Beau Lieu and the Palace Trail

5 March 2021

Ms. Sheuli Burman

Chief Postmaster General, Dept of Posts & Telegraphs

Karnataka Circle, Beau Lieu, Palace Road

Bangalore 560001

Dear Sheuli:

Subject : Reconnecting – and a tie up with Department of Posts at Bangalore/Karnataka

It was such a pleasure to reconnect with you after such a long time and to also know that you have taken over as Postmaster General for Karnataka! What a wonderful thing that you are back in Bangalore and with such an impactful & senior responsibility. What also was so delightful to know was that not only are you personally supportive of heritage and the specific restoration and enhancement off your beautiful head office Beau Lieu, but also delighted to be part of ongoing heritage initiatives of interest to the city. Heritage Beku, a leading citizen initiative, a voice of the city, has made impact on preservation and policy – and our collaborations have also been the key stone of that.

The Postal Department , Karnataka is blessed with several unique landmark or heritage buildings , and it would be wonderful to partner with you on this and get more people to appreciate them. There can always be some simple yet interesting partnerships and initiatives going forward. To start with, I had mentioned The Palace Trail which is a Model Ward Initiative supported kind courtesy BBMP Commissioner, our nodal officer for Ward 93 . This coincidentally starts from Palace Road’s first heritage building in the trail – our very own Post & Telegraphs Circle Office HQ Beau Lieu and ends at the Bangalore Palace , allowing people experience and interact with landmarks and heritage along this unique route. This works closely with other related departments who also are either part of the walkability/cycling infrastructure like DULT, Smart City, Major roads, related interest areas like Tourism, Horticulture , BWSSB, Bescom , Janaagraha et al. In fact we already have MOU with DULT and Dept of Horticulture to promote heritage. We would love to do the same with you.

You had some specific interest points on the originals plans and drawings of Beau Lieu, given that you would like to restore the building to its original. The fact that our public view of Beaulieu on Palace Road is actually the back of the building'sr was surprise. I hope you will open up the little road access at Amedkar Veedhi so that a clearer view of the actual magnificent building facade & frontage is visible - we are happy to help. I do know that the State Heritage Dept with one of our members Intach had also spend some time restoring a few small parts, and can widen the reach out to a large group of conservationists to ensure that the detailing and restoration does happen as it should. It is really a shot in the arm to note your own interest in this space. Another stunning building Poorna Prasad was temporarily the P&T Foreign Mail Service office in the 90’s and has now gone back to its original owners. The imposing GPO while not heritage exactly, is a beautiful tribute as well.

Since the Palace Trails actually starts with Beau Lieu, we do hope that you will actively support being part of the local community with this incredible building and its history and we can work out some interesting initiatives and ideas to collaborate, so that both locals and visitors gain insight into both the Postal Department as well as story of the P&T office heritage headquarters. Your being on our jury on our proposed annual Heritage Awards would be nice.

Ideas we would love to explore include connecting Posts and Heritage via a special postcard of Beaulieu or a special edition stamps, encourage people to use AR based postcards to mail their older relatives on Elders Day or Heritage Day, creating more quaint post boxes (West End has the oldest, I think) have a once a month tour of the building, even quizzes, so people know space and history better.

Thanking You,

Yours Sincerely,

Priya Chetty-Rajagopal

Founder Heritage Beku

Pic: Courtesy Indian Express