces together – it is entirely a cold assembly. The artist also does not use any parts that do not come from a typewriter. This will be India’s only typewriter sculpture. The finished product will be unveiled on August 12, 2015.

After the event, Jeremy will also flag off the ‘Artist-in-residence’ programme, an initiative that encourages artists from across the globe to reinterpret 118 years of heritage so that the current and future generations are inspired to reimagine the past and build a brighter future.

Head to the Godrej Hubble, Plant 13 Annexe, Godrej & Boyce, Vikhroli (East), on Wednesday, August 12. The event takes place from 3.30 pm to 8 pm. Entry is free to all.

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Kharcha paani

Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane on Smart Cities list

Maharashtra Government announces 10 cities from State on the country’s list, allots Rs 100 crore per city for the initiative.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

On the last day of the Monsoon Session of the State Legislature Friday, July 31, the State Government announced the names of Maharashtra’s 10 Smart Cities to be set up in the next 5 years. Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai are on the list, apart from Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kalyan-Dombivali, Amravati, Nashik, Solapur, Nagpur and Aurangabad.

The Smart Cities initiative envisages the setting up of, or creating, 100 Smart Cities in India. It aims at upgrading existing infrastructure, using technology to improve processes and quality of life, and ensure progress of each city so that more investment is attracted. The bigger plan is to create satellite cities around each Smart City to absorb rising population and set up new industrial and commercial districts.

The Centre has set aside a corpus of Rs 48,000 crore for this purpose. The plan is to spend Rs 100 crore each year in a phase-wise manner per city. An equal sum of money will be set aside by each State in the country.

‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ are to be set up in each city to monitor the progress of work, as also a Smart Cities Experts Forum to chart out a roadmap for the initiative in each State.

(Picture courtesy computer.financialexpress.com. Image used for representational purpose only)

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Event

Attend: ‘Pratibimb’, the best of Marathi theatre

The festival showcases the best in Marathi theatre; starts August 1 with two plays and ends on August 5, 2015.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

If you’re a theatre afficianado, you should not miss attending ‘Pratibimb’ at the NCPA, starting today.

Begun in 2010, Pratibimb was conceptualised to reflect the best and provide a platform to contemporary Marathi theatre. Pratibimb, meaning ‘reflection’, holds up a mirror to fine and new works in Marathi theatre. Plays ranging from comedy to human folly, from tragedy to edge-of-the-seat thriller, from revivals to new work, the NCPA Pratibimb Marathi Natya Utsav is an entertaining and enriching mix of theatre for Marathi theatre aficionados. With very few Marathi theatre festivals in town, the NCPA aims to provide Marathi theatre with a new destination, reach, stage and audience.

In all, 7 recent Marathi plays will be staged at the festival, starting with 26 52 Unha Pavsachi Berij Vaja Baki at 4 pm and Tepachu Ek Tamasha at 6.30 pm on Saturday, August 1.

Other plays include Samudra, Don Special, Tee, Bin Kamache Samvad and Pai Paishachi Goshta.

Pratibimb is now in its sixth edition. Each play will be followed by a discussion with the cast and crew of the play.

(Picture courtesy in.bookmyshow.com)

Categories
Do

5 ways to increase storage space

We are always running short of storage space in our homes. Use the available space creatively to create more storage area.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

For congested cities like Mumbai, where the sizes of houses are tiny and the living conditions cramped, storage space is a luxury very few can afford. Architects and interior designers too, do not give much thought to the concept of using every square inch of space for storage purposes, even in very small homes. The result? Though we try our best to keep our homes looking neat and tidy, our houses still look overcrowded and dowdy because of all the extra stuff we have lying around.

However, you can get creative and make space for storage inside your home. You might get hardly any space, or you may get a lot, depending on the area and layout of your house, but making the effort is certain to free up some space which you can gladly use to stow away your extra belongings.

Here’s how you start doing this:

Storage space under the bed1. Use the space under the beds. This one’s a no-brainer, yet most people don’t put this space to use. It is tacky to have exposed under-bed space where you will inadvertently store old newspapers or extra suitcases, etc. Invest in a sofa-cum-bed in the living room that will give you extra storage space. In the bedroom, get a box bed made so that you can store all the extras in the house under the bed, out of view. This is normally ‘dead’ storage, so you can store all the things you don’t need regularly.

2. Install overhead cabinets wherever possible. As the years pass, every home accumulates a lot of stuff in every room of the house. While a periodic cleaning will get rid of broken, unusable items, you will find that you still have a lot of stuff left over and not enough space to put it in. At such times, overhead cabinets in the bedrooms and living room come in handy. All your large cardboard boxes, box files, etc can be easily accommodated in these cabinets. However, make sure that you create the cabinets at a height just slightly over eye level, so that they are easy to reach.

3. Make vegetable racks in the kitchen. You will need to store extra onions, potatoes, rice grains, packets of wheat, oil etc in the kitchen, and only a cabinet or two will not do the job. Invest in stand-alone vegetable racks that you can place on one side of the kitchen counter. Board up the tops of the kitchen cabinets on one side to create an extra storage space at the top – this is where you can store onions, which require to be kept in the open air to prevent them getting spoilt. Also, place hooks on the inside of the cabinet shutters where you can vertically store big spoons and ladles.

4. Use odd columns to install shelves. Some of our homes have oddly-placed columns in the room. You can’t remove these columns because they are vitalColumn shelves structural elements that hold up the ceiling beams. A good way to get around the wastage of space around such a column is to knock a series of shelves on it – this way the column doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, but becomes a quirky part of the décor. If you want to hang photographs or a really sensational wall piece, you can use this column for the same purpose. Or if the column is located in a quiet corner of the room, you can nail a pull-down table to it and include two little chairs to create an intimate eating corner for two.

5. Niches make for great cupboard space. Some homes have unexplained niches, which most people fill over with masonry to even out the wall. Instead, extend the niche from floor to ceiling and put in shelves, or use the space created to make a ceiling-height cupboard. This could be a showpiece cupboard in the hall, or a private library in the bedroom. Install glass shutters on this cupboard to show off its contents to maximum effect, but be sure to put only pretty things inside and to clean it regularly.

(Pictures courtesy www.hgtv.com, plomet.com, www.decoratingyoursmallspace.com. Images used for representation purpose only)

Categories
Tech

Why use fitness-tracking watches?

Fitness and technology merge seamlessly with sport watches that give real time details of heart rate, speed and performance specs.
by Reyna Mathur

Fitness is a rapidly growing industry all over the world, and it is crossing paths with other industries as well. This is especially true of the technology industry, which is churning out fitness-based gadgets, apps and even games almost by the week.

India is a lucrative market for these apps and devices – as per industry estimates, the country’s fitness industry is growing at a steady 20 per cent annually, and interest in technology that aids the fitness-conscious Indian’s efforts are more than welcome.

Fitness gadgetsTracking this interest, several foreign companies such as TomTom and Samsung have already launched or announced future launches of GPS sport watches that track the user’s daily fitness regimen, in India. Not only are the watches great to look at and easy to use, users say they more than serve their purpose as well.

What’s the deal?

Says Ashish Chittarmani, a Goregaon resident who regularly cycles to work and works out every evening, “I gave up going to the gym many months ago, because I found that I enjoyed outdoor running and cycling more. However, I wondered how to track my progress when I exercised outdoors, because one can only measure one’s steps or note the fluctuations in weight.” For people like Ashish, these fitness sport watches go a long way in helping them pace their workouts and monitor daily progress.

Adds Dr Rehan Billimoria, cardiologist who specialises in post-operative exercise, “I recommend these fitness apps and sport watches to my patients who are looking to exercise – many of them for the first time – after some degree of cardiac trouble. They are apprehensive about over-exerting themselves, and not everyone likes to employ a personal trainer. I find it easier to ask them to get these fitness watches because just one device lets them know how fast or slow they are going, where they need to relax or step up – all of this without constantly having to call me for advice.”

He adds that the fitness-friendly technology has wider implications in helping persons of age and disability exercise better, especially without the help of assistants. “A colleague of mind helped trained a wheelchair-bound young girl in Gujarat to do hydro-aerobic workouts as part of her physiotherapy. People like her can monitor their own progress with these fitness watches. Today she doesn’t need a trainer shouting instructions at her, and she is doing well in her sessions.”

What users find useful

The biggest benefit of using such a gadget is that people can set their own fitness goals and monitor themselves without the need for a trainer. Many runners find that having such a watch strapped to their wrist is a better motivator than having a trainer constantly give you pep talks.

But what users find very useful is the real-time feature of all these gadgets. “When one is training for a marathon or a cyclothon, one needs to know individual time, how many kilometres covered, with a corresponding detail of physical changes such as calories burnt, heart rate at peak activity level, etc,” says Prashant Pawar, a gymnasium trainer. “I advise my clients to use fitness apps even inside the gym while doing free hand exercise or spot jogging. Knowing immediately how much your body can take is crucial in understanding which workout works best,” he adds, admitting that he even takes tips from these apps to help his clients better.

For those who are quite technologically-savvy, it is a plus to know that the sports watches launched by major players also sync seamlessly with popular fitness platforms for more in-depth results. “I like to set goals for myself every week, which I break down into smaller daily goals,” Ashish explains. “For example, I set a target for a certain number of calories to be burnt in a 10-minute swim. If I’m ‘going blind’ with my regime (i.e. without a device to measure performance), I might under-perform or go overboard hoping to burn more calories. Having a smart sports watch helps at such times.”

(Pictures courtesy thehealthpunch.com, www.news.com.au. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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