Shivajinagar Bus Stand

Swimming Pool Road

Russel Market

St John's Road

Sanjaynagar

One among the thousands of wall paintings on Bangalore walls. This one is outside a Government School.

Mekhri Underpass

Benglur Walls. Painting the new anti-film and political poster look.

Mekhri Underpass

Benglur Walls. The new look.

Kanakanapalya Road (Jayanagar)

My Garden. My City.

Lalbag South Side.

Doddballapur Road

1st Cross, Seppings Road

The people of Shivajinagar Series is back. Click here to view.

Pemme Gowda Road

The walls of Pemme Gowda Road in JC Nagar are not just a colourful treat for people who do not keep their eyes on the road, the shapes and figures you find on this stretch have a style of their own.

Click here for more wall art for Benglur. 

New Pottery Town Road

Three generations of stars stare down at Gandhi Gramam.

Which Nallah? What Drain? Series 
New Pottery Town (Gandhi Gramam)

Gandhi Gramam, is situated on a bend in the drain that flows from Munireddypalya (JC Nagar) to Ulsoor Lake. The drains skirts the Defence land and as it enters the congested New Pottery Town, encroachments narrow and choke the drain. No wonder, a few millimeters of rain and the whole place is waterlogged. 

That's also why this place is notorious for its water-borne diseases and the residents have well-worshipped shrines to the Christian and Hindu gods who protect children, who are the first in line when diseases strike.

However, the young and old men here have a different set of heroes. Paintings of their favourite Tamil film heroes spanning 5 decades tower above the steeples and gopurams of this drainside community.   

See the full Which Nallah? What Drain? Series. Click here. 

MM Road, East Ground

The slogans on the walls of the maidan next to the Bangalore East station reflect the spirit of competition at the football tournament held here each year. The prize money can go up to Rs. 50,000 and the best player even wins what's called the Golden Boot. On holidays, the maidan is packed with different set of friends and teams, of all ages, playing tennis ball cricket and football but on a Friday morning, it's the playground of the local Madrassa.

For more pictures of playgrounds of Bangalore, click here.

Off Marigowda Road, Arekempanahalli

The water cycle

Which Drain? What Nullah?  Series

Long before the biblical David slew Goliath with a stone, our ancestors are said to have walked across continents with their blunt stone implements and flint stones, burning and killing 'mega fauna'. However, we don't need such old fashioned tools anymore, we just have to use Thomas Crapper's useful invention to kill what remains. 

I found this wall in a studio that's housed in a scrapyard, which like all other scrapyards is situated on the banks of a Nullah. This one, the drain that starts from Lalbagh and flows east. 

NR Road + Pottery Road

Translation: "Excess love is injurious to life/health"

Translation: "Pray for Karnataka"

Bazaar Street

Novaagallva? (Won't you feel pain?) proclaims a poster inside the market at Ulsoor.

Language chow-chow bath.  

The first thing to strike you when you enter the bazaar area of one of the oldest parts of Benglur - Halasuru or Ulsoor, is the number of languages that scream at you from the walls of the sardine can-like packed gallis. Kannada, Tamil, Urdu, Hindi, Telugu, and Malayalam mingle to create a chow-chow bath of twisted tongues. For instance, the newspaper boys sort and distribute thick bundles of newspapers in more than 7 languages!

Not as many languages as on the the Indian Rupee note.  

When you walk into a shop here, the shopkeeper usually takes a few seconds to figure out what language to use. Using a combination of signals like the colour of your skin, the oil in your hair, the saree or shirt you are wearing, etc., he's an expert in the old Benglurean habit of speaking to the customer in his or her language. And if you live in the Bazaar area, you can usually manage to communicate in most languages. 

Each part of the Bazaar area has its own identity. As you go down the Bazaar Street from the Ulsoor Road side (BSNL/Park Hotel), you encounter the Kannada quarter on your left, first. Starting with a church that has service in Kannada. Next to it is a lane that leads you to the Yellamma Temple. However, it is called The Yellamma Koil Street. Not a Devasthana. 

To the right of Old Bazaar Street is the predominantly Tamil section. Here's the Plague Mariamman Temple. Mariamma is the Dravidian small pox goddess (Sitala Devi is the Northern equivalent). Now that small pox has been eradicated, she represents any epidemic. Plague in this case. 

Outside a Tamil medium school near Someshwara Temple (Last pic).

Adjoining the Tamil Quarter is the main market. Standing tall next to the market is a huge mosque of the Muslim quarter. But this is Ulsoor or Halasuru, and here too, the first thing to catch you eyes is the chow-chow bath of languages. Church, Mosque or Temple, the faithful speak many tongues.  

Stumbled upon this. The remains of an anti-terror campaign by Ogilvy, Bangalore.

And across the Bazaar Street on the right, near Old Madras Road is the Marwari and Jain Quarter. The traditional financiers speak the common language everyone here understands -business. 

That's the reason, if you have are looking for things for a steal, head for the Halasuru or Ulsoor Bazaar. You never know what you will find.

 

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Binny Rest House Road

Territorial Pissing.

Roaming the streets clicking pictures brings you face to face with a lot of disturbing sights. Just before Ugadi, I was riding down a road parallel to Mysore Road, a few minutes after clicking the above image on Binny Rest House Road. On the narrow street was a man, completely still, face down and  lying in a pool of fresh blood, next to a Scorpio. It looked like an accident, but there wasn't a single person rushing to help. There was complete silence and shock on every single face watching from a safe distance. Traffic slowed, but didn't stop. I moved along too as a Police van came rushing in. Later I read that it was a gangster called Poone alias Narashimhamurthy who was lying in a pool of blood. Over the next two weeks, there was to be a number of gang related slayings across the city. And the weapon of choice - swords, like these territorial pissing painted on the walls by some wannabe gangsters with the usual 'rowdy' names. 

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Arab Lane

To see the colourful walls of Benglur, click here.

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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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