INDIA

India is not just my homeland, but in every sense my motherland. She has shaped me as a person, she has nutured me and if you want to know me better as a person, well ... you need to know more about my 'mother' - India.

India is a country with lots of variety in its culture too. I come from the State of Maharashtra which liest on the Western coast of the country. Maharashtra too is culturally very diverse. I have lived most of my life in Mumbai (previously called 'Bombay') and so these two geographical entities also form part of who I am.

On this page, I will give you some brief information about my country, my home state and the city from which I come.

India (also known as Bharat or Hindustan) is a Land of Fascination and Prismatic beauty. A country as large as Europe, a home to one sixth of the human race, having the largest democracy in the world, speaking 850 different dialects and having a wealth of culture that spans the entire spectrum of civilization.

India has a strategic position in Asia. India lies to the north of the equator between 80.4' and 37.6' north latitude and 68.7' and 97.25' east longitude. It is bounded on the south west by the Arabian Sea and on the south east by the Bay of Bengal. On the north, north east and north west lie the Himalayan ranges. The southern tip, Kanyakumari is washed by the Indian Ocean.

India measures 3214 km (1972.43 miles) from north to south and 2933 km. (1799.98 miles) from east to west with a total land area of 3,287,263 sq. km. (1269146.5 sq. miles). It has a land frontier of 15,200 km. (9328.24 miles) and a coastline of 7516.5 km. (4612.88 miles). Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep (island) in the Arabian Sea are parts of the territory of India. India shares its political borders with Pakistan on the west, and Bangladesh and Burma on the east. The northern boundary is made up of the Sinking province of China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. India has 25 states and 7 union territories. The capital of India is New Delhi.

Click on picture for a map of India

Click on picture for a map of Maharashtra.

Geographical Information of Maharashtra

Location

Located in the northern center of peninsular India, Maharashtra is surrounded by the Arabian sea in the west, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on the north, Madhya Pradesh in the east and Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on the south. The state extends between the latitudes 15.6° North and 22.1° North and longitudes 72.6° East and 80.9° East.

Physical Features

As far as the geography of Maharashtra goes, much of the state consists of the high Deccan plateau, which is separated from the straight Konkan coastline by 'Ghats'. The Ghats are a succession of steep hills, periodically bisected by narrow roads, and which are often crowned by medieval forts. Given their altitude, it is not surprising that the Ghats are home to the state's hill stations.

One of the three major regions of the state is the Sahyadri range with an elevation of 1000 meters. The unique feature of this region is a series of crowning plateau.

Lying between the Arabian Sea and the Sahyadri Range, Konkan is narrow coastal lowland, just 50 km wide and with an elevation below 200 meters.

The third important region is the Satpura hills along the northern border, and the Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the eastern border form physical barriers preventing easy movement. These ranges also serve as natural limits to the state.

Climate,

The climate of Maharashtra is moderate, with variations in temperature ranging between 16°C and 35°C. July to September are the months when monsoon lashes this state with good rainfall. This does not mean that the whole state gets uniform rainfall; a large part of inner Maharashtra remains dry in comparison to other areas under the rain shadow of the Sahyadri.

Flora and Fauna

Total area under forest cover in Maharashtra is only 17%. Majority of the forests are in the eastern and Sahyadri regions of the state. Maharashtra has five national parks, three game reserves, and 24 wildlife/bird sanctuaries. These range from the Borivili National Park, surrounded by the Mumbai suburbs, to the Melghat Tiger Reserve, high up in the north of the state.

Source: www.indianvisit.com

Click on the picture for a map of Mumbai (you may have to click the map in the lower left corner for a bigger version).

MUMBAI TRIVIA

o At the end of financial year 2002-03, Mumbai paid Rs 28,000 crore in taxes, 35% of India's collection of Rs 82,000 crore!
o Mumbai's per capita income is Rs 48,954. This is almost three times the national average!
o Mumbai's literacy rate is 85.6% (female: 82.7%, male: 90%) compared with India's overall literacy of 65.4%.
o Mumbai's suburban rail systems carry a total of 2.2 billion passengers every year. Incidentally, the world's population is 6 billion.
o Mumbai single handedly handles about 25% of the domestic and 38% of the international air passenger traffic in the country.
o Mumbai city and its suburbs get, on an average, 2160 mm (85 inches) of rainfall every year.
o As of June 2003, there are an incredible 982 villages in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
o The city's first church - the St Thomas Cathedral - was built at Horniman Circle in 1718.
o The first post office in Bombay was opened in 1832 at the residence of the junior magistrate of police at Byculla.
o The Stearns & Kittredge company was given permission in 1874 to start Bombay's first tram service with a fleet of 900 horses.
o The East India Company appointed Sir George Oxenden the first governor of Bombay in 1668.
o Until 1864, the city's highest ranking police officer was called Police Chief. Post 1864, the title was changed to Police Commissioner.
o The famous architect George Wittet designed several landmark buildings in Mumbai, including the Prince of Wales Museum and the Gateway of India.
o The General Post Office, completed in 1909, has its impressive dome modeled after the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur.
o The last British troops to leave India, the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, passed through the Gateway of India in a ceremony on February 28, 1948.
o The Gateway of India, with a maximum height of 83 feet, was completed in 1924 with a cost of Rs 21 lakh.
o The Flora Fountain was built in 1864 by the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India from a donation by Cursetjee Fardoonjee Parekh.
o The Hanging Gardens at Malabar Hill was built over three reservoirs which can store up to 300 lakh gallons of water.
o Bombay's population in 1891 was 8.21 lakh. By 1901, it had reduced to 7.76 lakh due to a massive plague epidemic.
o The first trams in Bombay started in 1874, between Parel and Colaba, and were drawn by teams of six to eight horses.
o The first English newspaper in Bombay was printed by Rustomji Keshaspathi in 1777.
o Bombay's first regional language newspaper was Mumbai Samachar, published in Gujarati in 1822 by Fardoonjee Marzban.
o Sir Henry Bartle Frere became the first Governor of Bombay under the rule of the Queen in 1862.
o The first inter-city railway was built between Bombay and Surat, and was completed in 1864.
o The Great Indian Peninsular Railway laid the first rail tracks in India between Thane and Bombay.
o Mumbai orginally was a cluster of seven separate islands, and the southernmost island was called Old Woman's Island.
o It took 60 years to merge the seven islands of Bombay into one landmass between 1784 and 1845.
o Bombay's highest population growth rate was between 1661 and 1675 when it rose six times from 10,000 to 60,000.
o The name Bombay was derived from Bom Bahia (The Good Bay), a name given by Portuguese sailor Francis Almeida, in 1508. This was later modified to Bombay.
o There is an original portrait of former US President Abraham Lincoln at the Prince of Wales Museum.
o Lord Elphinstone performed the opening ceremony after railway tracks were laid between Bombay and Thane in 1853.
o The railway line from Mumbai to Pune through Bhor Ghat was built by a woman named Alice Tredwell in 1863.
o The Quit India Movement was launched by Gandhiji in Mumbai in 1942 from Gowalia Tank. It is now called August Kranti Maidan.
o The Taj Mahal Hotel was built in 1903 on the 'pleasure basin' of the Yacht Club.
o The first bus in Mumbai ran from Afghan Church to Crawford Market on July 15, 1926.
o Mahatma Gandhi began his political career in Mumbai in 1915 after returning from South Africa.
o Motorised taxis first appeared first on Mumbai roads in 1911.
Source: www.mid-day.com

Udaipar in Western India

Ajanta caves near Aurangabad in Maharashtra

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus previously)