I Belong to Everywhere: Jalahalli

This is an attempt to bring back nostalgia. Continued from- “I Belong to Everywhere: Theralu“

Jalahalli is a locality in the Northern part of Bengaluru where my family stayed for a brief period until I finished my graduation in Yelahanka. Being involved in sports, languages, music, travelling and so many other things along with regular college, some of the busiest days of my late teens were spent here.

On a lighter note, our family lived with a confused identity for all the years spent at Jalahalli. We were surrounded by employees of BEL and HMT in majority, and none in our family worked at either of these organizations. More often, we struggled to decide which side to take when we had friends from both these companies sitting on either side of a discussion table 😀

Above: The seven signature clocks of HMT placed in different cities of India Below: Floral clock at Lal Bagh, Bangalore

The BEL sports ground was one of our favorite places, where I accompanied my father for his evening walks and my brother for his hockey matches, while catching up on conversations with some of the who’s who of Indian hockey. The Ganesha temple in the BEL colony was one of the go-to places when my family wanted a shot of calmness, not in praying but by simply soaking in the tranquility of the silent atmosphere.

The HMT sports complex, HMT hospital, HMT theater, HMT employees’ quarters and the HMT shopping complex were less just concrete structures and more like emotions.

A racing heart while entering the ‘Jalahalli Airforce station’ would calm down only after a plate of parathas from the air force canteen and some tasty samosas and Sondesh at the Bengali sweet meat stall at Gangamma circle. Catching up with friends mostly happened on the new-BEL road or at Malleswaram.

The entrance to Jalahalli Airforce Station at Gangamma circle

Well, Jalahalli is a place which reflected the importance of having a friendly neighborhood. Even when any of us had to stay alone at home, there was always someone from the neighborhood checking on our safety and sharing food with us. The months of yuletide were especially memorable because the carol singers came to all houses and we all made merry together.

We left Jalahalli and thus, North Bengaluru to finally come one full circle by making South Bengaluru our forever home (where we currently reside at).

To be continued as “I Belong to Everywhere: Yelahanka“

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Nestled in the oblivion of Bannerghatta- Koratagere Doddi

This is yet another of my family’s random drive day, thanks to Corona unlock weekends… This time, our random pick was in the direction of Bannerghatta forest. We drove past Jigani marble market towards Ragihalli state forest. We drove around randomly and stopped wherever we thought we had a good vantage point. The place being around the fringes of a national park and in the fertile stretch of countryside, there was lots and lots of greenery all along. We stopped by at the IIM-B new campus plot near Mahanthalingapura from where we got a distant view of the ‘Ragihalli Betta’. (Remember our drive to Gullahatti Kaval? We had the view of the hill from a different direction- Click here to read the complete article) The cloudy and cool weather here made everything perfectly amazing, with a great combination of bright green and dull grey. With permission of a millet farm owner present there, we sat in his farm overlooking the green valley for a while, with some packed food and water.

After resuming our drive and on recommendation of a friend, we deviated from the main road leading to the Ragihalli state forest. It was quite an offbeat surprise for our ageing hatchback, but he performed smoothly compared to any youthful 4×4 SUV. A random deviation got our hatchback into an overflowing stream (with water level almost up to the doors). We didn’t know the way ahead, but our driver(my brother) didn’t switch off in the middle of the stream. Another car in the opposite direction directed us to the correct road from where, it was an unpaved gravel laid forest path for a few more kilometers, before passing through a couple of laidback villages. After the tree laden trail was over, small rocky hillocks appeared to our left and a vast stretch of farmland flanked the valley to our right. Apart from a few villagers transporting their goods on two wheelers, we were the only people in this stretch for most distance. We continued an uphill drive until there appeared a junction with a temple at the top. Watch the video of our drive below:

The drive to Koratagere Doddi

A milestone at the junction read that it was ‘Koratagere Doddi’. Thanks to the lockdown and social distancing norms, it had been several months since I had been to a temple and I was excited at the sight of it. From the architecture of it, the structure seemed to be a Sun temple. But google says it is a ‘Paanchala Kshetra’ that was closed at that time. However, the place seemed to be beautiful and we decided to park our car and take a stroll. We walked a few yards to our right and believe me when I say, it looked BEAUTIFUL! We were at a flat rocky tabletop cliff from where we could see a good stretch of the city outskirts. We decided to sit there for an hour at least and enjoy the strong breeze that kissed our faces hard. But yeah, the time was cut short by the rain gods who manifested themselves from the distant dark clouds to a sudden pounding of rain.

The misty Ragihalli forest viewed from a farm

We had no choice but run to our car for shelter. But wow, what a wonderful setting it was: Green grass, grey sky, hill on one side, valley on the other and a lonely temple ahead of us. We saw no signs of the rain stopping as we waited in our car and decided to continue our drive, back home but in the direction of the road ahead of us. Thanks to the rain, we did nothing specific to stop-by and take note of. But yeah, the Ragihalli Betta now appeared closer and COMPLETELY mist / cloud laden, a view not everyone gets lucky with.

Overall, a wonderful day out with family to a place where I belong: to Nature 😊

Two Premier Institutes of India- A shared history

HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), Asia’s largest and India’s first aerospace establishment was founded and is headquartered in Bangalore. If you want to walk down this journey of how aviation industry has evolved in India, a visit to the HAL Aerospace Museum, India’s first aviation museum located at the HAL premises is highly recommended. From the first aircraft, Harlow PC to be assembled at its stables to manufacturing the most modern helicopters, planes and equipment for present day requirements of the Indian airfare, navy, railways and space research, HAL’s journey has been a long one. One is bound to get amused in another world by taking a walk between vintage planes, flight simulators, mock ATC and all things associated in this subject of fantasy at the museum hall. Now, this place leads me to my next destination: The IISc (Indian Institute of Science).

An exhibit of the Pushpak aircraft at HAL

That morning, I had ordered a plate of idlis at this little restaurant on the IISc campus. Just like any other day at that restaurant, the environment was abuzz with the chitter chatter of the people I was surrounded by. A typical scene on any given day includes the best scientists of India and abroad discussing new experiments over a plate of food in what is one of the premier research institutes in the country! Irony has it that similar discussions happened under the same roof, sometime in history. But back then, the discussions were about something more strategic and destructive. It was right here that a bunch of people discussed a war plot. What is now the top-of-the-notch science and technology institution in India, served as a hub for maintenance and repairs of the aircrafts during World-War II.

In the late 1930s, a factory meant for automobile maintenance was setup by an industrialist named Walchand Hirachand in the present day IISc campus. History has it that on his way to China, Hirachand chanced upon a meeting with William D. Pawley who was attached to the Intercontinental Aircraft Corporation of New York, an American aircraft exporter. This connection lead to the procurement of the necessary tools and equipment from the US to setup an aircraft production line in India. It was in December 1940, with funds from the Mysore state, the Hindustan Aircraft Private Limited came into being. The plan was to manufacture the Harlow trainer, Hawk fighter and the Vultee attack bombers at this factory. However, this required huge manpower that was trained in Aeronautics which lead to the establishment of the department of Aeronautical engineering.

A 1942 file photo of the HAL main gate. Photo courtesy: HAL museum gallery

The structure that housed the aeronautical engineering department was designed by German architect Otto Koenigsberger. Otto Koenigsberger was a young Jew who had fled his country during the Nazi regime and was later in time, employed as the government architect of the erstwhile Mysore state. His architectural design is an amalgamation of European and traditional Indian styles and can also be seen in the present-day metallurgical department and the hostel office on the IISc campus along with many structures across India. Talking about the aeronautical engineering building- it is an oblong structure with high ceilings and narrow corridors that integrated natural climate control. He has also designed the closed-circuit wind Tunnel, the first of its kind in India and hydrogen plant among other things that are associated with aircrafts. With all the technical back up from IISc, it was in 1941 that Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) assembled the first aircraft in India: A Harlow PC-5.

Meanwhile, the threat posed by Imperial Japan loomed large in the on-going World War II because of which there was a need by the British Royal Air Force to boost its military hardware supplies in Asia. With all likelihood, HAL was most suitable as a base for the South East Asia Command of the allied forces for servicing their aircrafts. Hence, all the aircraft manufacturing plans in India were abandoned to support the repair and overhaul services of the American aircrafts and the factory was eventually taken over by the US Army Air Forces in 1943. This led to rapid expansion in the facilities and became the 84th Air depot for overhaul and repair of American aircrafts during WWII. The very same hydrogen plant on the IISc premises was used as a loading dock to supply hydrogen for the American aircrafts. Later in 1964, the factory was taken over by the Government of India and has morphed into the modern-day Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in its present-day location. However, the original Aeronautical engineering department continues to contribute enormously towards research and has its own little airstrip on the present day IISc campus.

As I finished my plate of idlis, I wondered how unassuming I was. This deceptively functional place had just served my meal that had just been cooked inside a hydrogen plant that powered the military aircrafts during WWII.

This article featured in the ‘Spectrum’ supplement of Deccan Herald National daily, on February 01, 2020 edition.

You are not a Bengalurean if you don’t know this

Do you google for offbeat things to do in Bengaluru or Offbeat places to visit in Bangalore? When friends visit you in Bengaluru, what do show them in the city?

With the city growing into being popularly called as the IT city, Silicon city and the Pub city of India, a pub-crawl to one of the hundreds of breweries and restaurants in the city is a must on every visitor’s list to do in Bangalore. But these are for the millennials of Bengaluru. If your visitor is someone from the 90s or perhaps older, the pubs might be of little interest to them. They have probably grown up hearing about the garden city’s rich green and red canopies of Gulmohars, filter coffees and pleasant weather. They perhaps had relatives from yester years either working or studying in Bangalore as it was reckoned with talented people, better job opportunities, some of the premier organizations of the country, rich cultural heritage, polite and soft-spoken folks etc. In either case, anybody who has lived in this city for a little over a couple of years likes to call him/herself as a ‘Bengalurean’. That’s like adding a price-tag, it kind of gives them a sense of pride!

Talking about the second category of visitors, often when friends and relatives visited Bangalore with 2-3 days in hand and asked me to take them around, I used to wonder as to what’s there to show them around for so many days. The hugely popular Vidhana Soudha and high court complexes, the Lalbagh and Glasshouse, Tippu’s summer palace and the Bangalore palace are landmarks and historical monuments that can all be done in a day. The old charm of Cubbon park and the famous Boulevard of MG Road that boasted of being the city’s lung-space and shopping hubs aren’t the same any longer.

So, this led me to exploring the city and what I found is something that EVERYONE who claims to be a Bengalurean must know! What’s the use of associating with a place or thing when you don’t have enough knowledge of what you proudly brag about in your social circle? Isn’t it?

Bangalore (as every someone from the Old Bengaluru likes to still call it) is a city that has witnessed its growth through harmony between technology and rich history. It is one of the earliest technical hubs and home to some of the premier institutions of the country. The museums in Bengaluru are proof of its association with science and the heritage buildings scattered across the city are testimony to it’s history. You are not a true-blooded Bengalurean if you haven’t been to these places in the city!

NOTE:

• These places are picked from across categories and hence are listed in no specific order or choice. Rating them against each other would not mean any justice.
• All these places have been personally visited, studied and documented by me. However, these are places of certain confidentiality and hence, photography is prohibited.

ƥ What if dinosaurs were replaced by aeroplanes in Jurassic park?
HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), Asia’s largest and India’s first aerospace establishment was founded and is headquartered in Bangalore. If you want to walk down this journey of how aviation industry has evolved in India, a visit to the HAL Aerospace Museum, India’s first aviation museum located at the HAL premises is highly recommended. Get yourself amused in another world by taking a walk between vintage planes, flight simulators, mock ATC and all the things associated in this subject of fantasy. Now, this place leads me to my next destination: The IISc (Indian Institute of Science).

>• How about a meal cooked in a Hydrogen plant?
Well, I didn’t even know this thing all the while as I feasted on the sumptuous plate of idlis for 5Rs. every morning for breakfast during my fellowship at the Indian Institute of Science. Interestingly, I used to be surrounded by the best scientists of India and abroad discussing new experiments over a plate of food cooked at the same place where a bunch of people discussed a war plot in history. What is now the top-of-the-notch science and technology institution in India, served as a hub for maintenance and repairs of US aircrafts during World-War II. And, the kitchen of this tiny vegetarian restaurant on campus made hydrogen gas to supply for the US fighters during their battle with the Japanese. Eventually, the need for skilled personnel in aeronautics by the HAL workforce at this facility to help the US forces, lead to the establishment of what is today known as the Aeronautical engineering department at IISc campus.

∆• Ever wondered how you could touch someone’s heart and tickle a human brain?
A visit to India’s first ‘Human Brain Museum’ located on the premises of NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) can help you do just that. NIMHANS is India’s premier and apex medical institution for mental health. The museum has a large collection of brain samples of several animals and human beings suffering from various forms of mental and neurological disorders. Not just that, the visitors taking a guided tour of the museum get to hold and feel various human body parts, ranging from brain, spinal cord, heart, lungs and the like. It was indeed an experience of a lifetime for me to hold it in my palms (without a degree in medicine :P). Another information centre on the same campus gave me a walk through the history of NIMHANS thus leading me to my next destination: The Mysore Bank building.

>• What if you were counting coins at a Lunatic Asylum?
Don’t be surprised! Mysore Bank is a popular landmark located at Bank circle in Gandhinagar and is one of those few places in the city where a vending machine dispenses coins of various denominations if you fed it with currency notes. While you were busy at it, you might not have taken note of the fact that the very building where the bank functions today used to be the first mental hospital in India, established in the 1800s by the Mysore Kings. Country’s first institution for Post-graduation in Psychiatry was started here eventually leading to the establishment of NIMHANS.

ƥ How does a ticking clock look if all characters from fairy tales danced around it?
People from far and near flocked to Lalbagh as the word about ‘The Garden clock’ spread wide back in those days without YouTube and WhatsApp. That scientific marvel was a seven-meter-wide solar powered clock ticking on a dial made with flowering plants and popular characters from fairy tales like snow-white and the dwarfs dancing around it. This is a functional clock till date and speaks volume of our country’s strength in technological evolution. The creator of this unique time-machine pulls me down to my next destination: HMT watch factory.

>• Have you stacked up your ‘time-machine’ to go back in time?
While I spent a couple of years living in this locality surrounded by the HMT(Hindustan Machine Tools) properties like the HMT officers’ quarters, HMT sports club, HMT theatre etc., I also remember the time when I was brought back to time (read it- ‘Back to life’) by the doctors at the HMT hospital when I had once gone into coma or my blood pressure plummeted down or whatever that was! All the memories aside, HMT has opened their museum in the locality to showcase the journey of the company. HMT watches are those perfect souvenirs that truly represent Old-Bengaluru as they say it was the country’s timekeeper (Read complete article). Since the original manufacturing company of these watches has shut its functions at their facility at Jalahalli, the last few pieces are being assembled at their factory outlet/showroom itself. Go, grab your piece of old times from Bengaluru before stocks last.

ƥ How often do you come across a Military museum?
Well… Bangalore’s association with Indian Military system dates to centuries and what’s of my particular interest is that India’s oldest regiment of the Corps of army engineers is headquartered in Bangalore. The Madras Engineer Group (affectionately called as the ‘Thambis’ of the Indian Army) have their regiment’s history and achievements chronicled at the ‘Madras Sappers Museum’ located within the premises of MEG centre. However, it is not open to general public and special permission from the Army is required for entry. Once an opportunity had struck me to participate in a city walk tour to this area and the army blood inside me had this Bengalurean beaming high in pride. So, here is one thing from MEG centre walk tour that led me to my last but most important bits of Bengaluru’s history: The Kempegowda towers.

>• So, that brings me to my last question: How big is Bengaluru?
It is believed that Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru had got four watch towers installed to mark the four corners of the original Bengaluru. These towers were located at elevated places so that he could get a good view of the entire city from these points. One is installed within the MEG premises near Ulsoor, one at Mahakali temple near Hanumanthanagar, one atop the Gneiss rock inside the Lalbagh gardens and the last one inside the Ramana Maharshi ashram near Palace Orchards. Well, it is unimaginable how this city has grown beyond these corners today, but our pride of ‘Namma Bengaluru’ knows no boundaries…

Do you agree?

Studying ‘Bachelor of Cycle-logy’ at IIT-Madras

This trip to Chennai is going to be a memorable one. Because, this was my first solo business trip. Apart from traveling alone in a land that spoke a language I barely understood, I managed to pretty decently pull-off the audit at a vendor company, all by myself. Some small little personal milestones! So, here’s a peek into my first solo business day, without business :p

I landed at the Meenambakkam international airport at around 8.00.a.m. and hired a taxi to the vendor’s place. This is when my tryst with Tamil started. The driver did not know my language and I did not know his. But, one thing I learnt quite fast was, being a Kodava really helps while roaming around in South India. I could mix up bits of Malayalam and a little more of Kodava thakk and make it sound pretty much like Tamil. The driver managed to understand the basic instructions. And the rest, sign language it was. But yeah, it was a lucky start for a solo stint.

But imagine finishing work ahead of schedule and having a late night flight to return! Especially when you don’t have a backup plan in hand and do not know the local language. Even if I googled for some place to hang around, I was not able to communicate it to my driver.. The sign language wouldn’t be of much help if I had to spend a longer unplanned day. Hell! I felt stranded in my own country.

That’s when a friend studying at IIT-Madras came to my rescue. I rang him up and he guided the driver in Tamil to reach his campus. The plan was that he would show me around the campus and then drop me back to the airport. Fair! So that’s what I did..

What if I did not crash the GATE (The toughest entrance exam in India) ?? That did not stop me from learning at the prestigious IIT-M..!! Thanks to my friend pursuing research at IIT-M, this was where I completed my “Bachelor of Cycle-logy” which I had left unfinished way back in primary school. He suggested that cycling around the vast campus was the easiest way of getting around and I agreed to his suggestion. He got his bicycle out and borrowed one for me from one of his classmates. Then, we had gotten pedalling on the roads of the vast 600+ acres of lush greenery on the campus of IIT-Madras.

Top: Gajanan circle at IIT-M premises; Below: Bonn avenue at IIT-M

IIT-Madras is located adjacent to Guindy national park(the 8th smallest in India)- the last bit of the tropical dry evergreen forest in India. There is so much greenery in the entire canyons, that our cycling stint was indeed refreshing. This allowed me to witness the harmonious co-existence of man and the wild, in an urban setting. While the Black bucks, spotted deers etc. walked around fearlessly on the campus, the humans went about their businesses without coming on the ways of these wild animals.

Wild animals walking around freely inside the IIT-Madras campus

After we had pedalled around almost all corners of the campus, we checked in to the ‘cafe coffee day’ on their campus. Since restaurants are heavily subsidized in such institutions, this was the “Cheapest” CCD I had been till date. It was 5.00.p.m. something and we still had so much time left. So, we decided to hit the “Elliot Beach” in Besant nagar about 6.kms from IIT-M.

We had some corn, I bought a Rajnikanth mask, flew a kite etc. on the sea shore. We did all that which helped us to kill time. The beach was a wee bit dirtier than the ones I had seen all my life (in Mangalore and Kerala). Meanwhile, I waited patiently to see the sunset. I waited and waited… and it was dark already. Only then did I realize that the sun only rises in the East coast 😛

Top:The Karl Schmidt memorial; Below: A corn vendor at Elliot’s/ Besantnagar beach

It was going to be 6.30.p.m and we thought it would be wiser to leave, because we had to brave through the Chennai traffic so that we made it on time to the airport.

All in all, a day well spent. Looking forward for many more business trips 😛