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Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru
Over 150 years ago, in 1870, a public park was inaugurated in Bangalore. Designed by British engineer Richard Sankey, it spread over 100 acres and encompassed features typical to the city—granite outcrops, lush greenery, wide avenues and government buildings. Originally named Meade’s Park, it has been known to generations of Bangaloreans as Cubbon Park—sanctuary, lung space, thoroughfare, battlefield, picnic spot, repository of urban biodiversity, and public park.
In this book, the first of its kind about Cubbon Park, author, columnist and true-blue Bangalorean Roopa Pai, attempts to decode the enduring appeal of the Park. Historical sketches trace the story of not just Cubbon Park, but that of Mysore state and the city itself. Her conversations with Bangaloreans of today show the Park in all its contested glory, even as she writes about the open music spaces it once hosted and its diverse flora and fauna, the powerful lurking at its fringes, waiting to gobble it up, and the citizen activists who tirelessly protect it.
Heart-warming and meticulously researched, Cubbon Park is an enduring snapshot of a precious green space that is as much an idea as a physical entity, as fragile as it is powerful, as divisive and as it is unifying, and always central to the city’s imagination.
In this book, the first of its kind about Cubbon Park, author, columnist and true-blue Bangalorean Roopa Pai, attempts to decode the enduring appeal of the Park. Historical sketches trace the story of not just Cubbon Park, but that of Mysore state and the city itself. Her conversations with Bangaloreans of today show the Park in all its contested glory, even as she writes about the open music spaces it once hosted and its diverse flora and fauna, the powerful lurking at its fringes, waiting to gobble it up, and the citizen activists who tirelessly protect it.
Heart-warming and meticulously researched, Cubbon Park is an enduring snapshot of a precious green space that is as much an idea as a physical entity, as fragile as it is powerful, as divisive and as it is unifying, and always central to the city’s imagination.
- GenresNonfictionTravel
186 pages, Hardcover
Published October 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 25, 2022
One of my best reads of 2022.
A brilliantly written book about one of the best places in Bangalore. Enriched with the history of the park and the ongoing battles to preserve it, this book gives you a very clear picture of why Cubbon Park is loved so much and the importance of it in people's lives.
I will be going through the "The First 100 years" section again and again as it is just filled with so much trivia. Just could not wait for my next visit and explore all the remaining structures and features of the park.
P.S. - Also thanks to Roopa Pai for introducing me to Arun Pai's Bangalore walks and 'Vijay Thiruvadi'. What an awesome playlist to watch!.
A brilliantly written book about one of the best places in Bangalore. Enriched with the history of the park and the ongoing battles to preserve it, this book gives you a very clear picture of why Cubbon Park is loved so much and the importance of it in people's lives.
I will be going through the "The First 100 years" section again and again as it is just filled with so much trivia. Just could not wait for my next visit and explore all the remaining structures and features of the park.
P.S. - Also thanks to Roopa Pai for introducing me to Arun Pai's Bangalore walks and 'Vijay Thiruvadi'. What an awesome playlist to watch!.
October 25, 2022
Cubbon park is a park that is still untarnished by the extreme urbanisation and excessive development pace of Bangalore. A park which gives you a touch of cool breeze, the sound of trees swaying and birds chirping. It's so rightly put in the book: The eight gates of the Cubbon park “Every gate is a window into the city”
Got to know so many anecdotes and facts which I didn't know about Cubbon so far, it has given me a different perspective on the park, so much history attached to it and one of the two lungs of Bangalore city (the other being Lalbagh). It is not an ordinary park. This is a historic 152 years old, resides in every Bangalorean heart, a welcome buffer zone under an open sky. As the author mentioned, the park has always been a space that carries in itself the very DNA of the city that Kempegowda built. This book is as much about its people as it is about the park.
Originally created in 1870 under Major General Richard Sankey, then British Chief Engineer of Mysore State, it was Sankey who designed the swathe of land that rose behind it, towards Cubbon's house, and extensive 100-acre park, that would go on to become one of the city's most beloved green spaces.
It was first named Meade’s Park after Sir John Meade, the acting Commissioner of Mysuru in 1870, and subsequently renamed Cubbon Park. the park was again renamed Sri. Chamarajendra Park, different people along the way would try to give it different names, but one, and only one would stick - Cubbon Park.
The book has touched upon the history of a variety of statutes and buildings including those depicting King Edward, Queen Victoria, and Sri. Chamarajendra Wodeyar and Major General Sir Mark Cubbon, Statue of Sir K.Sheshadri Iyer that one come across amidst the confines of the park.
Got to know so many anecdotes and facts which I didn't know about Cubbon so far, it has given me a different perspective on the park, so much history attached to it and one of the two lungs of Bangalore city (the other being Lalbagh). It is not an ordinary park. This is a historic 152 years old, resides in every Bangalorean heart, a welcome buffer zone under an open sky. As the author mentioned, the park has always been a space that carries in itself the very DNA of the city that Kempegowda built. This book is as much about its people as it is about the park.
Originally created in 1870 under Major General Richard Sankey, then British Chief Engineer of Mysore State, it was Sankey who designed the swathe of land that rose behind it, towards Cubbon's house, and extensive 100-acre park, that would go on to become one of the city's most beloved green spaces.
It was first named Meade’s Park after Sir John Meade, the acting Commissioner of Mysuru in 1870, and subsequently renamed Cubbon Park. the park was again renamed Sri. Chamarajendra Park, different people along the way would try to give it different names, but one, and only one would stick - Cubbon Park.
The book has touched upon the history of a variety of statutes and buildings including those depicting King Edward, Queen Victoria, and Sri. Chamarajendra Wodeyar and Major General Sir Mark Cubbon, Statue of Sir K.Sheshadri Iyer that one come across amidst the confines of the park.
April 8, 2023
Meticulously researched and full of fascinating trivia on Bangalore and Bangaloreans who make up the history and space (s) of Cubbon Park.
June 7, 2023
Cubbon Park The Green Heart of Bangalore by Roopa
What a book! That could be a three word yet apt review of this book. I was born and bought up in Bangalore. Names like Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Ulsoor Lake, Commercial Street, Russel Market, MG Road and Brigade Road were more than places . They were the ethos of the city. Cubbon Park was always special. It was in front of Vidhan Soudha where you went to see the illuminated iconic building. It is where Bal Bhavan is located. The iconic toy train runs in this park. Over the years, I had began to view Cubbon Park as a location I drove by to reach office. Then, I got to listen to the author speaking at Bangalore Literature Festival about this book. I purchased the book, got it signed by the author, but took six months to read it.
Now that I have read it, I am awestruck. This park has so much history, nostalgia, activism related to it. It was one of the pioneers of the LGBTQA+ movement in India.
I remember the bandstand. I remember reaching the park vexed after attending a couple of unsuccessful job interviews. So many memories!!! Kudos to the Author Roopa Pai for bringing out a kaleidoscope of the green heart of Bangalore. It is a Must, Must, Must read book.
What a book! That could be a three word yet apt review of this book. I was born and bought up in Bangalore. Names like Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Ulsoor Lake, Commercial Street, Russel Market, MG Road and Brigade Road were more than places . They were the ethos of the city. Cubbon Park was always special. It was in front of Vidhan Soudha where you went to see the illuminated iconic building. It is where Bal Bhavan is located. The iconic toy train runs in this park. Over the years, I had began to view Cubbon Park as a location I drove by to reach office. Then, I got to listen to the author speaking at Bangalore Literature Festival about this book. I purchased the book, got it signed by the author, but took six months to read it.
Now that I have read it, I am awestruck. This park has so much history, nostalgia, activism related to it. It was one of the pioneers of the LGBTQA+ movement in India.
I remember the bandstand. I remember reaching the park vexed after attending a couple of unsuccessful job interviews. So many memories!!! Kudos to the Author Roopa Pai for bringing out a kaleidoscope of the green heart of Bangalore. It is a Must, Must, Must read book.
October 31, 2022
Fabulously brought together - captures the true spirit of Bangalore and moves effortlessly between the past and the present!
February 26, 2023
It's a love letter to Cubbon and Cubbon lovers. Read it in Cubbon and felt so grateful for what Cubbon is and how it came to be what it is today. Recommended.
September 20, 2023
This book turned out to be a lot more than expected. The park becomes a lens to witness several fascinating events and trends that unfolded around it over the last 150 years. India's imperial masters get stereotyped as always cunning and exploitative, but here we get to meet a Sir Mark Cubbon who won the hearts of the people through serving them to the extent that he is celebrated even today. In more recent times, the park becomes backdrop to conservation and animal welfare, promoting new kinds of music, a space for the LGBTQIA+ community to come together, for marathons and other fitness programmes and so on. In a growing city there are always forces at the fringes eager to move in and grab such a verdant space for their different motives. How the people of the city come together and fight them is the most inspiring part of the book for me.
Its biggest strength is that it is vivid and detailed without ever becoming tedious. It is about a single park but anyone wanting to see his neighbourhood advance will find many takeaways. It summarises the history of a region spanning over a century in a quick read of under 200 pages and for this alone it is a valuable read.
Its biggest strength is that it is vivid and detailed without ever becoming tedious. It is about a single park but anyone wanting to see his neighbourhood advance will find many takeaways. It summarises the history of a region spanning over a century in a quick read of under 200 pages and for this alone it is a valuable read.
November 1, 2023
A great retelling of the stories and lore of Cubbon park - a small paradise within the urban jungle of Bangalore
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews