Tar Boiler saves the day

My father should have been elected “President of the Society for Saving Industrial Revolution Relics”! He loved Tar Boilers, and couldn’t bear to see them in neglect. There was a rusty old tar boiler on our road for more than a decade, and one day he just brought it home. The tar boiler settled in quite comfortably and my mother grew plants in it and pidgeons laid eggs in it. Our fascinatingly rambling old house in Calcutta was full of such curiosities.
Whenever I see a tar boiler on Bangalore’s roads, I think of my father.
This story is also a tribute to The Great Bangalore Traffic Jam- which happens every day, and every day Bangalorians wait for some kind of salvation- which never seems to come.
Well… one day… salvation came!

Tar Boiler saves the day!

The bridge under the train tracks was so low that cars and buses and trucks kept getting stuck. And there would be frightful traffic jams everyday.
“We need a new bridge” said the important people of the city.
“Bangalore needs a new bridge” declared the newspapers.
The latest road builders were called in. In no time at all they broke down some old houses which came in the way and started to build a brand new bridge.
“Look how they work! ” marveled everyone.
Very soon, a brand new bridge was ready.
Then, it started to rain, and the road below the new bridge become very slushy and muddy. Cars and buses and trucks and bikes floated about like boats.
There was a lot of honking and beeping. It got the policemen very worried.
But the new road builders couldn’t fix the muddy road.
Then the builder remembered the tar boiler in his yard.
“I’ll get the tar boiler” he said.
Tar Boiler came trundling with his helpers- Tar Drum and Tar Mixer. They all got to work. A bright coal fire burned merrily in Tar Boiler’s stomach. Tar Boiler made hot sticky tar to pour on the road.
The road was ready and the traffic was ready to rush off.
The policeman blew his whistle for everyone to say “Hurrah for Tar Boiler!".
And then the traffic rushed off.

An artist's impressions from the way old Bangalore used to be

While everyone rushes into "development", the lonely artist wonders around the scattered bricks and stones to preserve a little bit of the heritage of the city. I present some sketches

of my impressions of lost beauty.

This old bridge in Cox Town has become a whizzing flyover. I am glad that I

preserved this heritage in a sketch

Whitefield is now all about IT parks and real estate. We used to

enjoy country walks along unspoilt lanes

This was the pump house in the main water reservoir in Hesserghatta,

then outside the city.

I used to love the old mosques in the city. This mosque on Old Poorhouse Street

was built in with brick, limestone and mortar- whitewashed- in the style of

Deccani Islamic architecture

The interior of St Francis Xavier's Church on Promenade Road.

This church was built in an open stone style, and it's simplicity made it distinctive.

The entrance to the "Baird Barracks" on Cubbon Road. This historical

structure has been demolished, much to my regret. Legend has it that

Winston Churchill lived in these barracks as a young subaltern

Many gravestones in this old Langford Town graveyard

bear names of 19th c. British soldiers. Soon after the 4th

Mysore War, Bangalore became a British cantonment.

Stone topped gateways were common in old Bangalore. This gateway

was the entrance to my mechanic's garage.

Sketches of Old Bangalore

The old Bangalore School of Music in Frazer Town. I was delighted when the principal invited me to sketch this architectural treasure

Tiles roofs and deeply overhanging awnings invited monkeys and other arboreal creatures- hence the name- "Monkey Tops" for these old domestic houses. This house

belonged to one of the most famous tailor families of the city, and the owner

graciously allowed me to sketch it.

A part of an old house struggling to survive in Chamrajnagar, one of the

oldest parts of the city

A cluttered courtyard behind an old bazaar lane behind the fashionable Commercial Street

Back in 1981, I sketched standing on the streets. The Bangalore I captured then has given way to garish modernity- neither aesthetic or eco friendly. Houses were built with a local building technique using limestone, mortar, stone, wood and tiles. They were distinctive for whimsical over hanging window gables, which is why they were known as "Monkey Tops".

Every house had unique gateways and ornate wrought iron gates.

Besides, domestic architecture, I have included more heritage buildings from the Bangalore which then captivated me. It was truly an "Artist's Bangalore".

These sketches will give you an idea of Bangalore which is now lost, and what little is left is also vanishing very fast.

Some of the sketches shown were published as a weekly heritage series in the Times of India- (from January to July, 2000)