Irani cafés iranichaimumbai.blogspot.com AS multiplexes and McDonalds relentless onslaught of the old and decrepit continues, Irani cafés institutions of old world charm and enterprise - disappear faster than the ozone layer. Bruce Carter, an Australian researcher and urban historian, was so taken by their ambience, he began conducting interviews and you can check out his project online. Fascinating firstperson narratives, personal histories and anecdotes stitched together by old photographs make this website like an Irani café itself - a place that you keep coming back to. "Coming from Australia, we are a land almost exclusively of people from ‘other places'-I am a first generation child of migrants. I relate to these stories of packing up, taking a step outside the familiar, and finding a new future in a new land," says Carter.

Mumbai Vistas

colonialindiaimages.in A PRINT and map fair in a Bonnigton hotel in 1987 got Dr Jehangir Sorabjeean honorary physician at the Bombay Hospital and an assistant honorary pro fessor of medicine at the University of Mumbai-hooked to collecting maps and lithography of India. One of the largest collections of non-photographic colonial-era images of the sub-continent is available on his website. What's more, students and researchers can avail of images for free. The section on Bombay Views and the Catholic Community has us clicking for hours, though there are 23 handles to choose from. "Many (of the pictures) are romantic, some are imperial, some are condescending but all allow a fascinating visual insight into a distant world which we feel will be useful to researchers and the casual browser," says the website. We couldn't agree more.

Urban Conundrum

urban-age.net/03_conferences/ conf_mumbai.html LATE last year, world-renowned architects, planners, social scientists and designers descended in Mumbai for a conference. They were part of the Urban Age project on mega cities, being conducted by the London School of Economics. Its aim is to study the challenges facing mega cities and to promote sustainable development. If you're the type who likes to debate the effects of increasing affluence coupled with persistent social inequalities and scarcity of resources (personal living space to transport and drinking water), the website contains an excellent series of essays, videos and photographs. Oh, and in case you thought this was all talk and no show, a worldwide summit in June 2010 will discuss the results of Urban Age's investigation and summarise a new urban agenda for global cities.

Greater Bombay Gazetteer

maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/ greater_bombay/index.html "ALTHOUGH a Gazetteer literally means only a geographical index or a geographical dictionary," K K Chaudhari, Executive Editor and Secretary writes in the preface that it "contains the most authentic and exhaustive narration of several aspects of life in a historical perspective." Where else could you read about the Back Bay Scandal, Lokmanya Tilak's trials and trivia like Apollo Bunder having no connection whatsoever with the sun-god (Apollo is a corruption of Palav, misheard by British ears, and relates rather to native fishing grounds). An online treatise for wayside clickers, readers and scholars across the world.

URL: http://epaper.indianexpress.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=20_04_2008_527_001&typ=1&pub=320