Bengaluraiah Circle

One of the Whatsapp messages from my friend Nagaraj was a photo of a junction. If not for the following message from Anil, I might have missed the specialty of Naag's picture. What's special is the junction's name "Bengaluraiah Circle" which evoked curiosity. The junction is situated on the west of Bengaluru, on Tavarekre-Kengeri road, the nearest village is Gulaganjanahalli.

Here's a closeup of the board stating the name- Bengaluraiah Circle ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಯ್ಯ ವೃತ್ತ. Its an old practice of naming a junction as circle because of the circular island around which traffic flowed. However with increasing traffic, islands were cleared to make extra road making them just junctions but the word circle stuck.

We wondered if Bengaluraiah is a historical character. I ran an online search for the name. Of the few results I inferred that one seldom come across person named Bengaluraiah. Then there is a monastery named Bengaluraiah Matha, located at Banasamudra, off Malavalli-Kanakapura road. Not much information on the monastery except for one or two pictures and a user comment in Google Maps. Within the Matha premises is a mantapa with a larger than life size idol of Nandi (Basava). The place might have a long history but the mantapa and idol are modern, made of bricks and cement concrete. This monastery is located 80 km southwest of Bengaluraiah Circle.

I end up with more questions- what's behind the Bengaluraiah Matha's name? is there any connection between Bengaluraiah Circle and Bengaluraiah Matha. are there historical references to the name Bengaluraiah?

May be Naag can inquire during his next visit to the spot :)

.........

a story of paper making technology

This post is little offbeat, its about a booklet on felt used in paper making machines, published in 1975 by a company named Porritts & Spencer. P&S is a UK based company established in 1914, its operative till day as per an online source. The booklet was a complimentary copy my father had received during his tenure at Mysore Paper Mills. I found it in a heap of paper early 2000s, kept it as a souvenir- a 45 year old autographed & dated souvenir. Now I felt like sharing the lovable pictures and informative narration. The booklet is titled: FELT - TO FILL A LONG AND ENDLESS WANT. The following text is transcript of the story as it is. Hoping you enjoy the peek into the history of paper making technology.

For thousands of years man's urge to express himself, progressing from gesture and speech to a need to record for future generations his history and his thoughts, led to the use of whatever materials came easily to hand pictures on stone and clay tablets, to writing on animal skins and papyrus, from which paper as we know it, derives its name. It was around A.D. 105 that a Chinese court official, Ts'ai Lun, invented paper, producing for his emperor Ho Ti's inspection the first ever sheet of paper. Made from stock prepared by mascerating in water the bark of the mulberry tree, hemp waste, old rags and fishnet, the art of paper making was kept a close secret for 500 years.

It eventually found its way to Japan and some 700 years later to the west.

Paper was produced in Italy during the year 1276 by dipping a frame, with a screened bottom, into a vat of stock, lifting it out and allowing it to drain, thus leaving a sheet of mash on the screen. After pressing and drying, a sheet of paper was formed, the size being regulated by the frame size which could be lifted manually from the vat.

It was not until 1798 that the process of papermaking was mechanised. A machine constructed by the Frenchman Nicholas-Louis Robert, consisted of a moving screen belt receiving a continuous flow of stock which delivered an unbroken length of wet paper to a pair of squeeze rollers. This then was the crude forerunner of the modern papermaking machine and this is where we-Porritts & Spencer came into the picture.

The earliest records available show that the Porritt family were textile manufacturers in the year 1808, and during the next hundred years three separate Porritt descendants operated in competition with each other. However, they were re-united in 1914 and in conjunction with J. H. Spencer & Sons, Ltd., Porritts & Spencer Ltd., was created.

To meet the demand of the paper industry more mills were built or acquired until, in 1968, a merger took place between the two major British manufacturers, creating one of the three largest manufacturers of mechanical clothing in the world.

When ancient man felt outraged at another's use of his invention of felt Scapa Group Ltd., now owns or controls more than 20 manufacturing units throughout the world.

Scapa Group Ltd., now owns or controls more than 20 manufacturing units around the world.

The paper manufacturing industry in India has also been growing rapidly and to meet the increasing demand for both woollen-based and cotton felts, Porritts & Spencer (Asia) Ltd. was established with a modern factory at Faridabad, Haryana, which went into production on 26 October 1970. Since then orders continue to pour in, and most types of wet and dryer felts have been produced for almost every paper and board mill in India, leading to very considerable savings in foreign exchange outlays to the nation.

Calling for a much heavier material than is produced in conventional textile mills, machines for papermaker's felt manufacture are designed to be capable of producing material weighing from 400 grams to 4,000 grams per square metre.

The specially equipped quality control laboratory ensures that the woollen yarn conforms to specific requirements of tensile strength required by the customer.

The looms manufacture the basic fabric prior to processing, which at this preliminary stage is referred to as being in the 'grey or greasy state.

Catering to the particular requirements of a partieular machine, felts are literally tailor-made to order. Designs are determined by such factors as the type of papermaking machine, type of paper manufactured, nature of raw materials used, speed of machine and state of stock, such as pH, freeness etc.

After the basic material has been woven to a specific design it is then rendered endless by

manual splicing or felting, requiring a high degree of expertise on the part of each operator. In order to sustain the level of quality called for in what amounts to a totally invisible darn, it could take a single operator a full day to complete just seven inches of splicing. Once felting is completed the material goes to another section where it is slowly turned on rotating rollers to facilitate close examination for faults, which at this 'grey' stage can be conveniently corrected.

The felt is now ready for shrinking or milling to a pre-determined size thus preventing either stretching or narrowing when running at high speed on a paper machine.

After milling the felt is washed and chemically treated for protection against bacterial infestation, moth damage etc.

The endless fabric is now mounted on heavy rolls, one of which is some six feet in diameter and steam heated. After stretching to a pre determined tension the felt rotates and is slowly dried. This controlled process ensures uniform tension at all points when the felt is in use on a paper machine.

To prevent the paper in its wet state being marked by the weave, felts often have fibres teased out of their structure to form a fluffy cover. This is done by rotating the felt and allowing it to contact hundreds of vegetable teazles which are mounted on a revolving drum.

Some felts are made by laying a very uniform layer of wool upon an open woven endless fabric and passing it continuously through a machine equipped with an oscillating board containing many thousands of barbed needles -the needles force the fibres of wool through the fabric and anchor them, thus producing a porous and non-marking felt.

The manufacture of paper also calls for the use of cotton felts. Made from cotton yarn which is wound from a specially constructed creel onto a warping drum under calculated tension to ensure uniform quality in the felt to be produced again, tailor-made to the explicit specifications supplied by the customer great care is exercised to ensure that the felt will run true to the papermaking machine.

Cotton yarn for the weft is run onto specially constructed shuttles which, on the weaving looms, attain speeds of 40 60 m.p.h.

These cotton-felt looms are considerably heavier and wider than looms in a conventional cotton weaving mill. producing wider and much thicker fabric which is subjected to high levels of quality control.

At this weaving stage, an alert worker checks the woven cloth for possible flaws and faults, which can be corrected on the machine.

After a pre-determined length is woven, it is removed and stretched and either hand spliced to make it endless, like a woollen felt, or is fitted with a mechanical seam-a very specialised operation.

Elaborate arrangements are made for maintaining a constant level of temperature and humidity necessary for the various stages of felt production. The units, contained in their own rooms, are in fact giant-sized desert coolers equipped with an immense blower some 7 to 8 feet in diameter, fitted with a proportionately giant-sized duct for distributing conditioned air to all parts of the factory where it is needed.

.........

Savandurga - overnight stay three

My earlier posts had covered overnight visit one, two, four and five. Three was pending since the pictures had to be located. I did find only three pictures. I think the trip happened in 1999 or 2000. We were six of us- Praveen, Murali, Nagesh, Kallappa, Appaji and I. Murali was a grocery store owner, a businessman accustomed to city life and typical family tours. I was surprised when Praveen told us that Murali would was joining, but happy that another person was seeing Savandurga, that too at night. The group sans Murali was familiar with Savandurga.

As before we organized all required stuff and prepared the bags for the trip. I think it was a cold season, we had to be prepared for the windy and cold weather on the monolith. We left Bangalore around 2-00 pm, reached Savandurga by 4-15 or so, parked our vehicles at Veerabhadreshwara Devastana and started our climb around 4-30 pm. Kalappa and I lead the pack, Nagesh and Appaji trailing behind us, Praveen and Murali struggling at the back. I knew Praveen's pace well, so we carried on just keeping them in eyesight but well out of earshot. Kalappa and I reached the guard house around 5-30 or so, had to wait 20+ minutes before everyone joined. As soon as Murali reached the guard house, he sat down saying that he did not know about the climb. He was little upset, I think. He said he'll never ever go out with us. I was laughing inside but managed not to show it. I tried to pacify him saying that he would enjoy the night but he was in no mood. Anyway, he didn't have any other choice but to stay :)

I think it was two or three days after full moon, we had sufficient moonlight to look around. This time we carried candles and lanterns, we had planned to stay inside the guard house. To our luck, the guard house floor was covered with hay. Looks like some other group had stayed here few days back. Of the six only Praveen and Appaji had whisky, rest of us had soft drinks. Murali had brought number of snacks. We had a pocket radio, tuned into Akashvani, listening to sweet Hindi songs. Dinner was around 9-30, we hit the sack around 11-00. Sleep was on and off. I guess Appaji and Praveen slept well. We got out of the beds at dawn, sunrise is little late because of the mist. One of the younger fellows made a small fire to keep out cold. That's Appaji trying to warm up.

Normally at day break we head to Nandi Mantapa at the summit. We asked Murali to come. The response was a stiff no. He didn't want to move step further. I tried to change his decision but he stuck to it. Praveen too decided to stay back to give company to his pal. Four of visited Nandi, offered him one or two Frangipani flowers and our Namaskara. Kalappa is holding on to the radio, probably he had tuned into Vividbharati, listening to old Hindi songs. The mist would not clear though we spent around twenty minutes. So we head back to the guard house.

At the guard house Murali surprises us with breakfast of bread and jam. I think it was Jan-26th hence the tricolor. We couldn't find a straight stick, had to do with a crooked one. The flag is a genuine one, made of Khadi, purchased at the manufacturing center at Khadi Gramudyog, Garag near Dharwad.

That's me. I like walking on this hill barefoot. After coming back from Nandi Mantapa, I'd been for a short walk alone, barefoot. The abrasive surface of the rock is so comforting to the sole. The acupuncture points in the sole are activated when sharp but momentary pressure is applied. Yes, one must walk barefoot on rocks or soil everyday.

Back at Bangalore, I asked Murali if he wanted to join us on another trip. He said nimm savasa beda nanage. Ha ha ha!

PS: There were two previous and two subsequent overnight stays on Savandurga, each time it was a different group. Here are the links to them: Overnight Stay One, Overnight Stay Two, Overnight Stay Four, and Overnight Stay Five.

.........

Savandurga - overnight stay five

I'd almost forgotten about this trip until I stumbled on the pictures which brought back memories of the day.

December 8, 2007

I'd been on a visit to Bangalore. As usual Deepak, Gulveer and I met up which somehow resulted in planning a trip to our beloved hill- Savandurga. For a change we decided on night camping on the hill. We left Bangalore after lunch. We took Bangalore-Magadi-Savandurga road instead of Bangalore-Dodda Alada Mara-Savandurga. The latter is much more scenic but the former is quicker. We stopped for a short break when the monolith appeared on the horizon, as if it was welcoming us. This stretch of the road was flanked by paddy fields, crop almost ready for harvest.

We went into the "battada gadde" to take a closer look at the plants. Rajesh poses for a picture of himself with Batta and Savandurga. The green-yellow shade is a treat to the eyes. A month ago the field would have been thoroughly wet and the plants greener.

We reached Savandurga by 4-30. Parked our car at Veerabhadreshwara Devastana, had a word with the priest about our plan to stay at the top. It's always good that locals knew of our stay. This is one of the few surviving ancient temples still in the original condition. The architecture is Vijayanagara. These temples were built by Palyegar rulers who were vassals of Vijayanagara empire. 

Each one of us had a backpack loaded with mats, blankets, jerkins, food, soft-drinks and water. Climbing with load is usually slower than bare climbing. I think we reached the top around 5-30 pm, started collecting dry wood for fire. As usual we set camp at the guard house, the only closed shelter on this hill. Dusk sky was a lovely combination of blues, greys, gold and a touch of pink.

Sunset can be seen from Nandi Mantapa i.e. the summit but not from the guard house which are about half kilometer apart. This view is more towards westerly direction where as the previous picture is towards south.

The eight pillared shelter is a stone's throw from our camp i.e. the guard house. The shelter is slightly elevated and gives a good view of the eastern and southern surroundings. The columns are also Vijayanagara style. This is the most basic version pillar, the more advanced are seen in taller shelters and temples.

As expected the December night was cold, and windy which upped the chill factor. We could not build a fire that would last, we gave up. We talked, cracked jokes and laughed as we sipped soft-drinks and nibbled on potato wafers. Our dinner was chapathi, avare kalu palya and shrikhand. Sleep was on and off but we were comfortable. Morning the air is laden with moisture which kind of dampens the blankets. We woke up just before dawn, the day started with this lovely sight of sunlight trying to crck through low level clouds. Whatever light made it through the clouds was promptly reflected off the calm surface of Manchenbele lake.

The two columns are the pillars of Nandi Mantapa. As soon as I reach the summit, the first thing I do is climb on to the Mantapa, circle Nandi three times, and offer a Namaskara. Of all the sunrises seen here, this is probably the most spectacular one.

The unhindered view: The golden orange glowing ball peeking through the space between the horizon and cloud laden sky. The entire horizon is aglow with orange. What a mesmerizing sight!

Nandi Mantapa sits on the edge of the hill. Nandi's sight is aligned to south-easterly direction. I feel this Nandi keeps a watch over Veerabhadreshwara Devastana, a temple dedicated to a form of Shiva. This picture has a peaceful feel. However, if you stand there you would be pushed around by freezing wind.

Gulli and Deepak gazing in silence.

Suryadeva breaks through the clouds. Deepak and Gulli are still fixed with their gazes towards east. The electric pole standing here has its own little history. A electric line was drawn on Savandurga in 1960s. One of the engineers involved in the project happened to be our neighbor in Bangalore. The gentleman had retired from service when we first met early 1990s. The poles and cables are intact but never saw any of the lamps working in my five overnight stays.

Of all the plants on Savandurga, the most beautiful are the Frangipani trees. As one climbs, the first trees can be seen at the first gateway and then at the top, close to the summit. When in full bloom these trees are a lovely sight and the pleasant aroma of the flower hangs in the air around the tree. To reach the summit, one has to clamber over the branches of a big tree. Frangipani wood is relatively soft, breaks easily. Here are few pictures of broken branches and base of the tree where the trunk transitions into root.

Here are few other plants commonly seen. This tiny plant actually grows into a small tree, it doesn't seem to flower. The compound leaves plant must be a type of fern. The green carpet must be moss. The last one is some kind of fruit, can't recall the plant that shed this beauty.

Savandurga is home to several types of grasses, to my knowledge about five or six types which includes tall and short. Some are seasonal and some evergreen. This clump of grass is the evergreen type. I don't remember seeing it flower. Its blades are thick, narrow and dark green. I'll move on to rocks.. this hole is a sign of ancient quarrying. Granite must've been quarried here to build some of the structures. Plants have taken over the walls of ancient house. A natural crack in the rock due to hot and cold cycles. 

On the way back.. Rajesh swings from a branch while Deepak makes a video. Though its sunny, its was still cold and felt colder because of the wind.

We stopped at the guard house, our night camp site, for breakfast. I think we had come bread, peanut butter and jam.

Down the slopes of Savandurga. The effect of downward forces is mostly felt in the knees and in the toe nails. One good way to tackle slopes, ascending or descending, is to zigzag.

Another collage of a cactus, a ficus, streams of water trickling down a rocky slope and insect trap pits.

This is one of favorite pictures of this trip. A cut end of a Frangipani. Despite the radial cracks, the age rings are clearly visible. When a live branch is broken, white sticky sap starts dripping from the broken ends. Unlike other trees, Frangipanis have a soft skin instead of bark.

On the way back, somewhere between Tavarekere and Bangalore, we happened to notice two hero-stones in a field. Both herostones had Kannada lines inscribed on them. Probably the text mentioned the names of the warriors who gave up lives in some daring act.

Its been ten years since my last visit to Savandurga. I hope the monolith, the fort walls, Nandi Mantapa, Hanuman idol, guard house, ponds are well preserved; and the trees and plants are thriving. Also hoping to see the Nandi Mantapa again.

PS: The earlier overnight stays on Savandurga happened between 1996 and 2002. Here are the links to those four posts: Overnight Stay One, Overnight Stay Two, Overnight Stay Three, Overnight Stay Four, and Overnight Stay Five.
.........