Built to
resemble an idyllic English borough with `squares’, quaint monkey top bungalows
and conservancy lanes, Frazer Town (or Mootocherry as it was called until 1858),
managed to retain its indolent air and passion fruit trees even after the real
estate boom caught up with Bangalore East. Re-named in 1910 after Stuart
Frazer, tutor to Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar, it found itself being called
Pulikeshinagar in 2007, a name that continues to be ignored by both local
residents and city auto drivers.
But while the
area grappled with change, its memories found refuge in aPaulogy, a Gallery of
Curious Illustrations and humorous anecdotes that sits snugly in a little
corner near Richards Park. Owned by wellknown cartoonist and illustrator, Paul Fernandes,
aPaulogy is a must visit when in the area. It showcases an incomprehensible,
quirky Cantonment culture through tongue-in-cheek watercolours, line
illustrations and Shineboards that have had Bangaloreans chuckling for over a
decade.
The journey back
to the 70’s and 80’s begins at the window, where a moustached policeman of yore
stands scowling in his famous starched khaki shorts. Inside the brightly lit studio-gallery
are detailed watercolours with famous city landmarks and endearing characters, as
well as familiar vignettes from Frazer Town itself-a jam at the Frazer Town
under bridge, Everest Talkies that only showed English movies till not too long
ago, Dewars Bar with its `veshti’
clad waiters and Thom’s Bakery on St. Johns Road that stocked the most
wonderful Christmas`kul-kuls’ in
town. The memories can also be taken home as posters, framed prints, post cards,
coasters and books like ‘On a High Note' - a slightly inebriated introduction to
Western music.
The Frazer
Town of Paul’s childhood was a quiet neighbourhood with a skyline dominated by
the St. Xavier’s Cathedral and St. John’s Church, the `Sigapoo Oosimatha Koil ‘ or `Red Church’ as it was called. A Coke could be bought for 70 paise at AM
Café, one of three on Mosque Road. “There were only twelve houses with large
gardens around Richards Square, so we all knew each other and met nearly every
day. The Bangalore East Railway Station had engine drivers who became friends. We
got grease from the engines for our bicycles when they stopped here. It was a
peaceful, happy, tree filled area that influenced not only my life and work but
everyone who lived here.”
The glimmer
of an aPaulogy began over six years ago when Paul’s own home nearby gave way to
an apartment building. “You could see the loss in terms of sheer beauty and
aesthetics and that it really wasn’t a better thing. I decided it was
worthwhile trying to record memories rather than architecture. Just happy, positive
memories that the city was known for. I didn’t want to tamper with them by
bringing in negative thoughts and present day cribs and curses.” Ever since
aPaulogy opened on Dec 21, 2011, younger generations have also discovered a conduit
to the Bangalore they had only heard about but never seen.
APaulogy is
not a sentimental ode to a Bangalore that was. Instead, it shows us how the
city and its idiosyncrasies can be viewed with an indulgent eye and a wide
smile. Perhaps that is because in this sunlit, leafy corner of Frazer Town, somehow, the glass always feels half full.
Original article published in The Hindu newspaper on July 5th, 2013
