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    Home / Author / Chinmay Damle
    Chinmay Damle
    Articles by Chinmay Damle

    Taste of Life: Walker brought met office to Pune, but Simla was real hub

    Known locally as the Simla Office, the building owes its presence to decisions taken in the early 1920s under Gilbert Thomas Walker. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Nov 5, 2026 02:12 IST

    Taste of Life: Poona’s agricultural legacy in the American heartland

    India offered American agronomists like Dr Harry V Harlan (in pic) access to sorghum and pulse varieties cultivated across the Deccan, Khandesh, Dharwad, and Gujarat. (SOURCED)
    pune news
    Updated on Oct 29, 2026 02:17 IST

    Taste of Life: How plague controls disrupted domestic life in colonial Pune

    The image is from the album titled “Poona Plague Pictures” (1897 - 1908). While plague control measures reflected late nineteenth-century epidemic norms, in colonial Poona they encountered distrust and fears of intrusion into domestic, religious, and caste practices. (SOURCED)
    pune news
    Updated on Oct 22, 2026 02:01 IST

    Taste of Life: Navratra is period of fasting, penance for Goddess Durga

    Scottish soldier-diplomat Sir John Malcolm described Navratra as a period of devotional fasting and penance dedicated to Goddess Bhawani in her manifestation as Goddess Durga. (HT FILE)
    pune news
    Updated on Oct 15, 2026 02:08 IST

    Taste of Life: The anatomy of a fast

    Gandhi saw fasting as a way of cleansing politics and bringing it closer to his spiritual ideals. (HT FILE)
    pune news
    Updated on Oct 8, 2026 02:11 IST

    Taste of Life: Impact of Mahatma Gandhi’s fasts in Pune

    Mahatma Gandhi’s first fast was his historic fast unto death at Yerwada Jail from September 20 to September 26, 1932, against the provision in the British Communal Award for separate electorates for the “Depressed Classes”, ending with the Poona Pact between BR Ambedkar and caste Hindu leaders. (HT ARCHIVES)
    pune news
    Updated on Oct 1, 2026 02:09 IST

    Taste of Life: Pune’s Ganeshotsav drew devotees from near and far for visarjan

    The immersion procession would leave Reay Market and pass through Rameshwar Temple, Globe Cinema, Appa Balwant Chowk, Laxmi Road, and Sevasadan before reaching Lakdi Bridge, where the idols were immersed in the river. (HT FILE)
    pune news
    Updated on Sep 24, 2026 02:22 IST

    Taste of Life: Ganpati melas: Songs, crowds and a struggle for food

    A week later, the newspaper published a letter by Ramchandra Gunye criticising the nature of the songs sung by the melas. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)
    pune news
    Updated on Sep 16, 2026 18:19 IST

    Taste of Life: When festivals became platforms for political awakening

    Taste of Life: When festivals became platforms for political awakening
    pune news
    Updated on Sep 10, 2026 02:30 IST

    Taste of Life: Poonah grape that was deemed “only fit for tarts”

    A tart is a pastry dish with a firm, usually sweet crust and an open top, filled with fruit, custard, jam or another mixture. Unlike a pie, which is often enclosed with pastry, a tart leaves its filling exposed. The tart was part of the European culinary repertoire that came to India. (WIKIMEDIA)
    pune news
    Updated on Sep 3, 2026 02:58 IST

    Taste of Life: The basket that travelled with the Raj

    Advertisement from The Bombay Gazette, December 20, 1890. (SOURCED)
    pune news
    Updated on Aug 27, 2026 02:58 IST

    Taste of Life: The forgotten art of Poona’s lifelike clay figures

    Poona was famous for its elaborate and lifelike models of men, women, animals. (Source: Museums Victoria)
    pune news
    Updated on Aug 20, 2026 02:53 IST

    A taste of freedom, made in secret

    In this handout picture taken 15 August 1947, British Governor-General Lord Mountbatten rides in a carriage alongside Lady Edwina Mountbatten prior to witnessing the raising of the Indian tricolour for the first time at India Gate in New Delhi. (AFP Photo)
    pune news
    Updated on Aug 13, 2026 02:31 IST

    Taste of Life: ‘Milk problem’ in colonial India

    Dr Harold H Mann provided a detailed account of Poona’s milk infrastructure in his landmark study, “The Supply of Milk to Indian Cities”, published in ‘The Agricultural Journal of India’ (1914, Volume IX, Part 2, pages 160 to 177). (Wikipedia)
    pune news
    Updated on Aug 5, 2026 17:29 IST

    How fasting became a weapon of India’s freedom struggle

    To honour his memory, public memorial meetings were convened in Pune on February 1, 1938 (FILE)
    pune news
    Updated on Jul 23, 2026 02:37 IST

    Taste of Life: When service is the highest form of devotion

    Taste of Life: When service is the highest form of devotion
    pune news
    Updated on Jul 16, 2026 03:25 IST

    When Chris Nolan, Matt Damon and Tom Holland sipped chai at iconic Bombay café

    Matt Damon, Christopher Nolan and Tom Holland before the premiere of The Odyssey in Mumbai.
    india news
    Updated on Jul 13, 2026 03:17 IST

    The Salvation Army’s forgotten agricultural mission in India

    The Salvation Army’s forgotten agricultural mission in India
    pune news
    Updated on Jul 2, 2026 02:53 IST

    How the Salvation Army took Cassava across India

    After his visit to Travancore, Booth-Tucker decided that the Salvation Army would “introduce” cassava to other parts of India. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Jun 25, 2026 01:02 IST

    Taste of Life: Could cassava have ended India’s 19th-century famines?

    Cassava, also known as manioc or yuca, is a woody shrub prized for its starchy, calorie-rich root tubers. (WIKIMEDIA)
    pune news
    Updated on Jun 18, 2026 02:10 IST

    Grape-Nuts and the Indian summer

    Despite its name, Grape-Nuts contained neither grapes nor nuts. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Jun 11, 2026 01:24 IST

    Toffee trail: From Britain to Colonial Poona’s streets

    Toffees made by Mackintosh’s company of Halifax, England, had been available in Bombay since at least 1898. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Jun 3, 2026 23:20 IST

    Taste of Life: How 19th-century institutes shaped western India’s agri-education

    Richard Temple was one of the strongest advocates of agricultural instruction in the Bombay Presidency. (WIKIPEDIA)
    pune news
    Updated on May 21, 2026 00:44 IST

    Taste of Life: Experiments with weight loss manuals and fashionable diets

    A book on treating obesity by Dr Wilhelm Ebstein (in pic) became quite a rage in Bombay and Poona in the winter of 1884. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on May 14, 2026 02:20 IST

    Taste of Life: How Banting diet became a measure of human worth

    William Banting, who was 200 pounds, was obese and suffered from immense ill health due to his weight. He lost 46 pounds with a strict low-carbohydrate diet. (WIKIMEDIA)
    pune news
    Updated on Apr 30, 2026 01:08 IST

    Poona’s summer-houses: Hub for tea parties, status, and affluence

    Poona’s summer-houses: Hub for tea parties, status, and affluence
    pune news
    Updated on Apr 22, 2026 22:22 IST

    Sheep breeding and making of Deccan mutton economy

    In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mutton was an important source of protein in the Indian diet, but the production was low, and the quality of mutton was not good. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Apr 15, 2026 22:22 IST

    Taste of Life: When and how muscovado sugar was produced in Poona

    Muscovado sugar sat at the centre of the wider plantation economy and the transatlantic trade network. (HT)
    pune news
    Updated on Apr 9, 2026 01:02 IST

    Taste of Life: Roles food habits play in shaping religious nationalism

    Pune was home to a large number of temples dedicated to Hanuman. These were small, modest shrines, often with curious names, and celebrated Hanuman Jayanti with great enthusiasm. (HT FILE)
    pune news
    Updated on Apr 2, 2026 01:01 IST

    Taste of Life: How sugar garlands became symbols of swadeshi pride

    Appeals from swadeshi goods grew stronger in Maharashtra around festivals, especially Shimaga (Holi) and Gudhi Padwa, when it was customary to give children strings of sugar confections called “sakharechya gathi” on Shimaga. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))
    pune news
    Updated on Mar 19, 2026 01:36 IST
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