SNIPPETS:
Whitefield!
TOWERING technology parks and corporate offices, the sprawling ashram of Satya Sai Baba and the equally large hospital named after him, restaurants and resorts, go-carting track, modern apartment complexes…the Whitefield of today is becoming increasingly metropolitan, cosmopolitan and vibrant—a much sought-after residential and business location. But just about twenty-odd years ago, if you wanted to speak to someone in Whitefield, you had to make a trunk call. And a Whitefield resident, making your acquaintance in his environs, would likely be surprised that you were visiting “all the way from Bangalore”.

Moving even further back in time, to the late 1800’s, Whitefield resembled a quiet English village transplanted into an Indian setting. And was considered the only settlement in India that Europeans and Anglo-Indians could really call their own.

Records show that on April 27, 1882, Chamaraja Wodeyar, the Maharaja of Mysore, granted 3900 acres of land to the Eurasian and Anglo-Indian (E&AI) Association of Mysore and Coorg for the establishment of agricultural settlements. Part of this land grant covered the area we now know as Whitefield.

The writings of one of those early settlers, Mr Peck (believed to be a school teacher), gives us a rare glimpse of life in Whitefield in days gone by…

On the basis by which the E&AI Association allotted land:
“Allotments of land from 2 to 20 acres were made only to members of the Association possessed of capital, pensions, or other private income and enough energy to pursue an active life and to carry on agricultural operations, helped by their wives, children and male and female apprentices. The second class of settler had only sufficient income to carry on a small industry on the acre or so of land around his cottage, or independently of it. Other settlers without means had to work as farm servants or domestic helps… Paupers and persons temporarily without means were given the option of working under other settlers who had to feed, clothe and pay them for work done. The reasons for these restrictions are based on the soundest principles of political economy and on the conclusions arrived at by great European economists.”

On the appearance of Whitefield in the early 1900’s:
“A fine road, with a good avenue of trees runs through the Settlement, from the North to the South, dividing it into two parts and thence to Sausmond, 5 miles further on, the same road leading to Bangalore which is 10 miles off. The Village site forms a large circle 1500 feet in diameter with about 25 houses on the circumference and the school, schoolmaster's quarters, post office, play ground, and lawn tennis courts in the centre of the circle. The Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches are near at hand and so are the Whitefield Stores, Waverly Inn and The Refreshment Room. Outside the circle there is a place for football and a cricket ground.

On life in Whitefield:
“Several of the settlers work at the Kolar Gold Field while their families remain in the Settlement, and as it is not far off they take a run into the place periodically. Others again earn something by growing fruit and timber trees, the rearing of poultry and sheep farming ought to pay well. The cost of living is somewhat cheaper than in Madras or Bangalore. Supplies are in plentiful. Hawkers, bakers, butchers, sellers of fruit, milk, eggs, butter, poultry, game, fish etc., go round from house to house, if paid punctually then. A servant can at any time go by rail to Bangalore market and be back in an hour or two. Trains leave Whitefield for Madras, Bangalore and Jolarpet three or four times a day.

The Whitefield Store, kept by Messers. Hamilton, Strange & Co., is a surprise to all who come to visit Whitefield from outstation. The Refreshment Room and Waverly Inn (Churchill was supposed to have stayed here on a visit—Brigade Insight) are in the same building. The Inn at present has only accommodation for two families and half a dozen single people, and so it is generally full. The Refreshment Room provides dinners, tiffins, etc., for casual visitors, and it is largely patronised by cricket and football teams and others. The Refreshment Room is also used for an evening by the residents who wish to read the papers or to have a game of chess, draughts or cards.

Visitors in those days who required house accommodation, picnic parties and others who may wish to be conveyed to Whitefield from the Railway Station and back, should address Mr. D. Strang. Of course the mile and half journey from the station can be made either by bullock cart or jutka, the former by pre-arrangement, and the latter at the station, for which the charge is 8 annas.

Today, a walk down the Inner and Outer Circle Roads, with a little imagination in tow, can help you picture what Whitefield must have been like in its prime. The historian, M. Fazlul Hasan, summed up changing times best, when he wrote, "but this English myth of a secluded European and Eurasian existence in an essentially Indian environment, which survived two World Wars and the uncomfortable days of the Indian struggle for independence, could not continue for long. This reality became manifest when the British left India after the country achieved Independence in 1947. The Europeans who lived in Whitefield left India for Great Britain and most of the Anglo-Indian population migrated to Australia. Though Whitefield has now lost its romantic appeal, it remains a legacy of the British rule in India".
History moves on. Now Whitefield is getting ready to play a different role—that of an important new suburb of Bangalore.

—Brigade Insight