Cubbon Park

Cubbon Park, Officially called Sri Chamarajendra Park is a landmark 'lung' area of the Bengaluru city, located (12.97°N 77.6°E) within the heart of the city in the Central Administrative Area. Originally created in 1870, when Major General Richard Sankey was the then British Chief Engineer of Mysore state, it covered an area of 100 acres (0.40 km2) and subsequent expansion has taken place and the area reported now is about 300 acres (1.2 km2).It has a rich recorded history of abundant flora and fauna plantations coupled with numerous impressive and aesthetically located buildings and statues of famous personages, in its precincts.This public park was first named as Meade’s Park after Sir John Meade, the acting Commissioner of Mysuru in 1870 and subsequently renamed as Cubbon Park after the longest-serving commissioner of the time, Sir Mark Cubbon. To commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s rule in Mysore State, in 1927, the park was again renamed as Sri. Chamarajendra Park, in memory of the 19th-century ruler of the state Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar (1868–94), during whose rule the park came into existence.The landscaping in the park creatively integrates natural rock outcrops with thickets of trees, massive bamboos, with grassy expanse and flowerbeds and the monuments within its limits, regulated by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Karnataka. The predominantly green area of the park has many motorable roads, and the well-laid-out walking paths running through the park are frequented by early morning walkers and the naturalists who study plants in the tranquil natural environment

Tourists visiting this park in the city of Bengaluru have nicknamed the city itself as 'Garden City'.

The importance of the park to the city's environment is best stated by two urban architects who have won the national competition to design 'Freedom Park.'

Karnataka High Court (Bangalore)

The Karnataka High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The High Court functions out of a red brick building known as Attara Kacheri. It is in front of Vidhana Soudha, which is the seat of the legislature of Karnataka.The Karnataka High Court is currently functional in Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga.

HISTORY

The history of the Karnataka High Court can be traced back to the year 1884, under the reign of the Maharaja of Mysore Chamarajendra Wadiyar, when the Chief Court of Mysore was reconstituted with three judges and was designated as the highest court of appeal in the princely State of Mysore.

Earlier The Court of the Chief Judge, Mysore, was set up in 1880 along with three other courts - the Court of District judges, the Bangalore Court of Small Causes and subordinate and Munsiff courts. The Bangalore Small Causes Court was abolished in 1881.

In 1930, it was renamed as the High Court of Mysore and the Chief Judge was given the new name of Chief Justice. In 1973, it got its present name of "Karnataka High Court".

PREMISES

The High Court is located in a building called as Attara Kacheri (meaning Eighteen offices). It is a two-storied building of stone and brick, painted red, in the Graeco-Roman style of architecture – a structure of vast expanse with Ionic porticoes at the center and at the two ends of the elevation. The construction of the building was supervised by Rao Bahadur Arcot Narayanaswami Mudaliar and completed in the year 1868. It was earlier named as Old Public Offices and got its name of Attara Kacheri when the eighteen departments in the general and revenue secretariat of the Mysore Government were shifted here from their crowded premises in Tipu Sultan's summer palace.Tipu's Palace was only a temporary house for the offices. When Bowring took over as Commissioner after Cubbon, he found the building unsuitable, both because of its state of maintenance as well as its limited accommodation which no longer sufficed for the much increased work of administering the State. It was he who conceived and prepared the plans for a full-fledged secretariat building in the city area. The construction was taken up in 1864 and completed at a cost of Rs. 4.5 lakhs in 1868.
There was a proposal to demolish this building in the year 1982.However, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in order to save this old building from getting demolished. This was the first PIL to be filed in the Karnataka High court and the case was heard in the very building that was supposed to be demolished.In August 1984, the judges M. N. Venkatachaliah and Vittal Rao pronounced a judgement that stayed the demolition.

Vidhana Soudha

VIDHANA SOUDHA

Kengal Hanumanthaiah is credited with the conception and construction of the Vidhana Soudha.The foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru and then chief minister K.C Reddy, on July 13, 1951.However, it was Hanumanthaiah who was instrumental in the redesign and speedy construction of Vidhana Soudha. He visited Europe, Russia, the United States, and other places and got the idea of building the Vidhana Soudha by incorporating various designs from the buildings he had seen. It was completed in 1956. He took a lot of interest and effort in building this marvelous granite building. It was meant to dwarf the British-built Athara Kacheri (High Court) building.Hanumanthaiah was criticized for the nearly 15 million rupees spent to construct the building.But the building designed by him is an impressive structure of Neo Dravidian style. The land area is 60 acres.

Info Courtesy - Wikipedia

Basavanagudi (Bangalore)

Basavanagudi is a residential and commercial locality in the Indian city of Bangalore. It is located in South Bangalore, along the borders of Jayanagar. The name "Basavanagudi" refers to the Bull Temple, which contains a monolith statue of the Nandi Bull. The word Basava in Kannada means bull, and gudi means temple.

Basavanagudi is one of the oldest areas of Bangalore. 4.6 km far from Bangalore City Railway Station and BMTC, and 38.7 km to Kempegowda International airport. The main commercial street of Basavanagudi is DVG Road, which is home to numerous retail businesses, Most of them dating back to the 1920s and 1930s. Towards the middle of DVG Road is Gandhi Bazaar, which is well known for fresh flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

Pondicherry (2017)

Photographs from a trip to Pondicherry. A bit late in posting these, hope you like them.

A HISTORY of Pondicherry:

The history of the city of Pondicherry is recorded only after the arrival of Dutch, Portuguese, British and French colonialists. By contrast, nearby places such as Arikamedu, Ariyankuppam, Kakayanthoppe, Villianur and Bahur, which were colonised by the French East India Company over a period of time and which later became the union territory of Pondicherry, have recorded histories that predate the colonial period.

A marketplace named Poduke or Poduca is recorded as a Roman trading destination from the mid 1st century. The area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram in the 4th century. The Cholas of Thanjavur held it from the 10th to 13th centuries, only to be replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the 13th century. The Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all of the South of India in the 14th century and maintained control until 1638 when they were supplanted by the Sultan of Bijapur.

The French East India Company established this town as their headquarters in 1674. Five trading posts were established along the south Indian coast between 1668 and 1674. The town was separated by a canal into the French Quarter and the Indian Quarter.[4]

During the Anglo-French wars (1742–1763), Puducherry changed hands frequently. On January 16, 1761, the British captured Puducherry from the French, but the Treaty of Paris (1763) at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War returned it.[5] The British took control of the area again in 1793 at the Siege of Pondicherry amid the Wars of the French Revolution, and returned it to France in 1814. When the British gained control of the whole of India in the late 1850s, they allowed the French to retain their settlements in the country. Pondicherry, Mahé, Yanam, Karaikal and Chandernagor remained a part of French India until 1954 when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India.

On 18 October 1954 in a general election involving 178 people in Pondicherry Municipal and Commune Panchayat, 170 people were in favour of independence and eight people voted against. The de facto transfer of the French Indian territories from French governance to the Indian union took place on 1 November 1954, and was established as the union territory of Pondicherry. However, the formal de jure transfer of territory agreement between France and India was signed on 16 August 1962.