Allô Chatrath

  A street in the City of Perth has been renamed in honour of Indian-Australian Anzac Private Nain Singh Sailani following a personal request from India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Members of Perth's Indian community, including veterans of the Indian Defence Forces and the Sikh History Association, came to honour Private Sailani, who was killed in action on the western front in 1917, and to admire the new street sign. Private Sailani had migrated from India to Australia in 1895 as a 22-year-old.   The outbreak of the First World War saw Private Sailani enlist at Claremont, in Perth, in February 1916 with C company of the 44th infantry battalion in the Australian Imperial Force. He was one of 12 Indian Australians who are known to have enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force during WWI. Private Sailani and Private Sarn Singh were the only Indian soldiers known to have been killed in action while serving as members of the AIF. Up to 15,000 Indians fought ...

 

Photos of the building put up here is unique in its own way. It was got constructed in 1864-78 by the then Commissioner of Allahabad Mr. Francis Otway Mayne in memory of his friend and junior colleague, Mr. Cuthbert Bensley Thornhill. Both of them belonged to the then Bengal Civil Service. I visited the holy city of Allahabad (Now Prayagraj) in 2013 and spent 4 days there moving around from one lovely building to another on a pedal driven Cycle Rickshaw. I would be sharing photos of various iconic buildings that I took there in subsequent posts. The Thornhill Mayne Memorial was established in the year 1864 and is housed in the 133-acre Chandrashekhar Azad Park, previously known as Alfred Park. Funded by the then Commissioner of Allahabad, Francis Otway Mayne, at a cost of approximately Rs 94,222 or £25,000 when completed in 1878, it was opened as a memorial to his friendship with Cuthbert Bensley Thornhill, Magistrate of Banda.   Sir Richard Roskell Bayne (1837–1901) was the ...