2 DECCAN HERALD B Sunday, March 23, 2014

intense CITY

The tourist didn’t stop in B’loreIts heritage structures in decay, its traditions, festivals and multi-cultures undocumented, the City has fallen off the tourist map

Beyond its tech city tag and once-cherished Garden City defini-tion, does Bangalore packenough punch to arrest thetourist’s fleeting attention? Can

the City, with its obvious but forgotten her-itage, get beyond the transit point that ithas been reduced to in the tourist map? Isthere a way to beckon the visitor to theCity’s soul, its history, its celebrated festi-vals, its latent but thriving sub-cultures?

Trapped in a narrative based on a net-work of malls and the Metro, a visitor tothis City rarely has a clue to its heritage.The tech parks, Vidhana Soudha, CubbonPark, Lalbagh, and a few historical struc-tures more or less make up their idea ofBangalore! Shouldn’t this change?

If century-old buildings once definedthe City’s claim to fame, the governmentclearly has shown no concern to preservethem. Here’s why: Fifteen years ago, therewere over 1,800 buildings more than 100years old. Five years ago, that number hadslumped to 800, and today it stands at lessthan 400. Three hundred of these are gov-ernment-owned, mostly out of access forthe public.

Intangible heritageBut the buildings and monuments includ-ing forts, palaces and temples only formthe tangible heritage of the City. As urbanexpert V Ravichandar and historianVikram Sampath point out, music, dance,

handicrafts (textiles), festivals and proces-sions, visual and performing arts form theintangibles, and should be part of the nar-rative. Ifmuseumshostthemoveablearte-facts, the City’s lakes and parks should beseen as a green heritage, preserved andshowcased to all.

Itneedsanewtourismparadigmbeyonditsmonumentsandheritagestructures,ex-ploiting the underestimated soft power ofour culture, assert Ravichandar and Sam-path, who form the recently formed VisionGroup. “Bangalore needs a centrally locat-ed,publicarts,cultureandmuseumdistrict-- much like what global cities like LondonandNewYorkhaveandseveralothersmall-er spaces dispersed across the City for thispurpose,”the Group explains.

This could be woven into a showcase oftheCity’shistoryfromKempegowda’stime,itshistory, literature, folkartsandruralar-tisans. If these are smartly interlinked, let-ting a visitor to organically move from onearena to another, the City’s tourist appealcould be hugely enhanced. “There shouldbesomethingtodoeverydayandforevery-one,”saysRavichandar, indicatingtheneedfor an informal arrangement where thegovernment just acts as a facilitator andpublic organisations handle events.

One idea worth carrying forward couldbe the proposal for a heritage corridorfrom the Fort in City Market area to theBangalore Palace. “There are a numberof heritage buildings along this stretch, on

The city’s other face

enrichedtouristsvisitingdifferentsitesandmonuments here. Private organisationssuch as Bangalore Walks have shown thatguided heritage walks work well. Thesesmall-scale initiatives could be replicatedonalargerplanebythegovernment.“Withgovernment tying up with these and otherbodies, there will be an enhancement ofcapacity building for these private organi-sationsbesidescreatingjobopportunities.Many theatre groups which are active intheCitycanberopedintomakethisacon-tinuous feature.”

On a visit to Bangalore, Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker, Lisa Maz-zotta says she has heard about the City’shistory in bits and pieces. “I know a littleabout the City’s origin, the boiled beansstory, but I miss a free tour of the placesuch as the one in Singapore. There, thetour takes you with a guide to different re-gions, markets and cultural centres. It wasa fantastic learning experience for me. Iwish there is something like that here,”she says.

Engaging walksDeepa Krishnan from Bangalore Magic iswell aware of this yearning to know a citydeeper, in a guided, informal way. Thewalks arranged by her firm is part of aunique approach to understanding theCity in its various avatars. She explains,“In our tours, we hope to help tourists seeBangalore through local eyes – for exam-ple, our Food Walk in Malleswaram andour Photowalk through Jayanagar are de-lightfulexplorationsofcuisineandculture,giving overseas visitors a peek into dailylife of Bangaloreans. The people who dothe tours are knowledgeable, engagingand willing to answer questions.”

In the absence of a culture of preservingmonuments, the City has seen over a thirdof its estimated 1,500 heritage sites crum-ble away. There are no exact records, sinceproposals tosetupaheritageregisterhaveproved non-starters.

The register was talked about under theBangalore Metropolitan Regional Gover-nance Bill, and before that, in a proposedamendment to the Town and CountryPlanning Act. The Agenda for BengaluruInfrastructure and Development (ABIDe)had also included this in its BengaluruMaster Plan 2020.

Theheritageregisterwastobedesignedas an inventory of all heritage sites in theCity. The sites had to be identified basedon age and their importance to the City’sidentity. Besides monuments, the registerwas to include precincts, natural and cul-tural sites with special architectural or his-toric interest.

Urban experts and historians are con-vinced that culture heritage managementhas to be integrated into the master planand all development plans of the City. Onlythen can places such as Russell Market,KR Market and Chickpet be included intourist itineraries.

Until this happens, no tourist or youngBangalorean, will know that the ChickpetareawaswheretheCityhaditsbeginnings.Legend has it that the Doddapete Square,which today looks chaotic and unkempt,was from where Kempegowda had organ-ised a ground-breaking ritual in 1537.

Four pairs of bullocks were let loose toplough the land in four directions fromhere, and the routes traversed by theploughs had become the nucleus of thenew town’s four main streets. Four towerswere erected to commemorate this event.Threeofthemstill stand,butnooneknowsor cares.

Rasheed Kappan

auspicious occasions. People from allover the State come to the temple. Onregular days too, people from outside vis-it the temple. But, I have not seen toomany foreign nationals nor people fromnorthern India. I am unsure whetherthey have been informed about the tem-ple.”

The Dodda Ganapathi temple andDodda Basavanna temple on Bull Tem-ple Road need more attention to figurein the must-see tourist circuit of the City.M Venkatesh, Secretary of the Basa-vanagudi Traders’ Association, says thetwo temples are of historical value.

“The tourist operators bring touriststo the Dodda Ganapathi temple, but donot always take them up the steps to seeDodda Basavanna temple nearby. Theoperators have to be told to ensure visitsto both shrines. We must do somethingto enhance their popularity among peo-ple from North and tourists from abroad.It is very popular among locals. But togive it a lift, we should have better brand-ing and aesthetic presentation of the twotemples. Gavi Gangadhareshwara tem-ple, Gavipuram, is fairly well known inthe tourist circles. Whenever foreignerscome, the temple is included in the itin-erary. All these three temples and manyothers in the area can form a very goodtemple tourism circuit in Basavanagudi.”

Devotees come in the middle of Janu-ary every year on Sankranti Day to thiscave temple. This is a special day whensunrays fall on the Shivalinga for onehour as it passes between the horns ofthe Nandi. The Sun illuminates Shivalin-ga two times a year - from January 13 to16 late afternoons and from November26 to December 2.

Someshwara temple in Ulsoor sees asimilar phenomenon. Shiva S, a long-time trader near the temple, says there isheavy rush during Sankranti and Shiv-aratri.

“I have occasionally seen a few for-eigners coming to the temple, but thereis no heavy rush. Some persons who takeextra interest and are curious about notso well known structures, make it to thetemple. But the general stream oftourists needs to go up.”

There are stories of how a king whowas sleeping near the temple got adream of Lord Shiva and went on tobuild the temple.

Then there are a few other templesthat can be brought into the tourist fold -Karanji Anjaneya in Basavanagudi,Pralayakalada Veerabhadra, Kalabhaira-va in Gavipura Guttahalli, Dharmarayatemple, Ranganathaswamy temple,Balepete, Kote Venkataramana temple(1690) adjoining Tipu Sultan’s Palace,Kashi Vishveshwara temple (1840) inBalepete and Gali Anjaneya temple onMysore Road, said to have been estab-lished in 1425 by Vyasaraja.

Apart from Hindu shrines, other inter-esting shrines to visit in Bangalore arethe Parsi temple, Tawakkal Mastan Dar-gah, St Mary’s Basilica and the MahaviraDigambara Jain Temple.

Bangalore’s multi-religious and cos-mopolitan character is best reflected inits many temples, mosques, churches,Gurdwaras like the one at Ulsoor whichwas built in 1946, Buddhist Viharas, orthe Queen’s Road Parsi fire temple.Clearly, there’s lot to show people fromall over India and the world that Banga-lore has serious archaeological and spiri-tual spaces to explore.

Bangalore has been branded and mar-keted as a technology destination forover 25 years.

There is a need to rebrand the Cityalso as a cultural-heritage space. Manycities in the world flash a technology-cul-ture facade. Why can’t Bangalore?

Prashanth G N

There’s more to Bangalore than justVidhana Soudha, High Court,Cubbon Park and Lalbagh. Other

equally historical heritage structures,particularly in the spiritual domain dotBangalore, but are unfortunately not onthe Bangalore tourism circuit, for for-eign nationals and Northern India. Noinformation on these structures goes outwidely to visitors in any form. There is nobranding and marketing, no attempt tobuild informative stories around them,nothing to show that officials are inter-ested in excavating the deeper historyand cultural spread of Bangalore.

Let’s take the Jumma Masjid onCommercial Street. According to YasirMohammed, businessman in the area,the Street’s Jumma Masjid is perhapsthe oldest in the City.

“The mosque is situated between twotemples. It is a fine example of secular-ism. Immediate locals may know of it,but I am unsure if people from distantareas of Bangalore do, let alone foreigncitizens. The mosque needs to be listedin the tourist brochures of the depart-ment of tourism, and information needsto be circulated among private travel andtourist companies and be made a majorheritage stop in the City. It would dogood if Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) were to take up its revival.” TheMasjid, built between 1740 and 1840, hasan Arabic touch to it.

The 17th century Kaadu Malleshwaratemple dedicated to Lord Shiva is yet an-other landmark in the City. Again, whilelocals throng the temple, visitors fromabroad haven’t been adequately in-formed about its historical value and thecircumstances under which it was built.According to Poornima S, homemakerfrom Malleswaram, the temple sees veryhuge crowds on two occasions. “The ma-hashivarathri and Karthika month are

Experience Bangalore by walkingwith well informed story-tellerswho know the City inside out

through years of research. This is whatdrives the people behind BangaloreWalks and Bangalore Magic, two of theCity’s known heritage walk organisations.

Bangalore Magic offers three differentwalks besides six car tours and two-dayexcursions in the City. “We will be addingmore tours next year. The more diversethe offerings, the more people are tempt-ed to stay in the City,”explains Deepa Kr-ishnan from the organisation.

Exploring heritage through walkscountry. There are only a handful of quali-ty guided tour companies which are doingthings differently.”

But aren’t these walks out of the main-stream? “I agree that today, heritagewalks are elitist. Most walks run in Eng-lish, which is the biggest barrier,”says

Krishnan. “To bring this kind of thingto a mass audience, you need state spon-sorship and high-quality regional lan-guage tours. And you need changes in theschooling system, to inculcate early inter-est in and respect for our built heritage.”

Bangalore Walks is another setup very

active in the heritage walks sector. Desig-ned for a global audience, these walks areinspired by similar ones in London andBoston. The tours are in four categoriescalled the Victorian Bangalore Walk,Green Heritage Walk, Traditional Benga-luru Walk and Medieval Bengaluru Walk.Having completed the walks for 100months and 425 weekends, the organisershave taken a break. Currently, only theGreen Heritage Walk is on. For moredetails, visit www.bangalorewalks.com

RK

Bangalore needs a centrallylocated, public arts, culture andmuseum district - much likewhat global cities like Londonand New York have - and sev-eral smaller spaces dispersedacross the City for the purpose

Showcasing the City, its history,music, dance, literature, folk arts,rural artisans, etc, in spaces likethese will be one way ofenhancing the tourism appeal ofthe City as the one buzzing andteeming with activity

She designs the tours herself. This, shedoes, “by reading extensively about eachcity, talking to knowledgeable people,spending time walking and exploringneighbourhoods. In effect, I curate theCity through my own lens. I have workedfor many years with overseas visitors andinteracted with hundreds of tourists.”

Here’s the rationale behind Krishnan’sforay into guided walks: “I find that mosttour operators in India catering to over-seas visitors tend to perpetuate culturalclichés about India instead of providinginsightful explanations of a changing

n Fascinating “boiled beans” storyn Silicon Valley, IT parksn A city of startups, entrepreneursn Old pensioner’s cityn Pubs and gardens

LIZA MAZZOTTA,Docu filmmaker, Vancouver

JESSICA TANGELDERDutch knowledge activator

LENA BERGHAUSA German in Bangalore

APPASAHEB NAIKAL,Indian in Singapore

FIRE TEMPLEThe temple on Queen’s Road,is said to have been built in1926 for Parsis, who are esti-mated to number over 500 inthe City. It is said that an eter-nal fire burns in the innersanctum, fed by sandalwood.

KARAGA AND HAZRATTAWAKKAL MASTANSHAH DARGAHHazrat Tawakkal Mastan ShahDargah in Cottonpet is verypopular among locals andacross the State. The Dargah issupposed to have been built in1783 by Tipu Sultan. Karagaprocession stops in front ofthis 18th-century shrine.

ST MARY’S BASILICAThe St Mary's Basilica is theoldest church in Bangalore andhas been elevated to the sta-tus of a minor basilica. It is fa-mous for the festivities heldduring the St Mary’s Feast inSeptember every year.

JAIN TEMPLESri Mahavira Digambara Jaintemple, located on Dewan'slane of Chickpet area (of theBengaluru Pete) is one of theoldest Jain temples, construct-ed in 1878.

What Bangalore means for...

n The food culture heren IT parks and tech peoplen I want to ride a rickshawn I want to see a cricket matchn Bangalore Palace

n Lalbagh Glass Housen Tipu Palacen The iconic Opera Theatren Bangalore Palacen Vidhana Soudha

n Lalbagh Botanical Gardensn Bannerghatta National Parkn Visvesvaraya Museumn National Gallery of Modern Artn Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore Palace

There should be something to doevery day and for everyone andin all this, the State governmentshould just act as a facilitator,letting public organisationshandle the events

either side of Palace Road and surround-ing areas. There are buildings attached tothe Bangalore University, Law College,Carlton House and the well known gov-ernment monuments,”notes urban archi-tect, Naresh Narasimhan.

Guided wine toursThe Karnataka Tourism Vision Group,headed by T V Mohandas Pai, has madeanother proposal to boost Bangalore’stourist potential: By promoting adventuretourism in Nandi Hills, heritage trailsaround the Devanahalli fort, and guidedwinetoursfor localandoutstationvisitors.

Clubbing tours through this corridorwith stories about Bangalore’s origin andits history, culture and traditions could betransformational.FestivalssuchasKaragaandrelatedeventscouldbeintegratedintothe tourist calendar with rich, interactiveinformation sharing. “A variety of inter-pretive material is necessary (digital andprint) to help residents and visitors under-stand all the rich heritage values of Ban-galore. Such materials help build localawareness, which is very necessary, as well

as information for visitors. Such interpre-tive material need to go far beyond blanddescriptions of when a building was builtand by whom to tell the story of the city,”notes the Vision Group, which includesJyoti Hosagrahar, Director, SustainableUrbanism, Columbia University.

But the City’s tourist structure is so un-derdevelopedthatit ishardtofindatrainedtouristguide.Despite its techcitytag,Ban-galore has no audio guides that could have