Magadi Road

Fragrance of Bangalore.

Like most visitors to this blog, I'm a desktop traveller. We explore the world by meeting people from across the world online. Unlike regular travel, desktop travel allows the people we meet to see the world we live in too. And for me, this blog about Bangalore streets, adds colour to what I have to show about my part of the world. 

The advantage about being a desktop traveller from Bangalore is that I do not have to explain where it is anymore, be it to people from Thailand or Brazil, Eritrea or Bangladesh. While it is IT and outsourcing that has made Bangalore known to the Western world, for people in other parts of the world, their interaction with Bangalore comes from another product they use everyday - Incense sticks or Agarbhattis. Especially for people in Bangladesh, Thailand, parts of Africa and many parts of the near-east and west. 

Shanthamma - Ambassador of Bangalore. 

The Rs. 1,000 crore Indian agarbhatti industry, with Bangalore as the main manufacturing and marketing capital  is supported by an army of approximately 12,00,000 workers like Shanthamma. The labour intensive work is outsourced to women like her toiling away on the roadside like her or in the many lower middle class localities across the city and outskirts. These agarbhattis hand-rolled by Shanthamma will then be taken to small and medium scale factories to be immersed in fragrances, packed and shipped to all parts of India and the world. 

So the next time you light an incense, chances are they were made with care by Shanthamma. 

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

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Kempegowda Road

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release:  'Hat-trick' Hodi Maga. 

The gang wars and related slayings of last month has got the Government getting tough with rowdyism and its glorification on the silver screen in Benglur. 

The fightback started with an 'encounter', then the Sunday market where the favorite weapons of 'rowdy-sheeters' and Sandalwood stars alike - the choppers and knives, was targeted. And last week, the censor board got tough with the name of this Friday's release - Hodimaga (Hit him - a name inspired by a 'hit' song) . Following trouble with the censor board, the name of the movie was cleverly changed to 'Hat-trick Hodimaga' (it's cricket season + the hero is also known as the Hat-trick Star for his string of hits).   

However, the controversy  is probably welcome for the producers. Fans of Shivrajkumar were present in full force to lap up the tickets outside Sapna for the first-day first-show. 

Also present in full force were the usual black marketeers and in Gandhinagar, black marketeers are no longer the taporis that movies and advertising stereotypes. They are mostly old men and women who live on the street in this part of town or handicapped. Sometimes even the cops turn a blind eye. 

However, the theatre staff do not look at the black-market ticket sellers kindly. They are only allowed to buy a set number of tickets. This poor old man was shooed away when he went back to buy more tickets. 

And here's a frail old man selling the crispest snacks to the fans who have come early to get tickets and soak the excitement of a Friday release. I hope his chaklis are a Super hit!

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

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Street No 10, A M Road

Retired and still working.

Live fast, die young. That's what makes the lives of race drivers and celebrity racehorses interesting. But if you are a racehorse from Benglur, you live a pampered life for a while, and then you spend the rest of your life pulling cardboard chariots and ferrying fat grooms to their weddings. That's life like Dr Raj once sang: Badukkidu jataka bandi.

And yes, you still own fancy names like Rani (above) and Toofaan (below). 

Related stories :  Final Stand:The declining fortunes of Benglur's Horses and Jatka Gaadis.

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI). Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

Click here to vote

Palace Road (Near Central College - BU)

What Garden? What City?

Don't be surprised if the daily temperatures for Benglur, measured and issued by the Indian Meteorological Centre on Palace Road, registers an increase henceforth. 

Over the last few weeks, tens of shady trees that lined this beautiful road that is also lined by colleges, temples and the Meteorological Department have been cut down to make way for people like me who complain about traffic. 

The large trunks and branches have probably been auctioned and taken away, exposing the colleges and the buildings of the meteorological department to the sun. And these are pictrures of a man as he quietly  packs his cycle with twigs and pieces of what remains of those majestic trees. It should warm his wood-fired water-heater at home for a few days. 

(What Garden? What City? was a popular bumper sticker seen in Benglur of the 1980s.)

Must read: The Chipko Movement (Stick Movement) and the Appiko Movement(The Hug Movement).

And here's a music video created by Music Director Ricky Kej asking the Benglur Metro to go underground. 

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

Click here to vote

Bannerghatta Road

Of all the images of gods and goddesses on Benglur's mains and crosses, this is one of a kind. 

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition -  Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI). Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

Click here to vote

2nd Cross Kalasipalaya (Truck Terminus)

Ganga Kinare Mora Gaon (My village lies by the River Ganges)

Chai Stop inside Kalasipalaya Truck Terminus. 

Cheap cigarettes, 1 Rupee phone call, garma-garam chai and prayers before or after they set off on a cross-country trip home to the fertile plains next to the Ganges.

The Which Main? What Cross? Exhibition
F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI). Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

30 select photographs from this blog are on display until May 31st '09. If you happen to be in that part of town, please do walk in to look at their 'Art Wall'.

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OTC Road - Chickpet Stretch

  Time Travel. Now playing at Vijayalakshmi Talkies, Chickpet

Old Taluk Catchery Road or OTC Road has a special place in Benglur's short history. It was what South Parade or MG Road was to the Cantonment. It stretched from Cottonpet to Corporation (George Oakes Building) and here in Chickpet, it's known plainly as Chickpet. The oldest surviving theater in this part of town is the Vijayalakshmi Talkies. And if you are a Dr Rajkumar fan who loves to see his larger-than-life presence on a big screen, this is where you should go. This week you can take a trip back to 1985 and watch the movie Dhruva Taare. Time travel is cheap too. A front row seat will cost you Rs 21/-; balcony: Rs 30/- The poster outside the theater says that the movie will be preceded by the 'Indian News Trailor'! When was the last time that was ever played in a movie theater?

The Which Main? What Cross? Exhibition F&B, Papanna Street, St Marks Road. Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

30 select photographs from this blog are on display until May 31st '09. If you happen to be in that part of town, please do walk in look at their 'Art Wall'.

     

Click here to vote

KR Market / Mysore Road Flyover

The temple and dargah under the flyover

Anchored between the daily ups and downs of the market place, these places of worship provide much needed feeling of stability for traders in Benglur's biggest market.

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2nd Cross Gandhinagar + BVK Iyengar Road + Albert Victor Road + OTC Road

Mise En Place (Everything in place)

Benglur gets ready for the day's business. From the fruit juice shop in Majestic to the demoltion man  sharpening his tools, everyone is putting things in place for the day's business. 

Shubh Labh. 

Mise En Place is the French phrase used in kitchens around the world for setting up the kitchen before the day's business. It is also what Chef Anthony Bourdain claims to be his religion. The cinema equivalent is Mise En Scène.

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Hosur Road

Side-By-Side. 

The teachers of the Government School in what was once a small village next to National Highway No 4  have to shout a lot louder to have their voices heard above the honks and clanks of the passing traffic and construction equipment. That's because they don't have classrooms for all their students. 

But we can do more than just shout about it using Idea: Adopt a school.  

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2nd Cross Gandhinagar

 Gubbi Veeranna Rangamandira. Part 2.

The stage is also the home for the members of the travelling drama companies that perform at the Rangamandira. If you peep behind the side curtains, you can see the living rooms and kitchen next to the open make-up area for men that comprises of three mirrors, powders to whiten faces and colours for the lips and hair.

Read Part 1 of the story here.

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Yellamma Temple Cross, Akkipet

And I had a camera in my hands. The Karaga season is still on in Bangalore. Here's the annual ceremony at the small roadside shrine dedicated to Goddess Yellamma in Akkipet, just off Cottonpet Main Road. That's the flagbearer followed by the band going around the shrine. Since the tiny shrine is surrounded by houses on two sides, the procession around the shrine involved walking around an entire block!

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