JOIN USAmidst the hustle and bustle of Malleswaram, stands tall, a beautiful green house on the 9th Cross. The house, which is over 100 years old, has stood the test of time, and remained untouched even though the world around it has rapidly commercialised. This is solely due to the love that the proud owners of the house – C Sitaram, his wife R Nagamani and 90-year-old mother C Nagarathnamma share for it. Nagarathnamma stepped into the house at the age of ten, just after her marriage to B C Chandrasekhar. However, it was only seven years later, that she shifted permanently to the house and has been living there since then.
The house was built in 1907 by Sitaram’s grandfather, Chappalli Suryanarayana Shastri, who was the son-in-law of H V Nanjundaiah, the first vice chancellor of Mysore University. In fact, Shastri bought the entire stretch from the 3rd to the 4th Main of Malleswaram for Rs 300! “The other bidders thought he was bidding on behalf of Nanjundaiah and didn’t dare to challenge him,” he laughs.
The spacious entrance to the living room of the house takes one back in time. “These are the kadappa stones,” explains Sitaram pointing to the grey stoned flooring of the entrance. “These keep the house cool. In fact, during the winters one can’t even step on them,” he says. As one enters the house, the grey of the floor changes to brown. “These are terracotta tiles, which were imported from Germany,” says he.
The high ceiling consists of beautiful teakwood beams alternating with the plaster on it. “The plaster and the wood are over 100 years old,” says Sitaram as he goes on to explain how the plaster used to be prepared manually those days. “Lime and sand would be mixed, and jaggery would be added to help the mixture stick together.
Sometimes the workers would chew beetle nuts and leaves, and spit on the mixture to make it sticky.”
No sophisticated instruments were used to mix the mortar. A bullock was tied to a grinding stone placed in the middle of the mixture, and made to walk around. He adds, “And clay was used instead of cement to stick the bricks together.” No wonder the 100-year-old walls still don’t show any signs of cracking or bending. “The size of the house used to be determined by calculating the number of banana leaves that could be put on the floor (for eating purpose),” informs Sitaram.
Teak constitutes an important part of the house, be it in the form of furniture, cots or doors. “Teakwood used to be at least 60 years old for it to be seasoned. Nowadays, teak is cut when it’s as young as 40 years. That’s why it bends and cracks,” reveals Sitaram. “Till recently, even our switches were over 100 years old,” he laughs.
The back of the house is used by Sitaram’s brother Bhaskar and his family (residing in the USA), whenever they visit Bangalore. The bathrooms, at the back, were modernised not long ago. “We used to have the kadappa stone flooring even in the bathrooms,” explains Nagamani. As she shows the pooja room, she says, “The mantap is over a 100 years old as well.”
The house has also played host to a number of film and television shoots. The popular serial Namma Nammalli, was shot here in 1988. An unreleased film starring Khushboo and S P Balusubramaniam was shot in the house too. “I feel so happy every time I think that Khushboo swept my house, and S P Balusubramaniam washed the dishes, though it was for a shoot,” jokes Sitaram.
With the City getting more commercialised, and a major chunk of old Bangalore vanishing rapidly, it’s definitely heartening to see certain parts that have remained unchanged. “The only thing that has changed over these years is my attachment towards the house, which is increasing by the day,” says an emotional Sitaram. “And no matter what happens, I won’t let go of the house at least during my lifetime.”