Multiple City EPUB

Founded by the chieftain Kempe Gowda around 1537, the story of Bangalore has no grand linear narrative.

The location has revealed different facets to settlers and passers-through.

The city, the site of bloody battles between the British and Tipu Sultan, was once attached to the glittering court of Mysore.

Later, it became a cantonment town where British troops were stationed.

Over time, it morphed into a city of gardens and lakes, and the capital of PBI - Indian scientific research.

More recently, it has been the hub of PBI - India s information technology boom, giving rise to Brand Bangalore, an PBI - Indian city whose name is recognized globally.

Hidden beneath these layers lies a cosmopolitan city of sub-cultures, engaging artists and writers, young geeks and students.

People from every corner of PBI - India and beyond now call it home. In this collection of writings about a multi-layered city, there are stories from its history, translations from Kannada literature, personal responses to the city s mindscape, portraits of special citizens, accounts of searches for lost communities and traditions, among much more.

U.R. Ananthamurthy writes about Bangalore s Kannada identity; Shashi Deshpande maps the city through the places she has lived in since she was a young girl; Anita Nair draws a touching portrait of a florist who celebrates the glories of the Raj; Ramachandra Guha describes his close bond with Bangalore s most unusual bookseller; and Rajmohan Gandhi recounts the Mahatma s trysts with the city.

From traditional folk ballads to a nursery rhyme about Bangalore, from poems to blogs, from reproductions of turn of the twentieth century picture postcards to cartoons, Multiple City is the portrait of a metropolis trying to retain its roots as it hurtles into the future.