Amidst the serpentine lanes of Fort Street, lies a gem - Calligraphy museum ‘J’s La Quill’ by KC Janardhan. The three-floor building on Janardhan’s ancestral 100 year-old property hosts some fine specimens from the world of writing. Janardhan’s fascination for British culture is evident. All three floors are named after a street in the UK — Baker Street, Downing Street and Houses of Parliament.
Janardhan, a well-known calligrapher has amassed this collection over the years during his travels and as gifts by his friends. Within this space, he also holds calligraphy classes everyday and till now he has trained around 700 students in this art form. What has been singularly challenging is to start the museum and sustain it over the years. According to him the space, which was prime area once upon a time has lost its sheen. “Anti-social elements in the area have caused a lot of damage. This is despite the fact that it is surrounded with heritage structures such as Minto Hospital, Tipu’s Palace, St Luke’s Church, Fort High School and Victoria Hospital. Where else can you find so many historical buildings in one place?” he asks.
The calligrapher faced opposition when he started to spruce up the space. The cow herders in the locality were told to not leave their cows open through the day and clean up after them. He also reached out to traffic cops to initiate action against the bus transporters parking their buses illegally.
“They turned against me. I was threatened and attacked but I didn't give up. I want to change the Fort area completely. It has such a potential to be great tourist place. I want to create Bengaluru Fort Area Welfare Trust under which the museum will become a caretaker of the whole area. I am in need of funds so that I can get my trust registered and also go ahead with my refurbishing plan,” says Janardhan.
Things began to change after Italian ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni came to inaugurate the museum in 2016. “It shook the whole locality. The police visited the area and told people to stay within their homes. BWSSB officials would come and check for overflowing sewage. That is when the community began to realise something positive is happening. Things changed further after British MP Virendra Sharma visited the museum to inaugurate a new section, in 2017.
Coming back to the collection, there are rotring Italic nibs, Japanese inks, 14 boxes of nibs from England, rare pens of Mont Blanc commemorating a few famous personalities, a black quill from Francesco Rubinato and a manual of calligraphy by Peter E Taylor. “When I started teaching calligraphy, I couldn’t find any books on it nor any pens in Bangalore. All I had was an italic nib. I accidentally found a rare book on the subject in Premier Book Shop and TS Shanbagh was quite surprised at how I came across it,” he recalls.
Janardhan is disappointed with the way we engage with letters. “The Roman letter system teach us to copy the letter and not construct it. It is the latter, which is important. The concept of cursive writing has ruined it even more.”
The scene of calligraphy is looking up though with many opportunities with writing citation, personalised name plates, invitation cards and much more. Janardhan has written one book and in the middle of writing another one and is also coming up with a handwriting competition which will be scientifically judged on the basis of 30 parameters.
The museum is located at Fort D'Street. To visit call: 8217244302 Where we discover hidden and not-so-hidden nooks and crannies of the city
