by Harish Trivedi
First a personal note:
The Dadar area in Mumbai (Bombay) is a suburb of Mumbai where I grew up. One of the three bombs exposition occurred in Dada area. The site of the explosion is less than two miles from where my brother and his family live now and the area where I grew up.
My brother and his wife are currently in California but my youngest niece lives there and we learned from her call about an hour ago. She is fine, though a bit rattled...
One of my friends lives across from where the blast occurred but all the communication lines to Mamba are jammed so I was not able to reach him. I'll try again later... It is around 10.30 pm in Mumbai now...
I regret for sharing this really horrible news with you...
Harish
There is short video clip on the following Times of India web link.
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> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Three-bomb-blasts-rock-Mumbai/articleshow/9212554.cms
MAMBAI: Three blasts rocked Mumbai within minutes of each other, police said on Wednesday. According to TV reports, eight persons have died in the blasts and 70 have been injured.
Police sources said the nature and intensity of the blasts was not known. The ministry has confirmed it is a terror strike.
The first explosion took place in south Mamba's Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi temple, in which some people were injured, said Mumbai Police spokesperson Nisar Tamboli. The bustling market also has a number of jewellery shops.
The second explosion was reported in a taxi in Dadar area in central Mumbai, he said.
The third blast was reported from south Mumbai's Opera House *in Charni Road after 7pm.
All three are busy commercial and residential areas, and were bustling with people and traffic during the evening peak hours when the explosions took place.
The communication network has been jammed. People are unable to get through phone lines in the city.
An NIA team has been sent for Mumbai. All states have been put on high alert. A parked car bore the brunt of the blast in Dadar.
Police teams quickly moved into the three places. In New Delhi, the home ministry put the National Security Guard (NSG) on alert.
166 people were killed in a terror strike in 2008 by Pakistan-based terrorists.
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* (Opera House is a historic building where in early part of last century Anna Pavlova danced and was a venue of many a touring British theatrical companies. Opera House used to show movies and since last decade or so has been closed down... There is famous Devdhar School of Indian Music from across the Opera House where I used to go for rehearsing my plays. Some of the scenes of Raj Kapoor's first film AAG were shot there. It is also a place where the doyen of Indian movies, Prithviraj Kapoor (the grand old man of the Kapoor dynasty) used to perform his Hindi plays with his Prithvi Theatre... all now memories of days gone by...). Prithvi Raj Kapoor's grand and great grand kids are still drawing crowds for their Bollywood films. The Wilson College, one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai is located a few blocks away from the Opera House.
The Very Rev John Wilson after whom the College is named was Born in Lauder, Scotland in 1804.
As a linguist John Wilson was a man of amazing calibre. Having studied the Classics, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and French at Edinburgh, he soon became proficient in the local languages and the classical eastern languages of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. In 1832, convinced of the importamce of Christian Education, he founded the Ambrolie English School, which has grown to become the Wilson High School and Wilson College of today.
His missionary travels took him around Western India in his bullock cart. Wherever he went he showed a natural curiosity for all things local, becoming a keen student of the antiquities of the area. His work on the translation of rock inscriptions at Girnar in Saurashtra gained him the highest award science had to offer at that time a Fellowship of the Royal Society. He became President of the Royal Asiatic Society and Vice Chancellor of the University, but above all he was a Christian Missionary.
He died in Bombay on 1st December 1875, his final words having been "I have perfect peace, and am content that the Lord should do what seems good to Him."
Now, 236 years after his birth, it is only fitting that we should remember him - the truly great missionary that he was... After his death his personal collection of books was donated to the Bombay University Library.
Wilson College the legacy continues...
Wilson College has witnessed the turn of two centuries. As a tribute to the journey of this diminutive school started at the residence of Dr. Wilson, to develope into a multi - disciplined University affiliated college
...as an educational institution going back to 1832. It began as Ambrolie School in Girgaum, later seeing several changes of sites and names, eventually being called Wilson School. A collegiate section from which Wilson College evolved in 1836.
The founder of these institutions, the Rev. John Wilson of the Scottish Missionary Society. John and his wife Margaret arrived in Bombay on February 14,1829, learnt the local language and with great zeal set up schools for boys and girls of all castes and classes.
John Wilson's work went beyond the field of education. He was a Linguist, an Orientalist, a Reformer, an Author.
The pioneering work in higher education began a quarter of a century, before the establishment of any official body for this purpose. The vision and foresight of Dr. Wilson saw the establishment of the University of Bombay in 1857. On 14th December 1861, the collegiate section of Wilson's institution under the name of Free General Assembly's Institution became the first privately owned, non-government institution to get affiliated to the University.
For many years, both the school and college sections were housed in one building, but largely through the efforts of Dr. Mackichan, a site for the college was secured at Chowpatty and the present college building was opened on 14th March 1889.
Fostering a tradition of liberalism and freedom, the Scottish Principals inspired many students to be at the centre stage of the freedom - struggle Usha Mehta (Political Science professor for my Masiter degree, freedom fighters - Acharya Kriplani, a fire-brand revolutionary and freedom fighter S. .A. Dange, Aloo Dastoor- another Political Science and Contract Law professor for my Master's and Law degrees, B.G. Kher... to mention a few.
India's former Prime minister Morarji Desai along with the great Orientalist and Sanskrit scholar P.V. Kane and one of the pioneers for women's education D. .K. Karve are also proud alumni of this institution.
Today Wilson College is one of the few colleges in Mumbai which offer an array of subjects in the Arts, Science and Vocational stream, along with undergraduate courses in Management Studies, Mass Media, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Information Technology.
The students of Wilson College are from nearly every ethnic, religious and social group, of the country as well as of the world.
The college motto Fides, Spes, Caritas - Faith, Hope, Love - Vishwas, Asha, Prem speaks of Faith in God, the Love that steers the college community through life and Hope...
(Source - the Wilson College history...)
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