Articles by Meera Iyer

Courtesy: Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). It isn’t often that an old structure gets added to the cityscape but exactly this happened two months ago when the Muzrai Department excavated the old tank associated with the Someshwara Temple in Ulsoor.A cowshed stood at the spot earlier and a little shop on one side. The unearthing of the tank involved demolition of portions of some houses along its sides and so naturally generated some controversy – the excavation is now mired in a court case.Like in the case of the temple itself, we have no exact date…

Last week’s photo was of a memorial that is said to be of Lakshmamma, daughter-in-law of Kempegowda, founder of Bangalore. The story goes that when Kempegowda was building his new fort, its southern gate would collapse every night. Astrologers advised him to conduct a human sacrifice but Kempegowda was reluctant to do so. And then one morning, as workers went to work on the gate once again, they found it had not collapsed. But nearby lay the body of Lakshmamma, Kempegowda’s pregnant daughter-in-law, who had killed herself to appease the Gods. A distraught Kempegowda is said to have built a…

Courtesy: Meera Iyer. This memorial in Koramangala is supposed to mark the spot where a daughter-in-law is said to have died for the sake of our city many, many years ago. Where exactly is this memorial and how is it connected with the story of our city? INTACH is a non-profit organisation, setup to protect and conserve India's vast natural and cultural heritage. See the answer in my next post.  ⊕

Gavipura, once possibly a pleasant village of gentle hills, water bodies, fertile fields is one the spots where the modern city of Bangalore has evolved from. Intach Heritage walk The rare cave temple dedicated to Lord Gangadhareshwara, the Kempambudhi tank built around 1540's by Kempegowda I, the watch tower built by Kempegowda II and the adjoining historic area of Sunkenahalli refer to the genesis of a town.Later developments at Harihara gudda, dhobi ghat, wrestling schools, swimming clubs, Maratha colony, social institutions like Udayabhanu Kala Sangha, SVYAAS, Rashtrotthana Parishad, Kala Mandir, Ramakrishna Ashram and such others have contributed to make Gavipura…

It isn’t often that one hears of a temple selling off its artefacts. Auction house Bid & Hammer announced recently that were going to auction items from one of Bangalore’s oldest Jain temples. The auction, enticingly titled the “Mystery of Chickpet”, will see items from the 90-year-old Shri Adinath Swetamber Jain temple in Chickpet being put on the block. The auction, to be held in the ITC Windsor on March 10th, will see some lavish treasures going under the hammer, such as several silver double doors each with elaborate repoussé (or relief) work, a viewing grill and two Dvarapalakas; a…

N Sivasailam, BMRCL chief, explained Metro's position to a group of citizens waiting to hear him out, while those against the tree felling and metro's way of functioning voiced their protest. However, on the question of the Metro using the Lalbagh and R V Road, the Metro's own Detailed Project Report and Sivasailam’s explanations do not sit well together. The morning of Saturday, 9th May, saw a motley crowd of hundreds assemble along RV Road (popularly called Nanda Road) in Jayanagar. Two events were being held simultaneously. The first had been called by Jayanagar MLA Vijaykumar, who at the behest…

Over the last week, hundreds of people have been vociferously protesting against the plans of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to build a Metro station in Lalbagh and to cut trees along the verdant Lakshman Rao Boulevard, popularly known as Nanda Road. On Sunday evening, 19th April, 250 people gathered along the tree lined road. They sang songs, shouted slogans (“Ulisi ulisi, Nanda Road ulisi”) and held a candle light vigil to protest against the proposed cutting of trees in Lakshman Rao Park. Earlier, on Friday, 17th April, about 220 people formed a human chain along RV Road…

Anybody who has walked down Jayanagar’s 4th Main (Nanda Talkies) Road or any of Bangalore’s other avenues, would know that trees can significantly lower ambient temperatures. And that is just one of the many ecological, social and economic benefits of city trees. They help reduce pollution, runoff and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And they contribute to the well-being of citizens, literally: a classic experiment in the US showed that hospital patients who had a view of a grove of trees recovered faster than those whose rooms faced a brick wall. But all this information on urban…

Worldwide, a staggering four to five trillion plastic shopping bags are used every year. Most are discarded after a single use. Like all other plastics, the bags too are made from fossil fuels and are popular because they are durable, cheap, strong and lightweight. But these very characteristics are also what make them a problem. Plastic bags take extremely long to degrade: estimates range from 100 to 1000 years. Which means that all the plastic bags ever manufactured are potentially still around in the environment. And that is a problem. 'Biodegradable' plastic bags have been adopted by a local retail…

It was late on November 3rd afternoon when five men worked by the side of a lonely stretch of road in the as yet un-named land between Anjanapura and Kanakapura Road. The barefooted men silently hoed and shovelled the last dregs of a waste heap, shoving the plastic and other indistinct matter into a truck parked nearby, where one of the men stood next to the waste. This is near Avalahalli, about 2.5 kms east of Kanakapura Road. Stray dogs feasted on the roadside dump which had untreated biomedical waste mixed with kitchen waste. Pic: Angela Jain. At first glance,…