Joie De Vivre Malleshwaram

My first tryst with Malleshwaram began some thirty years ago, when I had come to Bangalore as a school boy to spend my summer holidays with my sister in the early eighties then it was a smaller, gentler, calmer place and known for its unhurried pace of life.  But today it is no more the same and it’s now bustling with people, vehicles, malls, multiplexes and super bazaars and is a major hub of educational institutions and also a major transit pass that connects many parts of the city. Nowadays a constant stream of students and vehicles are a familiar sight for any one who passes through the area.

Call it a destiny or providence; a decade ago, when I landed in Bangalore to make my living, it so happened, I just fell into the lap of Malleshwaram where one of my known acquaintances has had his small office and I began working with him from the place. 

Malleshwaram needs no introduction, as it being one of the oldest residential areas of Bangalore, has earned the sobriquet – a cultural hub of the city. As Legend goes, Malleshwaram, originally a village called Mallapura but came to be known as Malleshwaram thanks to the eponymous Kadu Malleshwara Temple, which is located on the busy Sampige main road.

The area nestled in the center of the city, is in close proximity to the city central railway and bus stations. Also it is a few kilometers away from the city’s magnificent edifice Vidhana Soudha, which is the seat of power of Karnataka state.  

Malleshwaram signals its exclusivity with canopied streets, well tended roads, well organized row of spacious bungalows and finely built array of apartments and the whole area looks one compact and very well knit unit.

Most of the boulevards of the locality are enveloped with green cover with variety of trees like Jacaranda, Gulmohar, Margosa and Sampige and two of the well-known roads of the locality are Margosa and Sampige and are eponymous to the long line of trees that stretch along the way.

If you are an early riser and a fitness aficionado, you can take delight in walking on these roads in an atmosphere of nice caressing breeze in calm and quieter morning environs. It’s a real sight to behold when you see young and the old alike walking briskly on the long tree covered roads occasionally intercepted by hurrying milkman or paper boys who are racing to deliver things on time to households.

Malleshwaram offers a plethora of choices to spend your leisure meaningfully. If you are a bibliophile, you can stroll down to three-storied city central library, which is, located at the sampige road that houses impressive collection of books that span wide-ranging interests of human endeavors. Paper reading section, on the ground floor provides almost all leading national and regional dailies and you can also pore into magazines that touch upon life style, sports, politics and various other topics of human interest.  

Cultural activities are finely woven into the fabric of daily lives of malleshwaram citizenry. Lecture series on topics like religion, philosophy, arts, literature, in places like Gandhi Sahitya Sangha, Ubhaya Vedanta Sat-Sangha, Madhwa-Sangha are a regular feature and offer intellectual stimulus and satiation for those who are intellectually bent.

Not far away from Malleshwaram, at stones throw distance, located the renowned Indian Institute of Science where frequent seminars on variety of topics are part and parcel of academic activities. Here one can have an opportunity to hear talks from luminaries who have made a mark in different walks of life and on such occasions I had the rare opportunity of hearing and seeing some of the eminent men of India.

Evenings in Malleshwaram are always abuzz with cultural activities like musical concerts, dance programs, Yakshagana and other folk arts by artistes of repute and are a permanent fixtures in a weekly calendar of events of the locality.

A symbolic violin shaped auditorium, chowdiah memorial hall, which is named after yester year violin maestro T. Chowdiah is notable landmark that hosts programs from artistes of international fame and standings.

Seva Sadana auditoriam, Ananya cultural academy and MES Kalavedi are other popular destinations of cultural activities in the area. And these institutions are tirelessly striving to promote Indian art and culture and thereby enduring the rich legacy of Indian cultural tradition and are also endearing to the hearts of connoisseurs of art and music.      

Malleshwaram is a veritable paradise of heritage temples, the ancient Nandeeshwara, also know as Nandi Teertha, on 17th cross is said to be of more than 3000 years old and here one can see water fall onto an idol of Shiva through the mouth of Nandi.

Other famous temples in the area are Lakshmi Narsimha temple, Venugopala temple that is said to be of 100 years old. The symbolic Kadu Malleshwara temple is host to annual fair, which is conducted in the month of March every year, and it witnesses the gathering of devotees in large numbers who celebrate the event with traditional gay and gaiety.  And this event showcases a fine intermingling of tradition and modernity a typical to Malleshswaram what it is today.

Come festival season, the temples in the area dazzle with special decoration. Festivals like Gowri Ganesha, Karishna Janmastami, Dasara and Yugadi are celebrated with great religious fervor and on this occasion special poojas and decorations are feast to the one’s eyes. People of the area throng the temples with devout and reverent spirit and enthusiasm is quite evident when you see long and serpentine queues in temple premises to offer their obeisance to the presiding deity.    

Culturally rich Malleshwaram is also a shopper’s paradise, the main market area looks perennially in festive mood and it always bustles with colorful crowd. Particularly if you are type who enjoys the sight of moving crowd, you can spend hours watching the colorful assemblage.

Shopaholics can have real shopping experience with multitude of shopping options and one can have best bargain with small time pavement vendors who often sell fruits, vegetables, photographs, bermudas and so on. You can also hangout at the Bakers-Hut and have hot vegetable pups, at Asha sweets savour the fine Badam milk, and you can also find best deals on pizzas, mouth watering pani puris and so on.

Soaking and indulging in best pastime, you can feel your heart sing in joy and if you are kind looking for that elusive joie de vivre, look no further than Malleshwaram.