I have lived in Bangalore for over 36 years and photographed the city throughout these years, in the first decade, for several book projects and several International magazine assignments. In one of those assignments, I photographed Nandan Nilekani, then CEO of Infosys. He asked me if I thought Bangalore had the potential to be a great world city. While trying to answer his question, I made the book Bengaluru/Bangalore. A selection of images from these years.
Please click here to buy a copy of my book, which today is a collector’s item.
Bangalore/ Bengaluru
Near Indian Institute of Management, 1988
India Coffee House, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore, 1995
St. Mark's Road
Church Street
Kempegowda International Airport
Abandoned house, Fort area
At a tattoo studio, Frazer Town
At a Vedic school near Kanakapura, south of the city
Harvesting Shiraz grapes at a vineyard northwest of the city
The 115 years old home of Dewan Krishna Rao, Basavanagudi
Palm Meadows, a gated community.
Indian Institute of Management. Convocation day.
City Market
City Market Bus station
Party in an old house in Cooke Town
St. Mark's Road
Hard Rock Cafe
Jane Chen, Entrepreneur. Her company Embrace (a startup then) was based in Bangalore. They were making low-cost incubators for premature and low-birth-weight babies.
Rangalakshmi Murthy, Software Engineer at MindTree
At the 77th annual Kannada Literary Conference
At the 77th annual Kannada Literary Conference
Guru arrives. At Sri Sri Ravishankar’s birthday celebrations.
Women wearing the traditional orange Kanakambara (Crossandra) flowers rush out of the temple at Kadalekai Perishe (groundnut festival)
Fairs and festivals are all for looking at the wonderful things they have to offer! at Kadalekai Perishe (groundnut festival) at the stall of a streetside hawker.
Bangalore city still has several villages
within it. The growth of the city continues
to bring the outlying villages within.
As the city moves into villages and as the
villages meet the city, some aspects of
the village culture still remain. One such
tradition is the all-night drama. Here,
stories from Hindu mythology are staged
in cacophonous glory. Another is the Oora
Habba (Village Festival), which is a coming together of the entire community, one that every resident looks forward to, and celebrated with pomp and noise.
A Mahatma Gandhi Impersonator. Covered in silver paint, he was standing there motionless. There were hundreds of amused people looking, taking pictures with their mobile phone. Some where thrusting currency notes betweem his fingers and some depositing coins into a small box at his feet. Occassional someone would go close to him and say "He is real" ! This is image reminded me of the Dandi march. At Kadalekai Perishe.
The joy of being at at Kadalekai Perishe (groundnut festival)
St. Mary’s Feast
A magical night during the Shivaratri festival at the 9th century Bhoganandishwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the northern end of the city.
A magical night during the Shivaratri festival at the 9th century Bhoganandishwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the northern end of the city.
A magical night during the Shivaratri festival at the 9th century Bhoganandishwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the northern end of the city.
Bengaluru Karaga
Bengaluru Karaga
Tawakkal Mastan Dargah, Cottonpet. Perhaps this is the only Hindu festival where even Hindu deities go into the Dargah. It symbolises the true harmony between the two communities.
Arundhati and Shankar Nag, 1990. Shankar
was just 36 when he passed away in a car
accident, a few weeks after this picture
was shot. A visionary, he proposed a Metro
transport system for Bangalore way back in
the 80s. Bangalore’s first metro line has just
opened! Shankar has acted in and directed
several films, plays and television serials.
DVDs of Malgudi Days, a television serial
directed by him are a collector’s item now.
His film ‘Auto Raja’ continues to have a loyal
following among auto drivers in the city, even
after two decades. An auto driver, ardent fan
once told me that Shankar will remain in their
hearts for “as long as the sun and stars exist”.
Ranga Shankara, the theatre built in Shankar’s
memory by Arundhati is credited with reviving
Bangalore’s theatre scene.
Mr.Shanbhag of the legendary Premier Book Stall.
The Sait brothers, Variety Book Store. This store closed down few years ago.
Santosh and Prem Koshy, restaurateurs
Ramachandra Sharma, Phoenix Watch Works, an iconic watch repair store. It was at the Rex Cinema at Mahatma Gandhi Road. He had to vacate it for the construction of the metro station in 2010.
Arundhati and Jagdish Raja in their theatre, Jagriti
Jayachandran Palazhi, Artistic Director, Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts
The Persian Family
As Bangalore grew exponentially, the natural and the built environments started to collide. The city has rammed through several natural habitats. It is certainly not beneficial in the long run.