Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi

Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi

It was decided in the Delhi Durbar of 1911 that the capital of India would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. Thus was born the city of Delhi, designed by the great architect Edwin Lutyens, along with Herbert Baker. It took approximately 20 years and 15 million pounds to build New Delhi. Built as the Viceral Lodge, Delhi Rashtrapati Bhawan comprises of four floors and 340 rooms. Now known as the President House of New Delhi, it is spread over an area of approximately 200,000-sq-feet. It took 18 years to construct this building and on the on the 18th year of its completion, India became independent.

The Jaipur Column, a gift from the Maharaja of Jaipur, stands at a height of 145 m in the middle of the main court in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Another one of the impressive features of the Delhi Rashtrapati Bhawan comprises of the outstandingly beautiful Mughal Gardens. Then, at the base of the building, is a spacious square, known as the Vijay Chowk. The massive neo-Buddhist copper dome of the President House of New Delhi is splendid and can be seen even from a distance of a kilometer. Underneath this fabulous dome is the circular Durbar Hall, housing the Viceroy's throne, measuring almost 22.8 m in diameter. Before the National Museum was completed, it served as a museum for a number of years. All the official ceremonies such as the swearing in of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the Members of Parliament, etc., take place in this hall only. Also, the Arjuna Awards for Excellence are awarded by the President from here itself. On the ground floor of the Rashtrapati Bhavan are a number of state apartments. Then, there is the State Drawing Room, State Ballroom, State Dining Room and a number of other such rooms inside the building. The Delhi Rashtrapati Bhawan consists of 54 bedrooms, along with additional accommodation for guests. 

Rashtrapati Bhavan is the official residence of the Rashtrapati or the President of India. Prior to Indian Independence, this great palace belonged to the Viceroy and was known as the Viceroy House. The huge palace belonged to the Viceroy of India till the year 1950.

About the Rashtrapati Bhavan:

Rashtrapati Bhavan is a major attraction of Delhi. It is a marvelous structure built with the purpose of sheltering the head of the state. This humongous monument has been a piece of attraction not only to the people of India but also tourists from all over the world. The Rashtrapati Bhavan is splendor with its different architectural designs and styles. The monument has the Mughal architectural designs, Persian art forms,Indian designs and the European architectural styles as well.Located in the Raisina Hills, this monument is the main eye candy of New Delhi. 

History of Rashtrapati Bhavan

After Calcutta was removed as the capital of British India, Delhi was chosen as the next capital. British Government chose Delhi as its ruling capital and devised plans to adorn the city with some offices and a palace for the Viceroy. To put these plans into action, the official architect of the British Government, Edwin Landseer Lutyens was summoned. He and Herbert Baker designed the Viceroy Home or what is known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Initially, these two renowned architects of the British Government started their work on the Rashtrapati Bhavan on good terms, but later they got into arguments.

Inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan:

The Rashtrapati Bhavan is the biggest residence of the Head of the State in the world. It not only has a spectacular exterior, but is adorned with beauties on its interiors too. The Rashtrapati Bhavan consists of 340 rooms and is a four storied building. The building is built with stone and bricks. It has an attractive dome shaped roof which is peaked at the top of the building. There were chajjas, stone water basins, jaalis and so on, which indicates the use of Indian style of architecture in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Although, the dome of the building is said to have been influenced by Roman architecture, it indicates an influence of the famous Sanchi Stupa.

The temple bells adorned at the pillars of the Rashtrapati Bhavan also indicates the presence of Indian style of designs at this great monument.

Main wings of Rashtrapati Bhavan:

The main areas of the Rashtrapati Bhavan are:

• The State Library
• The State Drawing Room
• The Private Apartments
• The State Dining Room
• The State Ballroom

Hotels near the Rashtrapati Bhavan:

Some of the hotels around the famous Rashtrapati Bhavan are:

• The Metropolitan Hotel
• Crowne Plaza Hotel
• Taj Palace Hotel
• Sri Nanak Continental
• InterContinental The Grand

Visit to this amazing monument in Delhi is a must. You may not be allowed to explore the interiors of this great palace. But you can certainly have a look at this splendid Rashtrapati Bhavan from far. This beautiful President Palace looks the best at night and when decorated on National events like, Independence Day and Republic Day.

Technology & Money

Technology & Money

This story starts in the 1850s with the founding of Western Union Telegraph and the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution.

When Morse was approaching his eightieth birthday it was felt among the telegraph fraternity at Western Union that a formal testimonial in the U.S. should be given to honor him - Saturday, June 10th, 1871 Morses final message was:

" Greeting and thanks to the Telegraph fraternity throughout the world.
Glory to God in the Highest, on Earth Peace, Goodwill to men."

S ... F .-. B -... M -- O . . R . .. S ... E .

Ezra Cornell’s story is the story of the telegraph in America. Always confident of its great commercial future, he enthusiastically demonstrated it, enlisted capital, and built lines. Although doing so frequently left his family destitute, he always took a large part of his pay in stocks, and invested in the first telegraph company, which connected New York and Washington. He built lines from the Hudson to Philadelphia and from New York to Albany, as well as lines in New York, Vermont and Quebec, and west to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. He was involved in the rapid construction of subsidiary lines, especially in the midwest, where the telegraph preceded rather than followed the railroad.
The early days of the telegraph industry were tumultuous. Many companies were formed, operated briefly and died. Stronger companies managed to survive despite conflicts, deception, and numerous lawsuits. Service on the hastily built lines was frequently unreliable. In 1851, the New York & Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was organized in Rochester by Hiram Sibley and others, with the goal of creating one great system with unified and efficient operations. Meanwhile, Cornell had bought back one of his bankrupt companies and renamed it the New York & Western Union Telegraph Company. Originally fierce competitors, by 1855 both groups were finally convinced that consolidation was their only alternative for progress. The merged company was named The Western Union Telegraph Company at Cornell’s insistence. Western Union rapidly expanded operations to most parts of the United States and Canada. While Cornell now took a less active role, he continued to have great faith in the telegraph. He held on to his Western Union stock, and for more than fifteen years was the company’s largest stockholder.

• via: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Ezra-exhibit/EC-life/EC-life-6.html

Western Union bought out smaller companies rapidly, and by 1860 its lines reached from the East Coast to the Mississippi River, and from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River. In 1861 it opened the first transcontinental telegraph. In 1865 it formed the Russian American Telegraph in an attempt to link America to Europe, via Alaska, into Siberia, to Moscow. (This project was abandoned in 1867.) The company enjoyed phenomenal growth during the next few years. Its capitalization rose from $385,700 in 1858 to $41 million in 1876. However it was top-heavy with stock issues, and faced growing competition from several firms, especially the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company—itself taken over by financier Jay Gould in 1875. In 1881 Gould took control of Western Union.

It introduced the first stock ticker in 1866, and a standardized time service in 1870. The next year, 1871, the company introduced its money transfer service, based on its extensive telegraph network. In 1879, Western Union left the telephone business, having lost a patent lawsuit with Bell Telephone Company. As the telephone replaced the telegraph, money transfer would become its primary business.
When the Dow Jones Transportation Average stock market index for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was created in 1884, Western Union was one of the original eleven all-American companies tracked.
By 1900 Western Union operated a million miles of telegraph lines and two international cables.

• via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union

Image: Cornell 1910 via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rummell,_Richard_Cornell_University.jpg
In 1862 the Morrill Land Grant Act had been passed, appropriating public lands to aid state agricultural and mechanical colleges. By 1864, Cornell’s family, his personal philanthropies, and the Public Library required only a small part of his considerable fortune. He had been elected to the New York State Senate, where he made the acquaintance of Andrew Dickson White of Syracuse. Through discussions with White, the idea of a university grew in Cornell’s mind. When the Legislature met in 1865, White introduced a bill in the Senate “to establish the Cornell University and to appropriate to it the income of the sale of public lands granted to this State.” After much political maneuvering, the bill was passed in the Assembly on April 21, in the Senate on April 22, and was signed by Governor Reuben E. Fenton on April 27. The first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on April 28. Cornell endowed the university through an outright gift of $500,000, to which would be added the sum realized by Cornell’s purchase of the Morrill land scrip from the state.
Cornell was closely involved in all aspects of the new university. He superintended construction and purchased equipment, books, and collections. On October 7, 1868, Inauguration Day, 412 students, the largest entering class admitted to any American college up to that time, came to Ithaca. Cornell gave a brief address, concluding with the University’s newly adopted motto: “Finally, I trust we have laid the foundation of an University—an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”

• via: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Ezra-exhibit/EC-life/EC-life-11.html

The second story of wealth & philanthropy

LVMH to Buy Duty-Free Empire for $2.47 Billion

NYT Published: October 30, 1996

LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton, the French luxury goods conglomerate, has signed an agreement to buy a controlling interest in DFS Group Ltd., the lucrative empire of duty free shops, for $2.47 billion, DFS announced yesterday.
But Robert W. Miller, the high-flying billionaire who holds a 38.75 percent stake in DFS, is seeking to block the sale of the stake by his longtime partner and co-founder of the company, Charles F. Feeney, and Alan M. Parker, the company’s tax lawyer. Together they own 58 percent.

• via: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/30/business/lvmh-to-buy-duty-free-empire-for-2.47-billion.html?ref=charlesffeeney

Rumpled by habit, limping on old knees, smiling faintly after a night of celebration, Chuck Feeney stepped out of a building on Park Avenue Monday night and vanished, carried away on a river of passing strangers who knew nothing about him. Perfectly disguised as an ordinary man, Mr. Feeney, one of the most generous and secretive philanthropists of modern times, had dropped from sight once again. It is a skill he mastered over decades.
Last year, the foundation Mr. Feeney created, the Atlantic Philanthropies, gave $458 million in grants around the world, more than any United States charity except two, the Ford and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations. Atlantic, and small predecessors also started by Mr. Feeney, have given $4 billion since 1982; the plan is to give away the remaining assets — now $4 billion, but growing every day — by 2017.
Despite this record, Mr. Feeney is little known, a result of the web of intrigues that he fashioned to disguise his identity, his wealth and his giving. Atlantic does not appear in the annual rankings of the biggest American philanthropies because it was set up in Bermuda, to avoid the disclosures required in the United States. A rare glimpse of Mr. Feeney’s story emerged a decade ago during a business dispute, but he quickly disappeared from the news.
Now, however, Mr. Feeney, who is 76 years old and grew up in Elizabeth, N.J., is stepping out from behind his veil. He cooperated with a biographer, the journalist Conor O’Clery, whose book, “The Billionaire Who Wasn’t,” is being published by PublicAffairs. In it, he describes how Mr. Feeney and his partners went into business nearly 50 years ago selling five-pack boxes of liquor to American sailors in ports around Europe, and expanded into a worldwide empire of duty-free airport shops — often one quick step ahead of police or immigration authorities.

• via: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/nyregion/26about.html?ref=charlesffeeney

It is also reported: Then, by the use of off-shore cutout corporations, he gained anonymity to pursue his philanthropic goals. To further protect his identity, he did not even take a tax deduction for his charitable contributions.

For a great read of the History of DFS Group Ltd read more here:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/DFS-Group-Ltd-company-History.html