history

A map of Bangalore from 1920s that shows planned localities including Chamrajpet area. Pic courtesy: Wikipedia One of the most iconic and beloved movies in Kannada while growing up was ‘Ganeshana Maduve’. In the opening scene, you have the director giving a voice over set, with a complete sense of irony, to the tune of Punyakoti, a long poem you had to memorize when you were barely nine. The voiceover introduces a vataara, or a colony, based in Ranga Rao Road, which straddles Chamarajpet, Shankarapuram and Basavangudi with the iconic Brahmin’s Coffee Bar, set at a corner. One of the…

I went to Langford Town, and was saddened to see another beautiful heritage home hit the dust on Oleff road. This lovely bungalow, typical of old Bangalore architecture, set in small, lovely garden, was already half gone. I tried to see if the year of construction was marked anywhere, but could not find it. The solidity of the construction, and the high ceilings, can be seen: How I wish I had the money to buy up such old homes, and maintain them in the old style! I could sit in them and dream about days when space in the city…

I've attended, and enjoyed, several of Bangalore Little Theatre's productions over the years, because it's Bangalore's oldest theatre society...but this evening's production of "The Court Jester: Tales of Tenali Rama" was very special for me, as my grandchildren, 5 and 1, were visiting me, and I'd been very keen to give Kavya (the elder) a taste of theatre...so having a children's play by BLT to go to was a wish come true! The whole family went to Woodlands Hotel to find that things were delayed a bit, but Vijay Padaki filled in the gap with great panache. He first invited…

I first visited Dr H Suresh's clinic in 4th T Bl ock in Jayanagar, in 1979, when my daughter was 6 months old. She'd been having severe diarrhoea for two weeks, and I was at my wits' end as I was staying with some friends and desperately worried about her health. Dr Suresh's clinic was called "Deepa Clinic", and that formed a further bond. I learnt that it was his daughter's name. He promptly treated my infant daughter, who recovered. When we moved to J P Nagar in 1997, my neighbour told me about a G P who ran his…

As we entered the Woodlands Hotel just off Richmond Circle, to attend a wedding, our attention was riveted by this little gem, parked in the campus: The MORRIS MINOR is a beautiful little car! As if to keep perfect company with the car, these old buildings of the Woodlands Hotel looked so lovely: We attended the wedding, too...the youngest daughter of one of the old families of Bangalore and Nanjangud: All in all, it was a day when history and heritage seemed to thrive in modernity!

I met a lot of interesting people today. My friend Jayashree Govindarajan put me in touch with Nidhi Manoj and Reshmi Chakraborti, who have been, for the past two years, running an e-magazine called Silver Talkies , for those above 55 years of age, Today (7th March, 2014) Silver Talkies, along with Suchetadhama (run by Shanthini Dawson) and artist Paul Fernandes’ gallery of Curious Memories, held their maiden event, “Art, Coffee and Conversation”, at the gallery, with high tea at The French Loaf, situated in a heritage house across the road. The idea was to share thoughts and discussions, and…

When I was looking recently at some old books at home, I came across a guide book on Bangalore. It was published in 1956 by Satyaprakash and Company. In the preface, it says " The necessity of a proper guide book to the city of Bangalore need hardly be emphasized. The importance of Bangalore ...is greatly increased. This city of 'long distances' is growing industrially and commercially.." I have tried represent the city of that time and have included some photos and quoted lines from the book. Bangalore in 1956 The most interesting part of the book is the map…

In July 2008, my parents and I boarded a flight from San Francisco International Airport, and arrived twenty-four hours later in Bangalore. Unlike our usual journeys, this one was not a round trip. We were leaving the United States and moving to India for good.We soon settled down in a comfortable, modern apartment somewhere on the outskirts of Bangalore - in an erstwhile village called Bellandur, now part of Greater Bangalore. I had a new house, a new school, and new friends... but most importantly, a new town to explore. Investigate! Explore! Dig! To me, these words conjure up magic.…

The starry showers that light up the night sky during Deepavali or other celebrations are a sight that has brought us joy since time immemorial. Whether in their use as firecrackers, or as missiles during wars, rockets have a history that dates back to the earliest days of human civilization. And even though we have references to similar missiles in India as far back as the age of the epics, scientists and historians trace the origin of rockets to another ancient civilisation, in China. Mysore Rockets used in a battle at Guntur in 1780. Pic: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov In a talk titled…

Mother and father are discussing family matters. They deplore the mischief of their two boys, and also express wry amusement at the younger one's original thinking, that lies behind the mischief. However, the father predicts that this boy will leave footprints on the sands of time, and go on to become famous. Almost a scene played out in every home, one may feel...but it was, actually, a scene from a play on Tipu Sultan, by the late Dina Mehta, who was an award-winning playwright and Fiction Editor at the Illustrated Weekly of India. The father in question in this play…