VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

My friend the Navy TOI dated 31 January 2016 Those who lived in the old town of Vizag in the 1950s to 1970s had an emotional link to the Navy. Many of us lived on or very near the beach road of the old town long before the entire beach front was taken up by the Outer Harbour project. From our sea facing balcony we would see the naval vessels steam in and out of the harbour and watching those grey vessels against our blue seas was a treat. Those who studied in St. Aloysius would be drawn away from the teacher and blackboard to gaze at these wonderful vessels bristling with guns. Where were they coming from, where were they going? What were the navy men doing on board? Our fertile minds created an aura around these men in white. We dreamt of lands far away and the life in the navy. Many youngsters wanted to make a career in the navy when they grew up. The navy had a profound impression on our young minds. Of fishing and navy ship watching During the long summer vacatio...

Tackling Vizag’s traffic woes Times of India dated 17 January 2016 One of the most dramatic changes that have taken place in Vizag is the numbers of vehicles that are used on our streets. Not only have the numbers increased but also the different types and makes of vehicles. When today’s old timers were in college very few households had bikes or cars. The four-wheelers we would see on the streets were the ugly Ambassador, the plain looking Fiat Premier Padmini and an occasional Mahindra Jeep all which started manufacture in the 1940’s and slowly made its way all over our country. Two-wheelers on the streets were the Vespa, Lambretta, Bullet, Jawa and Rajdoot. In the 1970s you could sit opposite where the RTC Bus Stand is now and would see perhaps 20 private vehicles in an hour of street gazing. Chaos on our roads Then in the late 1990s the automotive industry was released from the shackles of the license Raj and suddenly the action on the street changed. By the year 200...

Senior volunteers wanted My article in the Times of India Dated 3 January 2016 In a vast country like India there is always plenty of work to be done. There are farms to be maintained, water to be provided for agriculture and for homes, power to be generated and distributed, children to be educated, people and things to be moved every day, newspapers to be printed, babies to be made and delivered, the sick to be attended, financial services to be provided, politicians to be elected and Arnab has to shout for a couple of hours every night on TV. Plenty of work We have work to do because, we are 1.3 billion of us on a land mass of 2,973,193 square kilometers. We are in dirty crowded villages and teeming dirty crowded cities. We have a humongous 179.6 million folks below the poverty line in our ancient country and that my friend is 20.6% of planet earths poorest. One in four Indians are completely illiterate and Government schools with their “pass-them-anyhow” policy a...