Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore



The M. G. Road in Bangalore is one of the busiest roads in the city, and is lined on one side with upscale stores and restaurants. M. G. Road runs from Trinity Circle at one end to Anil Kumble Circle at the other; and has an eclectic mix of hotels (Taj Residency, Park, Oberoi), swanky office buildings (ING, various other banks) and old world shops (crockery, book shop, sweets, movie theatres) dating several decades. Brigade Road runs roughly perpendicular to M. G. Road and is full of pubs, cafes and show rooms. Church Street is more of the same.
M. G. Road was called "South Parade" in British times and renamed post independence. Many Indian cities (including New Delhi and Mumbai) have an M. G. road, and in general there is no linkage between these various roads (except that in many cases, these happen to be the busiest part of the city).

ISKCON Temple, Bangalore


Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court (locally known as Attara Kacheri) is the High Court of the state of Karnataka. It was established in 1884 under the Mysore High Court Act, 1884; and was known as the Mysore High Court until 1973 when the name of the state was changed.
The court is headquartered in Bangalore, the administrative capital of the state. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 40.

Vidhana Saudha

The Vidhana Soudha, located in Bangalore (Bengaluru), is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka. It is an imposing building, constructed in a style, sometimes described as 'Neo-Dravidian', incorporates elements of Indo-Saracenic, Rajasthani Jharokha and Dravidian styles.
It was built in the 1950s. Shri Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Chief Minister of Mysore from 1951 to 1956, is credited with the conception of the Vidhana Soudha. He visited Europe,Russia United States and other placaes and got the idea of building Vidhana Soudha by incorporating various designs from the buildings he had seen.The foundation was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, on July 13, 1951. It was completed in 1956.
The Vidhana Soudha has 4 floors above and 1 floor below ground level and sprawls across an area of 700 by 350 feet. It is the largest Legislative building in India. Its eastern face has a porch with 12 granite columns, 40 feet tall. Leading to the foyer is a flight of stairs with 45 steps, more than 200 feet wide. The central dome, 60 feet in diameter, is crowned by a likeness of the Indian national emblem.
The building is illuminated on Sundays and public holidays.
The Karnataka government has constructed a replica, named Vikasa Soudha, to the south of the building. Initiated by the then Chief Minister, S M Krishna, and inaugurated in February 2005, it is intended to be an annexe housing some of the ministries and legislative offices.