A shot at history: Twelve decades on South Parade

Last week, the iconic Bangalore eatery, MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Rooms), celebrated 100 years in business with the launch of a commemorative coffee table book, The MTR Story.

- Roopa Pai

Last week, the iconic Bangalore eatery, MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Rooms), celebrated 100 years in business with the launch of a commemorative coffee table book, The MTR Story. Over the sumptuous tiffin after, conversation veered towards other legendary, still-extant, early 20th-century Bangalore brands.

Like GK Vale, today the largest photo lab in south India, which began life on Brigade Road in May 1910 as the Madras Photo Stores, eventually taking on the name of its founder, Gangadhar Kumara Vale (Kumaravel).

Like Mysore Sandal Soap, launched in 1918 as a byproduct of Mysore's Government Sandalwood Oil Factory, with young IISc researcher Sosale Garalapuri Shastry, aka "Soap Shastry", coming up with the tech for creating a soap from sandalwood oil.

Like Vijayalakshmi Silks, born in 1920, and raised, like all good Bengaluru silk saree businesses, in the lanes of Chikpet, by savvy businessmen Devatha Adappa Venkata Ratnam Setty and his nephew CS Venkataram.