Tag: Maharashtra

  • On The Road to Pune

    On The Road to Pune

    23 Feb 2003, Pune The caravan of buses pulled over to the side of the road near a tiny hamlet named Bharvati. Many children were washing their family’s clothes at a pump near the road. They froze in midair at the amazing sight of five orange buses and many Western faces. While we waited for…

  • Mumba Devi reclaims Bombay

    Sthala Puranas of Bharat In the mid-1990s, many state governments officially re-Indianized their citie’s names. In 1995, the capital of Maharashtra officially switched from Bombay to Mumbai, thereby re-invoking a goddess considered by the Koli1 to be the area’s protectress. (The name “Mumbai” comes from a mix of mumba and ai, both of which mean…