BENGALURU : A war memorial? Here, on Brigade Road? Oh, you mean the G3 bus stop?,” asked a surprised college student when we enquired if she knew about the Madras Pioneers War Memorial. Ask someone about the battle of Saragarhi now, and they might be able to tell you how towards the end of 1800s, a handful of Sikh soldiers (who were part of the British Army) stood their ground against 10,000 Afghan invaders.
The martyred soldiers were recognised by the British for their grit and bravery, and thanks to the recently released Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari, more people seem to be aware of the tale. Closer home, CE decided to pay a visit to the Madras Pioneers War Memorial on Brigade Road and found that most people were oblivious to the monument located at the end of the road, opposite Samsung Opera House.
The memorial was erected in 1928, after the first World War, and an inscription on the stone reads: ‘Erected by their comrades in memory of officers, non-commissioned officers and pioneers of the first Madras Pioneers who gave their lives during the Great War 1914-18’. Tejshvi Jain, founding director of ReReeti, an organisation involved in promotion of museums, galleries and heritage sites, said: “The city was a huge cantonment and the Maharaja of Mysore, along with other rulers of princely states, were obliged to help the Queen. So the soldiers sent included many British officers from Bengaluru and Indian sepoys as well.”
Surrounded by a couple of benches, the memorial looks clean. Vendors selling their ware nearby told CE that BBMP sanitation workers visit the site every morning. However, the grey-stoned structure (with inscriptions about how many British and Indian officers, NGOs and pioneers from three battalions of the Madras Pioneers participated in the war) stands tall, but hardly proud, as passersby don’t even pay attention to it.
Most seem to be waiting for their next bus while one or two lie down under a tree. According to Girish Salian, a vendor, people visit the memorial for about 10-15 minutes. “The crowd seems to increase in the evening but most are waiting for their bus as opposed to actually paying attention to the structure,” he said.
Agreed Nalina PS, a student from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, who was waiting for a bus back home. “It’s sad but people utilise the benches and space available while waiting for their next ride, while only foreigners or tourists are actually interested in the monument,” she said. Salian, and other vendors, do, however, point out that the monument is lit up in the evenings, a change that was incorporated close to a year ago. Information boards, however, are still missing.
“People wonder what the structure is doing here, so it would help to have a signboard to make people aware of what they are looking at,” said Jain. Meera Iyer, convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Bengaluru chapter, agreed, adding, “There are many places around the city that need placards explaining their historical importance. This memorial is definitely one of them.”
Peek into history
The Madras Pioneers War Memorial was erected in 1928 by Captain Tasker Taylor. “The London Cenotaph was constructed in 1920 and the architecture of the memorial in Bengaluru is supposed to be similar to the former,” said INTACH convenor Meera Iyer, adding that the name was eventually changed to Sapper War Memorial.