Pictures of a Project Past

A road cutting through the rock, KM68 - 69, Pune-Solapur Highway - Picture compliments of Alex Wong Chark Yee. He presented this picture to most of us as a souvenir. Thanks a lot mate!

Have been stuck in the head office for the last 6 months now, doing mostly tenders and project support. Have visited I dunno how many project sites, but not being involved directly with one particular project is a big change from my previous stints. I’m not complaining as I get the weekends off, hehehe, but after being connected to project sites for so long, this just feels different. Kinda miss the times that I can play king, and make things happen at my command hahaha...

Here’re some pictures of my past project in India, in various stages of completion, pictures I’ve collected during the course of my work. There’re hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures, but I’ve saved just a few in a special folder for remembrance and posting, just in case I run out of things to post. And so here it is.

This should keep my blog going until I get time to sift thru the hundreds of pictures taken this year! Yeah, this year so far has been a really interesting year, in terms of holidays that is… especially during the transition time in between employments.


More pictures of the KM68 - 69 stretch, at different times. This one is from the early stages, Mar 2011, rock excavation in progress.


Same view as the above (ok, almost the same view), for comparison, with road works completed – Nov 2012


KM68 - 69, one service road through, the main carriageway and another service road to go – Oct 2011


KM68 - 69, rock breaking of the carriageway in progress – Nov 2011


Culvert construction KM70, in the vicinity of the large Cipla pharmaceutical factory, Kurkumbh Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp (MIDC) area – Dec 2011


Ups and downs, what a design? KM70 completed, Dec 2012 – Another picture from Alex Wong


Half-completed Patas Toll Plaza KM65 – Dec 2012


KM62 bridge concreting, Jun 2011 – the crappy old boom pump in the picture will prove to be one of the most important machines in our Project, with everyone fighting over it until at least near the end of the project. There’s a crew of full-time mechanics, operators and helpers dedicated specially for this machine, to make sure that it doesn’t break down.


Road construction inside Yawat town (KM43), the most congested part in the Project – Nov 2011


The Deep Canal under construction, KM79 – Mar 2012. See previous post ‘Back to Reality’ posted 25/July/2012 for views of how deep this is. The far end of the road is where the KM80 Railway Bridge is.


Launching girders over the railway at the KM80 Railway Bridge (or more commonly known as an ROB in India, short for Railway Overhead Bridge) – Dec 2012


Road paving works at the approach to the Railway Bridge, during the monsoon season – Jul 2012


Indian Independence Day Celebration 2012 at our Project Office

The Festivals Continue...

Kids, dressed up for a celebration, at the Firangai Mata Temple in Kurkumbh, Daund, Maharashtra – The little girl in front is the daughter of Ambadas Bhagat, our local office boy (cum office priest, o yes, we have an office priest, don’t mess with us!) (Picture – compliments of Thangaraju, my Malaysian colleague)

Last weekend was Deepavali (or Diwali for short in many parts of India). Here in the UAE, we got a 3-day weekend (Fri-Sun), thanks not to Diwali, but to the Islamic New Year (aka Awal Muharram in Malaysia). Nope, didn’t do anything ambitious. Went to church (it’s on Fridays here in Dubai), and had lunch at the pastor’s house (again, in conjunction with celebrating a church member’s birthday). On Saturday evening (or more like night) we had a barbecue in a park with the church group celebrating the pastor’s birthday. Not much photos as it was at night, and whatever photos we have are still in the camera (as usual). Creek Park was surprisingly crowded at night, with loads of people picnicking, barbecuing, and just plain having fun. There’re kids running all over the place till at least 11pm at night.

In another place (I’m thinking Malaysia), the only people you’d find at a public park that late at night would be young lovers, gang members, drug addicts or suicidal citizens looking to be robbed or stung by a hundred mosquitoes. The beauty with Dubai is that is has NO mosquitoes, none so far anyway. Wonderful huh?

I’m putting some photos of some of the festivals that used to grace our boring routine lives while we’re in Maharashtra, India. That’s the beauty of staying in a country with so many gods. Luckily for these festivals, if not I can’t imagine how tensed up we’d be (especially the missus) when yours truly used to work six & a half days weeks, topped up with unending telephone calls coming at anytime from the horde of heroes and villains of the Project.




Procession at the Firangai Mata (or Devi) Temple, Kurkumbh 2011 in conjunction with… I have no idea, there’re temple-related functions and celebrations every other week! Every temple has its own special day, there’re about a hundred and one temples, or more in our stretch. Now, do the math. (Pictures – compliments of Thanga)


The annual Tukaram Phalki procession / pilgrimage – June 2011. Every June, we have to shut down our road construction works for 3 to 4 days to allow the procession to pass through. About 25 km out of our 54 km stretch of road are affected. Tens of thousands of pilgrims (I don’t know how many, but there’re a lot) embark on a month-long procession from Dehu, near Pune to Pandhapur, a journey of about 250 km, on foot, sleeping in makeshift tents along the way set up by the organizers and villagers. (Don’t ask me how they deal with their daily toilet needs coz I have absolutely no idea.) The centrepiece of this procession is a palanquin (phalki) carrying the things of the Hindu saint, Tukaram.


Tukaram Phalki 2011, at Chaufulla


IJM Trucks cleaned up and garlanded with flowers in conjunction with Vishwakarma Puja, the worship day of the Hindu God of Engineers, Architects, Craftsmen and the like. This day, by the way, is the only day in the year that you’d see machines, trucks and tools in India cleaned up and properly arranged.


Having a feast on Vishwakarma Puja, IJM Girim Camp, Maharashtra


Anu and a neighbour, at our apartment grounds in Daund, on Ganesh Chaturthi 2012 – a festival dedicated to Lord Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed god. This is one of the biggest festivals in Maharashtra, and you’ll see countless temporary Ganesha shrines (mandaps or pandals in the local language) set up all over the place.


Anu with a another friend, parking lot below our apartment, Daund


Anu & Justin, Deepavali 2012, Daund

The Daund Bunch

Malaysian staff of the IJM Pune-Solapur Project, at TJ’s Brew Works, Amanora Mall, Pune – Christmas Day 2012

Some pictures of my colleagues and friends at the Pune Solapur Project, for remembrance’s sake.

I tend to post pictures of scenery and surroundings minus the people in my blog. But I realize overtime that the people in your life are just as important, if not more. They’re the ones who make our time here in this world, memorable, especially family and close friends. Friends and acquaintances come and go throughout our lives. Some, you’ll meet again, later on in life. Some, you’ll never get to meet, ever again. Who comes and who goes are but for God to know. But some of the special memories that they leave behind, are invaluable, and makes us what we are today.

I am happy for what I’ve been through and for the friends and acquaintances that God sent along the way. Here’s a little something to keep those friends in the Pune-Solapur Project in my memory. We may perhaps meet again, who knows?


IJM group photo taken in October 2012, in front of our office at Kurkumbh, near Daund, Maharashtra
Let’s see how good my memory is… (with a little bit of help from the computer of course, hehe). From left to right:
Front row – Sitaram, Pawan Saini our trusty driver, dunno, Bharat Thakur, Ganesh Satre, Vivek, Ranjan Sahoo, Avinash Shetty, Samir Hazra, Suresh IT, Utilities Supervisor name forgotten;
Second row – Thangaraju (around since the birth of IJM), Saroj Jha, Arif Shaikh, Bhanu Pratap Singh;
Third row – Yours truly, Sugrib Rao (ex-Mizoram Project), Nageshwar Rao, Karthik;
The rest of the lot at the back – dunno, Montajul Islam (ex-Mizoram, driver), Umesh Kshirsagar, Nilesh Thorwade, Amit Pillai, Suryaprakash Sharma (ex-Mizoram), Sandeep Suryawanshi, Amit Saini, Milind Thorat, Shaikh Noor Rehman (alias Osama bin Laden ex-Mizoram project), Ganesh Girim Camp Supervisor, CL Chong, Harsha, long-time colleague Ajit, Ganapati Reddy long-time RBM survivor, Yogesh Malathkar, Chandramouli, Vikash Singh, Karunakar, Raghu QS, Ravi QS, Korra Ravi


Christmas Dinner 2012, at Mainland China Restaurant, Amanora Mall, Pune – clockwise round the table starting from the left – KF Woon, CL Chong, Manjit (Mrs Ajit), Ajit, Warren, Thanga, Mrs Thanga, Thanga’s son, Justin and Anu


Another picture of the Malaysian bunch at TJ’s Brew Works – from left – Ajit, Alex Wong, CL Chong, Thanga, Warren and KF Woon


Celebrating the brothers Chong and Woon’s birthdays, with SS Lee as guest, Daund Guesthouse, July 2012


Anu with Noor Aswanah, at Ajit’s Guesthouse, Daund, Deepavali 2011


Our neighbour and Anu’s best friend and her sister in Daund, Feb 2012


Another neighbour, with baby son Aryan


Farewell for us from the Daund bunch, at Ajit’s house with VP Gupta (right-most) as host


More pictures of the Daund bunch – from left – Dinda, Suresh, Ganapati, Samir, Chandramouli, Saroj, Promod Misra and Estipan


From left – Chandramouli, Harsha, Ganapati, Suresh, Thanga, yours truly and Venkataramana


The Terracotta Guardians of Mainland China, Amanora Mall, Pune

A Season of Festivals

Selamat Hari Raya! Eid Mubarak to everyone, especially to all the Muslim friends.

And for the Hindus, wishing you a Happy Durga Puja and Dassera, whichever it is that you celebrate.

I don't have pictures of Eid, but here're some photos from last year's Durga Puja. Durga Puja is a celebration to Durga, one of the main forms of the mother goddess in Hinduism (as you’ll know there’re many gods and goddesses in Hinduism). Durga Puja is a big festival in India, and the biggest festival in East India, especially in the Bengali areas of West Bengal and certain parts of North-East India. It is the biggest festival of Anu's family and the locality where she's from. It's celebrated differently in every region in India. Here's what we did last year in Daund.




Dandiya Dance, Daund – basically, two circles of people, one on the outside and one inside moving in opposite directions, holding sticks on both their hands and hitting each other’s sticks, with music blaring in the background. Nope, we didn’t join in. Just stood around and watch the chaos, ...I mean fun hehe. This went on for a few nights. Justin did try it out at home with a pair of chopsticks


Justin’s neighbourhood friends – I only know the first girl on the right, Purva. Anu and Justin know the others


Firangai Mata Temple, Kurkumbh, a well-known mother goddess temple in the Daund area

My Sister's Getting Married!

Kim and Jack at Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur, June 2012

Kim's getting married, but we can't go... What a waste, hard to get a chance for a family gathering like that!

Nope, that's not her husband above. That's Jack, our cousin for those who don't know. Kim's husband is Daniel, from Germany, Magdeburg to be exact. Unfortunately, I've not met him before. But there'll be a chance, I'm sure...

Here're pictures of the family in Malaysia for the time being. What to do? Make the best of the situation, right?


Kim, Jack and Jipek, Jalan Alor


Justin & Papa at the Ipoh Swimming Club, June 2012


Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia


Butterworth House Balcony, Taman Bagan Baru


Playground at Taman Bagan Baru, Butterworth


Justin, Mommy and his Ko-Poe at a Karaoke in Ipoh, March 2013


Rare couple photo of Tuapek and A Mm, Kinta River Walk, April 2013


Anu, Justin, Tuapek and A Mm, at the Kinta River, Ipoh


The Kinta River at night – Garish new lights beats dark, mosquito-infested, rubbish-strewn drain (and possible den of addicts) anytime