Meet NJ Ravi Chander, the banker who has a trove of books on bygone Bengaluru
His collection includes hundreds of postcards and over 45 books on the city’s layered past.
By Divya Shekhar, ET Bureau |
Agencies
BENGALURU: NJ Ravi Chander’s favourite book on Bengalutu is a rare, out-of-print ‘Monkey Tops: Old Buildings in Bangalore Cantonment’ by Elizabeth Staley.
For, his own ancestral home in Frazer Town was a bungalow with monkey tops. “Or maybe because it reminds me of the countless homes with monkey-top roofs that once dotted Bengaluru but began disappearing over the years. Just like my home, which had to be razed to build a modern, more- maintainable structure.”
The banker has scoured stores and exhibitions since the 1980s to build a collection of hundreds of postcards and over 45 books tracing life in Bengaluru before it became what it is — a commercial hub and IT city.
Among his collectibles are sepiatoned photographs of Kasturba Road when it was called Sydney Road and Brigade Road — when it was a two-way street with hardly any vehicles — the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi when it was the lone structure in the area with only trees surrounding it, of Commercial Street dotted with jhatka gaadis (horsedrawn carriages), cycles, British women in long dresses and sharp hats and Indian men sporting dhotis and turbans.
Essentially the Oscars for sites that are naturally beautiful or culturally significant, the UNESCO World Heritage List is revaluated every year.
This week, the World Heritage Committee made 21 new choices during a meeting in Krakow, Poland.
The World Heritage Committee decided which of 33 nominated sites were worthy of being named the World Heritage Sites.
Eventually, 20 new places were added to the list, including the City of Yazd in Iran and Lake District in the UK.
A philately enthusiast as well, Chander possesses over 3,000 commemorative and post-Independence coins issued in India. Some of the rare books in the 59-yearold’s collection include Old Bungalows of Bangalore by Janet Pott, Follow my Bangalorey Man by Paul Byron Norris and Precious Memories by Rose D’Souza.
“Some of these books, bought for Rs 75 years ago, are now worth over Rs 6,000,” said Chander. The latest addition to the list is The Last White Hunter by Joshua Mathew released in September.
It chronicles the life of an Englishman, Donald Anderson, who lived at a time when maneaters prowled in certain areas of the city and duck-hunting was a popular sport. “I continue to be on the lookout for books written on the city by authors worldwide because each gives me a different perspective of the place where I have spent my entire life.”
The banker, who has also written over 4,000 ‘Letters to the Editor’ about various civic issues to newspapers, said that although there are multiple books written around the history of the city, there is no dedicated physical library or museum that helps people access and understand it.
This, according to him, is the need of the hour in order to preserve Bengaluru’s layered past.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants the UNESCO to give baguettes a heritage tag.
A look at dishes on the list:
For, his own ancestral home in Frazer Town was a bungalow with monkey tops. “Or maybe because it reminds me of the countless homes with monkey-top roofs that once dotted Bengaluru but began disappearing over the years. Just like my home, which had to be razed to build a modern, more- maintainable structure.”
The banker has scoured stores and exhibitions since the 1980s to build a collection of hundreds of postcards and over 45 books tracing life in Bengaluru before it became what it is — a commercial hub and IT city.
Among his collectibles are sepiatoned photographs of Kasturba Road when it was called Sydney Road and Brigade Road — when it was a two-way street with hardly any vehicles — the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi when it was the lone structure in the area with only trees surrounding it, of Commercial Street dotted with jhatka gaadis (horsedrawn carriages), cycles, British women in long dresses and sharp hats and Indian men sporting dhotis and turbans.
This week, the World Heritage Committee made 21 new choices during a meeting in Krakow, Poland.
The World Heritage Committee decided which of 33 nominated sites were worthy of being named the World Heritage Sites.
Eventually, 20 new places were added to the list, including the City of Yazd in Iran and Lake District in the UK.
A philately enthusiast as well, Chander possesses over 3,000 commemorative and post-Independence coins issued in India. Some of the rare books in the 59-yearold’s collection include Old Bungalows of Bangalore by Janet Pott, Follow my Bangalorey Man by Paul Byron Norris and Precious Memories by Rose D’Souza.
“Some of these books, bought for Rs 75 years ago, are now worth over Rs 6,000,” said Chander. The latest addition to the list is The Last White Hunter by Joshua Mathew released in September.
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It chronicles the life of an Englishman, Donald Anderson, who lived at a time when maneaters prowled in certain areas of the city and duck-hunting was a popular sport. “I continue to be on the lookout for books written on the city by authors worldwide because each gives me a different perspective of the place where I have spent my entire life.”
The banker, who has also written over 4,000 ‘Letters to the Editor’ about various civic issues to newspapers, said that although there are multiple books written around the history of the city, there is no dedicated physical library or museum that helps people access and understand it.
This, according to him, is the need of the hour in order to preserve Bengaluru’s layered past.
A look at dishes on the list:
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