history

On February 25, 2021, plans were announced from the highest levels of the state government to comprehensively develop Nandi Hills as an international tourist destination. This is to be done through various measures including a clean-up of the area, refurbishment of various structures and heritage sites, enlargement/improvement of the parking areas, and last but not the least, a ropeway to the summit.   My family and I moved home from the heart of Bengaluru to the foothills of Nandi Hills over seven years ago. The contrast in our altered lifestyles could not have been starker. Swapping traffic noise for bird song We…

It may have surprised many, when Bengaluru set the record for the most protests in a month with 82 protests between December and January. The ‘garden city’ is rarely associated with political activism and is often overshadowed by the likes of Delhi and Mumbai. However, like in the rest of the country, the CAA protests have served as a locus for different groups, ideologies and movements to coalesce. Inspired by Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Bengaluru’s Bilal Bagh started on February 8 and is ongoing. Organisers have imposed precautions to keep the coronavirus at bay. On February 29, the City Corporation banned…

Step back in time, before the explosion of construction and traffic, learn about the heritage of Whitefield. It is a rare privilege to bring back Krupa from Saythu, a collaborative heritage practice led by professionals specialised in heritage conservation and management for a guided unusual walk in Whitefield. Saythu is partnering with Whitefield Rising through this special walk to explore questions like: What is a neighbourhood? Is it a place that locality residents make? Does local history and geography play a role? Does it have any correlation with local area boundaries drawn by planners? How is it connected with communities?…

It's not common to have plays about music, or musicians; so when Ranga Shankara announced that the Trialogue Company, a Delhi-based theatre group, would be staging "Tansen" on 1st June, '19, I was very keen on attending. The introduction on the Ranga Shankara website was also tantalising. Dhrupad, Khayal, and Kathak to be part of the production...that would be very unusual indeed! So off I went, with my friend Jayashree (who also learnt classical music from me...we did form a fairly critical duo in the audience.) Even before the play started formally, the strains of the tanpura and the semi-humming,…

Have you ever wondered how and why Bengaluru was established? What was it like? Did you know that the name 'Bengaluru' could have been derived from either a form of granite or the 'Honge' tree (Indian beech)? According to Yashaswini, based on inscriptions found, Bengaluru was established as a trading town during 537 AD by Kempegowda. Listen in to this interview in the series, to learn more about the history of Bengaluru and its various petes and people.

On a road trip to Mysore, I spotted this beautiful old house being demolished:   One can see the beautiful facade of the building (a porch was demolished some years earlier)...and the deer above the window. We seem to be destroying so much...trees, our micro-climate, our water resources, our quality of life, in the mame of "development" which only seems to denote more roads for more motorized transport,or more buildings with glass and air-conditioning. I wonder when we will reach the tipping point?  

Having read this article in the Hindu, dated September 28th 2008 and also enjoyed this article by my friend Adarsh Raju about the trees and the temple, written on July 15th 2015, I'd wanted to visit this heritage site for some time. On January 30th, when my friend Mallika Rajasekaran asked our mutual friend Arun Visweswaran about the location, I was very happy to finally be able to go Nallur, a village in Devanahalli taluk in Bangalore Rural district, which once hosted vast tamarind groves, now has a patriarch of a tree, estimated to be 900 years old, still bearing…

Citizen Matters is looking to work with citizen writers/photographers for a new series: Disappearing professions of Bengaluru. Through this series, we are looking to capture the essence of a Bengaluru that is slowly disappearing, and create a repository of what could perhaps become history in a few years. The series will offer an insight into how Bengaluru is coping with all the change, as the city and her people move forward in the race to become a true metropolis. Disappearing professions of Bengaluru Do you remember the knife sharpeners, kulfi walas/ice cream carts, salt sellers, son papadi sellers, metalware repairmen, etc…

A house made of glass That belongs to times past. Dreaming in the sunshine In a world now paced rather fast. The sun, however, rises Just as it used to do When people from other shores Walked around and watched the view. Twice a year, it gets filled With an array of dazzling flowers. But it looks just as beautiful In its peaceful, empty hours. Oh, house of glass, lying beneath A bluu, cloud-mottled sky... You were a jewel before we were born; You'll be a gem after we die.

Almost before one knows it, the face of the city changes, and many things belong to the past, and then to history. Here are a few facts that I remember from the late 80s and early 90s; it was still pre-IT Bangalore, a sleepy town, rather than a city (in fact, two towns, the "English" Cantonment and the "Kannada" areas like Basavanagudi, Malleswaram and Jayanagar)... the quality of life was excellent. In Langford Town, there used to be an auction house, it was run by a Mr Pacheco. It closed down by 1988 or 1989... probably because the owner emigrated…