[CategoryInd[

: Bakula Thompson <bakula.thompson>

The world’s 20 oldest cities……….INDIA IS GREAT

I can’t recognize Chennai anymore , except for the HIGH COURT BUILDINGS —
And I lived there half my life — and also practiced in these COURT HALLS !
That was another TIME , ANOTHER WORLD ?!?.ANOTHER LIFETIME —

Long ago , I had seen them from the Light House —
But , now , they look so beautiful — OUT OF THIS WORLD —

" door thi dungar raliyaamana — "
pun nikat thi sookshma drishti ATI SOOKSHMA BANE CCHE ane ,
SATHYA ANUBHAVAAYA , SAMJHAAYA CCHE —

" TRUTH " IS " WHOLE , WHOLE , and , whole — nothing but WHOLE —

JUST AS ,
" TRUTH , TRUTH AND TRUTH , nothing but " TRUTH " —
IS SUPPOSED TO REVERBERATE IN THESE COURT HALLS —
not lies, half truths and fraud —

Life is not fair , YET , STRIVE WE MUST TO MAKE IT SO !!!

bakula

The world’s 20 oldest cities

Source: The UK Daily Telegraph newspaper

20. Varanasi, India

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,000 BC

Situated on the west bank of the Ganges, Varanasi – also known as Benares – is an important holy city for both Hindus and Buddhists. According to legend, it was founded by the Hindu deity Lord Shiva 5,000 years ago, though modern scholars believe it to be around 3,000 years old.

19. Cádiz, Spain

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,100 BC

Found on a narrow spit of land jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, Cádiz has been the home of the Spanish navy since the 18th century. It was founded by the Phoenicians as a small trading post and fell to the Carthaginians around 500BC, becoming a base for Hannibal’s conquest of Iberia. It then came under Roman and Moorish rule, before experiencing a renaissance during the Age of Exploration.

16. Thebes, Greece

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,400 BC

A major rival of ancient Athens, Thebes ruled the Boeotian confederacy and even lent assistance to Xerxes during the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Archaeological excavation has revealed a Mycenaean settlement dating back even further. Today, Thebes is little more than a market town.

16. Larnaca, Cyprus

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,400 BC

Founded as ‘Citium’ by the Phoenicians, Larnaca is well-known for its pretty seafront lined with palm trees. Archaeological sites and numerous beaches attract modern visitors.

16. Athens, Greece

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,400 BC

The cradle of Western Civilization and the birthplace of democracy, Athens’s heritage is still very evident. It is filled with Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman monuments and remains a hugely popular tourist destination.

15. Balkh, Afghanistan

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 1,500 BC

Known as Bactra to the ancient Greeks, Balkh is found in northern Afghanistan and is descibed as the ‘Mother of Cities’ by Arabs. It reached its peak between 2,500 BC and 1,900 BC prior to the rise of the Persian and Median empires. Modern Balkh is home to the region’s cotton industry.

14. Kirkuk, Iraq

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 2,200 BC

Located around 150 miles north of Baghdad, Kirkuk stands on the site of the ancient Assyrian capital of Arrapha. Its strategic importance was recognised by the Babylonians and the Media, who have also controlled the city. The ruins of a 5,000-year-old citadel are still visible, while the city is now the headquarters of Iraq’s petroleum industry.

13. Arbil, Iraq

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 2,300 BC

North of Kirkuk lies Arbil, ruled at various times by the Assyrians, Persians, Sasanians, Arabs and Ottomans. It was a major stop on the Silk Road while its ancient citadel – which rises 26 metres from the ground – still dominates the skyline.

12. Tyre, Lebanon

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 2,750 BC

The legendary birthplace of Europa and Dido, Tyre was founded around 2,750 BC, according to Herodotus. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC following a seven-month seige and became a Roman province in 64 BC. Today, tourism is a major industry: the city’s Roman Hippodrome is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

11. Jerusalem,Israel

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 2,800 BC

The spiritual centre of the Jewish people and Islam’s third-holiest city, Jerusalem is home to several key religious sites, including the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the al-Aqsa Mosque. During its history, the city has been besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, captured 44 times and destroyed twice.

10. Beirut, Lebanon

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 3,000 BC

Lebanon’s capital, as well as its cultural, administrative and economic centre, Beirut’s history stretches back around 5,000 years. Excavations in the city have unearthed Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, Arab and Ottoman remains, while it is mentioned in letters to the pharaoh of Egypt as early as the 14th century BC. Since the end of the Lebanese civil war, it has become a lively, modern tourist attraction.

9. Gaziantep, Turkey

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 3,650 BC

Found in southern Turkey, close to the border with Syria, Gaziantep’s history extends as far back as the Hittites. The Ravanda citadel – restored by the Byzantines in the sixth century – is found in the city centre, while Roman mosaics have also been discovered.

8. Plovdiv, Bulgaria

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,000 BC

The second-largest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv was originally a Tracian settlement before becoming a major Roman city. It later fell into Byzantine and Ottoman hands, before becoming part of Bulgaria. The city is a major cultural centre and boasts many ancient remains, including a Roman amphitheatre and aqueduct, and Ottoman baths.

7. Sidon, Lebanon

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,000 BC

Around 25 miles south of Beirut lies Sidon, one of the most important – and perhaps the oldest – Phoenician cities. It was the base from which the Phoenician’s great Mediterranean empire grew. Both Jesus and St Paul are said to have visited Sidon, as did Alexander the Great, who captured the city in 333 BC.

6. Faiyum, Egypt

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,000 BC

Southwest of Cairo, Faiyum occupies part of Crocodilopolis – an ancient Egyptian city which worshipped Petsuchos, a sacred crocodile. Modern Faiyum consists of several large bazaars, mosques and baths, while the Lehin and Hawara pyramids are found nearby.

5. Susa, Iran

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,200 BC

Susa was the capital of the Elamite Empire before being captured by the Assyrians. It was then taken by the Achaemenid Persian under Cyrus the Great and is the setting of The Persians, an Athenian tragedy by Aeschylus and the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre. The modern city, Shush, has a population of around 65,000.

4. Damascus, Syria

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,300 BC

Cited by some sources as the world’s oldest inhabited city, Damascus may have been inhabited as early as 10,000 BC, also this is debated. It became an important settlement after the arrival of the Aramaeans, who established a network of canals, which still form the basis of its modern water networks. Another of Alexander the Great’s conquests, Damascus has since been in Roman, Arab and Ottoman possession. Its wealth of historical attractions made it a popular tourist destination, until recent unrest struck.

3. Aleppo, Syria

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 4,300 BC

Syria’s most populated city with around 4.4 million citizens Aleppo was founded as Halab in around 4,300 BC. As the ancient site is occupied by the modern city it is barely touched by archaeologists. The city was under Hittite control until around 800 BC, before passing through Assyrian, Greek and Persian hands. It was later occupied by the Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, besieged by the Crusaders and then taken by the Mongols and Ottomans.

2. Byblos, Lebanon

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 5,000 BC

Founded as Gebal by the Phoenicians, Byblos was given its name by the Greeks, who imported papyrus from the city. Hence the English word Bible is derived from Byblos. The city’s key tourist sites include ancient Phoenician temples, Byblos Castle and St John the Baptist Church – built by crusaders in the 12th century – and the old Medieval City Wall.

1. Jericho, Palestinian Territories

When did the earliest inhabitants settle? 9,000 BC

The world’s oldest continually-inhabited city, according to our sources, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of 20 successive settlements in Jericho, dating back 11,000 years. The city is found near the Jordan River in the West Bank and is today home to around 20,000 people.

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INDIA IS GREAT

In the western media, we often see only one type of Indian image. Crowded, dirty and polluted. The pictures would be often taken from random sewage canals and slums. The problem is that those underbellies exist in every part of the world.
This is not to deny that Shanghai and other great world cities have nicer infrastructure than the Indian metropolises. It is just that we are seeing things in binary instead of shades of gray. Indian cities sure have more than their share of dirtiness. Those are the reality and so are the ones below. The problem is that if only one type of pictures are shown it totally distorts the reality. Here is the other side.

Mumbai skyline:

Driving through Mumbai’s marine drive.

A few kilometers north, Bandra-Worli sealink that connects traditional Mumbai city with its suburbs:

The new Mumbai airport & its environs

The serene Sabarmati river running through Ahmedabad

Jaipur: The land of palaces – now getting modern

The heart of Bengaluru: Vidhan Soudha


Mysore: Bangalore’s royal cousin


Heart of New Delhi during the parade


The sparkling clean Delhi metro


Heart of Chennai in lush greenery


Chennai’s iconic Marina beach


Chennai’s southern skyline – not as good as other Indian metropolis but getting better


Kochi’s aspirations to enter as a Tier-1 Metropolis

Hyderabad center around the Char Minar


Rapidly growing skyline of Hyderabad:


Kolkata – the old capital of India


Kolkata’s Vidaysagar Setu

Heart of India’s former summer capital – Shimla

Gangtok: The serene northeastern city

Jodhpur: India’s blue city


Chennai’s Anna Memorial


New Delhi’s Lotus Temple to rival the Taj

The Yamuna Expressway to Agra.


New 8-laned expressways of Hyderabad

Nashik city :

Chennai’s Kathipara junction

India’s new highways.

India is moving. Not one or two cities, but the whole nation. By not looking at the pictures above we get the distorted view that India is not progressing. If a media house shows a picture of New York, which of the following would they normally use?

Both of them exist in the same city, but we use only one of those pictures as representative. Same for most cities in the world. However, when it comes to the Indian cities, we take only the negative images as default art to portray and that is a travesty to people who are working to build the country. Let’s be fair in representing cities of the world as that impacts investments and poverty alleviation. Romantic skylines for one city and a dirty sewer for the other city is not fair.

We need to be real. But, that doesn’t mean dwelling in pessimism.