Table of Contents
A peek into one of Bengaluru’s oldest industrial neighbourhoods
Premium
Everyone talks about other old areas like Malleswaram, Chamarajpet and Basavanagudi, but Rajajinagar is also a 75-year-old neighbourhood, says conservation architect Roshini M.
Interaction inside the gallery as part of the Rajajinagar neighbourhood walk.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
People hunched over sketchbooks dot every nook and cranny of Bangalore Creative Circus (BCC), an “urban living lab” housed in a 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse in the Yeshwantpur Industrial Area. Some sketch the people inside its canteen while others try to reproduce parts of BCC’s urban farming systems. A fair number are clustered in the co-working space, eyes flitting between their sketches and the ceiling on which a large seahorse sculpture made of scrap is suspended.
This sketch meet, which took place last month, was part of Neighbourhood Narratives, an event focused on the old industrial suburb of Rajajinagar, a stone’s throw away from BCC. “People should know more about Rajajinagar,” says conservation architect Roshini M., who is spearheading this initiative, which is part of the India Foundation for the Art’s (IFA) Project 560 programme.
Some of the exhibits on display include archival maps that offer insights into how the area has changed over the decades, a collection of sketches of the area.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Focus on the area
According to Roshini, everyone talks about other old areas like Malleswaram, Chamarajpet and Basavanagudi. “But Rajajinagar is also a 75-year-old neighbourhood,” she says at the exhibition, walking past charts showcasing some of the area’s iconic landmarks, including MEI Polytechnic College, the Rajajinagara Pillar, the Navrang Theatre and the ISKCON temple. Some of the other exhibits on display include archival maps that offer insights into how the area has changed over the decades, a collection of sketches of the area, sepia-toned photographs and prints of the artwork of Rumale Chennabasaviah, often referred to as Karnataka’s Vincent Van Gogh.
“I wanted to develop a new cultural map of Rajajinagar and engage the community,” says Roshini, who has also made a short film about the neighbourhood. “That was the main intention of the project: to create awareness about these very interesting nooks and corners in the area,” she says.
As someone who was born and raised in Rajajinagar and has spent years roaming through the area’s streets, nooks, and crannies, Roshini says she couldn’t help but notice how it had transformed over the years. She had always been interested in history, culture, and heritage, so she began researching the area and discovering new things about it. “I had heard about Mantri Mall being a mill earlier and began wondering why there were so many mills and industrial setups here,” she says. “So, I started reading up about it a little more.”
Though some tangible examples of Rajajinagar’s industrial heritage still linger, many of them, including the buildings that once housed these factories and mills, are now malls and gated housing communities.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Beginning of Rajajinagar
On July 3rd, 1949, the Maharaja of Mysore, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, inaugurated a pillar commemorating the area that would become Rajajinagar, named in honour of C. Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of British India by the City Improvement Trust Board. According to the plaque on the pillar, 1000 acres of land were allotted for setting up the neighbourhood, half of which was devoted to industry while the other half to housing.
“At that point in time, Bangalore was known for its PSUs: HMT, BEL, HAL…,” she says, adding that Rajajinagar became one of the neighbourhoods where they were looking at setting up more industries. The area’s proximity to the Pete area possibly also influenced the decision to carve out this area from the village of Kethamaranahalli. “The mills needed bigger spaces that were outside the Pete area but close to it,” she believes. “That was where all the business was happening.”
Though some tangible examples of Rajajinagar’s industrial heritage still linger, many of them, including the buildings that once housed these factories and mills, are now malls and gated housing communities. “For me, it is about how the area has transformed,” she says, recalling a time when the road she lives on, Dr. Rajkumar Road, was completely residential. Today, except for a few independent houses, it has been completely commercialised, with Lulu Mall at one end and Orion Mall at the other.
Despite this, however, there are still bits and pieces of the area that have an old-world charm: the Rama Mandira grounds here, which are still used for school sports days and cricket tournaments; the conservancy lanes and stone benches, which have have managed to survive the development; the art déco style houses or the massive old jamun trees that still line the roads of the area, says Roshini. “They take you back 50 years when Bangalore was still a pensioner’s paradise.”
A sketch from the Rajajinagar neighbourhood walk.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Mapping neighbourhoods
Neighbourhood Narratives: Rajajinagar comes under IFA’s Project 560, a programme that supports and implements projects that focus on the city of Bengaluru in various ways. “Since IFA is a Bangalore-based organisation, we thought we needed to do something from it,” says Mridupankhi Rajkumari, Programme Officer, Arts Practice at IFA, who oversees Project 560 programmes along with two other colleagues. “It is our way of giving something back to the city.”
Under Project 560, IFA offers projects to Bengaluru residents in several categories, including Neighbourhood Engagements, Arts Projects (Research/Practice), and Curated Artistic Engagements. As the website states, Neighbourhood Engagements, under which Roshini’s project falls, is about implementing projects that engage with an area’s spaces, stories, and people.
Having already exhaustively researched the area, Roshini says that she began looking for projects that would allow her to showcase it. That was when she came across Project 560, which she applied for in August last year. “In the proposal, we had to mention how we were going to engage with the neighbourhood.,” she says, recounting some of the activities she had conducted as part of the exercise. She started by gathering secondary data about the area using archives, libraries, and books before making a number of field visits and engaging with the neighbourhood and its people to understand it better.
She also got in touch with Urban Sketchers (USK), Bengaluru and collaborated with them to organise various sketch meets in some of the iconic locations in the area, including at the Rajajinagar Foundation memorial pillar, the Rumale Art Gallery and the Navrang Theatre. “It is an excellent way for a person to discover their own city,” says Shruti Vijay, part of the administrative team at USK Bengaluru. As someone who is not from the city and has never explored that side of it, this sketching exercise allowed her to see “hidden gems” in Rajajinagar. “It has its own character, and I only realised that when I went there and experienced it,” she says. “It still has old Bangalore charm. You get transported back to the 60s and 70s.”
People-centred conservation
Roshini hopes to make Neighbourhood Narratives part of a larger series that explores other lesser-documented parts of Bengaluru, including Richard’s Town, Chamaraja Pete, Cooke Town and Cox Town. “They all have their own interesting origin story and historical significance,” says Roshini, whose research has always been Bengaluru-centred, whether it be her master’s thesis on the city’s market or her work documenting Bengaluru’s Karaga Festival or the city’s kalyanis. “This city has so much to offer. There is so much happening here,” she says.
She firmly believes that people-centric conservation is key to preserving our heritage and culture; making people more aware and sensitive to these things will contribute to preservation. “For me, it was always about creating that sense of identity, belonging and awareness among the people so it would lead to a sense of ownership,” she says. “Yes, development is required. But we shouldn’t forget or lose what has been part of our origin and history.”
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT
Related Topics
Know Your Neighbour
/
Bangalore
/
history
/
history and culture
/
architectural design