Narrative on Social Media
A Facebook post in Malayalam with an image was published by a Facebook page called Z4 Media on 10th June 2019. This post contained a vintage image of a busy street with people and horse carriages. The post claims that this image is of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road shot in the year 1956. When we gazed at the comments that this post received a lot of people expressed disbelief about the image. Some Facebook users even claimed that this image is not of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road but of some other street. While some of them even claimed that this image seems to be of some street in North India. When we searched Facebook for similar posts, we found out another post which was posted by a Malayalam Facebook page named Malayali Online three years ago. This post has more than 22000 shares. The caption of this post is exactly similar to the post in question. It is likely that the publisher might have copied the caption exactly and posted the image creating a duplicate post. The original post by Malayali Online is given below.
So, is this a vintage image of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road or is this image of some other street somewhere else? Let’s find out the place seen in the image.
Our Fact check
To know more about the image we did a reverse image search of the image on Yandex. From the results we found after conducting a reverse image search of the image, we found out a tweet from History of Vadodara that carried the same image but with a different description. The tweet is embedded below for the reference of our readers:
According to the details shared in the above tweet, this image is of Mandavi Gate in Vadodara’s M.G. Road, taken from Laharipura Gate in the old city. The tweet also mentions about the old buildings and temple seen in the image and also an ancient landmark called Nazarbaug Palace. The tweet claims that the image was shot in 1890.
When we searched Google for Mandavi Gate, we realized that indeed the landmark which is seen in the image resembles Mandavi Gate in Vadodara. The ancient landmark still exists in the old city area of Vadodara surrounded by 4 gates and hence known as walled city.
The image used in the post and tweeted by History of Vadodara can also be found on their website. This website contains several vintage images of the city and also has a post describing the history and significance of Mandavi gate. Here is a screenshot of various vintage images posted on the website of History of Vadodara.
Mandavi gate was built by Sultan Muzaffar and was later renovated in 1736AD by Governor Malharao Maloji on the orders of Damoji Rao II. Later in the year 1856AD, Ganpatrao Gaekwad added more storeys to it.
We also confirmed with our correspondents in Vadodara who have confirmed that indeed this image is of Mandavi gate in Vadodara. However, it is not sure when the image was taken and who took the image. However, it is certain that this image is not of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road shot in the year 1956AD. To read this story in Malayalam please click here.
References:
| Vadodara-Baroda City | Archived Link |
| History of Baroda | Archived Link |
| Don’t Get Serious | Archived Link |
Conclusion
The claim that the image shared in the post is of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road shot in the year 1956 is false. The image is a vintage image of Vadodara’s Mandavi gate, which still exists in the heart of the city.
Images courtesy: History of Vadodara
Title:Fact Check: This vintage image is not of Ernakulam’s M.G. Road but Vadodara’s M.G. Road!
Fact Check By: Harish NairResult: False
