Lulu Global Mall comes to Bengaluru

(pic) Lulu Global Mall, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru. Image is a download from internet.

My dad used to work as DGM at what used to be ‘Minerva Mills’ and ‘Raja Mills’ more than half century back. 

A giant Lulu Global Mall has come up now in the Minerva Mills compound.

My dad had been awarded a full ‘scholarship’ to study textiles technology at Victoria Jubilee Technological Institutue (VJTI) Bombay; presently VJTI has become Veermata Jeejabai Institute of Technology in Mumbai. 

‘Minerva Mills’ and ‘Raja Mills’ at Bangalore had to be locked down by its Bombay owners (Sirur Group* of Mills) due to unsustainable wage demands from over 2000 to 4000 workers (4000 if one combined the strength of ‘Raja Mills’ and ‘Minerva Mills’; my Dad was DGM for both Mills.) When the laborers struck work, the Bombay owners of the Mills (Sirur Group*) withdrew their investments and forced a ‘Lockdown’ on these Mills. National Textile Corporation of India (A government of India undertaking) tried to run these mills without success and over 10,000 workers lost their jobs. top Trade Union leaders who lead the strikers became MLAs (even made it to Ministerial slots) in the Karnataka government for some time.

In my dad’s days… plain white long cloth, white dhotis and towels were made at these Mills. That was the clothing popular with most men in those days. For identification, cloth made at Minerva Mills had greek goddess ‘minerva’ stamp or symbol; cloth made at Raja Mills had the stamp or symbol of a ‘Mysore raja’.

Cotton from Kumta-region of north-west Karnataka used to be ‘ginnyed’ (to separate raw seeds from plucked cotton) and then spun on a series of ‘spindles & bobbins’ that raced in series at dizzing speeds to make yarn. There were also textile machinery to weave and roll out white cloth. ‘Kumta-cotton’ (grown in Kumta region of north Karnataka;) had the needed texture of Egyptian-cotton, for making strong yarn and cloth of good shine and finish.

During shortage of cotton word wide (believe it was during WWII,) ‘Kumta-yarn’ from Karnataka, used to be exported even to UK for making woven cloth at Manchester Mills in England.

After more than 60 years of activity at these two mills the compound where there was a busy textile mill, a giant global fashion mall called ‘Lulu Global Mall’ has come up.

LuLu Global Mall Bengaluru, has spread over 14 acres of mixed-use property now behind the Bangalore City Railway station (also known as Sangoli Rayanna Railway Station,) at Rajajinagar. The Global mall opened for business on 11th October 2021.

Within the property are 356 Super luxury apartments and Duplex Penthouses, which will further enhance the mall’s premium shopping experience. With 7.9 lakhs built up space (ground plus four levels,) the mall open its doors to over 140 national and international brands.

The food court of the mall will be a 1000 seater, with over 17 outlets, as well as several multi-cuisine restaurants and cafes.

The Mall will house a 70,000sqft 11 screen multiplex and a 70,000sqft Family Entertainment Centre, which is the biggest Entertainment Centre in Bengaluru.

The Mall will also feature the LuLu Hypermarket spread across 1.5 lakh square foot area for grocery shopping.

LuLu Global Mall is all set to be the city’s new shopping destination.

LuLu Global Mall Bengaluru ready made textile brands are:-

Arrow, Blackberrys, LuLu Connect, LuLu Hypermarket, Levis, Pepe Jeans, Calvin Klein, Flying Machine, Louise Philippe, Reliance Trends, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, Zudio, Basics, Jack & Jones, Simon Carter, LuLu Fashion Store, Westside, LuLu Forex, Manyavar, Pantaloons, United Colors of Benetton, US Polo Assn., Vero Moda, Tata Zudio.

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*NOTES: D.N.Sirur of Bombay was the founder of Sirur Group. He spoke Konkani. Sirur last name is also there in Bagalkot-region and Kumta-region of North west Karnataka.  

At one time, Konkani had no proper script of its own to write. It has now. Konkani is one of 22 scripted languages of India. 

Devanagari script with some modifications was adopted, a century back, to write the Kokani language.

Some Goa-christians still use Latin based English script to write Konkani. I understand that there are Konkanis in the Canara region who use Arabic and Malayalam to write Konkani. Konkanis of Karnataka use Kannada script to write Konkani.

Spoken Konkani is very different from spoken Kannada or Malayalam.

Ancestors of the Konkanis came to the west coast and north-western Canara region from the erstwhile Sarasvati river belt.

After Sarasvati river {in Rig Vedic literature, Sarasvati river is mentioned as one of the ‘Sapta Sindhu’ (7-rivers;} of late, only five rivers flow in the Punjab-region (panch_ab_region.) After Sarasvati dried up; some people of that region migrated to the Ganga-belt in uttar_kashi; most others migrated to south-west of India… to ‘Goa-Mumbai-Mangalore-region’… some to foot hills south of the Karavali mountains and some to north-western-regions of Kumta and Gokarna.

Konkanis call themselves ‘Sarasvats’. Brahmins among them call themselves ‘Sarasvat-Brahmins’. They like fish and fish-delicacies. They are not beef eaters. Like the character- ‘JEEVES’ created by P. G. Wodehouse, most fish eaters are brainy; I call ‘Sarasvats’ smart and brainy.

 

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FOOT NOTES,  REFERENCES

Konkani Heritage at Kamat’s Potpourri –  The Coconut Nation!  [Prominent Konkanis]

http://creative.sulekha.com/father-s-day-june-19-2016-remembering-my-dad_629103_blog

http://creative.sulekha.com/old-stories-reborn_636730_blog