Interesting TRIVIA about Powai :

  • TOI's Powai Connection - The Mumbai Parsi who dug the Powai Lake was also the founder of Times of India's forerunner called 'Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce' founded by him in 1838. The Parsi merchant Framjee Cowasjee Banaji, who had leased the villages Powai from the East India Company in 1835, was also the founder of 'Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce'. The newspaper was published twice a week under Editor J.E. Brennan. It was basically a city paper reflecting the interest of Bombay's business community and the British residents of western India then. This was rechristened to The Times of India in 1861, once taken over by the British company Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. Today, the company is owned by the Sahu Jains, they are of Agrawal Jain community hailing from a small town of Najibabad in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. Source: Article by Nauzer Bharucha dated 7 September 2002 titled “ Big landowners benefited from colonial largesse “ at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Big-landowners-benefited-from-colonial-largesse/articleshow/21402168.cms
  • Powai is also a city located in San Diego County, California USA . As per 2000 census, the city had a population of 48,044.
  • TRIVIA - Powai is also a resort in New Zealand
  • Forbes Group’s Forbes-Gokak has its manufacturing facility in CHANDIVALI. It is the oldest surviving company in India and one of the oldest in the world. The Chandivali unit was commissioned in 1962. It manufactures Threading Taps, Dies and Cutting Tools. The group was established in 1767, by John Forbes of Abeerdeenshire Scotland.
  • There is a village called Powai located in the Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand(Northern Uttar Pradesh).Villages such as Powai are inhabited seasonally - inhabitants move as the water supply shifts.
  • A small location in this area on the Adi Shankaracharya(ADS) Marg happens to be a major worship place in Powai for most religions. Like Trinity Church, Gurudwara at IIT, Mosque at IIT, Padma Devi Temple (inside IIT), Jain Temple (opp IIT), Swami Narayan Temple, Maruti Hanuman Mandir and Aiyappa temple are situated in just two kilometre radius.
  • The Powai Hill near Go Karting is a missile launching pad site for Indian Air force.
  • The Sharma Family of Powai bought vast tracts of land for a meagre amount of 1.25 lac from Sir Mohammad Yusuf .
  • The present day IIT, spread in 50 Acre plus has been donated by freedom fighter Chandrabhan Sharma to the Government of India.
  • Prior to the residential location of Hiranandani Gardens, Powai it was jungle infested by wild animals.
  • Powai Lake is one of the biggest man-made dugout lake, in India built by the Britishers in 1891, carved from a rivulet. It measures 2sq km and has a depth of 40 ft.
  • The most expensive hostel of any Institute/College in India is Hostel No.13 in IIT. It has been built from alumni funds at a cost of Rs.35 crores.
  • Hiranandani Gardens is the only residential locality which has a Go-Karting track in the Complex.
  • The legendery singing star of silverscreen, Shamshad Begum, whose hit song "Saaiyan dilmein aana re" which has been remixed for its yestaeryear popularity. She stays healthy at the age of 86years in Lake Castle Hiranandani Gardens.
  • IIT-Powai alumni Dr. Arun N Netravali is the first Indian to have become President of BELL LABS, USA
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