A love letter to Bangalore from Toronto
Naguva Nayana Madhura Mouna (Kannada/1983)
Hey everyone,
I grew up in Ulsoor, Bangalore (now dubbed Halasuru). Then I moved to Chennai and stayed for 20+ years before moving back to Bangalore for work.
Weekends at Cubbon Park kept me sane. Unlike Toronto, where there are small parks spread all over the city, Bangalore has only a few concentrated lung spaces. I would take a bus to Majestic Bus Terminus and then hop another one to Indian Express and walk the remaining distance to Cubbon Park.
The park has several street food vendors selling all kinds of spicy chaat— puffed rice and thinly diced veggies in a sticky, sweet-spicy sauce, topped off with coriander. You could feast on roasted corn-on-the-cob drizzled with butter and pepper, under the shade of a tree, bang opposite the iconic red-coloured Seshadri Iyer Memorial Library.
While there are cultural tributes to Bangalore's beauty and Cubbon Park, no song comes close to the nostalgia of a bygone era than Naguva Nayana Madhura Mouna (Transl: The smiling eyes and the sweet silence). This duet by S. Janaki and the late S.P Balasubrahmanyam is a masterpiece of South Indian movie culture.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the scenes!
This is a tourist destination if there ever is one! Thousands of artifacts made from the fragrant sandalwood are for sale: combs, incense sticks, ring boxes, prayer beads, and even enormous elephant statues! You’d see perspiring, flustered Americans taking respite from the humidity, in front of large mounted fans. The store doesn’t accept Discover cards, so bring your Visa cards!
I forgot you could get chopped guava with a sprig of salt! You’d get such a contrast of flavours; but watch out for the tooth-breaking seeds!
The orange-coloured machine, my friends, is a vestige of India in the late 80s and 90s. It’s a weighing machine. You stand on the base, wait for the spinning coloured wheel to stop, and then drop 50 paise or a rupee into the slot. And you’ll get a small rectangular cardboard piece with your weight in kilograms, and fortune-telling on the reverse.
After a spot of shopping, the love birds get a sundae. To this day, there is the iconic Lake View ice cream parlor on Mahatma Gandhi Road, although I think this scene was from the Chit Chat parlor.
My heart yearns to go back to Bangalore for a long vacation. To be able to ride the Metro, wander among the bookshelves at Blossom, walk down Church Street, go back to Cubbon Park, and meet old friends.
Soon, I hope.
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More India nostalgia?
I love that library!
My favorite part of the song starts at 3:44.
I've never been to India, but you are making me want to check it out one day.