Scenes from a road trip to Sonepur Cattle Fair, Bihar, India

Enjoying a special smoke at Sonepur Mela (Sonepur Cattle Fair) in Bihar, India.
(Photo courtesy: Maciej Dakowicz, Street photography enthusiast)


A street scene from Sonepur Mela in Bihar.
(Photo courtesy: Maciej Dakowicz, Street photography enthusiast)

Crash kills three holidayers driving from Kolkata to Darjeeling on 2016-08-07

A Skoda Rapid car arrying two families from Calcutta to Darjeeling rammed into a roadside tree in Murshidabad on Sunday, 2016-08-07 afternoon, leaving two women and a child dead.

The women who died were Priti Verma, 32, wife of Major Sanjiv Verma, and Ina Tiwary, 30, wife of Major N.R. Tiwary. The other victim - five-year-old Arthav - was Major Verma's son.

Major Verma and Major Tiwari are army doctors. Major Verma is attached to Calcutta's Command Hospital.

Six members of the two families - the two couples, Arthav and the four-year-old daughter of Major Tiwari - were travelling in a Skoda Rapid. The accident occurred at 1pm on the Moregram-Burdwan road near Khargram in Murshidabad, around 200km from Calcutta.

Priti and her son died on the spot, while Ina died at Kandi Sub-Divisional Hospital, around 20km from the accident site.

Major Verma, 37, who was at the wheel, suffered head injuries. He has been admitted to Kandi Sub-divisional Hospital in Murshidabad. Police said a primary investigation revealed that he was the owner of the car.

Major Tiwary, also 37, fractured his left hand and also suffered leg injuries. "He has been referred to Murshidabad Medical College Hospital and Hospital in Behrampore. The major's four-year-old daughter suffered a fracture in her left leg. She has been admitted to the Kandi hospital," a police official said.

Witnesses said the car, with a Madhya Pradesh registration number, was travelling at a high speed when it suddenly swerved off the road and hit a tree. "Going by the damage it suffered, the car must have been travelling at 100kmph," a police officer said.
"We are yet to ascertain why the car swerved off the road. There was apparently no obstruction."
Abid Sheikh, a farmer, was cycling home from Khargram when he heard a loud noise ahead. "I cycled up to the spot and saw a car had dashed against a roadside tree. I and some other local people tried to help the injured, who were groaning," Abid recounted. "One among us alerted Khargram police station about the accident."

In the evening, the doctors' colleagues from Calcutta reached Murshidabad. The survivors are likely to be shifted to Command Hospital in Alipore.
"Major Verma is undergoing postgraduate training at Command Hospital in Calcutta, while Major Tiwary is doing postgraduate training at the Army Research & Referral (R&R) Hospital in New Delhi and was in Calcutta," Wing Commander S.S. Birdi, a spokesperson for the defence ministry in Calcutta said. "Efforts are on to bring the injured and the deceased to the city."

(Source: The Telegraph dated 2016-08-08)
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* Overspeeding In India, 

* Build Quality Of Drivers Brain Matters, 

* Insensitive roadies, 

* Some asses own cars, 

* Some asses deserve public shaming 

Explore Kolkata - South Park Street Cemetery, also houses the grave of poet ‎Michael Madhusudan Dutt

South Park Street Cemetery is in the heart of the City of Joy, viz. Kolkata. It's near the crossing of Park Street and AJC Bose Road, opposite Assembly of God Church School. The busy road intersection is popularly known as Mullickbazar crossing.

The great Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt was buried there. His statue is erected just outside the gate, where few Bengali lines from his works are written.

British-era bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa Highway near Mahad around 11pm on 2016-08-02

Over 25 people are feared dead as two state transport buses and unknown number of small vehicles were swept away in the swollen Savitri River after a British-era bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa Highway near Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad district, 170 Km from Mumbai around 11pm on Tuesday, 2016-08-02.

Two state transport buses with 18 passengers and four crew members had gone missing in the Mahad tragedy, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said in a tweet.

The buses include one travelling between Jaigad-Mumbai and another between Rajapur-Borivali.

Teams of rescuers including navy divers have been searching the river using a chopper, aircraft and inflatable dinghies but they have been severely challenged by the strong currents. A boat carrying National Disaster Response Force personnel capsized on Thursday morning. The divers had to be rescued by a chopper. On Wednesday, even elite marine commandos or MARCOS found the current too strong to risk diving into the river.

Intense search is on to trace those missing. No debris of any vehicles has been found as yet by a team of 100 rescue officials whose work is being impeded by heavy rain. A 300 kg magnet was lowered into the 40-foot deep river to trace the buses. "Something has got stuck to the magnet and efforts are on to pull it out of the river," a local official told the Press Trust of India.
The body of bus driver SS Kamle was found 100 km downstream from the collapsed bridge, apparently washed away in the fast-moving Savitri river. He was identified by his ID badge.

There were two parallel bridges. One is a new bridge and the one that collapsed was constructed during the British era. The cause seems to be the high pressure caused due to flooding of River Savitri after incessant rain in parts of coastal Konkan, northern and western Maharashtra.