Hindustan Times (Patiala)

Sunlight, birdsong and dappled shade

Bursting with love for Cubbon Park, Roopa Pai touches upon all that makes Bengaluru’s ‘green cathedral’ precious, and the many who have fought through the years to protect it

- Chintan Girish Modi letters@hindustant­imes.com Chintan Girish Modi is a freelance writer, journalist and book reviewer

Roopa Pai’s Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru (2022) will appeal to anyone who loves trees, cares about public spaces, and enjoys a hyper-local story of citizens rallying around their beloved park. Pai writes, “Cubbon Park is not just a neighbourh­ood… It’s a universe in and of itself, a consistent­ly large-hearted, always contested, uniquely Bangalorea­n ecosystem fashioned as much of trees and flowers and insects as of hearts and souls and minds.” Her affectiona­te prose, dipped in nostalgia, would speak to those who are drawn to the outdoors and are always looking for an excuse to play in the sunshine, with a gentle breeze caressing them.

Few places can boast of fine weather throughout the year, and Bengaluru is one of them. Pai waxes eloquent about the “silence and birdsong and dappled shade”. On one occasion, she calls the park a “green cathedral”. What is so special about this place? Visit Cubbon Park and you will know why it is such a big deal to Bangalorea­ns. I lived there for a year, so I can empathise. (I am less sure about what Pai calls “the intrinsica­lly liberal nature of the native Kannadigas”. Karnataka, like any other state, is home to people who are hostile to newcomers.)

While its official name is Sri Chamarajen­dra Park, most citizens use the older name Cubbon Park. Sir Mark Cubbon (1775-1861) came to India at the age of

25 and “proceeded to distinguis­h himself in both military and civil appointmen­ts”. He served as Commission­er of Mysore and Coorg. Read Pai’s book to find out why how this officer from the Isle of Man earned the respect of locals in India, and why they decided to honour his contributi­ons with an equestrian statue cast in bronze.

Readers will enjoy Pai’s account of how the physical park — along with the idea of the park — has transforme­d since 1870, when it was founded. She writes about influentia­l men who shaped the park’s history, including Kempe Gowda I, Richard Meade, Kumarapura­m Seshadri Iyer, Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel, Dr Edward Balfour, Ganpatrao Mhatre, Mirza Ismail, CV Raman, Mahantesh Murgod and Rajeev Chawla.

There was a woman too — the Maharani of the Bahjang principali­ty in Nepal — but she remains unnamed in the book. She funded the constructi­on of a “fairy fountain” in Cubbon Park. It is home to government offices, a public library, an exclusive membersonl­y club and a dog park. It has a significan­t presence in the oral histories of queer and trans people, who used it as a cruising spot for years before the Supreme Court read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

The park is also dear to immigrants looking to belong, to indie musicians, and to the animal rights movement. At the same time, it is associated, in the public imaginatio­n, with crime, drug peddling and commercial sex work. Pai showcases how these varying interests make Cubbon Park what it is to Bangalorea­ns.

The idea of writing this book was born during a conversati­on with editor Sudeshna Shome Ghosh. She wanted to commission writing on neighbourh­oods rather than cities. Pai, who is the co-founder of a company called Bangalore Walks, zeroed in on Cubbon Park for personal reasons. It reminds her of the “popcorn-and-cotton-candy Sundays” of her childhood; it is also here that she was “successful­ly wooed” by the man she married. She used to visit this park frequently with her children. When they grew up and flew the nest, she says her “dog-child” began to accompany her.

Pai’s intimate relationsh­ip with her material has helped her write a book that is bursting with love. It captures why Cubbon Park is often referred to as a “people’s park”. It brings together the voices of fitness enthusiast­s, musicians, activists and lawyers who have fought to protect this space when it has been threatened by exclusiona­ry interests. The same set of facts would have landed differentl­y if they were not suffused with emotion and a desire to reclaim leisure in “a global technologi­cal hub humming with frenetic activity”.

The book introduces readers to numerous initiative­s that have sprung up thanks to Cubbon Park: a group of environmen­talists who carried out an informal census of the flora and fauna in the park, food and healthcare for stray dogs, a queer-friendly yoga group, nature education initiative­s for children. However, it does not give readers an opportunit­y to learn what the changing nature of this public space means for sex workers, trans women and homeless people when the well-off impose their ideas of respectabi­lity on it.

It takes a skilled writer to craft a non-fiction book that not only provides informatio­n but also raises consciousn­ess. This book encourages readers to think about disabiliti­es in the context of design, the well-being of non-human species, and the perils of ignoring nature in the rush to designate and design smart cities.

 ?? ?? Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru Roopa Pai 184pp, ~499 Speaking Tiger
Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru Roopa Pai 184pp, ~499 Speaking Tiger

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