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Time of India
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Traffic congestion hits new peak in Chakan MIDC belt
1 2 Pune: What was once a short and manageable commute has now turned into a daily nightmare for thousands of industrial workers travelling to Chakan MIDC. With traffic congestion worsening year after year, workers say their travel times have nearly tripled, and it is taking a toll on their routine, income, and mental health. Employees said journeys that earlier took 20-25 minutes now stretch to two hours, forcing them to leave home earlier and often return late. You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune "Most companies have biometric attendance systems. Arriving even 15 minutes late results in being marked absent, causing salary deductions," said a Moshi resident, who commutes daily to Chakan MIDC. Ravindra Lite, a resident of Bharat Mata Chowk in Moshi, has been working at Chakan MIDC for the past 19 years. "I used to stay in Nigdi, 17km from my company. Six years ago, I shifted to Moshi because it is closer (12km away) and I hoped to get more time to spend with my family. But now, due to daily congestion, I end up spending more time on the road than before," he said. His travel time increased from 40-45 minutes to nearly two hours. Lite added that if he arrives late, he has to stay back at work to complete his 8.5-hour shift. Utkrant Chopade, a resident of Dehu-Alandi Road and an employee at Chakan MIDC for six years, said traffic has worsened significantly in the past two years. "I now leave home half an hour early to make it on time. But I still get caught in snarls, especially because of heavy vehicles. The return journey is just as bad; I reach home 30 minutes later daily," he said. The worsening congestion on Pune-Nashik Road and Talegaon-Shikrapur Road — the two critical routes connecting to Chakan MIDC — has sparked protests from local residents and industrialists, who are demanding immediate action from authorities. Chakan resident Pratik Jadhav expressed frustration over the poor condition of roads and lack of accountability for their upkeep. "The roads are in terrible shape, and the agencies responsible, PMRDA, MIDC, and NHAI, keep blaming each other instead of fixing the issue. This, coupled with congestion, has led to fatal accidents in the area," he said. Industrialist and Chakan resident Prashant Tope echoed concerns, stating that industry vehicles and employees are stuck in traffic on a daily basis. "Authorities have failed to respond to our repeated complaints. They skipped essential pre-monsoon maintenance, and now the roads are filled with potholes, making things worse," he said. Dhiraj Mutke, another local, said residents and industrialists held a protest last week to highlight concerns. "Following this, a meeting was held by the PMRDA commissioner with officials from all agencies concerned. But we remain sceptical. These issues have existed for years, and we have only received empty assurances so far," he said. Last year, Central govt approved funds for the proposed Nashik Phata-Rajgurunagar elevated corridor, but it remains delayed due to pending tendering procedures. Similarly, work on the Chakan-Shikrapur road, for which funds were approved earlier this year from state govt, is yet to begin. PMRDA commissioner Yogesh Mhase told TOI that they have identified around seven roads that need to be developed on priority so that the congestion problem can be solved to some extent. "We are also planning another anti-encroachment drive to restore the full width of existing roads," he said, adding that although a similar drive was conducted earlier, encroachments have reappeared, re-narrowing the roads and worsening traffic flow. Mhase further said that other issues were also discussed in a meeting with all agencies concerned on Wednesday. "MSRDC has been tasked with repairing Talegaon-Shikrapur Road and filling potholes on a priority basis, while NHAI will focus on developing two-metre shoulders along the Pune-Nashik Highway," he said. Delays in several road projects due to land acquisition hurdles were also discussed. "It was decided that PMRDA will intervene and attempt to acquire land through transfer of development rights (TDR) wherever possible to speed up pending works," Mhase said. Vivek Patil, DCP (traffic) of Pimpri Chinchwad, told TOI that they have already banned movement of heavy vehicles between 8am to 11am and 5pm to 8pm on the problem stretches. "Traffic personnel and wardens were also increased earlier. We plan to deploy 10 traffic personnel and an officer in the region to manage the situation," he said.
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business Insider
When our twins went to camp for the first time, we went to Las Vegas. Taking time to reconnect was the best parenting decision.
We sent our 10-year-old twins to sleepaway camp for the first time this month. I was nervous, but I realized it gave my husband and me an opportunity to get away, too. We decided to spend two nights in Las Vegas together and had a chance to reconnect. Earlier this month, my 10-year-old twins went to sleepaway camp for the first time — the same Southern California camp I attended for 11 summers in the '80s and '90s. It's a place where I know magic happens, and I knew it would be an important (and hopefully also joyful) rite of passage. There were nerves, of course. My son worried he wouldn't know anyone and might struggle to make friends. I worried they wouldn't brush their teeth or wear adequate sunscreen — typical mom fare. But ultimately, I knew this would help them build independence. And as sentimental as I felt about watching them take this leap, I also realized this rare moment presented a window of opportunity for my husband and me — one we hadn't had in years. So we booked a grown-up getaway to Las Vegas while they were at camp, aiming to reclaim a little space for ourselves during a rare window of opportunity. As any parent of young kids will tell you, carving out time as a couple is a constant struggle. We each travel for work individually, but getting away together is nearly impossible between school, homework, extracurriculars, and emotional support (not to mention physical childcare). The logistics of parenting leave little room for spontaneity — or romance. But with our kids fully supervised and immersed in summer camp life, we had five glorious days to remember what it feels like to be self-actualized people — not just parents. We let ourselves luxuriate, and food was a highlight We decided to spend two of those nights in nearby Las Vegas, staying at Crockfords, the most luxurious of the three hotels within the Resorts World complex. It felt elevated from the moment we stepped into the serene, artfully designed lobby. Both nights, we enjoyed dressing up for dinner. We ate at Nobu in Caesars first night, and the second night, we indulged in dinner at Stubborn Seed, from Michelin-starred chef Jeremy Ford, before heading to see Nas perform with the Las Vegas Philharmonic at the Encore Theater — a genre-defying experience that felt both exhilarating and intimate. We were fully present. And honestly, it felt like a revelation. At brunch, we snagged a table at Pinky's by Lisa Vanderpump inside the Flamingo, a delightfully over-the-top spot that leans into glamour; yes, I had an espresso martini before noon. Afterward, we walked over to the new Go Pool, Flamingo's dayclub-style adults-only pool party, and set up shop in a shaded cabana. At one point, the DJ shouted out all the parents who'd left their kids at home — and we exchanged a knowing smile. We recharged individually and as a couple We spent a couple's afternoon at the expansive Awana Spa, where sprawling co-ed pools and lounges provided a soothing backdrop for tackling topics big and small. While we were there, we even had a breakthrough about a long-simmering plan to expand our house — the kind of epiphany that can only happen when you can hear yourself think for more than five minutes in a stretch. We had long, uninterrupted conversations. We gambled (well, I did — I'd say it's my guilty pleasure, but I feel no shame), ate fabulous meals, and enjoyed the kind of indulgent, unstructured hours that feel impossible when you're deep in the daily grind of parenting. All the while, we were getting photo updates from the camp app. I scanned each image for signs of either joy or homesickness, and was relieved to see the kids grinning, making new friends, and stringing up freshly dipped tie-dye, just as I had done. They were more than OK — they were thriving. By the time we returned, we felt recharged — not just individually, but as a couple. That reconnection was badly needed, and we knew it. The next day, we picked up the kids from camp and saw they'd grown in just five days — a little taller somehow, and a lot more confident. Our grown-folks-only Vegas trip was the best decision we made all summer. Letting our kids have their own adventure gave them a chance to grow — and gave us permission to do the same. I've come to believe that good parenting isn't just about pouring everything you have into your children. It's also about preserving and nurturing the bond that created your family in the first place. When we take time to recharge, we come back to our kids with more patience, more presence, and more gratitude. We parent better when we feel like whole people. For us, that meant two days in Las Vegas — poolside cocktails, roulette tables, long conversations under neon lights. It might not sound like the most traditional form of self-care, but it felt like exactly that — and it was just the type of jolt we needed.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Billy Joel finally lets fans into his life in documentary And So It Goes
In 2011, Billy Joel had every copy of his tell-all autobiography pulped just before release. It was a dramatic move, but not completely out of character for an artist who seems to have his guard permanently up. He rarely gives interviews and those that do happen tend not to reveal all that much about the man behind some of modern music's most enduring pop songs. As America's fourth-highest-selling solo artist, he has a lot of fans. But the desire for more information isn't just due to the size of his fanbase, it's also because he seems like the kinda guy you want to know. His songs are plain-spoken and relatable. They're songs we see ourselves in. "He comes across like one of us," Nas says towards the end of And So It Goes, a monstrous two-part, five-hour documentary that offers fans the most intimate insight we'll ever get into the world of Billy Joel. His reluctance to embrace the spotlight is interrogated early and often in the film. Joel considers himself a musician more than a rock star, he doesn't love being on camera and isn't particularly comfortable with the enormity of his success. It's a long way from his roots, raised poor by a loving but manic single mother in Long Island. In the late 1960s, homeless and suicidal after destroying his band and closest friendships, Joel checked into a metal health observation ward. He detested it so much he was determined to never come back, and it was his raw, dark emotions at the time that fuelled his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. That record heralded the first of a few monumentally unsound business decisions but also started him on a roll of tireless writing and performing that would train him to become both the songwriting and performing force who would ultimately take over pop music. The film generally follows his life and career chronologically from here, showing him cutting his teeth as an opening act before finally cracking the big time with his fifth record, The Stranger. Striving for success is part of the story, but the deeper message lies in Joel's tenacity. Music initially gave him something to live for and was a dream worth pursuing at all costs. Ultimately, it was music more than fame that would inspire him to move forward, try out new moods and styles to the delight of fans and chagrin of critics. There's nothing groundbreaking about the way the film plays out: this is your tried-and-true talking-head music doco, where the artist is revealed through conversations with the talent, friends and famous admirers. Lovely as it is to hear from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Pink and Paul McCartney, the most illuminating comments come from those who know Joel intimately. His band mates, his ex-wives, his family. It makes sense. Joel says relationships are at the core of his work, and his best songs all revolve around the ways we interact with one another and the ways that shapes our existence. Part one is dominated by first wife Elizabeth Weber, and for good reason. Her role in Joel's life and career has never received much public recognition, and she's a relatively humble but confident subject when speaking about the success she brought to him. Joel's band were as close to him as anyone, and his loyalty to them is another relational aspect that says a great deal about his character. By the time he met his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, Joel was a superstar. She taught him to deal with the spotlight, gave birth to their daughter Alexa, and inspired some of his most enduring work. But another poor business decision forced Joel to spend more time at work than at home, ultimately leading to the breakdown of their marriage. This was another inflection point in the singer's life, and one that changed his trajectory forever. There would be no new pop music (OK, almost none) after this — Billy Joel was done. The length of this film allows directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin to tell so many under-appreciated stories from Joel's career. We see so much of his early years in bands like The Hassles and Attila, we learn about the lack of label support for multimillion-selling album The Stranger, and hear the deep-seated personal reasons for making his 2001 classical album, Fantasies and Delusions. Then, there are countless asides, like how he doesn't hate 'Piano Man' as much as you might think, Bob Dylan was the reason he signed with Columbia Records, and Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow convinced him to put his career-saving smash 'Just The Way You Are' on record. If the interviews don't grab you then the archival footage surely will. There is a bevy of it: unseen clips from his youth, from studio sessions, from life on the road, and plenty of intimate home videos shot by those closest to him that show a Billy Joel most fans have never seen. There are also moments of great discomfort. As his family laments his alcoholism, Joel admits that rehab wasn't effective because he simply didn't want to be there. His consistently fractured relationship with critics is never far from the story, and there's clearly no love lost there. At one point, the spotlight even shines on his string of car accidents in the 2000s. Early in the film, Joel says that a chef once told him the key to success is about recovery, how you come back from your mistakes. Such is the story of And So It Goes. A flawed man makes countless mistakes across his extraordinary life but, driven by nothing more than a passion for making music, recovers with finesse. While one can't imagine And So It Goes converting any of the myriad Billy Joel haters out there, it's a rich vein for his many fans who've spent a lifetime in the dark about the extent of the famously guarded Joel's struggles. This is a music documentary like so many others, but it's also a tale of loyalty, tenacity, addiction, adversity, redemption and self-belief. The story of an outsider who happens to find himself at the epicentre of pop culture and whose work endures in the mainstream in a way so few manage. And So It Goes is streaming on Max.
Forbes
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Raekwon Dons ‘The Emperor's New Clothes' On New Album
Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan Staten Island-bred rapper Raekwon has been a looming figure in hip-hop since the Wu-Tang Clan's debut in the early '90s. In 1995, the 'Ice Cream' rapper showed he can easily stand alone with his platinum-selling debut solo album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… In the decades since then, Raekwon has continued to release music as a soloist and alongside his Wu-Tang Clan groupmates, though it's been a decade since the last Wu-Tang album and nearly just as long since Raekwon's previous solo effort. Now, eight years after his last album The Wild, Raekwon is back with his eighth solo LP, The Emperor's New Clothes. While the hit-making MC takes center stage on the project, he does so while being joined by other all-star rappers like Nas and fellow Wu-Tang members Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, and Method Man. He balances the old with the new, as rappers who have debuted in the past decade Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Benny the Butcher also hop in on the party on 'Wild Corsicans.' To bring the project to life, he recruited top-tier producers like Swizz Beatz and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. The album's release comes the same day as the Wu-Tang Clan performs their final show together in Philadelphia. That follows the group's last-ever joint hometown performance at Madison Square Garden on July 16. Though it might be Wu-Tang's last tour, Raekwon isn't opposed to doing another album together down the road. 'I mean, we tryna get it together, you know? Everybody's spread out. Everybody's doing something great in their life, so when it's time for everybody to get in the room, it just seems like it's the hardest s**t in the world,' he said on social media last year. 'But it ain't like we don't want to. And then you got so many minds. You throw a beat out and a n***a be like, 'I like that, I don't like that.' It's hard. It's real hard, but don't count us out. Don't never count us out.' Wu-Tang Clan takes the stage together one final time in Philadelphia on July 18.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Raekwon Returns With ‘The Emperor's New Clothes' Featuring Nas, Westside Gunn & Method Man: Stream It Now
The Chef is cooking again. Raekwon is back with his first solo album since 2017's The Wild as the Wu-Tang Clan spitter served up his The Emperor's New Clothes LP on Friday (July 18). The 55-year-old recruited a savvy group of talented MCs to join him on the project, with hard-hitting verses coming from fellow Wu members Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck and Method Man as well as Nas, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher. More from Billboard Wu-Tang Clan Brings Out Redman, Lil Kim, Big Daddy Kane & More at Star-Studded Final NYC Show Flume Teams With Emma Louise for New Collaborative Album, 'DUMB' Soccer Mommy Covers Pavement's 'Gold Soundz' for 'Like a Version' On the production side, Rae made sure to assemble the right crew to supply heat behind the boards with beats from Swizz Beatz, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Nottz throughout the 17-track album. It's a busy and emotional week for Raekwon with the Wu-Tang Clan wrapping up their final tour collectively on Friday (July 18) in Philly. Rae and the Staten Island legends said goodbye to NYC on Wednesday night (July 16), which saw the iconic crew rock Madison Square Garden in front of a sold-out crowd. The Wu treated the hometown show to plenty of special guests, as Redman, Lil Kim, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, The LOX, SWV and Havoc touched the stage. While this is the Wu-Tang Clan's last tour, Raekwon isn't ruling out another Wu album down the line. 'I mean, we tryna get it together, you know? Everybody's spread out. Everybody's doing something great in their life, so when it's time for everybody to get in the room, it just seems like it's the hardest s—t in the world,' Rae said in a video. 'But it ain't like we don't want to.' He continued: 'And then you got so many minds. You throw a beat out and a n—a be like, 'I like that, I don't like that.' It's hard. It's real hard, but don't count us out. Don't never count us out.' Listen to The Emperor's New Clothes below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword
