Ulsoor Bazaar + West Park Road

'Old Bangalore' Style.

This man could be a character straight out of the 'Bangalore book' by a young writer named Srinath Perur that is going to be published soon. 

Earlier this month, I happened to listen to three stories from the unnamed book, at a reading by the authour, at Crossword. At the reading, I, along with about 50 other lucky people were transported back in time to the Bangalore we grew up in, in the 80s. Those days, brought alive by characters Srinath has created, or rather, brought back to life, around a street named Crescent Road. And the man above could have been one of the characters. 

Luckily, you don't have to wait for the book to come out to read one of the stories. It's your turn to go back in time. Here's one of the stories: The Middle Path by Srinath Perur.

And here's a picture of an Elephant Park slide, similar to the one you will find in the above story.   

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2nd Cross Gandhinagar

The G Gubbi Veeranna Rangamandira

While the film industry complains that people are not coming to see their offering anymore, there's a place in the heart of Gandhinagar that continues to conduct its entertaining business without much complaints. They do have a lot of complaints, but then, they are not making a drama out of it.

In Karnataka. there are about 10-12 modestly sized drama companies and in Benglur, the preferred stage is the one at G Gubbi Veeranna Ranga Mandira. And these days, catering to a select band of fans, is the Sri K B R Drama Company from Davangere. The play: Kivuda Maadida Kithapathi.

Actors: Prabhakar (top) and Subramanya Shastri of Sri KBR Drama Company, Davangere.

Prabhakar and Subramanya Shastri are actors who work for the Sri KBR Drama Company. Both are originally from Malavalli in Mandya District and their home: wherever they are performing.

These days, the Government-owned Ranga Mandira is their home. The drama company is their family. Together they will be performing a series of dramas, twice a day on weekdays and thrice on Sundays, until December before they move on to the next location. And it's most likely to be somewhere in the north, in the old Bombay-Karnataka region where they draw larger crowds than in Benglur. Especially at Jathres (Mela).

In fact, while we were sitting as the actors were telling me that Putanna Kanagal's classic movie Ranganayaki is probably the best example to know about the life of people like them, a trader from Haveri who was on a business trip noticed the actors and came to tell the actors that he has seen the play they are performing, 5 times!

That isn't bad. In fact, the actors feel that the drama companies are doing a pretty good job at surviving in cut-throat world the entertainment. They feel that the the audience is fed up with the dose of violence and bad stories that the Kannada film industry dishes out and are coming to watch plays instead - even in Gandhinagar.

But then, they would also like to act in movies, and their plays made into movies. That's where you get to be really famous. However, most drama companies do not have the money to make movies. But there a few plays that are still being made into movies. Here's an advertisement for a play, made into a movie, inside the Ranga Mandira starring Anant Nag (who began his acting career doing amateur Marathi and Kannada plays in Mumbai).

To catch Prabhakar and Subramanya Shastri in action, watch Kivuda's Kithapathi at 2.45pm and 6.15pm on weekdays and 11.45am, 2.45pm and 6.15pm on Sundays.

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Ulsoor Market

Remains of an earlier election.

Thanks to the Election Commission's 'Code of Conduct', we don't find such wall paintings during election time anymore. The money is now used to give saris, booze, gold earrings, etc.

However, CK Jaffer Sheriff's drooping face (and a past candidate for the state legislature) continues to remain on a wall in Ulsoor Market. His pet constituency, Bangalore North has shifted and shrunk after delimitation and Jaffer Sheriff has to slug it out in a different part of the city. While it's OK for the wall painting to survive,the sad part is that old men cum mob leaders like him manage to get their names on the voting machine (To earn the ticket, he proved his strength by organising a protest against Saddam's execution that led to riots. News report here) . 

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Oosman Khan Road

Safe hands.

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KR Market

Market Secrets. All of us go to markets and supermarkets to buy products and services. But if you are in a highly competitive field of designing products, testing prototypes  and user interface for electronic gadgets in India's IT Capital - Benglur, you go to a traditional market to borrow ideas and learn tricks. 

My friend Vivek Dhage designs and tests proptypes of of new products, user interfaces and usability functions in gadgets like mobile phones that are made in Finland and China. When he pulled me along to the market to study patterns, I tagged along. And suddenly, I'm looking at the marketplace in a new light. 

It wasn't just the patterns in the marketplace that he was studying, it was the pattern around which we humans function. He pointed out methods honed over centuries in the madness known as the  market. Little tricks of the trade to trick our eyes into noticing things on sale and convert that interest into a transaction. Tricks and methods that Vwake and his colleagues will use, improve and use on the next generation of gadget interfaces and designs.   

Here's a simple and effective trick used in the City Market that has a fancy name: Contextual Innovation. He pointed out a big mound of coconuts on sale. In between the coconuts was a black mobile phone attracting eyeballs. You will be surprised how well it works in attracting attention to the mound among the tens of coconut mounds around us. By far, this is the most commonly used trick in the market these days. 

Click here for Vwake's pictures: Patterns

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Nawab Hyder Ali Khan Saab Road

Benglur Special: Gardener Barber.

Is it because their job involves chopping, trimming, cutting and shaving that almost all barbers across the city grow this signature plant, usually in old battery boxes, outside their shops?

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Kempegowda Road + SC Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release.

What theatres are to malls, they are to Majestic too. A good Friday Release ensures that the mall or Kempegowda Road is full and the local economy is rolling. 

These are three people from Majestic who are hoping that this week's release will bring in the crowds. 

The picture postcard seller is a regular outside Santhosh. He's also a barometer about what's hot. According to him, the fastest selling postcards  in his collection is that of Darshan, also called the Challenging Star or Knockout Star.

Rubbing shoulders with him, outside Santhosh, is Astrologer Ramakrishna who takes the early morning bus from Bagalur. That's a tiny Kannada and Telugu speaking town just across the border in Tamil Nadu. Today is Friday and he is here earlier than usually to catch the fans who wait for a long time outside theaters. The swastik on his forehead acts as an irresistible advertising.

And finally there's the man selling Hello Cinestar outside today's big release - Yagna.

Shubh Labh.   

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Bazaar Street + St. John's Road

Hanuman used his tail to great effect. To burn a city, to save lives and just for fun. Here, add one more to the list - to hang a bell.  

They shouldn't change the name of Bangalore to Bengaluru. It should be VIBGYOR!

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Kasturba Road

Spiderboy.

The torch tower outside the Kanteerava Track and Field Stadium serves as the pillar around which Benglur's climbers hone their skills. If you are interested, you are welcome to join them every morning before it gets too hot. 

(Safety ropes are used. This boy was just above ground.)

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Seppings Road

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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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