LALBAGH BOTANICAL GARDEN

Hello everyone,

This weekend I visited the Lalbagh Botanical Garden, a jewel in the heart of Bangalore. Located in the heart of Bangalore at Jayanagar, this garden is more than two centuries old. The garden has four entrances, although I entered and exited the garden from the Main Gate facing the north, towards the Subbaiah circle.

The garden was commissioned by the ruler of Hyderabad Hyder Ali and was completed by his son Tipu Sultan. It was subsequently taken care of by the British rulers and the Indian lovers of Horticulture and over the years many acres have been added and many new plant species added. The garden derives its name 'LAL BAGH' from a collection of red roses that remain blooming through out the year.  Hyder Ali's son Tipu Sultan added horticultural wealth by importing trees from Cape Town, Persia, Kabul.

 The garden is a vast expanse of greenery and contains the largest collection of  rare plants in the subcontinent. It also houses the India first lawn clock by HMT which is a centre of attraction for visitors. It has many themed gardens like the Japanese garden, the Bonsai garden etc. The jewel of Lal Bagh is the Glass House built in 1889 and modelled on the lines of the Crystal Palace in England. It was built to acclimatise the imported plants but now holds the biannual flower shows.

The garden also has a stone hillock which houses a monument in memory of Kempe Gowda, and one can climb up the small hillock to get a birds eye view of the garden. One of my favourite spots was the Bonsai garden situated at the on the opposite side of the hillock. The Bonsai Garden has a very grand entrance and also has small pond which houses aquatic plants and a shoal of small ornamental fishes like mollies, colourful guppies etc. I have to say this was my favourite, the aquatic plants had created kind of a natural ecosystem for the fish and one can stand there for hour looking at the fishes swim around the aquatic plants.

 The garden holds a wide variety of plants and flower species some quite exotic. It also holds a tree fossil dating back almost a million years.The garden is very well laid out and has boards at numerous spots showing the different places of interests in the garden. There are well laid out pathways and seats at every places. The park has been maintained properly and there are also quite a few shops and cafeterias.

One can have a perfect start to the day by coming for a jog or a morning walk at the garden and can equally count as the perfect place to spend a quite afternoon. The tranquil and peaceful atmosphere can help many a creative mind come across some brilliant ideas. I could also see love blossoming at the garden as I could see countless number of couples engaged in deep conversation  totally unaware of the passage of time. Similarly there were many family having a small family picnic or spending a quite weekend afternoon at the garden. 

Overall it was quite a pleasant and memorable experience for me at the historic and wonderful Lal Bagh.

facult@mantraacademy.com

GOVERNMENT AQUARIUM

Hello everyone,

This weekend I visited a place that I  visited one of my favorite places in Bangalore, the Government Aquarium, and this being my second visit to this place, I decided to document my visit through my sketches. Situated in Kasturba Road at the entrance of Cubon Park, the aquarium is quite close to other Kasturba Road attractions like the Government Museum and the Visveshwarya Technology Museum.If one gets down at the Mahatma Gandhi statue bus stop one can easily spot the octagonal shaped building at the corner of the road.

The aquarium building is fairly new, being inaugurated in the year 1983, and holds the distinction of being the second largest aquarium in the country. Unlike the other Kasturba Road attractions this building's design doesnot resemble the colonial buildings, but instead is quite quirky and different in style. It is octagonal in shape and is three stories tall.

The ground floor is occupied by administrative office and laboratory which is accessible by the common public. A spiral pathway to the right leads to the main building. The tanks are spread out in two floors, and the inside are purposefully kept dark, so that illuminated tanks become the center of attractions.The aqaurium houses a variety of freshwater fishes. The first floor consists of a row of tanks containing the larger fishes namely a couple of oscar fishes, a tankfull of  grey pangasius catfishes and another tank containing a shoal of albino pangasius catfish. There is also a huge and mature aligator gar, and some goldfishes.

In the second floor there is two rows of tanks, containing both small and large fishes. The main attractions being a couple of tanks housing some really big arowana fish and a couple of tanks containing some alligator gars. Me being a hobby aquarist, I have kept a large variety of fresh water fishes over the years, was really disappointed and saddened at the condition of some of the fishes. The aqaurium has quite a few varities of Cichlids, and Cichlids being quite aggressive fishes are prone to a lot of infighting and needs constant attention and timely treatment of wounds. Unfortunately the fish keepers at the aquarium does not seem to be doing their job as many of the cichlids have scarred and wounded fins and have bacterial infections growing on their wounds. Also there was one tank housing quite a good variety of cichlids but the all of the fishes in that tank were very sick visible from the wounds in their fins and their compressed bellies. Also many of the tanks were empty or had wrong information mentioned on top of the tank.

There were quite a few healthy tanks too like the one in the ground floor containing a shoal of eel fish and another one containing a shoal of black ghost knife fish. Overall I feel that the fishes could do with some more love and care, and some of the tanks should be fitted with better filtration to keep the fishes in the prime of their health. Also I feel that the aquarium can keep some more varieties of  fishes like Discus fishes which are very beautiful and quite expensive and most good aquariums would atleast have one tankful of Discus fishes. The aquarium can become a major attraction if a little care and attention  is paid to the running of the aquarium. It has the potential to be a entertaining and educative experience for children.

All said I still love the aquarium, it's just the condition of some of the fishes that saddens me and I hope the authorities do enough to take care of this place.

GOVERNMENT MUSEUM AND VENKATAPPA ART GALLERY

Hello everyone,

      This weekend I visited the Bangalore Museum and Venkatappa Art Gallery in Kasturba Road. If one walks down Kasturba road, it is almost impossible to not notice this century old red British era building. Situated in Cubon Park, which is a vast expanse of greenery in the very heart of Bangalore, the park also houses other elegant buildings like the Karnataka High Court which has the same red colour and architectural style as the museum, the Government Aquarium, Visveswarya Technological Museum, and the Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall.

The Bangalore Museum is an archaeological museum, which was originally built by the British in the year 1876, after which a lot of expansions have been added over the years, all confirming to the same iconic style. Me not being an architectural student am not able to describe the architectural style in proper terms, but what strikes me was the contrasting colour scheme of the white circular arches with the red columns on the exterior of the museum.

Being one of the oldest museums in India and the second oldest in South India, I expected to see some very ancient artifacts and objects and I was not disappointed. The museum has galleries spread over two floors covering sections like sculpture, geology, art, music and natural history. It holds an enviable collection of coins,sculpture,old jewelry and also the Halmidi inscription which is the oldest Kannada inscription. It has artifacts from Mohenjadaro, Halebid and Vigaynagar. The museum also holds a model of Srirangapatna, the fort of Tipu Sultan. Beside the entrance of the museum there is a field gun on display, and in the rear on the outside there is some more display of artefacts and a couple of cannons.

After this I visited the adjoining the Venkatappa art gallery. Being a design student I have to say I enjoyed this more.The building is fairly new and does not share architectural style with the museum.
Spread over two floors, the ground floor holds paintings of Venkatappa after whom the gallery is named. The second floor holds paintings of Hebbar, which I found really amazing including a self portrait done by him. Besides this the gallery also holds some paintings of some other artists. The rooms which holds these paintings are quite big and have well positioned seats where one can sit and appreciate the paitings.

On the ouside there is a small cafeteria and a moat kind of structure flanked by  a small garden where one can sit and enjoy a peaceful afternoon.Overall it was quite a pleasant experience and worth visiting. I was able to draw a couple of sketches of the museum and have uploaded them below.

So adios and I hope to cover a new landmark next week.

faculty@mantraacademy.com

ISKCON TEMPLE

Hello everyone,

My name is Subhadeep Dey, and I am a 24 year old transportation design student from Kolakata studying in Bangalore and i am trying my hands in blogging for the first time. I decided to dedicate my blog to exploring the landmarks of Bangalore through my sketches. Sketching is my passion and requirement as well which makes it all the more interesting for me.I will go to a different place every weekend and post my sketches of that place in my blog and will also give some of my thoughts about that place.

I have started to stay in Bangalore for the past one week and decided to explore all the famous and interesting places of  this amazing city through my own way. Though i don't usally draw architecture i decided to do so for my blog and hope to improve on my skills as the weeks go by..I will go to a different place every week and post my sketches of that place in my blog and will also give some my thoughts about that place.

For my first blog i decided to visit the ISKCON temple of Bangalore. This temple has become one of the popular attractions of Bangalore and to me showcases the city in some way. Now i don't want to speak much about the history of this temple as it already very popular and well known. What I found unusual is the architecture of this temple which is very unlike other temple. It is an amalgamation of old and new architectural styles. As one enters the temple after walking up the small hill one can see the stone carved triangular structures jutting out of the black tinted glass roof panels.

Inside the temple is very grand and ambitious with thousands of visitors thronging the temple premises every day. The center of attraction is of course the gold plated thrones of lord Krishna.The inside of the temple is adorned with beautiful and grand carvngs and paintings.Though there are not many places to sit and make a nice sketch of the temple i managed to do a couple of quick sketches from some good angles.

I would like to end my first post on a departing note although i don't mean to offend anyone, i was clearly annoyed at the way the authorities have commercialized this beautiful temple with the visitors forced to walk through a big chain of shops inside the temple selling everthing from miniature idols,DVD's to food items in a way to lure the visitors to buy something even though they may not need it.

So, adios and i hope to blog again next week with some more sketches.