Discover Basavanagudi on Foot This Saturday

BENGALURU: Did you know that one of the arteries in the human body is named after a doctor in Bengaluru? Or that the principal engineer of Gateway of India is from here?

Participants of the heritage walk to be conducted by Bengaluru By Foot this Saturday will learn lot more such interesting facts about Basavanagudi.

Mansoor Ali, co-founder of Bengaluru By Foot — a group that organises walks around the city for tourists and locals, says, “The accessory appendicular artery (or the Artery of Seshachalam) is the only anatomical structure named after an Indian. It is located next to the appendix and was discovered by Seshachalam, a resident of Basavanagudi.”

“Bombay Ramaswamy Iyer, principal engineer of the Gateway of India, was also a resident of Basavanagudi. His house was built on a rare precast concrete pile foundation and was demolished 30 years ago. Currently, an apartment complex stands on the spot,” he adds.

The walk is named Houses of Malgudi, after the 90’s TV series Malgudi Days. Ali explains that it represents the areas that they will cover as part of the walk — ‘Mal’ stands for Malleswaram and ‘gudi’ for Basavanagudi.

Interestingly, Basavanagudi has a connection with Malgudi Days. “Apparently, the series was shot in the neighbourhood but the spot doesn’t exist anymore. Very few know about it,” Ali says.

The area was designed by Standish Lee, a Scottish engineer, in 1896. “It is built in such a way that even during heavy downpour, water cannot enter the houses. Even sewage in the area never leaks,” he says.

Ali further says that Basavanagudi was a lot greener eight years ago. “We could even find peacocks in the area. But now we only find pigeons and crows,” Ali says.

The large number of vegetarian restaurants in the area is due to the majority of Brahmins and vegetarians residing here.

Apart from history, Bangalore by Foot will also discuss architecture with the participants.

Mansoor Ali, an architect himself, tells us that Bengaluru has 800-1,000 monuments and bungalows that were built ages ago. Basavanagudi alone has about 15 of them.

Most of the people who sign up for their walks are software professionals, expats and tourists, the 40-year-old says.

Houses of Malgudi will be held on Saturday. Cost: Rs 600