Whether you’re an OG Bangalorean or you’ve just moved here and haven’t unpacked yet because you were too busy pub-hopping over the weekend, there’s always more to learn about this fab city!
Bangalore is steeped in culture and heritage. It’s kinda like the universe – old, and always expanding. This means that there’s so much more to the city than what meets the eye. Every locality, every temple and its stepwell, every hill and every market has a story to tell. Honestly, learning all about Bangalore may take a lifetime, and who’s got that kind of time when we have to deal with endless meetings-that-could’ve-been emails? That’s where these books about Bangalore come in!
We’ve compiled our favourite written works about Bangalore so that all you need to do to explore this cosmopolitan gem is to leaf through the pages of these books where the protagonist is the city we love.
Discovering Bengaluru: History. Neighbourhoods. Walks
Think of this book as your guide to the city’s history and its different localities. Discovering Bengaluru is a painstakingly detailed work of literature by Meera Iyer, the co-convener of INTACH’s Bangalore chapter. This book contains INTACH’s popular Bangalore walking trails in word form and illustrations to go along, to take you through the city’s old and new.
Buy it here.
Bangalore: Swinging in the 70s
This one’s for the collectors. This beautifully illustrated coffee table book by cartoonist Paul Fernandes paints a vivid picture of cantonment Bangalore as it was in the 1970s. Complete with humourous anecdotes, the book allows you to take a stroll through schools, offices, theatres, shopping avenues and restaurants in the graceful and laidback city that Bangalore once was.
Buy it here.
Bangalore: A Century of Tales from City and Cantonment
Another one for those who want to reminisce, or those who want to know what Bangalore – the pensioners’ paradise – was like. Peter Colaco combines Paul Fernandes’ skilled illustrations with his satirical first-person account of what he had known and loved about Bangalore.
Buy it here.
Multiple City: Writings on Bangalore
It’s hard for immigrants and younger natives of the city to fathom that Bangalore is comprised of two distinct cities – the original pete or City, and Cantonment Bangalore, also known as the Civil & Military Station. It’s also a challenge to understand the why’s behind various evolutions of Bangalore – from Garden City to IT Capital, from Bangalore to Bengaluru. Multiple City by Aditi De breaks down the many stories of the multiplicity of Bangalore.
Buy it here.
Askew
In under 150 pages, Askew makes for a quick read. Yet, T.J.S George has managed to capture what the city was and is, in his book aptly referred to as ‘a short biography of Bangalore’. While it shines a light on the beloved aspects of Bangalore, Askew doesn’t shy away from the not-so-lovely facts about the city.
Buy it here.
