Good morning Bengaluru, it is a Sunday again and the plan is to visit the Bugle Rock park on the Bull Temple road – it comes highly recommended by my South Bengaluru friends. I tend to find everything I need in Malleswaram & Rajajinagar, and unless on work or visiting cousins, that’s my myopic world. As luck would have it, the Uber auto driver even with the map, is as clueless as we are and after a few frustrating turns and circles, we decide to get down and walk.
We walk past the ‘Dodda Ganapathi Temple’ and the ‘Dodda Basavana Gudi or the Bull temple’, planning to visit them after the walk. The park is lush green and many of the flowering trees are in full bloom. We look around wondering which path to take – very much like Kaaju(minus the sniffing), when he is let loose in a new place. On one side, it has a partly rocky terrain and a watch tower on top of a big rock with a lovely view, and our own version of the Trafalgar Square with a flock of pigeons and people feeding them. This is the kind of place I would have brought the girls for a picnic when they were young. Our car dicky in Dubai always had a picnic set and beach toys as every second Friday would be either at Mamzar beach park or Jumeirah beach park with friends and their families. The longer weekends or Eid holidays were in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah or Umm al Quwain. And friends became family. We had a park – the Al Twar park close to home and I remember a fun filled picnic there with my friends of the Mistress of Spice.
Well, the Mistress of Spice had its origins in 7 ladies travelling together to work to Shk Zayed Road. Other than the fact that we were all Indians and women, there was not much in common – we were more a celebration of diversity – diversity of age, religion, beliefs and situations. Like the name suggests, we each maybe represented a different spice that blended to make the perfect Masala. We were in our 20-30s when we first met and our friendship has constantly evolved – for me even conquering the test of being physically away from them since the last 10+ years. But, bless Whatsapp, distance has not been a hindrance – we have celebrated each others successes, cushioned each others falls, been frustrated with each others difficulties, nudged each other subtly and sometimes not so subtly to be stronger. Friendships are certainly not love at first sight – and more like wine. What do you think? So this is for you – Kamal, Shobha, Deepa, Ranju, Sabah and Seema – you continue to enrich or should I say ‘Spice’ my life.
There is a laughter club here too, surprisingly with a number of youngsters – but is sounds the same as in my park. Laughter maybe a universal language, but ranges from the silent smile to a chuckle, a giggle to a snort to a guffaw. I am sure you have seen, maybe experienced all and can categorise your near and dear ones into one of these groups. In my team, I have Jashar and Maruthi’s silent smile to Krishna’s infectious laugh and all the degrees in between. And then there is the twinkle of mischief in their eyes when some people smile. I am more of a smile person myself so on those rare occasions, when it has reached deeper than even the eyes, I have held my stomach and have had tears rolling down my eyes and found it difficult to stop. Ofcourse, my kids have looked at each other knowingly, as if I am confirming their suspicions.
I think it must be one of the oldest parks. It dates back to 1585 to Kempe Gowda, the feudal ruler of Bangalore. It is said that during sunset, a sentry would blow a bugle from the watch tower and hold a torch, that could be seen from the other 3 watch towers (As per Google Guru, one on the south bank of Kempanbudhi tank in the west, the second near Ulsoor lake in the east and the third adjoining Ramana Maharshi Ashram on Bellary road in the north). Can you imagine a Bangalore bordered by these 4 towers? It would be interesting to see the other towers too. Also, the park, I gather was, the favourite haunt of noted writers – DV Gundappa and Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, PR Ramaiya, a journalist, AN Subbarao, an artist , MP Somashekara Rao, a famous lawyer & Nittoor Srinivasa Rao, ex-Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court and Prof. VT Srinivasan, founder and Principal of the nearby Vijaya College. I am sure the trees here have many tales to tell. Hope I have impressed you enough – I did read up, the tourist guide in me loves to dig into the history of any place before visiting.
Did you know I was the family tourist guide in Delhi? Whenever relatives would come visiting, my Dad would book tickets in the day tour with me representing the family, maybe for my language skills. After the first 3 tours, I knew as much as the guides, and would sometimes remind them if they had missed anything – much to their annoyance. With my love for history, there was a time, I thought a tourist guide was my calling. It was indeed nostalgic when I took Andal & Aditi to all these places five years ago when Andal started Law school – Jantar Mantar, Qutub Minar, Red Fort with the Sound & Light show, India Gate, Rashthrapati Bhavan – but I think we missed the Dolls Museum. Seriously, it then had a beautiful collection of dolls from all over the world and our diverse country.
As a child, I was not very fond of dolls – remember having only one which I was very happy giving off to Purni. My world were books and puzzles – My Baggu Maama used to get me Puzzles and Lego sets from Sweden during his visits to India – they were my prized possessions and treasured for years. So, when the girls were growing up, there were no dolls until Harini thought she had to remedy the situation and presented them their first Barbies. And then came more Barbies, more dresses for them than Imelda Marcos had, more shoes & accessories, then even toys for the Barbies – I think I was generating employment at Mattel, Inc – the manufacturer. So, I countered it with books, puzzles and building blocks. And soon enough Andal would line up all the Barbies and read a story to them. Donot know who won, but the girls had a very interesting childhood.
There were vendors on one of the adjacent roads with fresh vegetables and fruits so well stacked on their carts – with pyramids of beans and capsicums. I look at them during every lap, Yes, Fresh vegetables & greens have always fascinated me, I am always tempted to buy more than I need and my mind starts planning the dishes I could make. Should ask Andal if she imagines a grilled Chicken or a Chicken kebab when she sees a live chicken or hen on the road. I agree, a bad joke. A friend of mine can visualise a dress when she looks at an unstitched cloth – I can never do that, Can you?
After completing a little over 5 kms, we visit the two temples – the Bull temple houses the largest Nandi bull, God Shiva’s vahana and the Ganapathi temple, where I believe the statue of the deity is still growing. The Abhishekam had just started and was followed by the Rudri Path when they closed the curtains for Alankara. I have always felt that you can have a Darshan only if the God so wishes and I am so happy and grateful for the opportunity.
Also, Is it a co-incidence that we have a temple near every park?
We walk over to Sri Udupi Krishna Bhavan for breakfast and have to wait for 20 minutes for a table which we get to share with an old couple. I sometimes think no one cooks breakfast at home on Sundays in Bangalore. So, it was Poori with Sagu(coconut gravy), Vada & – a hot cuppa – no prize for the correct guess Coffee. Hope you are enjoying yours too…..
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