Treasure Hunt

"I am the only big Park in East of the city. I hosted the Indian National Congress's meeting in 1955. I also gave Nagpur it's first swimming pool in early 50s. Today I own a musical fountain too. Who am I?"


Note: Please respond on comment section of this post instead of email/yahoogroup. Thanks.

Mr. Ashok Easwaran

Folks, we are pleased to have a remarkable Nagpuri amongst us at Nagpur First - Mr. Ashok Easwaran.

Mr Easwaran is currently working as Editor of an Indian American weekly published from Chicago and also writes for the Indo-Asian News Service.

Mr. Easwaran is a true blue Nagpuri, with core Nagpuri sensibilities. He grew up in Nagpur and did his education in SFS school,G.S College and PG in Management and Journalism from Nagpur University.

His career as a Journalist associated him with various renowned media houses like Indian Expresss, The Daily and Deccan Herald in Mumbai. Of course he is proud of the fact that the foundation of his illustrous career was laid in his home town, Nagpur, where he started it all at The Hitvada under veteran journalists Mr M Y Bodhankar and the late Mr G T Parande.

He worked with the South Asia bureau of India Abroad at New Delhi before moving to Houston and later to Chicago.

He has been kind enough to grant us his permission to publish one of his article on our blog. Since getting the format right with PDF on blog was tough, I thought it would be prudent to upload the article on googlesites. This would do more justice to it, than me trying to format and present it on the blog.

I am sure you all will enjoy!

http://sites.google.com/site/nagpur1st/mr-ashok-easwaran-article-1

Nagpuri Tadka

Hello Nagpuris, I am sharing a nice Nagpuri Tadka, which I received as a forward from a Mumbaikar.
नागपुरी तडका : बिपाशाले लुगडं


शाम्यानं इचीबैन, कहरच केला

बिपाशासाठी मुंबैले, लुगडं घेवुन गेला....


त्याले वाटलं मायबाप, भलते गरिब असन,

म्हुन तिले आंगभर, कपडे भेटत नसन,

वाढलीहूढली पोरगी, तरणीबांड दिसते,

इकडं झाकाले गेली, तं तिकडं उघडं पडते,

म्हुन त्यानं कपड्याचा, थैला भरुन नेला....



जुहुच्या चौपाटीवर, भेट त्यायची झाली,

तिले पाहुन शाम्याची, बंदी विकेट गेली,

तिले म्हणे चोळी घाल,घे लुगडं नेसुन,

थे म्हणे आवमाय, हे भुत आलं कुठुन ?

मंग जुहूवर धमासान, तमाशा सुरु झाला...



लय वळवलं तिचं मन, पण मन नाय वळे,

मंग शाम्या धावे मांगं, आनं थे पुढं पळे,

वन्समोअर,वन्समोअर, लोकं भाय बोंबले,

कॅमेरेवाले पोझ घेवुन,कॅमेरे रोखुन थांबले,

पोलीसायनं बैनमाय,नावकुल विचका केला,

आनं त्याच्यापुढचा एपीसोड, राहुनच गेला.....



.........................................

ढोबळ मानाने शब्दार्थ :-

इचीबैन, बैनमाय = च्यायला सारखे.

वाढलीहूढली = वयात आलेली.

बंदी = पुर्ण,संपुर्ण.

आवमाय = अग्गबाई

मांगं = मागे

नावकुल = पुर्णपणे.

.........................................
लेखक - गंगाधर मुटे
Disclaimer: We have received this कविता as a forward and are reproducing here. Mr. Mute claims to have written it and hence we are providing his name here.

CNBC Discussion : Nagpur an IT Destination

Unfortunately I am not able to embed the Video on this blog; so I am just adding the url here

http://www.moneycontrol.com/video/special-videos/mihannagpur-the-ideal-business-hub-_439261.html

I liked the candid argument made by Mr. Kulkarni of Persistent Systems for why young talent from Nagpur takes a flight to other 'cooler' or metropolitan destinations.

Sachin Pilot spoke pretty well and he looks like a minister who can fit into his father's dynamic legacy.

Mr. Asim Gupta should be congratulated for promoting Nagpur so well.

Overall I liked the CNBC snippet.

Thanks to Mr. Vikram Bobade for passing on this link to the Nagpur First Group.

Nagpur International Marathon 2010

Since last year, January 30, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi is an increasingly special day for all the Nagpuris as around that day the annual Nagpur International Marathon is organized in support of the principles of Peace and Non-violence. This time it was organized on last Sunday, January 31, 2010. It was the second year of the marathon with hundreds of thousands of people participating right from children to people in their eighties, and from bureaucrats to businessmen to politicians and even military organizations.

Nagpur First was honored last year as Mr. Sharad Bhagwatkar, 68 years young father of Vivek Bhagwatkar, one of the founders of NF, represented us in the last year’s run by running the full marathon! I also tried participating in the event last year but chose not to after reaching at the venue to find chaos when nobody seemed to know what was going on there. This year the event looked much better organized starting with proper arrangements for parking of vehicles to signs marking starting and ending points for various races and the roadmap for full and half marathons clearly displayed at various prominent places along the route. Almost all major businesses and organizations in the city supported the event with sponsorships. People were also seemed much better prepared for the event this time and I feel it shall go on becoming more interesting and grand event with each passing year.

Nagpur-First participated this year too with 8 of us (see photo) running the Ahinsa Daud (non-violence run) of 3 KMs from the Kasturchand Park to Yeshwant Stadium via Akashvani square, Institute of Science, RTM Nagpur University, Variety square, Munje Square, Zansi Rani Sqaure, Panchsheel square and finally Yeshwant stadium. For the first time I climbed on the ‘steps’ for the audience to sit inside the Yeshwant stadium, to watch the participants completing the marathon arriving with huge applause from the crowd. There was also a band playing at the center of the stadium and a music program by upcoming singers.

I personally felt much better connected with our beloved city, its people and its culture while running with the crowd. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to running a longer distance next year with a larger group.

We at Nagpur-First are also planning to organize a 10 KM Heritage walk from the Kasturchand Park to Futala Talao and back, sometime around Oct-Nov this year. Ajit Kulkarni proposed the idea and he may champion the initiative with support from other members of Nagpur-First. Looking at the success of the International Marathon, I am encouraged. Let’s gear up to make the heritage run a grand success in its first year.