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Where forts give way to steel walls
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Bangalore does not see as much heritage activism as Mumbai does. Today is World Heritage Day
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Tipu's Palace stands even today in all its glory as a testimony to Bangalore's prized heritage. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
BANGALORE, THE city of apartments, glass-and-steel façade corporate houses with people confined in their AC innards, once had roomy, airy homes, lazy, cream bungalows ensconced amidst gardens, forts, temples, and palaces.
Much of our heritage today is lost in the profusion of shops and shopping, commerce and economics, growth and development.
November 11 being World Heritage Day may be a good time to step out and take a look at our own backyard.
Digging up our heritage
Anyone who's into heritage knows Suresh Moona who insists that every monument in the city has a story to tell. He started An Association for Reviving Awareness about Monuments of Bangalore Heritage (AARAMBH) two decades ago with the hope to get youngsters curious about Bangalore and appreciate what is left in legacy.
"Any structure that has completed 100 years of existence is normally categorised as a heritage monument," says Moona, who's a schoolteacher and NCC officer. He goes about talking to elders in the city, gathering information from people's memoirs, souvenirs, digging up old records, and books they have preserved.
Tipu Sultan's Palace, the Bangalore Fort and the armoury that Hyder Ali started building in 1781 and completed by his illustrious son, are an inseparable part of our city's history. The armoury (near the Kote Venkataramana Temple) housed the world famous rockets and missiles that strengthened Hyder's and Tipu's armies. INTACH is at present restoring this armoury, which will perhaps be converted into a museum, says Moona. Tipu's palace has been deemed a protected monument by the Archaeological Society of India.
The Bangalore Palace, constructed in 1888, is modelled on Tudor architecture, "a Windsor Castle kind of architecture that is rarely found in India," says Moona. The four towers that are said to mark the old boundaries of Bangalore, often referred to as the watchtowers over the city, stand testimony even today as a gift from Kempe Gowda, the founder of the city.
Heritage activism
Moona also recalls how Bangalore's first instance of heritage activism came in 1982 when a PIL saved the High Court building — the flaming red Attara Kacheri — from demolition. The order was passed in the same court building! But the city is not as active as say, Mumbai, in preserving its history.
"People cannot be blamed in this age of real estate boom for selling off old houses. Maintenance is difficult and neither the government nor any conservation agency offers support to preserve them," laments Moona, who's been writing books and articles in Kannada rather assiduously.
Aarambh organises heritage walks for school children and kids at camps. Contact 26525034.
BHUMIKA K.
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