Bengaluru 2017: Arts and Culture

India's silicon city. The air-conditioned city aka the Garden City. India's pensioner's paradise, and also its Pub City. Bengaluru dons multiple hats.

The city's culture is a unique blend of its historical heritage and the continuous melting pot of different identities that not only derive sustenance from it, but continue to shape and transform the city with time.

2017 was another year where Bengalureans were privy to celebrations of culture and art. From its annual traditions such as Bengaluru's groundnut festival, 'Kadalekai Parishe', to completely new campaigns and events such as 'Namma Bengaluru Habba', the city saw its fair share of cultural events.

Here are a few that DH reported on:

Engineer archiving palm-leaf manuscripts using new tech

Dr P R Mukund, a professor at Rochester University has found a new technology called ‘Waterfiche’ to restore old manuscripts to a level that would make them fit for public viewing. He has restored 3,000 palm-leaf manuscripts, out of which some of them are at least 800 years old. 

Unique book-sharing initiative launched

Read A Book, an online book sharing community launched 2 years ago by two bibliophiles to share books that are simply gathering dust on the shelf, as well as to get hold of books from others' collection, has attracted book lovers across the city. 

When books do the talking

City welcomes its first Human Library with an attempt to challenge stereotypes and motivate people to empathise with the storyteller. A ‘book’ is usually a person who has suffered a hard fate and the ‘reader’ can borrow the ‘book’ for about 20 minutes to hear their story. This gives the reader a chance to hear the tales of hardship and survival and ask questions if any.

A carnival comes home

'Namma Bengaluru Habba', a day-long fiesta held at Sankey Tank was a colourful affair with over a thousand participants, 15 stalls and 20 unique performing artistes coming together. The aim of the festival, which was organised by the Tourism Department, Government of Karnataka, was to spread awareness about the importance of preserving the environment.

60-yr-old Fatima Bakery to make way for Metro station

Fatima Bakery, set up in 1957 which was once a meat-lovers’ delight, is to make way for Namma Metro. The 60-year-old Fatima Bakery and Supermarket is located across Johnson Market in Richmond Town. It is all set to make way for a Metro station. In 1957, V P Francis and his younger brother moved from Kerala set up the bakery in Bengaluru.

The people's palace 

A peek into the formation of Bengaluru’s iconic heritage buildings with this DH feature is indeed worth another read. Find out how the Vidhana Soudha came to be this grand building that it is today.

Bengaluru goes nuts for 'Kadalekai Parishe'

Bengaluru's groundnut festival, 'Kadalekai Parishe' celebrated the 'crop of the year' with fervour and grandeur this year. Attracting lakhs of footfalls, Bengaluru’s grand affair with the humble peanut showcased some fun varieties of the legume, and is a one-stop destination for farmers from all over the state.

(Compiled by Poornima)