Review of Roopa Pai’s Cubbon Park — The Green Heart of Bengaluru: Where the earth speaks

Profiling Cubbon Park, which is central to the lives of people of Bengaluru

Bengaluru has often leapt from one cliche to the other. Pensioner’s paradise, India’s Silicon Valley and finally a meme about being stranded at the Silk Board signal. Beyond these labels exists a city with its undeniable charms rooted in its salubrious weather, quaint bookshops, watering holes and a welcoming culture evident through its ‘swalpa adjust maadi’ (please adjust a little) tone.

Above all, you get lovely parks — Lalbagh and Cubbon, essential lungs in an urban space. Roopa Pai’s Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru offers a hyper-local perspective and a deep-dive into the glorious history of a space dear to Bangaloreans. The book starts with a quote from Paul Fernandes: “How would I describe Cubbon Park? That’s easy! Central to a weekend!” Fernandes has chronicled the city through illustrations laced with nostalgia and tongue-in-cheek humour and it is lovely to have a hat-tip to him.

Roopa highlights the strategic location of the park, wedged as it is between Bengaluru’s twin-hearts: City and Cantonment, and then weaves in its past laced with Mysore royalty and British aristocracy before acknowledging the current denizens of the city. The tome highlights the role played by the erstwhile chief engineer Richard Sankey in designing the park, which was inaugurated in 1870 and “would go on to become one of the city’s most beloved green spaces.” The author goes back and forth in tying up the links, be it with Sankey, commissioner Sir Mark Cubbon, whose name got posthumously linked with the park, or Richard Meade.

The mosaic that is Bengaluru with its denizens of varied roots also permeates the cast of significant characters, who nurtured the park, like for instance Seshadri Iyer, dewan of the Kingdom of Mysore, with Palghat being his hometown. Cutting to the present, Prem Koshy, who runs the iconic Koshy’s restaurant, offers philosophy: “In the park, the earth speaks to you. Come it says, jump on me, sit on me, roll around in my leaves.”

Roopa throws light on the park’s varied flavours, be its flora and fauna, tryst with music and the clubs that exist within it. Importantly she stresses on a public movement in the 1990s when protests erupted over the government’s proposal to denotify a part of the park while activist Bimal Desai frequented the courts and veteran journalist T.J.S. George ran a front-page campaign in the Indian Express. It was a moment that revealed the infinite love citizens had for the park. Perhaps glimpses of those on the park’s periphery like pushcart vendors offering ice creams, cut fruits or peanuts, may have added value. Overall this is a fine effort and one that would make you seek out this iconic park, next time you are in Bengaluru.

Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru; Roopa Pai, Speaking Tiger, ₹499.

vijayakumar.kc@thehindu.co.in