Rediscovering Mysuru's Hidden Treasures: India Post Celebrates World Heritage Day

The magnificence of Mysuru’s Amba Vilas Palace often overshadows other iconic buildings in the city that pay homage to the times gone by. To offset this, India Post has chosen five other Mysuru marvels to highlight this World Heritage Day.

”Every year, to commemorate World Heritage Day, we try and shine the light on some hidden heritage gems. This year, we decided to present a Mysuru that looks beyond its palace,” S Rajendra Kumar, chief postmaster general, Bengaluru HQ region, told PTI.

According to Kumar, when Mysuru-based architect, Sakshi Jain approached him with a set of her water colour sketches of other famous buildings – like the 19th century Devaraja Market with its ornate façade and courtyard; the colonial era bungalow The Heritage House with its lofty windows and spacious verandah; Maistry Thimmaiachar Choultry, a 1935 public rest house with a central courtyard in need of immediate restoration; 19th century Kukkaharalli Lake Tower, a blend of kiosk and lighthouse; and Singer building, another 19th century specimen that was once rumoured to be a Freemason lodge – he decided to issue them as postcards.

Twenty-five-year-old Jain could hardly believe her luck.

”This is all so serendipitous. When I travel, I sketch the landmark buildings and when I was in Gujarat, I made my own postcard of my sketch of Neminath Jain Temple in Girnar. When I went to post it, one gentleman there told me that India Post commissions these kinds of sketches as postcards,” Jain told PTI.

When she came back to Mysuru, Jain said she decided to try her luck and dropped in at the head post office of Mysuru but was asked to go to the headquarters in Bengaluru. The rest, as they say, is history.

”I cannot really believe my luck. It has been my dream to become a conservation architect. In fact, that is one of the reasons why I document heritage buildings,” said Jain.

Jain documents her heritage series, including those issued as postcards in her Instagram page (lakeerien_by_sakshi). The set of five postcards, titled ‘Namma Ooru Tales -Mysuru,’ embedded with a QR code providing the history of the building, as well as the Special Cancellation on World Heritage Day will be available for sale at Philatelic Bureau, Bengaluru GPO, Mysuru HO, Mangalore HO and Belagavi HO.