Now it can be told. Live and in black and white.
Mangaloreans and Mangalore have a great history and culture that is second to none. Even Greek or Egyptian civilizations would pale in comparison.
If finally international flights are going to land in Mangalore, it is just that the city is finally getting the recognition it deserves. So what if the Bajpe runway cannot be still longer? What else do you expect from a city that truly is at the top of the world?
If nobody knows about the greatness of Mangalore its because nobody has done any serious research on the subject. Mangaloreans have been busy running to Mumbai, Muscat and Miami that the only thing that they think about Mangalore is the annual visit during the Mango/jackfruit season. Which city can remain great for long with that kind of attitude? When you are in Casseia did it cross your mind that it might have something to do after all with ‘CASIO’? Or for that matter ‘BERMUDA’ with ‘Permude’? Doughnuts from our ‘uddina vade’, Chewing gum from our akroot?..well the list is endless.
George Bush may be the great proponent of democracy. But the seeds of democracy could have been sown in our own ‘panchayat’ meetings under the banyan tree or around ‘Appanna Katte??
Yoga may be popular all around the world today but it probably is a offshoot of ‘Kusthi’. The kusthi players who got entangled while playing the sport must have inspired some of the yogasana’s.
De-caffeinated coffee (or even detonated tea ? that’s what it is called I presume) is actually an old Mangalorean discovery. Who doesn?t know of our ‘Rampa’ of ‘Indra Bhavan’ using the same coffee and tea powder over and over and over again thus laying the foundation for the decaffeinated coffee?
In fact even the ‘theory’ of evolution, I believe, was originally from Mangalore. Sceptics who will no doubt mock me will be silenced once the name of the city is changed to ‘Manga-looru’. Everyone is busy complaining about the Manganese ore dust. Has anyone ever considered the similarity between the names ? Mangalore and Manganese? Or for that matter the connection between the king of fruits and our beloved city? Of course it needs an imaginative mind to do that.
Not just ‘Eastern Rome’ it can also be called as ‘Eastern City of Romance’. I am pretty confident that the concept of ‘eloping’ is Mangalore’s gift to mankind. Isn’t it the ‘Breaking News’ of the gossip market that someone has eloped with someone and it’s always someone from Mangalore to Bombay. Ever heard of anyone eloping from Bombay to Lucknow? Or even from Bombay to Mangalore? Never!
Consider the fashion industry. The idea of mini dresses and panties are genuinely Mangalorean. The red coloured underclothing worn by our valiant men of olden days ? although worn not as ‘under clothing’ then, with one end of the cloth dangling- it was a fashion statement far beyond those times. Although, sadly, the men of Mangalore did not continue in this great tradition, the women of the world did take notice and with suitable modifications have adapted this Mangalorean dress remarkably well.
All this makes me think that Mangalore surely deserves to be not just in the history books but also as a city of remarkable achievements that deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Guinness book…hmm…did it ever cross your mind that even Guinness book could be a Mangalorean idea?….. It surely sounds similar to “Ganesha Book of World Records”… If I can some funds ? just a million dollars – I would definitely go for deeper research into this topic.
Author: Clifford DSouza- Kuwait