History of Bowring Institute

Good morning, Bengaluru!

🌦️ Today’s weather: Thundershowers and a gentle breeze throughout the day.

🧐 Did you know? The Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT) is the oldest non-profit theatre society in the city. It was founded in 1960 in post-colonial India when English theatre wasn’t very popular.

🏛️ How the Bowring Institute became a monument

(Image credits: TuckDB Postcards, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Bowring Institute was started as a club to promote knowledge.

Origins: There’s an anomaly in the list of Bengaluru Urban’s protected monuments, which includes the Basaveshwara, Gangadhareshwara, Mallikarjuna and Venkataramanaswamy temples and Kempe Gowda’s watchtowers. It’s the Bowring Institute, the main building of a colonial-era elite club that exists even today.

Called the Literary and Scientific Institute, it was founded in February 1868 by LB Bowring. A rupee a month would get you in.
Bowring intended it to be an organisation for intellectual improvement and spreading knowledge. The building boasted a reading room and library.

Transformations: In 1884, when members were few and rents high, club secretary BL Rice began making changes that would give the club the shape it has today. The current building’s construction was completed in 1890 when Bowring had left Bengaluru.

120 years of standing the test of time had taken its toll on the building. Between 2014 and 2021, authorities took up intensive restoration measures to fix the leaky roofs and install new tiles on the ceiling and verandah.

⚽ Banner painting for the SAFF championship

(Image credits: Bengaluru FC’s Twitter post)

Football fans honour a decade-old tradition to set the ball rolling for the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.

Honouring tradition: Bengaluru is set to host the SAFF Championship for the first time, with fans eagerly anticipating the India-Pakistan match at Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday at 7.30 pm. Bengaluru FC’s fan group, West Block Blues, organised a community banner painting event on Sunday, drawing around 40-50 supporters.

This tradition has been ongoing since 2013 when Bengaluru FC was established. The handmade banner, spanning 3,300 square feet, represents Indian football fans’ pride.
Karan Prasad, a fan, highlighted the increasing enthusiasm for Indian football due to the team’s improved FIFA ranking (currently 101) and victory in the Intercontinental Cup.

The mood: Fans are seeing the Championship as an appetiser before the Asian Cup scheduled for 2024. The return of the national team to India after a while has created a vibrant atmosphere among football fans. They hope that it will expand India’s football fanbase.

🚄 Vande Bharat trials begin

(Image credits: Harshul12345, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Karnataka’s second Vande Bharat started its trial runs on Monday.

Story so far: The anticipated trial runs of the Bengaluru to Dharwad Vande Bharat Express commenced yesterday. Departing from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station in Bengaluru at 5.45 am, the eight-car train arrived in Dharwad at approximately 12.40 pm.

For the return journey, it departed Dharwad at 1.15 p.m. and was expected to reach Bengaluru by 8.10 pm.
During the trial, the train made stops at Yesvantpur, Davangere, and Hubballi railway stations.

Tell me more? This Vande Bharat Express is the second in Karnataka and the first to operate within the state. Train services are expected to open for operations on June 26.

🧑‍💻 One Week One Lab innovation exhibition

A constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is organising a six-day innovation showcase.

Display details: The Fourth Paradigm Institute (CSIR-4PI), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, will hold a ‘One Week One Lab’ (OWOL) campaign to showcase its innovations from July 10 to 15.

As part of a curtain-raiser on June 21, CSIR Director-General N Kalaiselvi will inaugurate a centralised supercomputing facility.
CSIR-4PI’s outreach will focus on a scientist-student connection and facilitate interactions with stakeholders like the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority.

Flagship programme: CSIR-4PI is developing smart agrotechnologies to improve soil and plant health by focusing on crop and region-specific needs. During OWOL, farmers from different corners of Karnataka will visit on an ‘open day’ event to learn using customised technologies.

The institute is also exploring incubating a cybersecurity startup that works on threat intelligence.

📊 Today’s Poll

(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)

Have you been on a Vande Bharat train yet?

Yes, I have travelled on a Vande Bharat train.
No, I haven’t travelled on a Vande Bharat train.

❓ Today’s Question

(Only subscribers can submit their answers)

Which director in the Indian film industry do you think is underrated?

Reply to this email with your answers.

🗞️ In other news…

26,000 saplings will be planted in lieu of trees axed for the suburban train project.
There were four foreigners among the 87 women rescued from pubs.
Fish deaths in the Doddakallasandra Lake exposes the BBMP’s negligence.
Here’s a piece about Ankit Rathore, who is making physics fun with his apartment laboratory.
55,000 people signed up for the Gruha Jyothi free electricity scheme on its first day.

🛋️ Local Lounge

Yesterday’s Poll:

I invest in the stock market: 55.6% 🏆
I don’t invest in the stock market: 44.4%

Answers to Yesterday’s Question:

What is your ideal way to spend your birthday?

Mansoor: “Go alone somewhere and spend the day with yourself.”

That’s it for today. Have a great day!

History of Bowring InstituteH