A welcome speech by Kaustav Bhattacharyya at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangalore for a discussion on the book ‘Bangalore Blues’ in the presence of its author, Kirtana Kumar

Good Evening!! Namaskara!! Suswagatham!! Warm welcome to you Ladies and Gentlemen to this debut edition of Literary Evenings at the Four Seasons Hotel. I am highly thankful to the General Manager Mr. Biswajit Chakraborty for hosting and whose brainchild is this series of literary evenings planned for the year 2025. I am thankful to Ms. Meghna Triwedy, the Director for Communications for her tireless efforts in putting this literary evening together.

This evening, we are delighted to discuss the book ‘Bangalore Blues’ and privileged to have the distinguished author Kirtana Kumar as one of our esteemed panelists.  Thanks a lot Kirtana!! Kirtana is an icon of the Bengaluru theater and literary world. I wish to state on a personal note that I am extremely thrilled to have my dear friend Professor Chandan Gowda and my intellectual inspiration Captain Gopinath here this evening as part of the esteemed panel. I wish to confess that this is our second literary discussion for the three of us are involved since I had done one earlier one on Tagore with Captain and Chandan; and I just loved the energy especially the infectious enthusiasm of Captain and his thorough diligent preparedness for speaking or holding forth with elegance and style…..well I was ‘flying high’ along with the audience just using an airline metaphor. I really liked the brilliant intellectual candour of Chandan in his delivery of ideas and thoughts and done with a certain stirring style of Chandan hence I yearned for a second round!! Oh and I loved Chandan’s brutal banter towards me and I have now another round of it here!!

I am extremely happy and pleased to welcome Divya the eminent global artist intellectual as part of the esteemed panel who brings in a lot of the perspective of the contemporary young creative aesthetic Bengaluru.  Divya organizes Art Walks in Malleshwaram involving local artists and context which I would encourage all of you to attend.

I think at this stage its opportune to say a few words about the book with great pleasure and its meaning for me in terms of understanding and appreciating our lovely wonderfully charming city of Bengaluru!!

The book is an enchanting and fascinating read since for many of us it is a travel back in time to the genteel relaxed world of the Old Cantonment Bengaluru with its eccentric characters and quirk.  Kirtana has really done a wonderful job in sketching the characters and capturing their lively spirit which can be attributed to her background in Theatre. The humour and wit is ever present through the entire book which is very entertaining and imparts a lively spirit and most interestingly her humour writing style has an element of suspense which grips your attention.  There is the constant anticipation about the flow of events and what happens next!!

However as one reads through and starts reflecting upon the content the realization dawns that this is not a purely nostalgic tale of old Bengaluru nor a pure play reminiscence. The book captures the very thriving and bustling spirit of the contemporary city.  Interestingly one realizes the tales of the modern current Bengaluru are as fascinating and exciting as the old Cantonment ones. The city continues to be filled with fascinating eccentric and charming characters many of whom inhabit the digital world with confidence.

Bengaluru is emerging as a creative capital of the world attracting investments and investors in industries which are part of the ‘Soft’ sector like music, art, media, entertainment, gastronomy and for such industries to flourish we need a creative hub.  This book Bangalore Blues provides that insight into the living, breathing, dynamic creative and ingenious spirit of the city making it a creative hub.  We need a society which is not bound by strict hierarchies and conventional codes and norms but where individuals love experimenting and pushing the limits of our thought process. The book is filled with eccentric and quirky characters across the entire city and cutting across all social groups who love and enjoy the spirit of living it up!!

Bengaluru is poised to leap into the next wave of start-ups and technology industries and be a grand success story as the previous IT-based one and here Bangalore Blues provides the clue as to why this next wave would succeed by capturing the basic essence or spirit of the city.

The book provides an attractive idea for off-the-beat tourism to Bengaluru and would entice many to come, visit and explore this wonderful and charming city from different parts of the globe which offers much more than historical edifices and monuments but a city worth exploring for its lively spirit!!  As a matter of fact a Bangalore Blues walk around the city involving sites and places mentioned in the book is being organized in the form of an App and even in guided tours form.

Without much further ado I wish to hand over the stage to Chandan who would be moderating this session and ladies and gentlemen have a splendid evening of literary discussion!!