OTC Road, Cottonpet

This Benglur Street Photoblog is still stuck on OTC Road. And for good reason. Here, facing each other are two kinds of traders. One next to the Dargah that is manned by bearded men in serious discussion about life and music as they also sell lucky stones that ward of evil and bring good luck.  Opposite them is a couple selling junk jewellery with an FM radio blaring the local Hindi music station called Radio One. Who would you expect to make more money? My guess is that the it's those who do not look like traders. 

OTC Road, Cottonpet

Topless at Dharmasthala. Suits to work. Black tees to rock concerts. Bermuda chaddis to the beach. Silk sarees to weddings. Jeans and tee to college. Black lungi to Shabarimala. And here's what some people wore at the Cottonpet Dargah Urs. 

OTC Road

Like every other religious congregation in India, the festival at the dargah at  Cottonpet is also an excuse for people to come together and mix with each other. The original social network. And yes, there's a play area to keep the children busy.  

OTC Road

It's Urs time at the Dargah Hazrat Tawakkal Mastan and now is probably one of the best times to visit OTC Road in Cottonpet. The road is blocked late in the evening to set up the stage and hook up the concert size sound boxes. The music begins late and continues early into the morning filling the air with songs about love. Love for the lord above and his many forms that dot the Old Taluk Catchery Road (OTC). This road probably has the largest number of shrines rubbing shoulders with each other. Starting with the maginficent Dharmaraja Koil Temple on the Corporation end to The Dargah on the Cottonpet end. And that's the route the Benglur Karaga takes.

Yes. The Cottonpet Dargah has a special place because when the city celebrates its most important festival - The Benglur Karaga, this Dargah is a mandatory stop.  

OTC Road, Cottonpet

I got a lesson in advertising from a man without a home from Burhanpur, MP. Like a good ad, he made a pleasant introduction. He smiled at me as I was parking my scooter. I smiled back. With that attire, he had my attention. He looked like an interesting person to shoot. Then like a good ad, we started a conversation. I asked him if he was here for the Urs at the Dargah. He was. He spoke a wonderful Hindi that can only be from Madhya Pradesh. So I asked him where he was from. And then we spoke about the Gateway to the South, as Burhanpur is called. He spoke about how he travels from shrine to shrine, going wherever the man above directs him to go. Then we spoke about religion and when I told him that I was an atheist, like a good ad, he appealed to the decision maker in the home - my wife who is a devotee of the Sai Baba (I have no idea how he guessed that one). Then like all ads, he had an action point. He wrote down a little mantra that my wife could chant. And finally, he told me his name. A very long name. But he told me, not to worry, call me Sai Baba, that's what people call me. So there. Like an ad he gave a brand name that is easy to remember. 

To learn the basics of advertising, the best way is to observe godmen and religious groups. They do the best advertising in the world, not ad agencies. 

Coming soon: More pictures from the Cottonpet Urs.   

Minerva Circle

Bombatt in Benglur!

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. 

 

Gundopanth Street

Can you look at a banana and pinpoint where it came from? I can't. But for the traders of Gundopanth Street behind KR Market, it only takes a look to 'GeoTag' it.







Like most of the bananas that are sold in Bangalore, these traders came here, over the last five decades, with the bananas they sell. From the rich irrigated fields in Madurai, Thanjavur and Thiruchirapalli districts.







Even though bananas continue to flow in from Tamil Nadu, these days, the supplies are augmented by bananas from the newly irrigated fields of Gangavati and Bellary in Northern Karnataka.






The next time I will peel a banana, I'm going to pause and try to make an educated guess about where it came from.

Godown Street

Strike! The carrom board kind.

S C Road, Majestic

It's super cool in Majestic.

Also, forget Rama and Shiv Sena. In the background, behind the shades display, is the poster for Kunigal Taluk Dr. Vishnu Sena Samithi (R). I assume that it's Kannada film star Vishnuvardhan's fan club.   

Cross Road, Fort

Chubby Chamundeshwari. 

Nawab Hyder Ali Khan Road

His name is Shahenshah - The King among Kings.

Narayana Pillai St. + Dispensary Rd. + Ebrahim Saheb St.

Also see The Children of Bangalore Series.

Bellary Road

Lure of Bangalore series: Glow friend! A boy from UP selling glowing fashion accessories outside a Khadhi Mela.  

2nd Cross, Gandhinagar

This is like life. Some things are more colourful on reflection. See more Bus Art from Benglur.

Kempegowda Road

Also see The Children of Bangalore Series.

S C Road, Gandhinagar

No pension. Here's an old lady holding the black movie tickets she's peddling in her left hand.
(Translations: The movie is called Junglee. The poster behind the old lady says: All Karnataka Duniya Vijay Fan Club.)

More pictures from the series: Sandalwood (Kannada Film Industry) - Friday movie release!

D'Souza Circle, Richmond Road

More wall art from Benglur.

MG Rd.

More wall art from Benglur.