See location map of Freedom Park at the end of this post.
Freedom Park is a large open space in the heart of Bangalore, at Sheshadri Road. This place once functioned as the ‘central jail.’ After the prison was shifted outside the city, the then government had the goodwill to convert it into a park instead of coming up with more buildings in the area.
The design of the park was chosen through a national level competition. A plaque installed in the park says more about the history of the prison and the establishment of the park:
The Central Jail
The first war of Indian Independence gave a new thrust to the freedom movement in India. Many Indians joined the movement and the British, to curb the movement, began sending more and more freedom fighters to prisons. As a result, the British needed more and more jails to accommodate the rising number of self sacrificing freedom fighters. The Bangalore Central Jail was constructed against this background in 1866. It occupied a site of approximately 21 acres. The Jail has housed many illustrious leaders who fought for the freedom of our nation and for restoration of democracy during the emergency regime post independence. The Jail compound included a watchtower in the center, barracks and other buildings like the hospital, workshops, etc.
Freedom Park
The design of the park was selected through a national level competition initiated by BBMP. Architect couple Soumitro Ghosh and Nisha Mathew Ghosh won the competition and the park has been developed based on their design on a budget of Rs.17.35 crores.
The main objective of the park is to create green cover and lung space in the heart of the city without diluting the historical significance of the location. As a result, a beautiful multi-use urban park with a state-of-the-art information corridor, cultural and leisure joints, children’s play areas, light and sound shows etc. has come up on the sprawling 15-acre area of the erstwhile central jail of Bangalore. A dedicated space for holding protests and rallies, on the lines of Hyde Park in London, was proposed on an area of 6 acres as a solution to the traffic concerns that protests and rallies in the city center trigger. The most beautiful aspect of the park is the vision of architects in creating volumes of space using light while providing all necessary amenities to the public.
Commissioner, BBMP
The park has plenty of open space with lush grass and a walk way along the park walls. Inside, the watch tower of the prison is the major landmark visible from nearly everywhere. The architects have kept the barracks unchanged except adding some finer touches. The prison cells too have been left unchanged, but the passage to the cells is kept locked and inaccessible. There is an amphitheater next to the barracks. A canteen is work in progress.
Entrance to Freedom Park
To the left of the entrance is the old central jail building.
The watch tower at the center of the park
The barracks
Insides of the park.
Location map of Freedom Park.
View Freedom Park, Bangalore in a larger map
Prints of all the images available. Request for prints.
I had featured one of my images from Nandi Hills a few days ago on paintedstork facebook page. Browsing through the page this morning, I realized that many of my pictures from Nandi are scattered across several posts on my blog. Nandi Hills has many moods that vary with the season. It may look like a dull rocky hill with scrub forest and a few gardens during the first visit. At least that’s what I thought about it. But subsequent trips revealed many interesting faces of the hill. In the later visits I saw birds showing off their dazzling colours; I saw macaques cuddling their tiny and fragile babies that hugged their mothers tightly. I saw amazing play of clouds that brushed past the nearby hills; I saw clouds that enveloped the slopes revealing just an aberration jutting out from a sea of fluffy cotton balls. I saw sunsets that painted the sky red. And I know that this small stretch of hills just north of Bangalore have concealed a lot more than they have revealed me so far.
On this particular day when I was at the top of the hill, I was looking forward to shoot some birds. I must have spent about half an hour chasing an uncooperative paradise flycatcher. I stood next to a tree contemplating if I should continue chasing the flycatcher and go somewhere else. That moment, this Blue Capped Rock Thrush flew into the tree and started singing. Although commonly seen, this is my only sighting of the bird till date.
A flower at the garden in front of the guest house at the top of the hill.
This family of monkeys stared at us intently as we were driving down the hill, perhaps hoping to get something for breakfast.
I must have passed this view each time I drove up the hill, without stopping for a second look. But one winter at the break of dawn, I saw the clouds moving quickly across this hill with a thin cloud layer settling down on the rock surface. Here is the outcome of fifteen minutes of struggle with the camera.
On the same day when the above image of the hill and the clouds was taken, it looked like we were going to have a clear weather on the top. But just when we were approaching the eucalyptus grove a few hundred meters below the top, fog came in and enveloped the trees. We stopped and I took this picture immediately. Five minutes early or late and we would not have got to see something like this.
On another winter morning, we were late to arrive at the top of the hill and I was disappointed to see that there was no fog, which would have provided many photo-opportunities. As we slowly drove up the slope, I suddenly noticed this mild mist, which covered the earth below. I jumped out from the car and ran towards the slopes with excitement. This is the only picture (besides some variations of it) I shot that day.
We drove up to Nandi on an evening with no particular agenda. Although I had no plans to take any picture, I had still carried the camera with me. It was a colourful sunset that evening and I took a few quick pictures as the sun made his way down the horizon.
On one full moon day, a bunch of us photographer made the slow walk to the top of Skandagiri, not far from Nandi. Although Skandagiri was a known name then, we were the only people who made the full-moon-day trek to the hill that day. The next morning as the sun came up, this was the spectacle we saw standing on the top: Nandi and surrounding hills floating in a sea of clouds. I am told that Skandagiri has gone through major changes since then. Although I don’t have confirmed reports, I have heard that it used to get crowded enough that there is hardly any free space at the top. Apparently they now even have tea-stalls up on the hill. I have also heard that forest department had prohibited people from climbing the hill for some time. I do not know if such an order still remains.
And to conclude with another bird photograph, here’s is a Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher from Nandi.
Prints of the images are available. Request for prints.
Here is another image from Bhoganandeeshwara Temple. A marriage was in progress when we arrived at the temple, providing plenty of human elements in a place, which I guess usually remains empty.
