In Silicon Valley, the name "Bangalore" conjures up visions of outsourced jobs or globally distributed start-ups. Change the name to "Bengaluru" and you enter the realm of Hindu nationalism reacting against British and Muslim imperialism.
Visit Bangalore/Bengaluru today, and you will see the architecture underpinning our technological future. But that same future can also summon up the Bangalore of centuries past. On Tuesday, Desipundit linked to a set of portraits of Bangalore by 18th century painter James Hunter, a soldier who fought in the British wars against Tipu Sultan.
Hunter's sketches have an almost cartoon Orientalist feel to them -- they could be frames from an animated Disney film about Gunga Din. It's a shock to realize that they are actually eyewitness renderings of elephants and temples and townspeople and ruins that looked ancient hundreds of years ago.
Before there were camera-phones, there were itinerant soldier/painters. Flickr bestows upon us the gift of both.
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