The living park of Bangalore

This is not only one of the best lung spaces of Urban India but it is also the place where all the wings of the Constitution-Legislature, Executive and Judiciary functioned for several decades from a single building on its premises.

It is also the place which today is the centre of the State administration, the police force, judiciary. It is surrounded by buildings which house the many departments and offices of the State.

The Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power of Karnataka: the High Court which is the apex court of the State and the Raj Bhavan which houses the first citizen of the State and is the official residence of the Governor of Karnataka surrounds this patch of green.

The Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka High Court, Raj Bhavan and many other buildings were once part of this famed park. Today, the park remains, a grim reminder of the battle against growing urbanization and the increasing greed for space and land. Though the park has shrunk to a large extent, it has managed to retain its basic character as a well-known repository of trees and a buffer zone that once divided the old city or Pete from the Civil and Military Station or Cantonment.

This is the second oldest park in Bangalore and its is better known as Cubbon Park. When this park was conceived in the middle of the 19^th Century and subsequently extended, it covered more than 300 acres. The only building that the park had on its premises was the Raj Bhavan today which then was known as the Residency.

A little down the Residency and on what is today Infantry Road was the office of the Commissioner of Police which was a hotel and it also housed stables.

Behind the Cubbon Park was the vast and sprawling Sampangi Lake which was separated from Cubbon Park by the breathtaking Sydney Road.

Cubbon Park, till a few decades ago, occupied 325 acres but the powers that be have over the years permitted buildings and commercial complexes and of course offices to come up all around the park and today, the park areas is just 190 acres.

Named after Mark Cubbon who is one of the longest serving Chief Commissioners of Mysore, the park has already been renamed as Chamarajendra (It was renamed in 1927). However, very few are aware of the renaming and people still continue to call it Cubbon Park.

Interestingly, Cubbon who was the chief commissioner of Mysore from 1834 to 1861, never set his eyes on the park. Nor did he commission it. He was in Egypt when the idea of such a park took shape and he died there en route to England.  

The park owes its origin to Colonel Meade who was the Commissioner of Mysore from 1870 to 1875. Actual work on the park commenced in 1864 when the British wanted an ornamental garden around the Attara Kutcheri (the present High Court which housed the administrative offices from 1868. Before being shifted to the Kutcheri which was built in 1864, the offices were in the palace of Tipu near the Bangalore fort). The then Chief Engineer of Mysore, Richard Sankey, commenced work on the park in 1864. It was formally inaugurated in 1870.

The park was initially Meade’s Garden before it took on the name of  Cubbon. The first patch of green was on a 100-acre plot around Attara Kacheri. Over the years, the Government acquired orchards and paddy fields from Thigalas or Vanniyars who had settled centuries ago to expand the park.
The park had toll booths and the police and military patrolled the park on horses to limit the interaction between the residents of the Pete or Pettah and Cantonment.

The first fountain in the park came up in 1935-36 and the cost was  Rs 5,000. It was a present by the then Queen of Nepal.

The park, till a few years ago, was the place where several protests, dharnas, demonstrations, satyagraha and other forms of agitation was held. The Gopala Gowda Circle was the place where the maximum number of protests took place till they were banned.

The protests are no longer held here and protesters can only come up to KR Circle Basaveshwara Circle and Minsk Square.

The park also was home to a club which was patronised by the   Maharaja of Mysore, Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar. This is the Century Club. The other clubs in the vicinity are the Secretariat Club, KSLTA Club  and the Press Club. Towards one end of the park is the KSCA Club and the Cricket stadium (Chinnaswamy Stadium).

Even today, the park continues to be the centre of attraction, It houses the High Court which is the supreme judicial body of the State. It is also the headquarters of the Karnataka State Bar Council (KSBC) which is the apex body of advocates of Karnataka. The High Court also houses the office or High Court unit of the Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) which is one of the largest such organisations in India with several thousand members.

The High Court also houses the office of the Advocate-General who is the legal advisor of the Chief Minister and the head of Government pleaders, advocates of Karnataka. It also has the office of the State Public Prosecutor who is head of the criminal division of  the Government advocate machinery.  

The General Post Office (GPO) is also situated on the periphery of the park as is the Central Telegraph Office. The Press Club of Bangalore too is located in the park.

The headquarters of the State Police the YMCA, Yavanika which is the headquarters of the Department of Youth and Sports Service and also has an auditorium, the Metropolitan courts, RBI, PWD all share their compounds with the park. Several museums such as the Government Museum (built in 1876 and is credited with being one of the oldest), Visvesvaraiah Technical and Industrial Museum, Venkatappa Art Gallery, Aquarium are also located on the premises. The Jawahar Bal Bhavan, the premier body of children and the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association courts which have hosted many international tennis matches are also on the premises.

The headquarters of the State Central Library too is on the premises and it is in the eye catching Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall. This iconic building was constructed in 1915. The Visvesvaraiah Towers, Coffee Board, BESCOM, MS Building, Vikasa Soudha, UVCE and a host of other offices and establishments are situated in the periphery of the park.    

Cubbon Park is perhaps the only one of its kind which is a real living park. It gives people the pleasure of its greenery apart from making available several roads for vehicular traffic-from Tiffanys Circle or Siddalingaiah Circle at the junction of Kasturba Road and Mallya Road, the road from Mahatma Gandhi statue into Cubbon Park, the traffic island from Minsk Square at the junction of GPO and CTO, the road from Hudson Circle and also the road leading from KR Circle into the park.

This park also houses the highest decision making, policy making and legal interpretation in the State apart from being a centre of science education (VITM), child entertainment (Bal Bhavan and children’s park ), journalism (Press Club where a host of press conferences and meet the press programmes are held), advocates’ association and postal and telegraph-telephony services.

There are several small temples and deities on the premises. The Band Stand once played music but today it is a sad reflection of what it was once.   

What sets this park aside from others of its ilk is that it has been a witness to many epoch making events and incidents. Who can forget the many swearing in ceremonies that were organised on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha and the crowds spilled onto the lawns of the High Court.

The park has also seen some of the most eminent personalities of the world traversing its green and appreciating its greenery. The who is who of Bangalore, including Chief Justices, judges, Chief Ministers, Ministers, bureaucrats, technocrats, scientists, academicians and others have taken their morning walk on the lawns of the park.

Several NGOs such as ESG, Hasiru Usuru and others and personalities like Justice M.F. Saldhana, Bimal Desai, Suresh Heblikar and scores of others have fought to protect, preserve and nurture Cubbon Park.

The park today is under increasing threat from growing urbanisation. As recently as two years ago, a parcel of land at Gopala Gowda Circle and near the Minsk Square had to be sacrificed for the Namma Metro. The beautiful lawns of Cubbon Park in front of the High Court were dug up to accommodate the construction of the underground section on Ambedkar Veedhi. The onslaught has to be stopped and the boundaries of the park have to be preserved for posterity.

The park even today is a rich treasure trove of exotic species of  trees, plants and shrubs. Some of the oldest trees in parks and gardens can be found here. The park also has a number of  avenue laden paths decorated with flowering plants and shrubs.

The park, according to the Department of Horticulture, has 68 exotic species of plants including Swietenina mahogany, Araucaria, Grevillea robusta, Bamboo, Grevillea robusta, Castanospermum australe, Milletia, Peltophorum Schinus molle, and Tabebuia sp. Besides, the park has 6,500 varieties of native species including Ficus, Artocarpus, Cassia fistula and Polyalthias.

The silver Oaks were first introduced from Australia and today they are a major attraction as are the gulmohar and delonix trees.           

Thankfully, the original alignment of the Namma Metro was to take an underground line under the Cubbon Park. This alignment was given up and the metro line was routed through Minsk Square and GPO Circle (Thimmaiah Circle) to Ambedkar Veedhi. Imagine the destruction the original line would have caused to the fragile flora and fauna of the park.  

India's finest equestrian bronze

This is one of the finest bronze equestrian statues of India and it located in the Garden City of Bangalore.

It was entirely sculpted by one of the famous Italian artistes of his times. The bronze statue belongs to one of the many British military officers who made Bangalore their home and contributed immensely to the development of Bangalore and then Mysore State.

The statue today is a little out of public attention for the simple reason that it stands alone and isolated within the premises of one of the most beautiful buildings in Bangalore and entry to the building is restricted.

This is the statue of Sir Mark Cubbon (August 23, 1775 – April 23, 1861) the then Commissioner of Mysore State and a man who contributed immensely to the development of Bangalore.

The statue of Cubbon astride a horse is in front of the Karnataka High Court in Cubbon Park. Yes, the front of the High Court is the end which faces the Cubbon Park Band stand and not the structure that faces the Vidhana Soudha.

The bronze statue of Cubbon is on a pedestal a little away from the front portico of the High Court. You can see the statue from the small gate that is locked and which is situated on the fence that separates the High Court from the Cubbon Park.

This is the second oldest statue on Cubbon Park and was commissioned by Baron Carlo (Charles) Marochetti (January 4, 1805 – December 29, 1867) an Italian-born French sculptor.

Carlo Marochetti was born in Turin but brought up in Paris as a French citizen. His first teachers in art in Paris were François Joseph Bosio and Antoine-Jean Gros.

When in Paris, he came up with the statue of  “A Young Girl playing with a Dog” in 1829 and this won him a medal. Since then, his career took off and he continued living in France till 1848. He then fled to England.

His first equestrian statue was that of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, which today stands in the Piazza San Carlo in Turin. Italy.

He sculpted the equsterain statue of Richard the Lionheart in England.

Another statue of his, Robert Stephenson, which was installed in 1871 still stands in the forecourt of Euston Station. He made a bust of William Makepeace Thackeray for Westminster Abbey. He also created the marble recumbent effigies for the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore in Windsor Great Park and the statue on the Duke of Wellington Commemorative Column outside Stratfield Saye House.

From 1864 he collaborated with Sir Edwin Landseer on the four bronze lions to be placed around the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, and cast them at his foundry in London.

A favourite sculptor of Queen Victoria of England, he was commissioned to make the seated figure of Prince Albert for the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. However the first version was rejected by the architect of the monument, Sir George Gilbert Scott, and Marochetti died before a satisfactory second version could be completed.

Marochetti created the Cubbon bronze with great care. It is one of the most beautiful bronze statues in the country and the second oldest in Cubbon Park after that of Queen Victoria. The Cubbon statue was unveiled on March 16, 1866.

He also worked on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the triumphal equestrian statues in Turin. However, much of his work is found in England.

His bronze equestrian of  Cubbon is one of the few equestrian statues in India. Some other equestrian statues are that of Chatrapathi Shivaji in Colaba in Mumbai, the statue of Rani Laxmi Bai, the equestrian statue of  Edward VII by Sir Bertram Mackennal close to Victoria Memorial and another statue of Bagha Jatin by the side of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata.

Interestingly, the statue of Cubbon was moved a few feet after work commenced on the construction of  the new annexe of the High Court building

The ditch that became a park

This was a huge ditch that changed the way the Mysore Palace looked. The change occurred in the last month of the 19th Century and Mysore looked transformed from then on.

It is now spruced up and looks as ravishing as the Lalbagh and Cubbon Park of Bangalore. The only difference is that this is not as big as the two parks of Bangalore.

Today, it is known as the Curzon Park and it was commissioned by the Wodeyars, the rulers of Mysore, to commemorate the visit of Viceroy of British India Lord George Curzon.

Curzon was the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and he visited Mysore in December 1900. The Wodeyars had the ditch in front of the Amba Vilas or main palace filled up and commissioned a garden.

They named it Curzon Park and it was opened in December 1900 to mark the first visit of the Viceroy. By then, the construction of the Amba Vilas Palace was underway for three years and its boundaries were being demarcated.

The vast open space in front of the palace was filled up with earth and the garden began taking shape. This plan to give the city a new garden started in the 1890s itself.

The ditch was actually a moat but by then there was no need for such a defensive mechanism. It goes to the credit of the Wodeyars and the City administration that they decided to put the moat to better use.

Lord Curzon came to Mysore on November 30, 1900, and toured the erstwhile Mysore State for 10 days. He visited Srirangapatna, Kakanakote, Bangalore and KGF. The red silk cotton tree (Kempu Boorugada Mara) in the park which is now a heritage tag was  planted by Curzon.

There are at least eight other trees in the open space which have survived the vagaries of Nature for more than 110 years. A huge neem tree here is also more than a century old.  Unfortunately, another equally old tree-a mango tree-which was near the bus stand, was felled.

Curzon Park become a riot of colours during Dassara when it plays host to the flower show. These shows are generally held for nine days from October 1 to October 9.
The park is spread over 7.5 acres and it has been renovated with ornamental plants, exotic flowers,  walking track, children's playground, cascading waterfalls and Bonsai exhibits.
So after a visit to the palace, enjoy a walk in the garden and look up the old trees.

The butterflies of Bannerghatta

These days Bangalore has been receiving negative publicity, thanks to the inability of the civic authorities in sorting out the garbage mess. The perceived rise in the crime chart has also given the city an image that it could well do without.

Many of my friend and colleagues have poked fun at Bangalore, saying that there is a scam every day in Bangalore and that all the politicians belong to the same feather. No matter who comes, development takes a back seat, they argued.

I chose to defend my City. There is development and it has been happening whether one party is in power or not. Bangalore, I said, has its own unique character and image.

My friends asked me to give one example of people friendly development in the last few years. When I said look at the Metro, they laughed and said only when the entire project is completed will real development and change on the traffic scenario will be seen. Till then, the Metro only covers a small distance, they sneered.

Another friend tried to come to my aid and suggested that I could tell them of a project that at least helped give a new image of the City. But, do not give the example of the International Airport, he urged. Give us an example of a development work that is not there any where in India, he said. Even as I was desperately trying to give an example, my wife said I could tell my friends the story of Bangalore’s Butterfly Park.

I visited the Butterfly Park and collected information about it, so that I could counter my friend’s arguments about stalled or delayed developmental works in Bangalore.

The drive from Jayanagar 4th Block where I stay to the Butterfly Park took more than an hour as the Bannerghatta Road was full of traffic.

The Butterfly Park was inaugurated on November 25, 2006 by the then Union Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal. It is located within the Bannerghatta Biological Park. It is India’s first butterfly park.

Set up at a cost of Rs. 5 crores, it a collaborative venture of the State and Central Governments, Zoo Authority of Karnataka, University of Agriculture Sciences and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE).

The park was chosen to be set up on 7.5 acres in Bannerghatta Park area as this was deemed to be the most suitable location due to its prevailing vegetation.

The park comprises a butterfly conservatory, museum and an audio-visual room. The conservatory, which is one of the best of its kind, supports over 20 species of butterflies. It has a polycarbonate roof and is a 10,000 sq.ft. circular enclosure.

The setting in the conservatory is tropical. This is because butterflies need high temperatures to be able to fly and breed. The climate within the conservatory is humid, with an artificial waterfall and several species of  plants and shrubs to attract butterflies.

You move out of the conservatory to the second and third closed enclosures. The second enclosure is the museum with attractively displayed exhibits.The pictorial representation of the four stages of lifecycle of a butterfly from the egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis to the adult is eye catching.

Catch up here on some rare to come information on the butterflies. Did you know that butterflies comes in all sizes but they almost have the same shape. The Eastern pygmy blue, Brephidium isophthalma, is the smallest of the butterflies with a wingspan of about 5/8 of an inch. Bird-wing butterflies from New Guinea, with wingspans of up to 12 inches happen to be one of the largest .

The last dome houses a theatre which screens a fascinating feature on butterflies. The documentaries are of 20 duration and they give vital information on the conservation of these insects. The audio –visual show is sure to attract children, students and zoologists.

The park is set up adjacent to the parking area of the Bannerghatta Zoo. It is generally open from 9 a. m., to 5 p.m., from Wednesdays to Mondays. It is closed on Tuesdays. Here is some more information on butterflies.There are 1,500,000 species of insects in the world and 200,000 of them belong to Lepidoptera family. Butterflies belong to the Leidoptera family along with moths. Of the 2 lakhs in this category, 15,000 are butterflies.

Since the Butterfly Park is adjacent to the National Park, I would suggest that you take a trip to the park and  the safari too. Do not forget to visit the Snake and Crocodile sections within the park. 

When I visited the tariff rate board said the entry fee for adults is Rs 20, Children – Rs 10,  Children below 5 years – free
Physically/mentally challenged persons – free.

Please do not take eatable inside and do not touch any plant or shrub. If caught, you can be fined Rs. 500. 

If you need any more information please contact the Executive Director, Bannerghatta Biological Park
Bangalore – 560083
Ph: 080 – 27828300/540, Fax: 080 – 27828400
Email: bannerghatta@vsnl.net Website: www.bannerghattabiopark.org

Here is some more information on butterflies.

Butterflies are generally day-flying insects. They taste with their feet. They, however, feel with their antanna.  Their life span is from a week to an year, depending on the species. They are brightly coloured and the earliest butterfly fossil dates back to 40 million years. 

Butterfiles can attain speed of upt o 50 kms per hour. They warm up for their flying by sunning themselves for some time  The butterfly lays its eggs on leaves. The eggs are gunned to the leaves with a glue that is so hard that the leaf cannot be separated from the egg.

The origin of the word butterfly can be traced to the English language. It comes from the mediaeval English word Buttorfleoge. The Monarch species of butterflies are known to fly over long distances.

Not all butterflies feed on plants. Some like the Red Admiral prefer rotting fruit and animal dung.