Bengaluru, Bangalore, Bengaluru: Imaginations and their Times

Description

Probing into the history beyond mere historical facts, this book focuses on the ′imaginations′ that have determined the course of Bengaluru over the last two-and-a-half centuries. It puts together contemporary accounts of the imaginations of those who were heard at each point of time. This approach is particularly relevant in present day India, of the current time where debates on history are largely a matter of choosing one set of historical facts instead of another. The imaginations in the book relate to those of the Bengaluru of the eighteenth century that the British colonised; the nineteenth century Bangalore they ruled, directly or indirectly; the Bangalore of the twentieth century years after Independence; and the Bengaluru of the twenty-first century. It identifies the events that marked the turning points in the history of the city over those centuries, from the Battle for Bangalore in 1791 to the battles on the city′s roads in the twenty-first century. It then picks the ′words′ that capture the imagination that prompted each event, whether it was in the form of Thomas Munro′s letter home, Seshadri Iyer′s report to the Assembly on the plague or the prospectus of the Initial Public Offer of shares by Infosys. This work, which provides a new view of Bengaluru′s history as well as a method of looking at the past that is quite different from most Indian historical studies, will interest historians, sociologists and all academics in the social sciences. Contents Preface List of Abbreviations Imaginations of Bengaluru Part I: Bengaluru to Bangalore 1 - The Fall of the Peté, 4 March 1791 2 - The Storming of the Fort, 21 March 1791 3 - A Diary in 1800 Part II: Cantonment and the Anglo-indian legacy 4 - The Defence of Lieutenant-Colonel John Bell, 27 February 1810 5 - The Mutiny of the 84th, October 1815 6 - A Weslyan View 7 - Whitefield 8 - Muslim Citizens of the Civil and Military Station Part III: Educating Bangalore 9 - Miss Manning and Zenana Education 10 - Enumerating Education 11 - The Underdog as Scientist 12 - Accessing Education Abroad 13 - Examinations and Merit Part IV: In Pursuit of the Modern 14 - The Coming of Electricity 15 - Son of Mysore 16 - Investigate, Educate, Organise 17 - Workers of the City, Unite 18 - Taking Off 19 - The Birth of the Infosys Saga Part V: Guardian State 20 - The Plague 21 - Moving out of Risk 22 - The Vokkaliga Case 23 - Living Through the Debate on Reservation Part VI: Bangalore to Bengaluru 24 - The Gokak Card 25 - Response to Gokak 26 - An Agenda for a Global City 27 - Warm, Warmer 28 - Getting up to Speed 29 - Governing Change 30 - The Built Environment Part VII: The Future in the Past 31 - Of Men and Ramrajya 32 - In Science We Trust Epilogue Notes and References About the Editors