Kargil Vijay Diwas, Screening of Saga of a Brave Heart and NGMA Bengaluru – My Connect.

 

 

Kargil Vijay Diwas, Saga of a Brave Heart and NGMA, Bengaluru resonate with yours truly and therefore it was a pleasant surprise to receive an e invite for the celebration of the Kargil Vijay Diwas - which included screening the Saga of a Brave Heart Documentary, from NGMA Bengaluru.  Speaking of Kargil Vijay Diwas, commemorated to celebrate the Indian victory over our enemy, Pakistan, it reminds me of the exemplary courage shown by the Indian Armed Forces, which included my one year senior Ajeet, at the Sainik School Bijapur, Colonel M B Ravindranath, Vir Chakra, under whose command Indian Armed forces achieved their path breaking success of capturing the Tololing peak. Here is a link to the blog which I had written on Kargil Vijay Diwas last year, as my respect and tribute to Col M B Ravindranth and about the extraordinary valour, which the Indian Army exemplified while winning the Kargil battle.

https://khened.blogspot.com/2021/07/kargil-vijay-diwas-remembering-col-m-b.html

My second connect is with the Saga of the Brave Heart. And this saga, so beautifully and passionately scripted and published as a book by our dear Bhabhi ji, Smt Shakuntala Bhandarkar, the Veer Nari and the exemplary wife of Late Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, Shaurya Chakra (Posthumous), relates to my class buddy Lr Col Ajit Bhandarkar, who made that supreme sacrifice in service of his nation. Ajit was my class buddy at the Sainik School with whom my class mates and I spent seven long years at the residential Sainik School Bijapur during the most impressionable age - 9 years to 16 years. All of us, the classmates of Lt Col Ajit Bhandarkar, had joined hands to create a memorial in honour of our dear buddy and that memorial now stands tall as Ajit Dwar at Sainik School Bijapur. Here is the link to the Blog and a tribute which I had paid to our dear class buddy Lt Col Ajit Bhandarkar.

https://khened.blogspot.com/2019/10/lt-col-ajit-bhandarkar-25-rr-to-brave.html

 The Third connect relates to NGMA Bengaluru, which is celebrating the Kargil Vijay Diwas by organising three days’ event (29-31^st July) at the NGMA. I had the honour to head NGMA Bengaluru - as the Director of NGMA Bengaluru – for four months from October 2011 to January 2012. This was an additional duty which I had the honour to shoulder over and above my main responsibility of Director Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bengaluru.  Although my association with NGMA was very brief, I had fallen in love with that extraordinary creative ambience of the Manikyavelu Mansion which is now home to NGMA, Bengaluru. I have therefore requested my classmates in Bengaluru to use this opportunity to visit NGMA Bengaluru to witness the screening of the Saga of the Brave Heart in the beautiful auditorium of NGMA.  

 

Manikyavelu Mansion, which now houses NGMA Bengaluru, has an interesting history which dates back to many years before the foundation for the NGMA was laid some times in 2001. This beautiful building - Manikyavelu Mansion – which exhibits a rich, vibrant and an extravagant Victorian-style bungalow belonged to the royal dynasty of the Wodeyars -  the Mysuru Wadiyars. In the 1920s this beautiful mansion was bought by a mining baron, Raja Manickyavelu Mudaliar, from the Mysuru Wadiyars. When Manickyavelu Mudaliar died in 1939 this white mansion was inherited by his son. The junior Mudaliar was not as successful businessman as his illustrious father -  Manickyavelu Mudaliar, and therefore this mansion was put under auction due to financial problems in 1964. This building was then acquired by the City Improvement Trust Board (Bengaluru Development Authority) and was transferred to the Housing Board in late 1960s. This mansion and the beautiful complex in which it is situated was used - in the 1970s and 80s - to house the UN’s Asian and Pacific Regional Centre for Transfer of Technology. Subsequently, this building remained unused and unfortunately with passage of time the condition of this beautiful mansion started deteriorating.

 

The deteriorating conditions of this beautiful white mansion, located in the green ambience of 3.5-acre campus, came to the notice of art lovers of Bengaluru and rest what they say is history. Courtesy the efforts of many of the stalwart art lovers of the city and so also the government of India, Ministry of Culture – Late Ananth Kumar, Ms. Maneka Gandhi, K.N. Srivastava, Chiranjeev Singh and others -  that this magnificent building was restored for housing the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), which was opened in the year 2009. Architect Naresh Narasimhan was assigned the task of redesigning Manikyavelu Mansion to house the NGMA Bengaluru. The grandeur to which this building has been restored to house the NGMA Bengaluru can be seen when one visits this magnificent campus. NGMA Bengaluru stands testimony and demonstrates how a heritage building can be effectively reused to create the best of public cultural spaces in the city. A new annexe building was added in the same style as the white mansion to create the requisite additional space for the NGMA. The NGMA campus now boasts of the best of the greenery in the garden city of Bengaluru, interspersed with some exquisite art pieces and sculptures in the garden that is flanked by old trees, a beautiful open air cafeteria, water body and a lovely auditorium, where the Saga of the Brave Heart documentary will be screened tomorrow – 31^st July. During my brief stay at NGMA Bengaluru, I had the honour to host three exhibitions and many outreach educational programmes including film shows. I also had the honour to unfurl the national flag on the Republic Day in 2013. 

I take this opportunity to appeal to my school buddies and other friends in Bengaluru to please join NGMA Bengaluru in the celebrations of Kargil Vijay Diwas and witness the Saga of the Brave Heart documentary tomorrow.

Jai Hind and Jai Hind Ki Sena