A Brief History Lesson

I had a fantastic time at Mark's fieldtrip on Saturday. The tour guide did a wonderful job tying together world history and explaining how it helped shape Bangalore. She started her tour by asking the kids what significant world event occurred in 1781. None of the kids guess that it was the year America signed the Constitution. She then launched into a discussion about how General George Washington defeated Lord Cornwallis to gain freedom from the British. Cornwallis return to England defeated and wanted to repair his reputation. He therefore went to India (specifically Mysore) to help the British fight against the powerful King Tipu. King Tipu tried to enlist the help of the French to fend off the British but neither Louis XVI nor Napoleon were able to successful come to his aid. Mysore eventually fell to the British in 1799. The British didn't like all the mosquitoes in Mysore and so relocated to Bangalore. They built a cantonment adjoining the old town of Bangalore. The Brits were separated from the old town by the large Cubbon Park that we visited last weekend. They say that Bangalore is a Tale of Two Cities existing side by side. It is interesting to speculate that had the British kept control of the American colonies, they might not have claimed Southern India.

There are many old relics from the British occupation of Bangalore. Trinity Church is one of them. Winston Churchill attended this church during his 3 year stint in Bangalore. The British brought many things to Bangalore, including Christianity (although St. Thomas had brought Christianity to Kerala many years before). They brought new foods, clothes, language, and sports like cricket and hunting.

It is interesting that Bangalore was the 1st city in South Asia to have electricity. It is also probably the only city in the world where they have movies showing in 6 different languages at the same cinema.

It was fun to see Mark interacting with his classmates. I had to laugh when we took the elevator up to the 13th floor for lunch. One of the kids said, "Hey, Zach and Cody live on the 13th floor". For those of you without kids, Zach and Cody is a popular kids show in the US. The kids are very familiar with American culture. Grace's class uses Everyday Math which was developed by the University of Chicago. All the story problems involve US currency, US cities, etc. Grace is happy she doesn't have to convert everything to rupees!!

I hope you have learned a little history about Bangalore!