Avenue Road

 

KR Market + Avenue Road

Avenue Road

The Kores Lady.

There were many typewriting schools across the city when we used to write. And just a handful now that we key words in. See the full series of Bangalore Wall Art

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Avenue Road

(Image processed by Abhijit Dharmadhikari)

This is Rahmathullah, from Mulbagilu, Kolar Distirct. He is a Dervesh or Dervish, one among the many wandering ascetics who have decided to live a life of poverty. Behind him is the Dargah-E-Hazrat Manik Shah. This little dargah is tucked away behind a line of small hardware stores on Avenue Road and surrounded by sheet metal workshops and kerosene stove manufacturers. 

This is the identity card issued by Dervesh Welfare Association (Sponsored by the Govt. of Karnataka) and signed by the District Collector of Kolar. Rahamatullah tells me that it allows him to lead the Dervesh life of extracting a living by going from door-to-door without being troubled by the police. He also told me that he will be entitiled to a small pension but I'm not sure if I heard right. But yes, the card helps. 

The Dervesh of Karnataka, like their counterparts around the subcontinent, wander from place to place and shrine to shrine. And thanks to the Urs at the Cottonpet dargah, many of them are in Bangalore at the moment. Rahamatullah and his friends like these Qawalli singers, are camped here.  

Avenue Road

Our workplace, or cubicle says a lot about who we are. It's our personal territory, the sweatshop.

And this is Maula's workplace. Just off Avenue Road, on the city market end. Maula works in a room with no windows, in a creaky old building that was built in the 1920s. 

Here, he and his assistant labour away, embroidering wonderful little designs on clothes that are sold in markets around Bangalore. Surrounded by pictures of his favourite star. 

 

Avenue Road

Hannebhara. Read what's written on his forehead

Avenue Road

What happens to an old Bangalore street when it confronts a rapidly-growing, car-loving city? Please view my photostory about Avenue Road being widened in Citizen Matters

Avenue Road

First they give me Yeti's frosty coat. Then instead of Kailash, where I went to get the Shiva Linga, they have put me in a Kashmir or Uttaranchal landscape. And finally they park a van full of bisi bisi coffee in front of me and slurp. Do I play a prank on these guys or not? * wink *

Avenue Road

India's favourite road block waits, on a temple wall, for the demolition squad to arrive. This temple will be moved when the road is expected to be widened in 2009.

Avenue Road

You may have heard of a band named Counting Crows. Now it's time to meet Counting People.

Q: People worship crows?
A: Not really. It's a roadside Shani (Saturn) shrine. The crow is the two-headed Shani's vehicle.