Palace on wheels

"Alan S" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:27 +0100, "William Black"
wrote:


"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"PURELY INDIAN" wrote in message
...


Actually this POW is cultural train which is picturescue of Rajasthani
culture and how The Mughal Kings lived in Past and make you feel like
emperor in a palace.

------------------------------

I didn't think the Mughal Kings built many railways in India...

Zafar was exiled only four years after the first passenger train ran,
and that ran from Bombay to Thane, inside the 'Bombay Presidency'.


Surely you're not suggesting that "heritage travel" in India has
elements
of fictional reconstruction?

Just about everything involving 'high quality tourism' in India is
fiction.

India has become adept at selling a view of itself where the British have
become totally irrelevant.

The only place I've even seen the Raj mentioned was at Sabarmati Ashram,
where they're depicted as stupid, stubborn and wicked.

India has created a false legend out of history, and is busy trying to
make
people believe it.

Agreed; however there were several plaques and other
mementoes at the Red Fort (Agra) and the Taj Mahal dedicated
to past British governors or those who saved the Taj from
destruction.

In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from history,
but everyone just ignores them.

Everyone uses the old names

When Congress gets power they say, with perfect justification, that
they've better things to do with their time than go around having debates on
what to call a street that has a perfectly serviceable name already...

One problem is that places that have strong British associations and ARE
historically significant, such as Mahim Fort, are being encroached upon by
squatters and nobody does anything because they'd like it to just
disappear...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"grusl" wrote in message
...

(And yes, the irony of including the British knighthood in the eponym
escaped the authorities).

I might be an Indian order.

They remain in the gift of the Indian government, although they haven't
awarded any since independence...

I wonder if they know...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

(And yes, the irony of including the British knighthood in the eponym
escaped the authorities).

I might be an Indian order.

They remain in the gift of the Indian government, although they haven't
awarded any since independence...

I wonder if they know...


I didn't know such things existed, but Ismail, then diwan of Mysore, was
knighted (KCSI) by the British in 1930. He also held an OBE. He's famous or
notorious, depending on your perspective, for opposing the integration of
Hyderabad with India when he was diwan of Hyderabad in the 1940s.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

(And yes, the irony of including the British knighthood in the eponym
escaped the authorities).

I might be an Indian order.

They remain in the gift of the Indian government, although they haven't
awarded any since independence...

I wonder if they know...


I didn't know such things existed,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_of_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Indian_Empire


--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.


Chennai managed to entrench itself. Kolkata too, maybe. Not the others.
There was an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to rename Delhi as Dilli.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

(And yes, the irony of including the British knighthood in the eponym
escaped the authorities).

I might be an Indian order.

They remain in the gift of the Indian government, although they haven't
awarded any since independence...

I wonder if they know...


I didn't know such things existed,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_of_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Indian_Empire


Oh, I know about those two. Ismail got a KCSI from the British.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.


Chennai managed to entrench itself. Kolkata too, maybe. Not the others.
There was an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to rename Delhi as Dilli.

My experience is that the penny dropped when people from the UK started
looking blank when the new names were mentioned and Indian businessmen
started getting twitchy about inwards investment to what was looking more
and more as a hotbed of loony Hindu nationalism.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.


Chennai managed to entrench itself. Kolkata too, maybe. Not the others.
There was an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to rename Delhi as Dilli.

My experience is that the penny dropped when people from the UK started
looking blank when the new names were mentioned and Indian businessmen
started getting twitchy about inwards investment to what was looking more
and more as a hotbed of loony Hindu nationalism.


And in Bombay/Mumbai's case, not merely loony rightwing Hindu nationalism,
but loony right-wing Marathi provincialism

It appears to me that in any kind of business or professional milieu in
Bombay, the name I choose to use first in a sentence will be the opposite of
what everyone else in the room calls it in later references.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore