Powai

Powai
Powai is a suburban neighbourhood located in the north-east of Mumbai, India. It is situated on the banks of Powai Lake, and is bounded by the hills of Vikhroli Parksite to the south-east, Chandivali to the south-west, the L.B.S. For more info about the place click on this link - 



History of Powai

Powai, a locality in the north east of Mumbai, has grown very creatively and rapidly and today is the most high-end commercial and residential face of Mumbai. However, Powai has a very interesting history. The original name of Powai was 'Poumvi' meaning Padma in Sanskrit. The Portuguese people pronounced it as Powai.



For several years, Powai has been a place of wilderness with a few villages. The three oldest landmarks in Powai which are popular even now are the Padmavati temple, Powai Lake and the Holy Trinity Church. The Holy Trinity church is the oldest church in Mumbai. To reach Powai from the east direction people had to cross a hill and then the church. It is said that the sound of the church bell reached upto a radius of 50 km.

Post independence, Powai estate was taken on lease by the freedom fighter Shri C. B. Sharma from Sir Yusuf, the then owner. He daily visited the Padmavati temple confined in what is today known as the IIT campus. It is said that during Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's rule people came to Powai in pursuit of peace. It is also believed that Powai had a palace with a secret tunnel resuming at today's Powai Lake bed. It was so huge that even horses used to pass through it, the tunnel was used by the Portuguese for transportation of the valuables.



The place where the Powai Lake stands comprised of a village. The lake was built to supply drinking water to Mumbai in 1891, however, due to the inflow of the industrial and residential waste it got polluted. Later it was declared unfit for drinking. Today the lake is a major tourist attraction and supplies water to Aarey Colony and Larsen & Turbo for the industrial purpose. Maharashtra State Angling Association (MSAA) looks after the maintenance and beautification of the lake. In January 2015, a tender has been passed by the BMC for its rejuvenation.

In 1950s a part of Powai was gifted to the government by the generous Shri C. B. Sharma to set up the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Today IIT Bombay is one of the premium institutes of the country.

At that time Soren Kristian Turbo, an engineer from Denmark achieved a contract in Mumbai. For this contract he took some part of the land on lease and this is where today India's oldest multinational company stands, the L&T.

Powai was not much populated as compared to rest of the localities in Mumbai till 1990s. Apart from IIT and colonies near IIT (Phule Nagar, Tirandaaz village, Chaitanya Nagar, etc). Rest, most of it was primarily barren.

The real make-over of Powai took after 1985, when the permission to convert the agricultural land to residential township and commercial premises was granted to Hiranadani. Hiranandani and later other builders completely changed the face of Powai over the past 25 years, and converted Powai into a residential and commercial township.



Today much of Powai is covered with residential colonies, offices complexes, and shopping areas. Powai has recently become one of the prime localities in Mumbai. Owing to its own up-market culture and a central location when compared to both Central and Western suburbs, Powai has been transformed into a new township itself.

Today Powai is also the start up hub for many young entrepreneurs and IITians who are trying their luck in business. The Hiranandani Group also has a plan to make Powai into an emerging financial hub. Apart from the businessman, entrepreneurs and residents, Powai isn't missed out from the Bollywood's eye. The Oscar winning movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' was shot here. Other movies such as Kalyug, Gajini and several advertisement were also shot here.
 Wikipedia.