BENGALURU: What if travel, food, art and a creative mind met at one place? It would definitely culminate in an eye-catching visual piece. This is exactly what Pune-based freelance illustrator Shikha Nambiar is working on. Having studied and worked in Bengaluru for seven years, Nambiar explored the diverse iconic landmarks that shaped Bengaluru’s cultural space. From CTR Shri Sagar in Malleswaram to Rangashankara in JP Nagar, she explored, networked and ended up working on Bangalore: An illustrated guide, a 35-page guide to 33 of Bengaluru’s iconic landmarks in the food, tourism, and community space.
“Although I am currently in Pune, my heart is in Bengaluru. The illustrated piece is a guide for those who are moving to Bengaluru for the first time and are looking forward to explore the city’s diverse food spaces, cultural landmarks, communities and much more,” says Nambiar, a visual communications graduate from the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Yelahanka. In fact, she has finished the illustration work of 100 locations in Bengaluru, but managed to accommodate only 33 of them.
Nambiar started working on the project in 2016 and completed it in 2017. However, with places like Humming Tree in Indiranagar closing and Atta Galatta in Koramangala moving spaces, Nambiar wanted to replace them with new places and launched her third edition of the updated guide. “The new places include Indian Coffee House, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Tibetan Shopping Mall, Nagarjuna restaurants, Truffles, and Dyu Art Cafe,” says the 36-year-old, who has also done different artworks themed around Bengaluru, including postcards, sticker sets, and jigsaw puzzles.
The guide which is priced at Rs 350, starts with Koshy’s restaurant on St Marks Road and takes you through a series of other landmark locations, Cubbon Park, KR Market, Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace, The Bangalore Palace, among other places. The illustrated guide also comes with one-liners that carry a short history about the place. She also referred to many books, including Peter Colaco’s Bangalore, A Century of Tales From City & Cantonment and newspaper articles to infer the stories behind the landmark locations.
“I am an avid traveller and always include history and culture in my work. In fact, there is also an illustration of Bengaluru’s map and I am currently working on an illustrated guide on Pune,” says Nambiar.