The never-say-die entrepreneurial spirit of Bengaluru

Sriram Devatha still remembers how Naveen Pishe, of P.N. Rao Fine Suits fame, suddenly asked him to stand up and put his legs together, mid-conversation. “He (Pishe) told me that I was not bowlegged... that 90% of this country is,” says Devatha, the author of Brandgaluru-Made in Bengaluru, a book about four iconic brands that have originated in the city.

Sriram Devatha still remembers how Naveen Pishe, of P.N. Rao Fine Suits fame, suddenly asked him to stand up and put his legs together, mid-conversation. “He (Pishe) told me that I was not bowlegged... that 90% of this country is,” says Devatha, the author of Brandgaluru-Made in Bengaluru, a book about four iconic brands that have originated in the city.

He was especially struck by Pishe’s observation since the brand -- one of the four featured in the book -- made suits and they needed to understand human anatomy. “I found that interesting,” says Devatha, Consulting Editor, YourStory, who was part of a recent conversation about his book held at Atta Galatta, Indiranagar. “You think a suitmaker will talk fabric, etc. But he has a solid sense of anatomy.” 

There are many delightful moments like this one, gleaned from talking to the people behind these four brands, -- P.N. Rao, William Penn, Judge Press and Radel Electronics -- that still linger in his mind. Take, for instance, how Nikhil Rajan, who founded stationery brand William Penn in 2002, spoke about his family backing his venture, a rare admission in the entrepreneurial ecosystem that continues to romanticise the lone wolf myth. “That was an interesting personality,” he says. 

Another interesting story was of how Judge Press, one of the city’s oldest printing presses, decided to turn a pizzeria and lodge on Residency Road into a printing press.

The most interesting insights came from conversations with the founders or their descendants of these businesses, he says. “That gave me a sense of who they are, and what is important to them,” he adds.

But Devatha’s book is more than simply a collection of profiles of the brands and their founders. It also brings in layers of Bengaluru‘s history, shaped by colonisation, migration, invasion, commerce, disease, wars, technology, music, and much more. 

“One of the nice things about writing microhistory is that you can hitch on what is happening. It gives you a wonderful contrast between the micro and macro,” he says, pointing out that history tends to focus on larger-than-life figures. “But what was an average Joe thinking at that time?” he says, adding that individual histories can collectively validate what was happening at a macro level, a sense of how society lived, and how the dominant narrative adds up.