Xposted from international forums:

Greetings all, I have just returned from a visit to my hometown of Vasai, near Mumbai, India. This thread will include all my pictures from the trip, including both vernacular and historical architectural works of Vasai and the general atmosphere of modern Vasai. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them :)

The first batch are of St. Michael's Church, a Portuguese-built church in Manickpur village of Vasai that celebrated its 400th birthday in 2006. This is the church I was baptised in and has been kept in relatively good condition, although there has been some modification (glass and steel additions, which I'm personally not particularly fond of).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/3158364936_ffc5291827_o.jpg
A much newer neighbouring school
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/3158388970_247c32e44b_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/3158374426_42f08e87c3_o.jpg

New pictures daily!

:cheers:

cool your hometown.

is it famous for anything?

Bassein Fort, a Portuguese-built fort that was captured by the Marathas in 1739. I'll post pics of it later

Street life in Vasai for now, Panchalnagar near Manickpur (Vasai road station). They put up a star every Christmas.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/3160405486_3ce9ceb32d_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/3159568087_c517b1a583_o.jpg

As promised, Bassein fort:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/3160816338_8071ddc4ce_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/3159986285_53ed350524_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/3157493635_c8c5da0112_o.jpg

+ more Bassein

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/3159993321_c329512ee5_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/3159973399_c021781c2a_o.jpg

+ more Bassein

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/3159993321_c329512ee5_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/3159973399_c021781c2a_o.jpg


wtf... doesn't anybody maintain the fort? Shouldn't this be historically protected monument or something such???????

more Bassein:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3234/3167842035_b10dac3faf_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/3167835735_22bbc3c502_o.jpg

Bazaar

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/3175037502_6ccc8730d3_b.jpg

bassein

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3379/3178322172_5d66417483_b.jpg

I love the "walls" above the arches - almost like a watercolour

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3419/3177482897_30db2f4d4e_b.jpg

No doubts about the Portuguese being here :D

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3177480287_8bdaa63072_b.jpg

nice work.. some creative photography there ! :cheers:

:bowtie:

Wow, there's so many pictures I haven't posted...sorry about the delay, folks.

Lots of pictures - 56kers beware!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/3174194743_70f4bc1e80_b.jpg
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http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/3174254789_052526a1d5_b.jpg

Bassein

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/3167742599_19a14e2aed_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1197/3168567576_3533044dc0_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/3167755465_d4446a7bae_o.jpg

pani puri wallah!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1181/3168555224_ea68a11351_o.jpg

more Bassein

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/3168596056_9c9c1fcf50_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1123/3167779159_2920af6072_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/3168618110_4034dd3773_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1086/3167859605_011d234dc3_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/3168603684_19afe786bb_o.jpg

Thanks for joining me!

Mahratta - I was born in Vasai and a product of the infamous BHAASKAR AALEE (Bhaskar aali che vallee) . Your pictures are fantastic in portraying what Vasai is.

My last visit to Vasai was in 2007 (Diwali) and I was sad to see much of the old style houses being torn down only to turn into blooming concrete fugly blocks - or - the latest fad being flat slabbed bunglows.

While visiting one of my close relatives, I had the misfortune of seeing a "WAADA" being earmarked for demolition. On further query, I was told it was a building would be erected in its place.

Someone asked about the maintenance of the fort(s) in Vasai. The fact of the matter is, that almost all forts are under the jurisdiction of the ASI (Archeological Survey of India) and they simply do NOT do anything to preserve / improve whatever that is left of the forts.

If the forts were in Europe / Americas, lot of care would have been taken to maintain them. Agreed, a lot of money is required but then I fail to understand where all the entrance fees revenue goes to. Obviously the guess is "butt-cheeks" of the sahibs.

Great work anyways Mahratta. Would you also have any documentary pictures of any existing Waadas (marathi style havelis) ? Would be worth preserving for our eyes sake if not for anything else.

Cheers
p2p4

Sorry for another post on this topic - there is a group of civilian volunteers who do a regular cleanup of forts in Vasai. One of them posted the upcoming cleanup activities on SSC a couple of years back .

They are seriously doing a very good job in cleaning up the mess left by weekend holiday crowd, drunkards, drug-addicts and clearing of weed, undergrowth etc.

Same could be said about groups who do voluntary cleanup of Raigad and almost all other hill-forts of Maharashtra. Where ASI (Archeological Survey of India) fails, these guys do an exemplary job. No one can fault them for doing less with whatever time constraints they have.

So much for civic spirit

p2p4

Mahratta - I was born in Vasai and a product of the infamous BHAASKAR AALEE (Bhaskar aali che vallee) . Your pictures are fantastic in portraying what Vasai is.

It's great that we have another Vasaiite here! Thanks, it means a lot coming from one who grew up there :)


My last visit to Vasai was in 2007 (Diwali) and I was sad to see much of the old style houses being torn down only to turn into blooming concrete fugly blocks - or - the latest fad being flat slabbed bunglows.


Agreed. The area I'm from (Manickpur, near Vasai station) has been built up for as long as I can remember, but touring Vasai as a region, which I did in December 2008, I found it sad indeed to see buildings that were once decrepit but brilliant waadas simply vanishing and having monstrous flats / bunaglows in their place.


Someone asked about the maintenance of the fort(s) in Vasai. The fact of the matter is, that almost all forts are under the jurisdiction of the ASI (Archeological Survey of India) and they simply do NOT do anything to preserve / improve whatever that is left of the forts.

Very true. The few buildings that are restored have been restored rather poorly, using materials, techniques, and painting styles / colours that were not in the original structures.


Great work anyways Mahratta. Would you also have any documentary pictures of any existing Waadas (marathi style havelis) ? Would be worth preserving for our eyes sake if not for anything else.

Thanks once again. If you'd believe me, I went around Vasai for a few days on the back of a motorbike searching for well-preserved waadas. I found nothing. Then I just started looking for waadas, period - and the vast majority were obscured by wires, signs, or were in the process of being demolished. Sad stuff :(

Nice pictures enjoyed every minute the fort left me amazed.:)

Mahratta - before I post pictures of the ONE LAST waada that I could capture digitally, I want to know if it would be ok to do so. I dont want to hijack your thread with my pictures. But knowing you are a Vasaiite - I want to share those with you (or anyone who is interested)

Do reply

p2p4



It's great that we have another Vasaiite here! Thanks, it means a lot coming from one who grew up there :)



Agreed. The area I'm from (Manickpur, near Vasai station) has been built up for as long as I can remember, but touring Vasai as a region, which I did in December 2008, I found it sad indeed to see buildings that were once decrepit but brilliant waadas simply vanishing and having monstrous flats / bunaglows in their place.



Very true. The few buildings that are restored have been restored rather poorly, using materials, techniques, and painting styles / colours that were not in the original structures.



Thanks once again. If you'd believe me, I went around Vasai for a few days on the back of a motorbike searching for well-preserved waadas. I found nothing. Then I just started looking for waadas, period - and the vast majority were obscured by wires, signs, or were in the process of being demolished. Sad stuff :(

Sure, go for it. This is a showcase of Vasai, after all :)

p2p4, I'm looking forward to seeing your pics. I googled waada and other forms of its spellings to have a quick view of what one looks like, but it turned out to be futile. It looks like they haven't been photographed and uploaded on the internet at all.

Mahratta, thanks for all the enlightenment and pics of Vasai and Bassein. You've really proven how artistic you are with your cam. Now what kind of drink would you like to have a Patiala peg of? http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1693/happyx.gif

Thanks mate. I'll take something expensive...how about Courvoisier?

So the French obsession continues eh? Anyhow a Courvoisier it is.

:cheers:

So the French obsession continues eh? Anyhow a Courvoisier it is.

:cheers:

That it does, mate...I'm off to Belgium (and the Netherlands) soon, eagerly waiting to use my French once again!

PS: How many of those can you afford? Us Couvoisier connoisseurs can tell if you water our drinks down

Ahh excellent pics mate. Your quiet the photographer.