Book review: Bangalore Blues by Kirtana Kumar

BANGALORE BLUES by Kirtana Kumar. Little Jasmine Press.

So, this delightful book is in a category of its own: it`s an IFYYK book. There are 32 short stories (and one poem) in here, along with a very moving essay, and all of them are guaranteed to strike a chord with ye olde Bangalorean (YOB). By which, I do not for a minute mean the aged denizens of our city, though of course they are in the vanguard of the Chosen.

I mean those of us who have been in Bangalore for yonks, those of us who will whoop in delight when we come upon names like Lakeview Milk Bar (the OG one), Knock Out, OPs, the arrack shop on Markham road, Thom`s Café (yes, the OG one), Leongs on Coms Street, Hotel Victoria, Blue Fox, Ginza`s, and so many others now that are long gone but never forgotten.

Kirtana takes us back to the Beantown of the early 80s and shows rather than tells how Bangalore used to laze in the sunshine of the summers, wrap herself in a cold mist during the winters, and generally birthed days of hope, innocence and glory.

Her arc is an arching one, unashamedly nostalgia-soaked, and we get a look-see of our city as it was before the gleaming towers and tech parks changed the landscape drastically. We get a glimpse of an altogether more relaxed lifestyle, one which also contrarily included much clubbing, dance parties and yes, smoking of weed in the local parks. We watch people zipping around on Lunas and TVS 50s, walking amidst the profusion of magenta bougainvillea on the erstwhile MG Road promenade, rootling around in Richard`s Square.

Eccentric Bangaloreans
We also meet some true-blue Bangalore characters, most of them who redefine the word `eccentric` in the most imaginative ways possible. This includes fellows who flock to Mayo Hall to file the most foolish cases; betrayals of the heart at popular discos; Mac the Knife with his heart of gold; light-fingered Mary; istri-kaars and thota-kaars galore, and suchlike.

In the chapter titled `Dear Stranger,` we read of a venerable senior citizen holding out an olive branch to the Johnny- come- latelys, and even as we read it, we are looking for the sting in the tail… only, there`s none! The ole- timer is genuinely telling the younger outsider all about Bangalore in its heyday, and asking what the latter does on a day off in today`s Bangalore.

Not all the stories are a hoot; some touch upon loss, the struggle to come to terms with all the lemons life sometimes hands you, love affairs gone awry, fighting centuries-old casteism (nary a hint of communalism, though), all of them bringing home the point effectively.

There is one chucklesome chapter with piquant and hilarious news snippets, which, even as the reader laughs, strikes a bit too close to home in the Age of Weirdness we are living in. Then there is the end- of- book essay `The Year of Shuffling Loss and Life` where the tone suddenly shifts, grabs the reader by the throat and doesn’t let go till the end of the discourse.

The stories are free-wheeling, a stream of consciousness flow that engages the reader all the way through. While it may favour the aforementioned YOBs, there is enough for the newly arrived to read, absorb and learn about this storied city they now call home.