A new audio tour takes you on a walk across Bengaluru’s bookish haunts

The tautologically named Avenue Road in Bengaluru’s oldest commercial district of Chickpet is where I start the literary walk, standing in between an ancient Anjaneya Temple at the corner prepping for the evening aarti and the early 20th century Rice Memorial Church, bedecked with string lights. I am on a self-guided tour of Bengaluru’s literary haunts, created by author Zac O’Yeah, whose Majestic trilogy of detective novels is set in and around this very neighbourhood, for Tourific, a travel company that curates self-guided tours across the world. Bengaluru’s claim as a literary city is not new—the city’s network of independent bookstores, book clubs, reading groups, literary festivals and a generally thriving literary culture has been well-recorded, but this particular walking tour throws a spotlight on the not-so-well-known aspects of this culture. View Full Image Author Zac O'Yeah, who has curated and narrated the walk, at the Indira Priyadarshini Children's Library It is only now that we start heading towards the best-known markers of Bengaluru’s literary culture—its massively popular independent bookstores in and around Church Street.