Austin Town, Bengaluru is a locality of the

Bangalore Cantonment The Bangalore Cantonment (1806–1881) was a military cantonment of the British Raj based in the Indian city of Bangalore. The cantonment covered an area of , extending from the Residency on the west to Binnamangala on the east and from the T ...

, named after a British Collector and Municipal President of the Civil and Military Station, Sir. James Austin. Located in the central part of Bangalore, the suburb is known for having produced some of India's best football players, with the game being very popular. In the age of IPL, the dream of the children of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara is to be playing for the best football clubs one day. In 1998, the BBMP renamed Austin Town as Ferdinand Kittel Nagar, after an 18th-century linguist and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

German missionary of the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission is a Christianity, Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' ...

, Rev. Ferdinand Kittel. Austin Town was established in 1920 by the building of a number of small cottages for the benefit of lower income groups, and rented out for a nominal sum. The Collector Austin was the encouragement for this project, and hence the suburb was named after him. These cottages were in great demand by poor Indians and Anglo Indians. The neighbouring suburbs are Agara, Neelsandra and Vannarapete, which was the localities where the labourers of the nearby brick kilns called Shoolay (now renamed as Ashok Nagar). The Sanitary works of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara was designed by W H Murphy, Executive Engineer, Municipal Council, Bangalore Civil and Military Station, after whom Murphy Town gets its name.

Football in Austin Town

Unlike other parts of Bangalore where Cricket is popular, Football is a passion for the residents of Austin Town. According to football coach Thyagarajan, Ferdinand Kittel Nagara is considered the birthplace of Football in Bangalore. The origins of the game can be traced to the Italian soldiers who were being held as prisoners of war during the beginning of WWI in the

. The Italian POWs passed on the game to the natives, even though at first the natives played football bare-footed. (Some players played without boots even in the Olympics.) The very first Olympians – Anthony, Kanniah, Raman and Shanmugham – who represented the Indian Football team in the Olympic Games of

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, were from Austin Town. Vajravelu and Varadarajan were from the City area, and the rest of the players were from the

. Most of the Football enthusiasts in Austin Town are the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Community, with many of the local boys now playing for clubs in Goa and

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s, many of the Ferdinand Kittel Nagara boys made it the Football teams of Government and defence companies such as HMT, MEG, ITI, NGEF, HAL, BEML, BHEL, ADA, ADE, etc. Austin Town and Murphy Town are still considered gold-mines of football talent. One of Austin Town's legend and local hero is 95-year-old T Shanmugham, who led India to victory in Football in the

1951 Asian Games The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First Asian Games (), were a multi-sport event celebrated in New Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad, 1951 Asiad, and New Dehli 1951 (). A total of 489 athl ...

, and also was part of India's Football team for the 1952 Olympics. The Ferdinand Kittel Nagara Football Grounds is now known as Nandan Ground's after one of Indian Football's greatest goalkeeper Nandan, who was also from Ferdinand Kittel Nagara. Austin Town is also the birthplace of other legendary football players such as Ulaganathan and former Captain Carlton Chapman. Gowthampura one of the layouts of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara has a statue of

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

and is considered to be supporters of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and some residents of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara who are supporters of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

want to raise a statue of Maradona. Almost every house in the lower-middle-class families of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara have football players.

Demographics

As common to the other suburbs of the

, Ferdinand Kittel Nagara has a large

population. They trace their ancestry to the large number of Tamil soldiers, suppliers and workers who were brought into the Bangalore Civil and Military Station, by the British Army, after the fall of Tippu Sultan. Ferdinand Kittel Nagara along with other suburbs of the

was directly under the administration of the British

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

till 1949, when it was handed over to the Mysore State.

Anglo-Indians

A larger number of Anglo-Indians used to live in Ferdinand Kittel Nagara, now having migrated to Australia, the UK and Canada, their numbers have declined. The Anglo-Indian Block is now inhabited mostly by non-Anglo Indians. However, those who are left behind are still proud to call Ferdinand Kittel Nagara as Home. During the British Raj, there was a clear distinction between the Anglo Indian and Tamil sections of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara, which have now been erased, and the once posh suburbs have lost their glory as a result of poor civic maintenance. Some of the original inhabitants of Ferdinand Kittel Nagara, came from

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, and at that time found the cantonment to be much quieter than the busy city of Rangoon, Burma. The Christmas time for the Anglo-Indian community means celebrating with carols and parties. Some of the Anglo-Indians who migrated abroad still visit in search of their roots.

References

External links

{{Neighbourhoods of Bangalore Cantonments of British India Bangalore Civil and Military Station Neighbourhoods in Central Bengaluru