Day #018/365: The mango tree outside our window

 

Ashok’s great-grandmother planted this mango tree when she lived with the family in this very house. When we built the house on the first floor, we designed a window here so that we could see the tree.

There were some hard constraints when we built the house. The design had to follow the structural lines of the house downstairs. But as we planned the space, we talked about what we wanted, and I am so happy with the choices we made.

I hadn't, or perhaps couldn't have, imagined that it would look this lovely, but I knew I wanted lots of greenery peeking through all the grills.

We decided to leave this window without curtains. There's a mirror on the opposite wall that reflects the greenery, so you can see her tree from much of our kitchen and dining space. I love that.

I was working at the dining table when I looked up and noticed the sunlight filtering through the leaves. I notice it often, and it always makes me smile. I knew this was a shot for the blog! :)

Day #017/365: Pigeons at the Idgah Maidaan, Chamarajpet

 

An idgah is an open ground where Muslims gather to pray on Eid al-Fitr and Bakrid. The structure you see in the photograph is the qibla wall. It marks the direction of Mecca, so when people gather on the maidaan for prayers, they stand in rows facing this wall.

It was interesting to learn that during the plague of 1898, people who had to leave their homes in old Bangalore took shelter on this very ground. More recently, residents have recalled growing up playing cricket here, and neighbours coming out for their evening walks. Looking at the photograph, I wonder how many people in Chamarajpet would recognise this spot from the pigeons alone.

Day #016/365: An ‘Abode of Happiness’ in old Bangalore

This is a photograph of Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace. Can you see the three men at the end of the garden path? They give you a sense of just how tall those wooden pillars are. From here, the arches frame what looks like one great open hall. The palace actually has two storeys, and Tipu held audiences from the balconies upstairs.

His father, Hyder Ali, began building the palace inside Bangalore Fort in 1781. Tipu completed it in 1791. The courtyard apparently once had a fountain and a flower garden, and traces of paint and gilding survive on the palace walls and ceilings. An inscription describes it as an ‘Abode of Happiness’ and the ‘Envy of Heaven’. I wonder what that garden in bloom must have been like!

The palace later became the British administration’s secretariat. Its officials worked here until 1868, when they moved to the Attara Kacheri, the red building opposite Vidhana Soudha that now houses the Karnataka High Court.

What I like about Project 365 is that I get to piece together Bangalore’s history one picture at a time. And I get to do it with Ashok, who helps me decide what to photograph next. This has become our little adventure.

Day #015/365: The galaxy at my feet!

I missed a couple of days, so two photographs today! This is a bhuchakra spinning on the ground. Looking at the photograph, I can hardly see the ground at all. Just that bright centre and a swirl of orange sparks. Reminds me of a galaxy. What do you see?

Day #014/365: What is Diwali without a colourful rangoli?

 

Making the rangoli is one of my favourite parts of Diwali. 🪔

From our family to yours, a very happy Diwali! I hope there’s something sweet to share, someone you love to share it with, and time to sit together long after the diyas are lit. ❤️

Day #013/365: Almost hidden among the garlands

 

Look how small she seems beside the garlands surrounding her! I kept wondering who they were for and where they would end up. With fresh flowers so short-lived, who buys this many, day after day? And hers was just one of the many stalls. The sheer scale of it is astonishing. 

Day #012/365: Minarets in the morning light

 

The Jamia Masjid near KR Market, photographed from the flyover in the early morning. I love how the white domes and minarets stand against the changing colours of the sky, with tea shops, blue awnings and people going about their morning below.

I have passed this mosque so often, but photographing it gave me a reason to learn something about it. Its foundation stone was laid around 1940 by Sir Mirza Ismail, then Diwan of Mysore. Karnataka Tourism describes it as a five-storey building made of white marble from Rajasthan, with ornamental granite pillars and domed minarets.

There is a story of urban redevelopment behind it. In a 2016 interview, the mosque’s general secretary recalled that an earlier mosque had been acquired for a park. The community requested land for a replacement, which the Maharaja of Mysore granted. According to his account, construction took 50 years, with the complex developing over time.

The mosque also has an Egyptian connection. The Bangalore District Census Handbook records that President Gamal Abdel Nasser visited in 1960 and presented carpets. The 2016 account mentions gifts of a chandelier and the calligraphy at the entrance too.

Quite a lot of history in a building I usually only glimpse while passing!

Read more about it here.

Day #011/365: Minto Eye Hospital, 113 years on

 

Look closely at the central tower of Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, and you can make out the year 1913. On 31 January that year, Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, opened the building in this photograph. It takes its name from Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, the fourth Earl of Minto, who served as Viceroy of India from 1905 to 1910.

The hospital’s story goes back a little further. On 9 November 1896, Dr S. V. Ramaswamy Iyengar began seeing patients at a small eye dispensary in a shop in Chickpet. It was called the Bangalore Eye Hospital. That makes the building 113 years old, while the institution turns 130 this week.

What I like about this view is how the trees frame the long rows of windows on either side of the arched entrance. The builders used grey granite from demolished sections of Bangalore Fort for the façade. On either side of the entrance porch is the Gandaberunda, the mythical two-headed bird of the Mysore royal family. It turns up again on some of the old windows and railings. Much of the original Victorian building survives, and people still come here for eye care.

Day # 010/365: A bridge into old Bangalore

I was out at five in the morning to take these photographs. I couldn’t post yesterday, so there are two today!

This is the KR Market flyover, before the traffic builds up. Any later, and it gets too busy to stand there and take a photograph. Can you spot the little disc just above the skyline?

I always enjoy this view when I pass through: the masjid, the older building beside it, and the road curving ahead. This flyover takes me from Vijayanagar towards the older parts of central Bangalore. I’d often wished I could stop and photograph this. That morning, I finally did. Another on the list of Bangalore scenes I want to photograph is the Baswa, all decked up. 

Day # 009/365: Some order to the madness

 

Busy markets have always fascinated me. I am, after all, a researcher of the informal economy! I took this photograph of KR Market from the flyover, looking down at flowers, people and vehicles competing for every bit of space.

Every Indian city seems to have its sabzi mandi. I wonder how many have a flower market on this scale. KR Market is Bangalore’s largest wholesale flower market, and looking at those rows of garlands stretching into the distance, you get a sense of just how much of the city’s everyday life involves flowers.

There is some order to this madness. Even from above, you can see the rows of sellers and the narrow passages between them, with people and vehicles finding their way through. I find myself wondering about the everyday arrangements that make it all work. Who occupies which spot? How is space negotiated? What happens when someone new arrives?

If I weren’t an ethnographer, I’d be a photojournalist.

Day #008/365: Karnataka’s colours, Bangalore’s bustle...Happy Rajyotsava!

 

Vidhana Soudha lit up in red and yellow for Karnataka Rajyotsava. Outside, autos and scooters weave through the traffic, people gather along the railings, and phones go up for photographs. I like how much is happening in this frame—everyone finding a little space to stop and take in the sight.

This day holds another connection for me: Chhattisgarh, where I grew up, also celebrates its Sthapana Divas (Rajyotsava) on 1 November. A shared date for two places that have shaped my life.