"To see the city you live in as a spectacle, an object of visual interest and social interaction, requires you to be a flaneur: that old French word which connotes loitering without a purpose,” writes Shoba Narayan in the introduction to Namma Bangalore 2.0: Culture, Coding, Cuisine, Creativity (Rupa Publications, `395). As a ‘flaneur’ Narayan has loitered, walked, talked, collected and seen the city’s stories for 20 years. After sharing them all in a bestselling book Namma Bangalore, two years ago, she’s now back with a sequel she never expected to write. “I thought I had said everything I wanted to say about Bengaluru in that book. But the city evolves and the great thing is that it has changed a lot in the last two years and in a way, the second book is a reaction to those changes,” she says.
The book, a collection of essays, is divided into four categories: Food and Drink, Arts and Culture, Subcultures and Identity and Everyday Life and Introspection. The ones on subcultures and identity, cover a range of topics from ooru’s queer scene, the differences in wealth and cultures of Basavanagudi and UB city and south Bengaluru marriages, with a tinge of humour. It was born from her readers’ wants and thinking back to what she needed as someone new to the city. “I had always loved books that introduced me to the city from an insider’s point of view. So, in a way, this book is the book I wish I had when I moved here 20 years ago,” she says, adding, “In the last book, the writing was accessible, not preachy, and devoid of all those chest thumping approaches. The second is in the same vein, but I talk about subcultures, community and identity. As an introduction, this one goes a little deeper.”
Many of the essays function as guides to understanding the city, listicle-like but with a friendly, engaging, human touch – ‘Secret Bangalore: 25 things to try’ for example, is eclectic and encompassing everything from hole in the wall antique shops, juice shops, clothing stores and even coconut sellers. Others give the reader a hand with everything from where to take your NRI relatives shopping for weddings and dating in Bengaluru amid the barrage of dating events and meetups.
With all this, and more, Narayan hopes to get to the heart of Bengaluru, beyond its famous ‘tags’. “People think Bengaluru is a one-horse pony – ‘tech city’ or ‘startup city’. But now, there are many authors who are uncovering the layers, including myself, and trying to change the perception of Bengaluru as just that. The city sits on one of the most ancient rock formations in the world, Roman coins have been unearthed here, the Bengaluru ‘karaga’ too is very ancient. It’s a fascinating city we inhabit and I’m on this endless quest on discovering my Bengaluru.”
But with social media dictating what people check out and where they hang out, what need does a book like this serve? Narayan answers by pointing to the popularity of books about Bengaluru among the city’s residents, “Books and written words stick in your brain and are processed in your brain in a different way. I think there’s room for both. Now is the moment when we see so much flowering of writing on Bengaluru. There is Roopa Pai, Kirtana Kumar and when I go to my favourite bookstores, I’m recommended so many books on Bengaluru in Kannada and in English – it’s wonderful.”