An elegant red floral frame and text in black against a white background has now become an iconic design; a “trademark” of The Bangalore Press calendar.
Renowned artist B.G. Gujjarappa said the strength of the design was in its simplicity. “The designers ensured the space is not cluttered and used red and black, the most iconic and preferred colours across the world. Many flags have also used these colours,” he said.
“Multiple generations have seen the calendars in this design and they cannot imagine it any other way now,” Mr. Gujjarappa said.
- 1916: The Bangalore Press started as a public company with Sir K.P. Puttanna Chetty as chairman
- 1921: First-ever calendar published in English
- 1936: Calendar published in Kannada for the first time
- 1960: Present design with red, white and black template adopted
- 1988: Table calendars introduced for first time
- 2010: Free e-calendars available for download
- 2020: 100th edition of the calendar published
But this is not how the calendars were printed at first. Though it largely had the same design, the first editions of the calendars had a green floral frame, with the text in black and red.
B. Puttaiah, who was trained in printing technology in London, designed the first calendar in 1921. A British officer, George, working with a calendar company in London, was also brought in to maintain the quality of printing. The calendars came out with a blue floral frame in 1930s and went back to the green template in 1940s.
During this phase, photos of Mysore Maharajas and national leaders of the freedom movement adorned the four corners of the calendar. From 1921 to 1947, for over two-and-a-half decades since inception, photos of Mummudi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, Chamaraja Wadiyar, Kantheerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar, and Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar were published on the four corners of the calendar “as a token of respect and gratitude to the Mysore princely dynasty”.
“After independence in 1947, photos of national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Rajendra Prasad were printed,” The Bangalore Press said. The practice was abandoned only in 1960 when the calendar was redesigned.
Srinivasa Rao, a retired high school teacher who worked as superintendent at The Bangalore Press, is credited with the new design in 1960. “The design has become an identity of The Bangalore Press calendar, so much so that we have never thought of changing it,” said Ananth H.R., MD of the press today.
Masti ensured Kannada calendars
The Bangalore Press began printing calendars in 1921, but only in English. It was only in 1936, a good decade-and-a-half later that calendars were printed in Kannada too. Littérateur Masti Venkatesh Iyengar played a keyrole in the press printing calendars in Kannada.
“Since the administrative language was English and the number of people who were educated in Kannada was considerably less, The Bangalore Press initially started printing calendars in English,” according to the press’ recount of history published this year.
Masti became the catalyst for calendars in Kannada, even as requests for calendars in the native tongue were rising. “Masti offered the copyright of all his works to The Bangalore Printing and Publishing Company, with the condition that the calendars must be printed in Kannada too,” said the press. The first Kannada calendar was published in 1936 and Masti even helped the press bring out the first edition.
The birth of the press
The Bangalore Printing and Publishing Company was born out of an interesting anecdote in 1916. “When Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar married Pratap Kumari Devi, the princess of Kathewada, printing the invitation cost so much, that he quipped to Sir. M. Visvesvaraya that the State could have set up a printing press with that money. Sir Visvesvaraya took up the project to set up a printing press for the Mysore State,” said Ananth H.R., MD, The Bangalore Press.
The duo met London Royal Company and made arrangements to have a printing unit established in Mysore State. “However, the State received no support from the ruling British and was unable to invest resources to run the press. A public company ‘The Bangalore Printing and Publishing Company’, with 18 eminent personalities, was formed with Sir K.P. Puttanna Chetty as chairman,” the press said.
It has since remained a public limited company. It was even listed in the Bangalore Stock Exchange and the Madras Stock Exchange in 1970s, but no longer as the two stock exchanges seized operations in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
