Reverend Dr. Ferdinand Kittel
Reverend Dr. Ferdinand
Kittel was a German missionary who came to Karnataka, India in 1853. Dr.
Ferdinand edited rare Kannada classics and made it available for the general
public. He also composed a minor epic on Jesus Christ in Kannada and was the
first to ever do so. Dr. Ferdinand received a honorary doctorate from Teubingen
University, Germany for compiling the Kannada-English dictionary in 1894. The
dictionary is considered to be a perennial contribution to Kannada literature.
There is a statue of him erected on MG Road for all his contributions to
Kannada literature.
Mayo Hall
Mayo Hall was built in
1883 though the construction began in 1875. It was built in the memory of the
fourth Viceroy of India, Richard Bourke. Mayo Hall is now home to numerous
departments of the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BMP) and a few traffic courts.
The BMP recently built
an island fountain park in front of it that adds to the beauty of the space.
Kempe Gowda Museum
We just came across this
museum while walking down MG Road. The museum was built in the mid 20th
century and was used as the corporation building until 2011 when the museum was
opened to the general public. Visit the museum to know about Bangalore’s
history, especially about Kempegowda, a Yelahanka chieftain, and his
contributions. The museum has a 20 feet large model of Bangalore enclosed in a
glass structure that gives you an idea of what Bangalore looked like in the 16th
century.
Gangaram’s
Gangaram’s is the oldest
bookstore of Bangalore that was on MG road until recently when they moved to
Church Street. They opened in 1977 and had been running a successful business
on MG Road till this year when they decided to move to Church Street due to
issues with the local police and the rent. Gangaram’s has the largest
collection of all sorts of books from textbooks to fiction.
Cauvery Art and Crafts
Emporium
Karnataka is known to have a very rich tradition of exquisite craftsmanship, which had to be preserved, then developed and gradually promoted. So, the Government of Karnataka set up an organization called Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC) in 1964. The Cauvery Art and Crafts Emporium on MG road was one of the first setups. From Sandalwood to 40 varieties of incense sticks, everything is made by craftsmen from Karnataka. Even though Bangalore has seen a lot of construction and development this Emporium has been the same. Also over the years a few more branches have opened in other parts of the country. When trying to interact with the Head Manger about the emporium he refused to share information as it was a government orgainsation and he had his own restrains.
Public Utility Building
Also known
as Subhas Chandra Bose Tower is one of the skyscrapers in Bangalore. It was
built in 1970 to accommodate variety of business and commercial centers
including offices, shops, boutiques, hotel, restaurants, theater and many more.
It was inaugurated by the president of India and was one of the first
commercial centers of that scale to be built in Bangalore. When it was started
an entire floor was rented to a company but now there are different setups on
each of the 25 floors.
Brunton Road
One of
the bypass road, which connects MG road and Richmond road. It used to be a
housing society earlier. But due to development its more of a corporate street,
with companies and offices all over. People have shifted out to better parts of
the city due to the skyscrapers coming up. Also the location is very central
which may have lead to a lot of people selling their properties and moving out.
Also there used to be a park between Richmond road and Mg road which is now a
commercial site. We interacted with a local house maid, who told us about how
green the area used to be, how she could hear the Trinity Church Bell every
day.
Evoke's interest when seen as a whole text, not in the beginning, probably because its yet to be formed as a narrative, Have managed to obtain a lot of information and intricate details around which a strong narrative can be formed, although being over descriptive can be monotonous, Craftily balancing it should do the task, Looking forward to the narrative.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting in the sense of detailed information that it displays. First person touch, and some experiences of the author will make it more appealing. It definitely evokes a picture of the place. I suggest that they can frame the intricate details vividly, to add curiosity to their piece.
ReplyDeletethe text generally evokes interest as its a very informative text with some fascinating facts about MG road and few other places there.
ReplyDeletethe text is scattered as its not the final draft but its systematically written.
the piece as early mentioned is very informative with very minute details of every place they visited be it about the Crafts emporium or the Bruton road. But sometimes too much information can make it dull.
it does evoke a picture of the place as the description tells us about the vertical construction and skyscrapers in bangalore.
The strength of this piece lies in the quantity of information it has but it needs to be developed much further before it hangs together as one seamless piece of writing. What's the central idea? What is the message you are giving the reader and what do you want them to think/feel when they have finished. Clear and carefully thought out answers to these questions will help you develop the piece further.
ReplyDeleteWill give you more detailed comments soon.
Further, do add stories, anecdotes and quotes from interviewees. Also consider the information in the light of the central idea of the piece. For example Public Utility Building was for some years Bangalore's only sky scraper but now it is just one of many.
ReplyDeleteYou need to capture the character of MG road, what it means to the different people working there, and how it has changed - without that the piece sounds very dry.
Also as per the original instructions try to meet the proprietor of Gangaram's (find out their phone number from Just Dial or the Yellow Pages and take a prior appointment) and ask him for more information. Alternatively meet the proprietor of any of the other shops that have been there for a long time, Higgin Botham's Jamal's or Lake View Icecreams. the shop owners will have a fund of stories to share with you.