Bangalore Blues Kirtana Kumar with Aditya Mendonca India in Conversation

Film by Raintree Media Originals More on where we grew up: How Pincodes Shape Our Lives https://thegoodcity.in/latest/how-pin…

What makes a city? The streets we grew up on, the people we remember, or the stories we carry with us?

In this episode of The Good City | India, In Conversation, theatre artist and author Kirtana Kumar joins Aditya Mendonca to talk about Bangalore Blues — her book about the people, places and peculiarities that make Bengaluru the city it is.

Here’s a little trivia to start with: did you know that Thermal And A Quarter also have a song called Bangalore Blues?

Kirtana grew up on St Mark’s Road, in Bengaluru’s 560001 pin code, and has spent much of her life in theatre. Her book brings together the many voices of the city, creating characters and stories that capture Bengaluru’s wonderfully buzzy, cosmopolitan spirit. But how much of it is true? And how much is open to interpretation? That, as Kirtana tells us, is up for grabs.

In this conversation, she reflects on how a life in theatre helped her create the many characters who inhabit Bangalore Blues, each with a story to tell about the city. She takes us back to the old houses of Nandi Durg Road, conversations around the tables at Koshy’s, rehearsal halls discovered by accident and stages built with intention.

The conversation also takes Aditya Mendonca back to his own childhood. When he was younger, he attended classical guitar lessons alongside Kirtana’s daughter, Zui Reddy, learning from Konarak Reddy. The journey took him past India Garage, where the mechanics’ workshops always seemed to be buzzing with some kind of musical noise. It is one of those small, vivid memories that stay with you: a familiar route, the sounds of a neighbourhood, and a Bengaluru where music could be found in the most unexpected places.

There’s another distinctly Bengaluru memory: Kirtana’s parents driving towards Doddaballapur to buy Bangalore Blues grapes for their homemade Christmas wine. Some stories capture a city better than any history book ever could.

From the Bengaluru she grew up in to the city it is becoming, Kirtana explores memory, belonging, cultural change and the stories that give a place its identity. Along the way, she reflects on the characters, encounters and everyday details that make the city more than a collection of streets and buildings.

She also talks about Infinite Soul Artists Retreat, the farm-based sanctuary for artists she is building — a new chapter in a life shaped by theatre, creativity and the spaces where people come together.

Because a city is more than its buildings or its pin code. It is the people who inhabit it, the lives they lead, the sounds that spill out onto its streets and the stories they leave behind.

And sometimes, understanding a city means returning to the places we remember — and discovering how much of them we still carry with us.

Recorded at Qubix HiFi, Museum Road, Bengaluru 560001.

Film by Raintree Media Originals.

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