BENGALURU: In 1920, the diwan of Mysuru Sir M Visvesvaraya, who visited the Sindh province (now in Pakistan), was overwhelmed after seeing the calendars with public holidays printed there by Britishers.
The next year, Sir Visvesvaraya started printing such calendars in Kannada at The Bangalore Press founded by him in 1916 in the erstwhile Mysuru province. It is not just one of the oldest printing presses, but also one of the oldest companies in India, which has completed 100 years of its existence.
On average, the publisher prints 20 lakh calendars every year. They include wall-mounted, desktop and pocket calendars. The press also prints the popular Mallige Panchanga. It has launched e-calendars with over six lakh downloads across the globe.
The management of this iconic press has taken up a modernisation plan. Revealing this to TNIE, one of its directors, Vishnu AH, said they have started customising e-calendars for corporate and banking sectors, educational institutes and others.
“We are using software developed by a Finland agency where companies or banks can provide details to their customers through our e-calendar. For instance, if a bank wants to inform its customers that the home loan interest will change from a particular date, it can change itself or we can do the job for it,” he said.
This applies to schools and colleges also. If schools and colleges want to send messages to parents or children, they can do it through the e-calendar, he said.
Vishnu said they have plans to develop an app to provide information related to auspicious days, festivals, melas, rathotsavas and other religious events.
“Through the app, one can get minute details of the particular day, be it a village mela or a big festival. In the calendar, we have limited space to provide all information,” he said.
Ananth HR, Managing director of The Bangalore press said with the printed QR code on the calendar, one can get every minute details including local festivals, and mela on cell phones.