MAGNIFYING OORU'S PAST

Bengaluru's charm lies in its layered history, where the modern tech metropolis coexists with its storied past.

- POOJA DAS

At the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), a unique exhibition titled From Bangalore, with Love offers a glimpse into this past through an extraordinary collection of postcards.

Curated by photographer Clare Arni, Bengaluru-born artist Archana Hande, and art historian Suresh Jayaram, the exhibition transports visitors to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when the city was a burgeoning blend of British Cantonment and traditional pete (market) areas.

The postcards, dating from 1890 to 1910, were originally part of a collection amassed by Arni's father, Martin Henry, who was the director of the textile company Madura Coats. "My father only collected postcards from that period," Arni shares, "Possibly because it was shortly after postcards were introduced to India because his collection stopped around 1910."