Bangalore :

Aliyeh Rizvi used to run a niche design store called Native Place many years ago. It encapsulated her love for handcrafted traditions, nostalgia and fading remnants of culture. She took to passionate blogging subsequently to revisit everything that Bangalore stands for. Native Place no longer exists as a physical space but it is now a “collaborative mind space that works to build awareness of Bangalore’s local history and culture through curated experiences, travel writing and city based collaterals. It explores ways in which information can be used to create meaning and build a deeper connect.”

In a chat with City Express, she talks about the many projects she has undertaken to keep the memory of a genteel city alive that is now being overtaken by change at every level.

Poignant memories

The best memories I have are of Bangalore’s trees and gardens, and a life lived among them. Avenues were awash with different colours all through the year, jacaranda petals fell on our shoulders as we passed. Large family picnics were organised in Cubbon Park and Lalbagh when the weather was good. I miss the beautiful bungalows that had lovely large gardens: fruits, flowers and scented plants. I miss the Queen of the Night that bloomed after sunset, scenting an entire lane with its fragrance. We made passion fruit juice and gooseberry jam from our own fruit trees and compound walls had moss! Which means it was traditionally a cold, damp climate where early morning baths were always accompanied by shivering!

A Turquoise Cloud

I blog and write offline about the Bangalore I grew up in, to save it from vanishing. The city is my home and I am rooted in it. My blog, A Turquoise Cloud, is an archive of information and stories about local culture, city people and our symbolic spaces. The city I grew up with was being knocked down rapidly and it was becoming increasingly difficult to connect with it physically. Houses I had played in were now hi-rise buildings. The local grocery store I stopped at for sweets after school had disappeared. Trees were cut down, roads had changed. Streetscapes in the city were altered forever. I felt a terrible sense of displacement in my own hometown. I could not recognise or identify with it anymore.

That’s why we old Bangaloreans spend so much time in sentimental nostalgia and B&W photographs. It’s our only way of coping with loss.

So where does one go to find this other Bangalore? I chose to recreate it online, where it can stay virtually untouched. ATC is a space where I create a context for the  present through memories, images and stories of the city. I choose to focus on the present, by giving it a meaning through the past.

historical connect

One of my most memorable projects was as Curator, Centre for Public History, Srishti School of Art Design and Technology where I  co-facilitated a successful Public History Project titled ‘The Tiger Comes to Town’ to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Archaeological Survey of India. The focus was the Bangalore Fort in Bangalore’s busy Kalasipalayam area and its role in local history during the 18th Sultanate, the time of Tipu Sultan, and the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1791.

It aimed to reconnect the public with their local heritage sites through deeper engagement, build awareness and instil pride in the same. It combined elements from oral history, design, academic enquiry and performance so students could look at multiple ways to engage with the site during the course of the project. The outcome was a true city project in more ways than one.

breakfast specials

One of my most popular posts was the Bangalore Breakfast Special, since the  and the eating out-breakfast tradition is so unique to our city. I wrote that Bangaloreans love their breakfast and discuss it intensely.

Replies flooded in with suggestions to try other favourite joints, NRIs posted with intense nostalgia for iconic restaurants mentioned, more discussions about food happened, vows to visit, and even arguments over the best idlis-and dosas! Like I said, we are obsessed with our tiffin! It is always wonderful when people write in with comments and stories of their own, volunteer to share information and photographs.

We also have a page on Facebook for daily interactions and information. The blog allows you to access information by usage (eat, breathe, know) and geography (north, south, east). All posts are research intensive and constructed to provide comprehensive information, painstakingly collected, in one place.

It often takes days to track down information, locate people or join the dots, but it has to be done. In this space, I can now see the Bangalore I know and love.

Back to Native Place

Native Place is the seed of an idea which will hopefully grow into a larger organisation where people interested in the city can work together on creating new formats for city history and culture based projects- through documentation, interactions, performance and information based collateral.

Perhaps knowing a little more will build a relationship, create protectiveness and then generate the ownership we require so badly right now. Our website will be up soon and city based activities will hopefully start with the onset of the festive season.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express  / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Express News Service / August 19th, 2014

Bangalore :

The aircraft  lands on a  narrow piece of land that leads straight to a valley. And that valley was where an ill-fated aircraft had crashed a few years ago.  That is all I could think of during my descent into Mangalore. I held onto to the sides of the chair and hoped that I would live. It was a smooth landing and for once I was grateful for that sharp brake. Once out of the airport, I caught a cab and headed out to the hotel.

But I wasn’t ready for what was coming next. On steep roads, swirling down the hill was  like going down a softie curl. And then my first glimpse of the glimmering city. It looked beautiful.. laid out in front of me like a carpet of twinkling lights. I passed by a group of people – a large family with adults and children. I wondered what they were doing so far from the city at 9.30 pm, and then I saw a  plane in the distance. It made sense. With heads lifted and upturned faces, they watched the flight come closer and got their fix of the day.

And that got me thinking about Mangalore. In my first 30 minutes here, I had moved from extreme fear to delight to warm-fuzziness. It had a small-town quality that  made me wish for more.

Historically Mangalore is grand, Tipu Sultan had been here. It has had an important place in history. But what had happened to it now? Was it just another mid-sized city, now? I didn’t associate it with the grandeur of a big city or a city that had dynasties fighting for it. I associated Mangalore with crime and communal tensions, and that was all I knew about it. But surely Mangalore is much more than that.

The next morning, with just four hours before I made my way to Kasargode, the actual destination of the holiday, plans had to be remade. Maps were scrutinised and the reception lady thoroughly grilled. The plan was  finalised- the day would include Sultan Battery, the College Chapel, the Mangaladevi temple and a stop at Ideal Cafe since everyone was raving about it.

The driver of my car was not from Mangalore. He had no clue where Sultan Battery was.  He tried asking local people who didn’t seem to be very clear either, but were aggravated that  I did not know how to pronounce the word ‘battery.’

Then Google Maps came to the rescue. On the way, Mangalore refused to let me get surly by tempting me with vistas of green spaces and simple but beautiful houses.

Sultan Battery is situated on a bend along a river as it snakes through to the sea. It seemed to have a very strategic position, overlooking both sides of the river. Built by Tipu Sultan, this was a watch-tower to see if anyone was crossing the river and coming over with dark intentions.

Built with black basalt rocks, with viewing holes lining the entire wall, the structure seemed almost too simple in today’s complex understanding of war and defence. But then you put on the perspective of more than 200 years ago, and it seems that the location was indeed perfect for the purpose.

With every dynasty’s uprise, there is growth and also destruction of legacies. Legend has it that the rocks used to build this watchtower could have come from places of worship though no one knows for sure.

There were a few ships next to the river and we decided to go and take a look. It was a ship-building yard. It took them three months of hard work to make just one ship and then she took off, to prove herself worthy of the toil.

I watched the imposing Vajralaxmi enter the water for the first time in awe. Though there were some other ships  too that looked gorgeous. Funnily these ships looked battle weary even though they were all brand new. These were meant to serve as fishing trawlers and were not built to be gleaming and swanky.

I left Sultan Battery and  made my way to the College Chapel. Again, no one knew where it was, and even Google seemed flummoxed this time.

It took me around 20 minutes to find a person  who could give me directions. Important note to self: don’t call a chapel just a ‘chapel’, when it’s called ‘College Chapel’.

I got to go on a lovely personal tour courtesy the person-in-charge. The entire place is painted beautifully, and when I say entire… I mean every inch! What looks like marble at first glance is not, it’s art. What seems like a painting on a curtain and hanging on the wall, is also a painting.  The  illusions go on and on.

It was time for lunch and stomachs were grumbling all around. And so the next destination was Ideal Cafe! The food was okay, nothing exceptional but it was definitely the coolest restaurant in Mangalore and everyone with some time to spare seemed to be there.

The filter coffee that everyone praised was not that great. It had a rough, burnt taste with some of the coffee residue at the base. They say that’s how Turkish coffee tastes, so there might be some who like it.

But if you are someone with a sweet tooth, skip a meal to just have  ice-cream at Ideal Café. It was simply fabulous.

The last stop in Mangalore was the Mangaladevi temple. This is the temple that Mangalore is named after, so it had to be seen. A large temple, it was quiet and peaceful all the more as it was shut for the afternoon. We weren’t allowed inside as the Gods were sleeping and so we were asked not to disturb them.

Mangalore was quaint. A neat and clean city that still seems enveloped in the past and happily so, given the rapidly changing face of every city in the country. I wouldn’t say it surprised me, but it didn’t disappoint. It was small, roads were relatively peaceful and the streets were still lined with houses exuding old-world charm.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Mangalore / by Bhavani Blogs / August 21st, 2014