Harshal Modi
23.3K posts

Harshal Modi
@grondmaster
Where will you run to? Wherever you go, there you are!
On a boat to nowhere. Joined Ağustos 2009
142 Following836 Followers

Bhendi Bazaar isn't named because it's 'Behind' the Crawford market (Bazaar), nor is it about the humble okra. The name of the Indian Tulip is 'Gulbhendi', and it flowered there, hence, Bhindi Bazaar.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
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A belief said that someone dead would haunt as a ghost until it was tied to a post in a secluded spot. It was called a 'khamb' locally. One hill in Bombay had so many posts it was called Khambalaya. The British just brutalised that name to Cumballa Hill.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
English

Pirates from Malabar would hide their ships in the current Chowpatty area, waiting to attack British ships coming from Surat into the Mumbai Port/Fort. The hill they would post their lookouts on to signal when the British approached is now known as Malabar Hill.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
English

Bombay's traders speculating in cotton under a Banyan tree in the 1850s would birth not just today's BSE, but also one more: hungry late at night, they'd ask the local food sellers to mix leftovers and heat them with spices to eat with bread, thus inventing the humble Pav Bhaji.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
English

@sumeetkhanna @TALLkaholic @mumbaiheritage From my research, it's based on 'Andhaar', ie darkness, blackness. The hill itself is completely a black basalt monolith, so that's not too far.
Unless the hill was mined for sulphur, (of which no records are available) this etymology is stronger.
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@grondmaster @TALLkaholic @mumbaiheritage Well I can guess that Andhakgiri could be a distorted Gandhak Giri .. which would mean a hill rich in sulphur (which it would be because volcanic )
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Andheri is not named after Udayanagari (aka the Mahakali Caves hill) but after Gilbert Hill, in the then Undheree Village, known first as Andhakagiri, then Andhragiri, and later Aandheree, before the British renamed it after a random white officer/geologist. It means 'Dark Hill'.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
English

@TALLkaholic @mumbaiheritage Gilbert Hill was originally called Andhakagiri, which was slowly converted into Andheri by the local language speakers. The British colonizers changed the name from Andhragiri (or whatever it was called by then) to Gilbert Hill, a name that continues till today.
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@grondmaster @mumbaiheritage Sorry but I don’t follow the connection?? How has Gilbert become andheri?
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While one corruption of Mumbai was Bombay, it's erstwhile name, there is no scientific reason for the so-called 'bom baim' or 'good bay' in Portuguese being the source of Bombay. The closest is 'boa bahia' in Portuguese or 'bonne baie' in French, which are not the sources either.
Mumbai Heritage@mumbaiheritage
Hit me with the craziest Mumbai history facts you know.
English

@mumbaiheritage A 2022 Mumbai Police X post says it's Pydhonie.
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How do you land a fighter jet when you can barely see and are bleeding from your face? Every time I read this, it still leaves me in awe.
On 4 Sep 1970, Flt Lt Boman Rashid Irani, a pilot from No. 32 Sqn, was on attachment to No. 222 Sqn and leading a three-aircraft low-level tactical training mission. After completing a turn at 900 kph, a bird struck his Sukhoi Su-7.
The impact was catastrophic. The right quarter light shattered. The front windscreen and left quarter light cracked and went completely opaque. Broken glass and parts of the bird hit him on the right side of his face. The injuries caused bleeding and completely obscured the vision of his right eye. Air was rushing in through the shattered panel. He had no forward vision at all.
In pain, partially blinded, and flying a badly damaged Su-7, he kept the aircraft under control, climbed for height, and read the radio compass to navigate toward base. Peering through the broken quarter light frame with his one functioning eye, he pinpointed his position, set up a Marker Beacon approach, guided by Sqn Ldr TRJ Osman, a fellow member of the formation, found the runway, and landed safely.
His Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) was announced on 26 January 1972. No. 222 Sqn Commanding Officer wrote, “He displayed a very high degree of skill and airmanship in landing the aircraft safely in circumstances which could have led a less able and confident pilot to abandon the aircraft.”
Boman Rashid Irani was commissioned on the 81st Pilot Course and was by all accounts an exceptional aviator. He had trained with the USAF Advanced Fighter Course on the T-33 and F-86 at Lackland and Randolph , the kind of pedigree that marked out the finest fast jet pilots of his generation.
The cruel irony is that the very act of courage that earned him his gallantry award also ended his flying career. The injuries sustained that day led to his invalidation from service in 1977.
#IAFHistory @IAF_MCC

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@AnchitGupta9 I know him well, and met him for the first time nearly 14 years ago. He's still very active and involved, with a sharp intellect.
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Designing for India is actually very tough. You have to account for the usual things and the unusual things. And there is no limit to the unusual
If you are designing a car, it has to be designed for carrying people or a buffalo. Sometimes both
If you are designing and SUV you have to design it to account for people driving it as a hatchback. And if you are designing a hatchback, you have to account for it being used like a SUV
Suspensions have to be designed for not only terrestrial but Lunar and Asteroidal surfaces
Rear view mirrors have to be designed for getting hit atleast once a day by adventurous two wheeler drivers
Tubelights have to be designed so that people don't steal their starters.
Women's products will be used by men
Fans will be used to dry papads and not cool rooms
People will put random liquids in a water cooler
Fuel will be mixed with benzene and kerosene
Trucks and Mini Trucks will have to take into account that they will be overloaded by atleast 30%
Buses will carry twice as many passengers as they are supposed to carry. Trains 5x more
Designing for India is not for beginners.
You need all the brains, sensibility, practicality and creativity to design stuff and even then it won't be enough
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@mumbaiheritage Had done a few of those on Quora ages back: quora.com/What-is-the-hi…
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