Lulu Global Mall comes to Bengaluru

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 of over 2000 to 4000 workers (4000 if one combined the strength of ‘Raja Mills’ and ‘Minerva Mills’; my Dad was DGM for both Mills.)

In my dad’s days at these Mills… plain white long cloth, white dotis 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 and spun (on a series of ‘spindles & bobbins’ that spun at dizzing speeds to make yarn.) There were also textile machinery to weave and roll out white cloth. ‘Kumta-cotton’ had the needed texture (texture of egyptian cotton,) for making good strength 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 Machester Mills in England.

After more than 60 years of activity at these two mills the compound where there was a spralling 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 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 and ground plus four storeys, it will 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 70,000 sq. ft. 11 screen multiplex and a 70,000 sq. ft. Family Entertainment Centre, which is the biggest Entertainment Centre in Bengaluru.

The Mall will also feature the LuLu Hypermarket spread across 1.5 lakh sq.ft.

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 now.) 

Devanagari script with some modifications was adoped several centuries back to write in 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 too… to write in Konkani. Konkanis of Karnataka use Kannada script to write in Konkani. Spoken Konkani is very different from spoken Kannada.

Ancestors of the Konkanis came to the west coast and north-western Canara region from the erstwhile Sarasvati river belt. After Saraswati river (in Rig Vedic literature, Saraswati 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; 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 ‘Saraswats’. Brahmins among them call themselves ‘Saraswat-Brahmins’. They like fish and fish-delicacies. They are not beef eaters. Like the charter- ‘JEEVES’ created by P.G.Wodehouse, most fish eaters are brainy; I call ‘Saraswats’ brainy too!

 

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FOOT NOTES,  REFERENCES

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

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