Sunday, July 19, 2026

SIR GARFIELD SOBERS WITH K N TILAK KUMAR JT. MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DECCAN HERALD


In this file photo is seen Sir Garfield Sobers in a seated pose with the young K N Tilak Kumar ..photo taken in Chennnai by an Englishman Mr.Leslie Wilson Sr  sports writer of DECCAN HERALD whose son is also in the back-ground of this photo during a visit to Chennai in 1966-67 when a team of students from St. Josephs European High school made a visit to Chennai (Madras) during a test match.










Tuesday, July 14, 2026

BULL TEMPLE IN BANGALORE

 




Where is the Bull Temple in Bangalore ?

It is in the Basavanagudi Area on Bull Temple Road. Jayanagar is another place close - by


What is this Bull Temple?

It is a temple dedicated to BASAVA  largely created by the artisans of the Vijayanagar Empire  and is in one of the hard rock hills near modern day Lalbagh.A hard rock has been chiselled into a Bull.

There are other temples near this Bull Temple which is worth seeing once.

Sunday, July 12, 2026

LEELA MANIKKKOTH - THE FLAMBOYANT DOCTOR AT ITI HOSPITAL

 During our times at the ITI Hospital we had a doctor by name Leela Manikkoth who was good at her profession and did a good job at the hospital. Much later she had opened a clinic in the jubilee building on Old Madras Road. I did meet her once in the corridors of this building when I had gone there for some work.


There is  a professional link between her and our family - that she was a student of  Dr.  Madhavan Nambiar   at Manipal. Dr. Madhavan Nambiar is the son of Dr. P C Nambiar  from our family connections.


She brought a rare charm and aura to ITI hospital which simply cannot be forgotten.

Saturday, July 11, 2026

THE GLORIOUS HILLY TERRAINS OF BANGALORE

 The larger city of Bangalore has its own set of hilly terrains which are unique and special, largely settlements of the past which has become modern townships with its own characteristic features. The VRUSHABAVATHY river flows close to these terrains at some places and these terrains feed water into the VRUSHABAVATHY  and other lakes. The very nature of these hills must be a source of large amounts of water.


When we exit the city of Bangalore from the modern day city Market towards Mysore there are mountainous formations on both sides of the road. To the left side was once upon a time a large chain of mountains which culminate at the big hill seen inside Lalbagh. The hill seen within Lalbagh is of solid rock formation and is a source of many streams and lakes. But the chain of hills that run almost parallel to the Mysore road are not hard rock formations but of hard soil making it more useful for human habitation. These hills could be called the LALBAGH HILLS  considering that they originate at LALBAGH. To the right of the modern day Mysore Road when facing towards Mysore are also many hill formations which could be seen as an extension of the MAGADI HILLS.


Along the extension of the LALBAGH hills are various townships of modern day Bangalore -very different from the rest of the city because they owe their origins to hill formations and have large amount of vegetation and age-old trees and flora. The place is salubrious largely because of altitude and water formations and depict a domain where environment and development have gone hand-in-hand.


To my understanding the starting point of this region of Bangalore would be the ASHOKA PILLAR in JAYANAGAR which descends into BASAVANAGUDI and then to BANASHANKARI and then to HANUMANTHNNAGAR  and then into GIRINAGAR also encapsulating a place called AVALAHALLI AND THYAGARAJANAGAR and into HOSAKEREHALLLI adjacent to the VRUSHABAVATHY river  and the hill formation deeply descending into RAJA RAJESHWARI NAGAR  all upto KENGERI covering many Kilometres. No place in Bangalore has such a stretch of Hill formations. In most of these sectors there are no high-rise apartments though they can be seen today at HOSAKEREHALLLI..


Many of  these hills are  getting ravaged towards HOSAKEREHALLI for modern day  life styles but the entire stretch could be called the modern day hilly side of  the city.