Mumbai Weekly

Miracle at Mumbra

A seven storey

building in Lucky

compound collapsed

in the evening

around 6:30pm on 4

April 2013 in

Thane‟s Mumbra

region killing 74

and rendering many

homeless. Accord-

ing to news reports

majority of them

were women and

children. Thane mu-

nicipal commission-

er R.A.Rajeev

claims that most of

the buildings in

Mumbra are illegal

and he has pointed

out to the state gov-

ernment but no ac-

tion has been taken

against errant build-

ers. The police offi-

cials blame nexus

between builder and

the civic authorities

for the disaster.

Most of the families

residing in the

building were mi-

grants from lower

economic strata of

society - doing odd

jobs for survival.

Firefighters and lo-

cals along with

cranes rushed imme-

diately to the spot to

help remove the

people buried un-

derneath the rubble.

The rescue opera-

tion went on day

and night for three

days using cranes

&gas cutters to re-

move the bodies of

people buried un-

derneath. Locals

provided food and

water to the rescue

team that engaged

in the rescue work.

The injured and the

survivors were

rushed to nearby

hospitals in Mumbra

and thane in the am-

bulance. Locals

were angry with the

government for not

providing enough

help during the dis-

aster so they took

upon themselves to

work along fire-

fighters and the na-

tional disaster res-

cue force to remove

people buried un-

derneath the rubble.

The illegal building

came up in a span of

three months and

was fully occupied

in spite of some

construction work

still going on; this

was because the civ-

ic authorities cannot

stop the construc-

tion work once it is

fully occupied. Re-

ports also said that

building was con-

structed on the for-

est land. Children

who survived the

collapse are ren-

dered homeless;

some of the children

as young as one

year, losing both or

one parent to the

tragedy, have no

other family mem-

ber to take care of

Rescue operations at a building collapse site in Mumbra, Thane dis-

trict off Mumbai on 4 April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly

A baby is pulled out from the rubble at Mumbra, Thane district 29 kilometers off Mumbai on 4 April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly

Economy

Pg 6

Culture

Pg 7

Sports Pg 8

Metro

Pg 3

Medha Patkar, a human rights activist reacts during her nine day hunger fast at Golibar slum in sub-

urban Mumbai on 5 April 2013 . Francis Mascarenhas / Mumbai Weekly

Human r ight s act ivist

Medha Patkar brought

her nine -day hunger

fast to an end on 13

Apr i l 2013.

The reason fo r her

fast unto death was

the demo lit ion o f 43

s lums in t he Go libar

area without any

proper document s or

ar rangement s fo r re

shift ing. She was a lso

accompanied by many

s lum dwellers who

had lost t he ir ho mes

ear lier .

Maharasht ra Chie f

Minist er , Pr it hvira j

Chavan made an as-

surance that t here

would be a proper in-

vest igat ion into the

demo lit io n o f t he

s lums within e ight

days.

Slum dwellers have

commented that t he

deve lopers respons i-

ble fo r t he demo lit io n

have co mmit t ed a

fr aud, as t hey d id no t

provide them wit h

va l id document s be-

fo re t he demolit io n

and are a l leged ly t r y-

ing to exto rt land

fro m them fo r t he ir

own benef it .

Patkar rece ived sev-

era l tweet s fro m fo l-

lowers on Twit t er to

end her fast and look

a ft er her hea lth. Her

fo llo wers a lso warned

that if anyt hing hap-

pened to Patkar , t here

would be a severe

back lash, as Mumbai

would be ver y angr y.

Ano ther act ivist ,

Aruna Ro y made an

appea l t o Sonia Gan-

dhi t o int ervene in

t he mat t er as Patkar‟s

hea lt h was det er io rat-

ing.

them. The local

mosque committee is

willing to take care

of children who lost

their parents. them.

The government an-

nounced an Ex-gratia

of Rs 2,00,000 for

the deceased and Rs

50,000 for the in-

jured. (Contd. pg. 5)

Medha Patkar ends hunger fast on ninth day

2 PEOPLE MW

Mumbai witnesses first ever Catholic Mass Wedding

FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

April 14 marked a

special occasion in

the lives of 30

couples as Mumbai

witnessed its first

ever Catholic mass

wedding. The cere-

mony took place at

the St Xavier‟s

School ground in

Vile Parle and was

officiated by Bish-

op Agnelo Gra-

cias. Organised by

the Archdiocese

and Bombay Cath-

olic Sabha, an

amount of Rs. 8

lakh (15,000 USD)

was raised for the

event by the means

of sponsorships

and about 3,000

people attended

the ceremony.

Out of the 30 cou-

ples, seven cou-

ples were from

Mumbai while oth-

ers were migrants

belonging to eco-

nomically weaker

sections of socie-

ty. According to

Gordon D‟Souza,

President, Bombay

Catholic Sabha,

the sole purpose of

having the mass

wedding was that

the migrant cou-

ples were finding

it difficult to

spend a lot of

money on a wed-

ding ceremony.

The preparations

for the wedding

started more than a

year ago and the

participat ing cou-

ples aged between

21 years to 45

years, had to sub-

mit their docu-

ments, which were

analyzed thorough-

ly. After that they

went through a

three month mar-

riage preparation

course which

helped them to be

ready for the wed-

ding. The wedding

saw the Bishop

blessing all the cou-

ples and announcing

them husband and

wife in a tradit ion

Catholic manner.

There was also a

small choir that sang

hymns in Hindi and

English during the

ceremony. The wed-

ding ended with a

tradit ional dance per-

formance by the

tribes of Chhota

Nagpur and the Bish-

op giving away gifts

to all of the newly

wed couples.

A groom wipes his face as a bride looks on during a mass wedding in

suburban Mumbai on 14 April 2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

A bride yawns during a mass wedding ceremony in suburban Mumbai on 14 April 2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

A man kisses a bride during a mass wedding in suburban Mumbai on 14 April 2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai

Weekly

Mumbai gets first all woman post

office

Employees work at Mumbai’s first all woman post office in

south Mumbai on 13 April 2013 . Jayshree Kewalrama-

ni / Mumbai Weekly

4000 more fleet cab permits in May

A man sleeps in a cab in South Mumbai on 18 April 2013. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

The st at e t ransport de-

par tment has f ina l ly de-

c ided to issue 4,000

f leet cab per mit s in Ma y

fo r cabs in t he c it y.

This wil l t ake the num-

ber o f f leet t axis t o

10,000, which is t he de-

mand in t he c it y.

According to a t ransport

min ist r y source, The

per mit s wil l be issued in

May.

The per mit s wil l be d is-

t r ibuted on a quota sys-

t em, with ex -servicemen

and women be ing en-

couraged to t ake up the-

se jobs.

I t wil l a lso he lp fleet

cab operato rs like Meru,

EasyCabs , Tab Cabs and

Mega Cabs expand oper-

at ions in t he c it y. Each

co rporat ion is t r ying to

procure around 500 per-

mit s each.

Unique t axi services l ike

t he Pr iyadar shini t ax i

service, a ser vice that

has only female cabbies

can a lso benef it fro m

this news. TABcab having a

fleet of 1,850 taxis, has a sur-

plus of 2,150 permits. The

company now plans to launch

950 new cabs this month,

which will take its fleet size to

2,800.

3 METRO MW FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

Mumbai welcomes visitor from space

Drop in female tourists in the country

Students display autographed postcards depicting Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, during her visit to Mumbai on 3 April 2013. Sunita Williams holds the record for longest

space flight by a woman. Ashish Vaisnav / Mumbai Weekly

A foreigner shares a moment with a shop keeper at a bazaar in south Mumbai. Mithila

Joshi / Mumbai Weekly

The last three months

have been a dismal for

the foreign tourism

department in India as

media reports indicate

that there has been a

fall of about 35 per

cent of foreign visitors

in the country. The

number of foreign

tourists, especially

women, has seen a

sharp fall post the Del-

hi gang-rape incident.

Since then, there have

been a couple of inci-

dents where foreign

female travellers have

been attacked. Last

month a Swiss woman

was gang-raped in

Madhya Pradesh as

she and her husband

were camping in a re-

mote village. , A study

was conducted recently

which stated that in the

last three months near-

ly 72 per cent of the

tour operators in India

received cancellations

of holiday bookings

coming mostly from

women tourists from

countries like England,

the USA, Canada .

Bollywood to tone down sexuality

Ticket vendors sit at a ticket counter in suburban Mumbai on 12 April 2013. Biplov

Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

The recent Delhi

gang-rape case

which shook the

country left a huge

mark among the

hearts of Indians.

With a strong flow

in the country re-

garding women

empowerment, the

government has

released some

measures to keep a

check on negat ive

portrayal of Wom-

en on television

which includes

movies, advert ise-

ments and soap

operas.

Uday Kumar Var-

ma, Secretary of

Informat ion and

Broadcast ing, re-

cent ly signed a let-

ter to the Cabinet

Secretary explain-

ing him about the

measures that can

be taken to take

care of the issue.

He has also asked

the censor board

and some industry-

sponsored self-

regulatory panels

to review their ex-

ist ing guidelines

on how they por-

tray women. Var-

ma also suggested

the minist ry to

show short clips

for public advisory

and should be

made mandatory to

air on almost all

private channels.

The minist ry has

already warned the

media on the sub-

ject of portraying

women in a disre-

spectful manner.

City brings in Baisakhi

Baisakhi is a fest iva l

ce lebrat ed across t he

no r thern part s o f In-

d ia usua l ly on 13 April.

I t is observed as a

t hanksg iving day by

the far mers to god

and prayers are a lso

o ffered fo r good har-

vest and prosper it y

fo r t he future.

Sikhs o ffer prayer in

Gurudwara (Sikh t em-

p le) in t he morning

and they t ake out pro-

cess io ns in d ifferent

par t s o f t he cit y

where devo tees per-

fo r m the t radit iona l

mar t ia l ar t called

„Gatka . In rural par t s

o f no r th Ind ia men

per fo rm t radit iona l

dance known as

‘bhangra’ which t e lls

a sto ry about t he ag-

r icu ltura l process.

Ba isakhi is ce lebrat -

edwith a lo t o f happ i-

ness and jo y. Devo-

t ees go to t he Gurud-

wara in t he evening,

where food is ser ved

fro m the commo n

k it chen and ever yo ne

is free to be a part o f

t he fest ivit ies, ir re-

spect ive o f cast e or

creed.

Left: Sikh followers pray at a Gurudwara (Sikh temple) in central Mumbai on 13 April 2013. Kunal Khullar /

Mumbai Weekly

Australia

4 EDITORIAL MW FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

OPINION: Celebrate with Caution

POINT OF VIEW: Love in a Concrete Jungle

Ashish Vaishnav

Private space or

lack of it is a luxu-

ry in metro cities

in India. Every

person craves for it

at some time or the

other for different

reasons. Some

want to relax after a

stressful day, others

may like themselves

to be cut off from

the rest of the world

for a time being and

want some time to

ponder over some

personal/

professional things

in life.

Urbanization and

boom in construc-

tion leads to land

sharks grabbing eve-

ry piece of land &

building homes on it

for selfish motives

and catering to need

of people from dif-

ferent strata of soci-

ety which in turn has

led to smaller and

more congested

apartments. In to-

day‟s modern sce-

nario it‟s very hard

to find private space

for many young cou-

ples, even in their

own home due to

lack of space or

staying in a joint

family.

This has led to many

couples & also col-

lege going young-

sters find private

space in public plac-

es especially in met-

ro cities. If you take

a case of Mumbai

and happen to pass

by or visit prominent

beach front in the

city, you will come

across many young

couples, college stu-

dents enjoying some

private moments in

the public, fully

aware of the people

walking past and ve-

hicles passing by

and at whatever time

of the day it may be.

Not only sea fronts,

but promenades and

parks have become a

private space in pub-

lic for young lovers

but also different

mode of transport

like bus, auto

train ,taxi, or wher-

ever private space is

available young lov-

ers would set up

shops to trade their

wares.

The people who play

spoilsport with the

young lovers are the

moral police, beg-

gars, eunuchs who

threaten them or ask

money till they don‟t

get it. Due to lack of

privacy many go to

extreme length of

sharing intimate mo-

ments in places like

mangroves, unmind-

ful of the surround-

ing and the stench.

There are makeshift

shelters deep inside

the mangroves with

touts who charge for

private spaces. Also

many a time couples

have lost their lives,

unmindful of high

tide, busy romancing

on the rocks at many

prominent sea front

in Mumbai, but it

has reduced now

since police are

keeping a tight vigil

at such places and

also come and warn

the couples or ask

them to leave if they

are found in isolated

places where they

become soft targets

for thieves and other

miscreants. In big

cities, due to lack of

space it has become

a norm of sorts to

find couples having

some intimate mo-

ments in a park or a

sea front.

Police have gone

easy on couples

found at many prom-

inent parks & beach-

front if they are not

engaged in any im-

moral activities, al-

lowing them the

much needed space

in the concrete jun-

gle of metropolitan

cities. In my opin-

ion, everyone is en-

titled to have their

private space and

one should respect

that. It is fine to

share some intimate

moments as long as

one does not cross

the boundaries of

decency in public.

The above views

are personal views

expressed by the

author.

Jayshree Kewalramani

In what is being

hailed as a land-

mark ruling across

the world, the Indi-

an Supreme Court

rejected Swiss

pharmaceutical gi-

ant Novartis' bid to

patent the drug

glivec/gleevec

(imatinib). Accord-

ing to an Indian

news magazine,

Glivec, the drug

used in the treat-

ment of leukaemia,

costs around

$2,600

(approximately Rs

1,40,250) a month

while Indian gener-

ics of the same

drug (sold by CI-

PLA and NATCO)

sell for no more

than $175

(approximately Rs

9,440) per month.

Novartis holds the

patent for the drug

in over 40 coun-

tries, including

United States, Chi-

na and Russia.

Health activists

have welcomed the

judgement, arguing

that cheap generics

produced in India

help save lives

across the develop-

ing world. Pharma-

ceutical represent-

atives, however,

have argued that

the case would

serve to discourage

them from invest-

ing in research and

development in In-

dia. India amended

its laws in 2005

when it began

granting patents on

medicines.

Pharmaceutical

companies argue

that they spend bil-

lions of dollars on

research - the pa-

tent period

(usually 20 years),

during which no

other manufacturer

can produce and

distribute the same

drug allows them

to sell the drugs at

premium price to

recover the cost of

research. Many be-

lieve that the re-

cent judgement

fails to take into

account the money

spent on research

and innovation.

The Supreme

Court, however,

has denied Novar-

tis the patent, cit-

ing lack of innova-

tion. Novartis has

argued that while

the core compound

was known earlier,

their research

helped transform it

into a stable form

so that it could be

used in the treat-

ment of blood can-

cer. Their innova-

tion is what has

changed leukaemia

from a deadly to

chronic disease. Be-

fore Glivec, pa-

tients had to under-

go bone marrow

transplant, which

was not only pain-

ful but also posed

its own set of risks.

Glivec has im-

proved the lives of

patients, both in

terms of longevity

and quality.

Most arguments on

the verdict have

tended to demonise

the pharmaceutical

giant, stressing the

fact that generics

offer affordable op-

tions to low and

middle-income

groups alike. While

that is a noble con-

cern in itself, one

cannot deny the fact

that without innova-

tion there would be

no generics and pa-

tients mortality

would continue to

remain high. Phar-

maceutical compa-

nies are well within

their rights to de-

mand patents and

seek to reap the

benefits of their in-

tellectual property

rights. It is danger-

ous to pit innova-

tion against accessi-

bility and see the

two entities - drug

manufacturers and

patients - as neces-

sarily having a con-

flict of interest.

Having said that,

drug manufacturers

are a powerful lob-

by that uses a range

of tactics to protect

its profit margins.

Patents and pricing

of drugs are only

few of these. One

must therefore cele-

brate the present

judgment with some

caution.

The Supreme Court

is, without a doubt,

right to demand that

drug manufacturers

define efficacy of

drugs more unam-

biguously.

We must demand

transparency from

entities such as No-

vartis, for they

claim that of the

16,000 users of

Glivec in the coun-

try, a vast majority

receive the drug for

free. That claim by

the company ought

to be examined.

One must probe as

to why the company

wishes to dispense

drugs for free in a

market where ge-

nerics sell to about

300,000 patients.

Surely, it serves

neither the compa-

ny's nor the pa-

tients' interests.

If anything, a dif-

ferent pricing poli-

cy ought to be in

everyone's interests.

And if our chief

concern is with

making drugs af-

fordable then one

must not just point

fingers drug manu-

facturers but exam-

ine a whole range of

policies and practic-

es that put

healthcare out of

the reach of poor.

For better or for

worse, under the

prevailing system it

is the big compa-

nies like Novartis

that appear to lead

innovation. Without

them, alas, diseases

such as leukaemia

would still be pain-

ful and life-

threatening and

there would be few

or no affordable ge-

nerics.

The above views

are personal views

expressed by the

author.

Couples sit behind a bus stop in South Mumbai on 19 March 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly

Sanskar Bhagate, a five year old boy diagnosed with blood cancer looks into the photographer’s camera outside the Tata Cancer Hospi-

tal in south Mumbai on 10 April 2013. Jayshree Kewalramani / Mumbai Weekly

5 FEATURE MW

Aftermath of a disaster FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

Mr Sheikh, an electrician is brought out from the rubble of a building collapse by a team of fire fighters in Mumbra, Thane district off Mumbai on 4 April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai

Weekly

Locals offer prayers for the deceased at the building collapse site in Mumbra, Thane district off Mumbai on 6

April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly

A woman stands on the site of the building collapse in Thane district

off Mumbai on 6 April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly

Bag of deceased girl S.Bano, at a building collapse site in Thane dis-

trict off Mumbai on 6 April 2013. Ashish Vaishnav / Mumbai Weekly A survivor is taken to hospital on a stretcher after she was rescued from the building collapse in Thane dis-

trict off Mumbai on 5 April 2013. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

6 ECONOMY MW FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

TVS Capital sells majority of shares in Papa John‟s Pizza

Tablets and smartphones

affect PC sales

Dabbawallas demand taxi permits

Gold prices hit two year low

Dabbawallas have

demanded that

t hey be g iven t axi

per mit s as t he

amount t hey make

de liver ing lunch

boxes is highly

insu ff ic ient .

SubhashTalekar ,

spokesperson o f

t he Nutan Mumba i

Tif f in Box Supp li-

ers Assoc iat ion

announced to t he

med ia, t hat t he

dabawallas want

around 10-15%

reservat ion o f t he

14,000 t axi per-

mit s t hat t he st at e

government p lan

to issue fo r Mum-

ba i and it ‟ s sub-

urbs. He c la ims

that t he dabbawal-

las have been

serving over 2,

00,000 people ho t

mea ls on t ime

s ince the last 120

year s, without any

st r ikes o r agit a-

t ions about t he ir

low wages. Ac-

cording to news

report s on an av-

erage, a dab-

bawalla makes

around Rs 8000–

10,000 ( roughly

$148 -184) a

mo nth, which dur-

ing these t imes o f

in flat ion, is ex-

t remely less and

mak ing ends meet

beco mes a d iff i-

cu lt t ask. The

Mumbai Tiffin Box

Suppliers Association,

it is made up of people

from the Varkari sect

of Hinduism - who

absolutely love to

serve others.

A pedestrian walks past a gold shop in south Mumbai on 15th April 2013. Kunal Khullar /

Mumbai Weekly

There‟s been a gold

rush all over India as

buyers take advantage

of the two year low

dip in gold rates.

According to media

reports, physical trad-

ers have started bar-

gain buying as well.

India is the world‟s

largest buyer of gold,

and this is the begin-

ning of the wedding

season as well which

will go on till June.

The upcoming

Akshaya Tritiya festi-

val has also led to a lot

of gold buying. Prices

vary from state to state

sometimes because

some states may

charge extra to cover

up for the transport

costs.

According to re-

ports by Gartner

Inc and Internal

Data Corp, PC

sa les have

slumped to it ‟s

lowest in t he

March quarter.

Access to int ernet

on the go from an-

ywhere in t he

wor ld has led to a

Papa John‟s P iz-

za, t he wor ld‟s

t hird largest pizza

cha in is having

it s Ind ia opera-

t ion so ld to an-

other franchise.

Media report s

st at e t hat TVS

Cap it a l has begun

to se ll a majo r it y

o f t he shares o f

t he company. I f

so ld to t he r ight

owners, Papa

John‟s who are

t hird a ft er Pizza

Hut and Dominos,

can beco me a

ver y st rong con-

t ender in t he p iz-

za market .

Dabbawallas (Tiffin delivery men) stand on a bridge in south Mumbai on 15 April 2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

A child uses a smartphone as a man carry-

ing her looks on in south Mumbai on 11

April 2013. Jayshree Kewalramani / Mum-

bai Weekly

A girl eats a pizza at a restaurant in suburban Mumbai. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Week-

ly

mass ive demand

in smartphones.

People are seen

spending more

t ime on their

smartphones and

tablets t hen their

home pc.

Many news re-

ports blame Win-

dows 8 for t he fa ll

in PC sales. Ac-

cess to internet on

the go from any-

where in t he

wor ld has led to a

mass ive demand

in smartphones.

People are seen

spending more

t ime on their

smartphones then

the ir home pc.

Many blame Win-

dows 8 for t he fa ll

in PC sales.

News reports also

ment ion that tab-

let shipment s may

exceed that of

PC‟s and laptops

put together. This

year could well

spell doomsday

fo r the PC.

7 CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT MW FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

Maharashtrians usher in the New Year

A woman talks on the phone dur-

ing Gudi Padwa festivities in sub-

urban Mumbai on 10 April 2013.

Kunal Khullar / Mumbai Weekly

Kids dressed as Hindu deities sit on a bike accompanied by a man during Gudi Padwa in

South Mumbai on 10 April 2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

Gudi Padwa is celebrated in

a grand manner in Maha-

rashtra. It‟s a beginning of

the New year for Maha-

rashtrians where they put up

a „Gudhi‟ (copper vessel

mounted on a bamboo

stick) outside their home,

make rangolis at the door-

step and all the members of

family wear new clothes on

this auspicious occasion. In

villages in Maharashtra,

people clean their homes

plaster their walls with cow

dungs and make it look

clean and colorful associat-

ing it with spring.

In Mumbai and surrounding

suburbs in Maharashtra,

huge processions are con-

ducted especially in Maha-

rashtrian dominant locali-

ties with men ,women and

children dressed traditional-

ly. It is also known as

„Shobha Yatra‟(showcasing

the tradition)where they

have a theme and children

also dress according to the

theme. Young women ride

bikes wearing traditional

“navaari”(nine yards)sari

and are accompanied by

bands with beating drums.

At home Maharashtrian‟s

make “puris” (Indian

bread) and

“shrikhand” (flavoured

yoghurt)and also “puran

poli” (traditional sweet)

A woman beatss a drum during the Gudi Padwa procession at south Mumbai on 10 April

2013. Biplov Bhuyan / Mumbai Weekly

The Mysore Asso-

c iat ion aud ito r ium

at Cent ral Mumbai

witnessed a mag i-

ca l night o f c lass i-

ca l dances on 12 t h

Apr i l 2013.

The show featured

exper t s like Uma

Dogra, a kathak

exponent s ince the

la st 35 years who

has gone on to be-

come one o f t he

most compel l ing

and respect ed

dancers o f Ind ia.

Uma uses an amal-

gamat ion o f Luck-

now and Ja ipur

Gharana in her

dance. Uma has

a lso been fe lic it at -

ed with the Maha-

rasht ra Sanskr it i

St at e Award by

the government in

2009, and current -

ly shares her

knowledge t ra in-

ing others in t he

ar t o f kathak.

The other per-

fo r mer was C.V

Chandrashekhar , a

l iv ing legend o f

bharatnat yam per-

fo r ming in his 7 t h

decade, and is one

o f t he most

sought aft er danc-

ers / t eachers o f

dance and chore-

ography. His has

a lso been reward-

ed with a Padma

Bushan award fo r

his work.

Left :Bharatnatyam dancer C.V Chan-

drashekhar prepares himself before his

performance at Mysore Association au-

ditorium at Central Mumbai on 12 April

2013. Jayashree Kewalramani / Mumbai

Weekly

Right :Uma Dogra performs at the Mysore

Association auditorium at Central Mumbai on

12 April 2013. Jayashree Kewalramani /

Mumbai Weekly

Faces of Bharatnatyam

C.V Chandrashekhar performs at the Mysore Association auditorium at Central Mumbai on 12 April 2013. Jayshree Kewalramani / Mumbai Weekly

8 SPORTS MW FRIDAY, 19 APRIL, 2013

Youngsters display their prowess at National junior Hockey Championship

Kho-Kho Premier

League kicks off

Left: Nachiket Jadhav (second from

right) of Subarban Yoddha tries to

make contact with Amit Parab of San-

gli Smashers (first from right) during

their Kho Kho Premier league match at

Central Mumbai on 12 April 2013.

Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

Aarti Singh from team Bhopal reacts after being struck by a hockey stick by a player from the Maharashtra team at the Mahindra Hockey stadium in south Mumbai on 13 April 2013. Bho-

pal lost the game 8-0. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

Mumbaikars roughen it out at Rugby Sevens Tournament

The Mu mba i Car n iva l Sev-en 's Ser ies is Mumbai 's pre m-ie r c lub Rugb y Seven's t ourna-ment . I t co n-s ist s o f f ive tournament s he ld in Mu m-ba i. Club Sevens

t eams co mpete fo r Ser ie s po int s at eac h round, wit h winners in t he Cup, P lat e, and Bowl crowned at each ser ie s t ournament .

An overa l l Sev-ens Ser ie s

cha mpio n is crowned at t he end o f t he sea-son based o n po int s accumu-lat ed through-out t he f ive event s. There are s ix 'co re ' t eams who par t ic ipat e at each round o f

t he Ser ies, st ar t ing fro m Januar y 2013.

Rugby is no t ver y popu la r in Ind ia but it is soon gather ing int er est a s man y Ind ian c lubs ar e st ar t ing to em-br ace the game.

The inaugura l Kho -Kho Premier League (KKPL) began on T hurs-day at Shiva ji Park, Cent ral Mumbai.

72 'A' grade p lay-ers from s ix t eams - Mumbai Ra iders, Subur-ban Yoddhas, Thane Thunder-ers, Pune Fight -ers, Sang li Smashers and Ah-mednagar Heroes graced the tour-nament .

Each t eam was managed by emi-nent coaches from Maharasht ra.

Kho Kho o r ig i-nat ed in Ind ia and hasa histo ry o f over 70 years. I t is a t rad it iona l game o f t ag, but us ing co mplicat ed st rat egies and is p layed in coun-t r ies like Ind ia, Pak ist an, Bang la-desh and South Afr ica.

Above: Players from Magicians (blue) battle for the ball with Cockies (yellow and black) during

the Rugby Sevens match in south Mumbai on 13 April 2013. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

Right: Player from Hammers (orange and black) runs past a Magicians players during the Rugby

Seven’s match in South Mumbai on 13 April 2013. Sumedh Sawant / Mumbai Weekly

Published by: Udaan School of Photography | Editor-in-Chief: Francis Mascarenhas | Photo Editor: Ashish Vaishnav | Chief Photographer: Kunal Khullar | http://www.facebook.com/Mumbai.Weekly | Email: editor.mumbaiweekly@gmail.com