Malleswaram - The soul of Bangalore?

The night's coolness penetrates into the core of my being, engulfing my spirit in a tight embrace. It is nothing short of an albeit shallow spiritual experience.

Sometimes someone or something comes into your life for a very short while, but fills it up in such a way that even in their subsequent absence, their memory can whisk you away irrespective* of where you are, invoking emotions associated with abstract, incomprehensible feelings that perhaps only you can understand. Even the person who understands you the most can only know that you’d prefer to be left alone at such times. Such is my relationship with Malleswaram, my Bangalore home. Well, not too far away – a mere 350 kilometers from Mylapore according to Google maps. Well, that is far enough for me, but I didn’t want to get too close either. My solitary days in Bangalore (ok, dear friends, I liked being with you too, please don’t stop reading my blog) were some of the best days of my life, and this sacred area certainly tops the list of things that made them so.

Malleswaram, having nurtured me during my first month at Bangalore, catering to both my dietary and religious needs, is, to me a mixture of temple and home. The very sound of the name, "Malleswaram" makes my heart skip a beat, triggering emotions in me that I associate with divinity and.. home. Flanked by Mantri mall and Sankey tank, this area is a home away from home for a Mylapore-bred, curd-rice eating, religiously inclined brahmin like myself.

Though an area spanning around 10 main, and 18 cross roads, the heart of Malleswaram, according to me at least, lies on Sampige and Margosa- two roads which happen to be 2nd and 3rd Main roads respectively. These two are certainly the busiest roads of Malleswaram, forever bustling with activity. The ratio of pedestrians and vehicles is such that it is hard to decide whether the road is busier, or the footpath, serving as a live example of choked flow at street junctions.

Named after the three-century-old Kadu Malleshwara Swamy Temple (also known as Kadu Mallikarjunaswamy Temple) which stands between 15th and 16th cross roads, with its entrances on 1st main road and Sampige road, Malleswaram houses scores of temples, and, unless I'm much mistaken, the number touches a hundred. The grandeur, however, lies in the fact that many of these temples are old enough to have stories that can be called history. Bangalore's temples are relatively far too small when compared to the several-acres-spanning temples of Tamil Nadu's temple towns, but that results in a far better maintenance of the place. Each temple is unique in its own way, evoking a special emotion, in me that I find impossible to explain. While Kadu Malleshwara houses a shrine for Lord Subrahmanya whose shrines are relatively rare to find in Karnataka, the adjacent Sai Baba temple is a completely different experience, with its marble architecture and peaceful silence. Walking further down Sampige Road toward the lower numbered crosses, one comes across smaller shrines including one for Ganesha and one for Shiva, before stumbling upon a Raghavendraswamy temple near 12th cross. To the right is a Yadugiri Madhwa Mutt and a right turn adjacent to it leads to Venugopalaswamy temple on 11th cross road - yet another spiritually uplifting place that is often seen to host spiritual discourses and the like.

A visit to Malleswaram is rudimentary without a walk on 8th cross, particularly the portion in between East and West Park roads. This is the busiest part of the area excluding Mantri Mall, its peak hours being between 6:30 and 8:30pm. Adorned by boutiques, fancy stores and the famous Hotel Janata, and sanctified by the Kannika Parameshwari temple, this road is my personal favourite. It is impossible for one to come here and not have his/her spirits lifted. The fruit and vegetable market on the East Park road adjacent to the Mahaganapati temple is, again a visual treat.

No writeup on Malleswaram is complete without mentioning its remarkable restaurants - each is special in its own way, and a handful of them deserve a dedicated chapter each in a book on Malleswaram. If you are a veggie in pursuit of good food, Malleswaram is your paradise. Restaurants - old and new, fill each row and column into which the locality is so beautifully arranged. The old ones include Shri Sagar - or as it is better known, CTR (central tiffin room) famed for its authentic 'benne' masala dosa, Janatha for its vada sambhar, Veena stores for their early breakfast (from 6:00am, yeah) and throughout the day tiffin, two branches of Asha Sweet center for their mouthwatering rasmalais and basundis, and, of course, a branch of Adyar Ananda Bhavan in case you have a tongue for the Tamil version of sambhar. And that isn't even half of the list. There are three independently managed "Iyer" messes to which office-going bachelors throng, particularly on weekends. The culinery Malleswaram is known to have new shops and restaurants opened at least once a month. I have found it difficult to recognize even my most frequented roads, on turning up after a month, owing to a couple of unfamiliar shops (Sudarshan Silks, for example), restaurants (like the new one opposite to Venugopalaswamy temple) and occasionally even entirely  new buildings (the aforementioned Sudarshan Silks again).

The compulsive non-veg eaters need not be dejected. A Chung's restaurant near Veena stores in 16th cross has received good reviews. The erstwhile purely vegetarian 8th cross is now guilty of a small placde that serves chicken. Malleswaram also has branches of Shanti Sagar, McDonalds and Adiga's which plague the rest of the city. There is a branch of Papa John's pizza opposite to Shanti Sagar (Pizza Corner used to have a branch there back in my time).

While I believe I have already caught the attention of shopping freaks, there's more. A little over a year back, a branch of Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan opened at 7th cross. I consider Sampige Road the T.Nagar of Bangalore, with shops for clothes ranging from small apertures to a five floor building for Reliance Trends, stores for pooja items, condiments, country drugs (nattu marundhu) and more. Second hand book sellers at 9th cross Sampige Road and Malleswaram circle (5th cross) attract hundreds of bookworms every day. Bangalore's only branch of Giri Trading Agency stands at a humble, almost unnoticeable corner of Malleswaram circle (note the pun). The flower and fruit market on 13th cross Sampige road is a must visit.

For others, the area is also home to a government library (City Central Library) and a BJP Party office.

I could go on and on about this holy environ - and I often wonder if this place holds the soul of Bengaluru.. Some may argue that areas like Basavanagudi and Ulsoor are quite similar too.. I may not be able to give a convincing answer, but Malleswaram surely is one with my soul - forever.

*This article is long overdue. Blogger indicates that my last edit was on 5.10.2014. I was worried that I might not be able to relate with Malleswaram any more, but the memories - rather, emotions are fresh.