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“Going Doolally” Over Deolali [Part – II]

Photo : Prof. D. N. Kaprekar (1905 - 1986)

Odd Numbers, Even Numbers, Prime Numbers... but did you know there are “Devlali Numbers” too!!!    If you have read the Part – I, Then you’ll surely find this more interesting.

“Devlali Numbers” or Self Numbers were first described in 1963 by Prof. D. N. Kaprekar, a school teacher by profession but also an well known mathematician of his time.

It states that, integers that cannot be generated by taking some other number and adding its own digits to it. For example, 21 is not a self number, since it can be generated from 15 i.e. 15 + 1 + 5 = 21. But 20 is a self number, since it cannot be generated from any other integer. He also gave a test for verifying this property in any number. These are sometimes referred to as Devlali numbers (after the town where he lived).

Kaprekar, born in Dahanu (Thane) received his secondary school education in Thane and studied at Fergusson College in Pune. In 1927 he won the Wrangler R. P. Paranjpe Mathematical Prize for an original piece of work in mathematics.

He attended the University of Mumbai, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1929. Having never received any formal postgraduate training, for his entire career (1930–1962) he was a schoolteacher at Devlali, Nashik a town in Maharashtra, India. He published extensively, writing about such topics as recurring decimals, magic squares, and integers with special properties. He also known as "Ganitanand" (गणितानंद); which literally translates into “lover of mathematics”.

His most famous discovered works include :

•          Kaprekar constant (named after him)
•          Devlali numbers
•          Harshad numbers
•          Demlo numbers

Initially his ideas were not taken seriously by Indian mathematicians, and his results were published largely in low-level mathematics journals or privately published. Today his name is well-known and many other mathematicians have pursued the study of the properties he discovered.

Sources: wikipedia.org and other websites.
 © Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

“Going Doolally” Over Deolali [Part – I]

Photo : A British Soldier (by the name Smith) sent this
 photograph home on new year. (Deolali, 1/1/1937)

Doolally. Pronunciation: [DU-lah-lee]. 
Function: adjective.
Meaning : Crazy or at least very eccentric or like in our case completely deranged!

All the beer lovers of Pune must have heard about the “Doolally Handcrafted Beers” on the NIBM Annexe, South Pune, Pune. This place claims to be the first microbrewery in the town. But little do we know about the origin of the word “Doolally”

Deolali is a town situated about 10 km from the neighboring city of Nashik, which was once served as a transit camp for British troops in India, notorious for its unpleasant environment, boredom, and the psychological problems of soldiers that passed through it.
Its name is the origin of the phrase "gone doolally" or "doolally tap", a phrase meaning to 'lose one's mind'. 'Tap' may refer to the Urdu/Marathi word “tap”, meaning fever. This arbitrariness is due to it being an Anglicized version of an Indian place name rather than any English word.

The term is British Army slang, from the Deolali sanatorium, Maharashtra, India and is first cited in Fraser & Gibbons', Soldier & Sailor Words, 1925:
"Deolali tap (otherwise doolally tap), mad, off one's head. Old Army."

Photo : British soldiers; George Jacobs & Unknown
with Indian kids (Camp Deolali, India. 9 March 1943)

Frank Richards, (Francis Philip Woodruff) was a soldier in the First World War and wrote a classic account of it in Old Soldiers Never Die. Richards was also a veteran of the Indian campaign, which he wrote about in in Old Soldier Sahib, 1936:

"Time-expired men sent to Deolalie from their different units might have to wait for months before a troop-ship fetched them home... The well-known saying among soldiers when speaking of a man who does queer things, ‘Oh, he's got the Doo-lally tap,’ originated, I think, in the peculiar way men behaved owing to the boredom of that camp."

The phrase is quite archaic now, even in its 'go Dolally' form. The tap is now rarely heard, but hasn't quite died out of everyday use.

Sources: wikipedia.org, warren421.home.comcast.net and other websites.

© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.

Trams in Nasik – Truth or Hoax???

Photo: Bathing Ghat, Godavari River (Nasik – 1924)

 I happened to visit my home town Kolkata last year and any journey without a tram ride would be incomplete. Few days ago when I was recollecting on Kolkata tram ride, the nostalgia grew on me and I began to research more about the history of trams in India. I typed the words “Trams in India” on Google and what I discovered left me shocked.

Did You Know: Our own city Nasik had a tramway till the 1930’s!!!

The British occupied Nasik towards the second decade of 19 century. In 1818, the Nasik district area completely came under British rule. Nasik was given the status of a town and municipal council was established in 1865. Even in this period Nasik continued to be a religious centre. Brahmin community of Nasik was very influential. The British administration on many occasions had to bow to the wishes of Brahmin community. Construction of Railway line joining Mumbai was the most significant development of the 19-century. But Brahmins opposed its entry into Nasik city on religious grounds. Finally the railway line was realigned to a distance of 10 km from city and the station was named as Nasik Road (1865). The stretch between Nasik and Nasik Road was covered with dense jungle; the only mode of transport from the station to the city was by horse-drawn carriage.

Photo: The first horse-drawn tram (Kolkata – 1880)

Everard Richard Calthrop (1857 –1927) was a British railway engineer and inventor. Calthrop was a notable promoter and builder of narrow gauge railways, especially of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge. In 1882 he went to India to join the Great Indian Peninsula Railway as a locomotive inspector. Once in India, Calthrop came to see narrow gauge railways as a way to help develop the country.

Calthrop requested leave in 1886 to investigate proposals for independent branch lines. He identified two schemes of particular interest, a 5-mile (8.0 km) tramway connecting the Hindu religious centre of Nasik with the railway, and a 21-mile (34 km) branch line to the town of Barsi.

Photo :  Early horse-drawn trams in India (similar to Nasik)

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway approved both schemes, and Calthrop undertook a survey of both lines. In 1887 he registered the Indian Railways Feeder Lines Company in London to promote the construction of feeders to the railway. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway suggested that he either returned to his duties as a locomotive inspector, or, with their support, resign to further promote branch lines. His health was failing, and so in 1889 Calthrop resigned from the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Working as a consultant he then supervised the construction of the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge horse-powered Nasik Tram.

This tramway was constructed in 1889 with a capital of 1 lakh rupees. Originally, the tramway used two carriages pulled by four horses.  It originated from what is now the Old Municipal Corporation building located on Main Road, and terminated at the Nasik Road railway station (a distance of around 8–10 km). It is said to pass through areas of Ganjamal (the now defunct bus stop was earlier a tram stop) and behind the Fame Multiplex. Brady’s; a private company funded the project and later introduced India’s first petrol engine driven tram under the aegis of Nasik Tramway Co. The tramway closed down in around 1933 owing to the successive years of famine and plague, it had run into heavy losses.

Photo : Tram passing through a residential area. (Year Unknown) 

Other Indian cities which had tram services:

 Kolkata          (24 February 1873-present)

 Mumbai          (9 May 1874 - 31 March 1964)

 Delhi               (6 March 1908 - 1963)

 Chennai           (7 May 1895 - 12 April 1953)

 Kanpur            (June 1907 - 16 May 1933)

 & Patna           (unknown – 1903)

Sources: wikipedia.org and other websites.