Mallenahalli is an obscure name for a rather iconic guesthouse in the heart of Bangalore that has been the abode of many past and present politicians and distinguished personalities. Today, people know Mallenahalli by its more popular name: Balabrooie.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah may have assured Bangaloreans that the iconic building will not be demolished, but the government has remained noncommittal about what it will do with the 153-year-old guesthouse: build a structure within the Balabrooie premises or demolish its interiors to make way for a legislators’ club.
Little has been recorded about the bygone glory of Balabrooie. Nonetheless, whatever little has been recorded in the annals of history, the building has been an abode of many who shaped India’s future.
The original landowner of the 14-acre expanse was Reverend John Garett, supposedly the father-in-law of B L Rice who is better known as one of the directors for the Department of Archaeology in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore.
It later changed hands before being bought by Ali Asker Aga, a successful and prominent businessman of his times. Derived from a Portuguese word, which means residence beside a river, the guesthouse was given its iconic name by Mysore state’s most famous commissioner, Sir Mark Cubbon.
The Karnataka State Gazette on Bangalore district states that the building was constructed in the 1860s.
T P Issar, in his book ‘The City Beautiful’, has recorded Balabrooie as being styled on the European-Classical lines. “...Its portico, like that of many other public buildings of the period, suggests the White House at Washington.”
Issar goes on to state that Cubbon named the guesthouse as Balabrooie, leading to speculations that the structure reminded the commissioner of his home in the Isle of Man, off the British coast. Several homes in the Isle of Man are recorded under the same name. The English translation of the name Balabrooie is “River Bank Farm”.
Abode of Mysore Dewans
Balabrooie has been recorded as one of the more prominent buildings which housed the Dewans of Mysore, including Sir M Visvesvaraya. It hosted the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore who stayed in its room number 5 between 1919 and 1929.
It is said that Tagore wrote some of his well-known novels like ‘Shesher Kabita’ (Farewell Song) and ‘Yogayog’ (Relationships) at the guesthouse.
Balabrooie, after Independence and the reorganisation of states, saw chief ministers like S Nijalingappa, D Devaraj Urs and B D Jatti staying on its premises.
But the guesthouse soon fell out of favour with the politicians after the fall of former chief minister S R Bommai.
The guesthouse came to be known for its bad luck as Bommai, after moving into Balabrooie, lost power in Karnataka. Since then, politicians have been staying away from this building. Ironically, today, the same ill-fated expanse may well end up as a recreational facility for our politicians.