By K.B. Ganapathy, Editor-in-Chief

I was not surprised to read Vikram Muthanna’s column ‘In Black and White’ titled ‘India is beautiful, Indians make it ugly’ published on Saturday 15th September 2018. He has thoughtfully taken the picture of that magnificent entry gate to the Government Guest House facing Bengaluru-Mysuru Road near Ya Allah Mosque.

It was such an imposing and ornate gate so very well maintained with its ornate flowers, carved peacocks and birds that were clearly visible during 1960s as I know. Thereafter, I began to see some trees and plants growing in some crevices of the structure leaving me wonder if the gate was greening, responding to the aspirations of environmentalists. A couple of times I telephoned the PWD and also the Manager of the Government Guest House if he could do the needful in this regard. I was told that the maintenance was the responsibility of the PWD.

Later, I discovered that the PWD was responsible to maintain this structure. Only once in a year, at the time of Dasara, a coat of yellowish paint would be brushed across those intricate flower designs, cornices, the images of birds and peacocks making their presence on the structure invisible. The thick coat of paint made these images look like some concrete embossing. As a result, the structure now looks crude, if not ugly.

I must mention that the gate was originally imposing and magnificent (see picture). It had the main entry gate for vehicles and smaller ones on either side for pedestrians. Apart from this purpose, there is another most important purpose for having these side pedestrian gates. The gates provided a clear view of the heritage Guest House building from the road outside.

However, about 6-7 years ago, an intelligent PWD Engineer or an officer, apparently without a sense of beauty and architectural aesthetics, constructed a watchman’s shed with asbestos roof completely obstructing the visibility of the left wing of the Guest House from the road in front of the gate. I personally had called one MLA to direct the engineer or the officer concerned to either remove it from the spot or alternatively to locate it in-between the two small gates so that the structure (shed) is not visible from the road, while at the same time, the view of the guest house is not obstructed.

It is more than seven years since I dealt with this issue of protecting the glory of a heritage building. But being an ordinary mortal and tax-payer, unlike the government officers or MLAs, the ugly watchman’s shed in its present dilapidated condition still exists. I wonder if that shed is used at all at present.

No wonder, when the beautiful elephant sculpture at the Highway Circle (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Circle) was vandalised, not a single representative of the people, MP or MLA or the Corporator opened the lips to condemn this kind of vandalism. I only hope this elephant sculpture will be restored at least a week before the Vijayadashami Jumboo Savari.

About 10 years ago, I had been to Bali Island in Indonesia, a majority Muslim country, but in Bali Island the majority population was Hindu. I was wonderstruck to see massive statues of Brahma with his four heads and ‘Geethopadesha’ with those neighing and raring horses in huge size installed in the road junctions that formed circles like here at the Highway Circle. I was told that no part of that beautiful and creative sculpture was ever vandalised.

I guess, it is either the failure of the law enforcing authorities or the lack of responsibility on the part of the Corporation and the PWD officials here in our city which makes this kind of vandalism possible. Are we suffering from the crises of leadership amongst our elected representatives or is it the absence of responsible bureaucracy that we cannot maintain our public property like in Indonesia?