Compared to this, Bangalore at that time was quite literally a city of'boiled beans' (Bendakaluru). All its reputation came from either its proximityto Madras (now Chennai) or Mysore, the capital of the visionary Wodeyar kings.
I found an interesting comparative study made of the two cities on six counts byone Professor Orme Masson and Lt-Col J. Clibborn, who were involved in theconsultation process of setting up the institute, around December 1901. The sixparameters were climate, health, situation, sites, support and scientificinstitutions. The remarks for the two cities against these parameters were asfollows:
"Climate:
Bangalore - Equable, but enervating and unsuitable for continued active work inlaboratories.
Rurki - Bracing for five months. Subtracting three months' vacation there wouldbe two to three months' hot and trying weather.
"Health:
Bangalore - Plague and fever prevalent.
Rurki - Specially good.
"Situation:
Bangalore - In the Mysore state. Rather out of the way of government inspectionand trade. Specially convenient for Madras. 36 hours' rail from Bombay.
Rurki - In the British territory. On the railway route Calcutta to Simla.Conveniently central for Bengal, North-West Provinces and Punjab. 48 hours' railfrom Bombay.
"Sites:
Bangalore - An excellent site, about 5 miles out, available free of cost. Mightbe made British territory before it is accepted.
Rurki - An excellent site within 2 miles, now partly under cultivation andpartly waste. Might be taken up by government.
"Support:
Bangalore - The Mysore government offers 5 lakhs for initial expenses, besidesthe site and possibly other support.
Rurki - None promised. Is it obtainable?
"Scientific institutions:
Bangalore - Agricultural and bacteriological laboratories. The geological surveyof Mysore state. Educational institutions of Madras within reach.
Rurki - Roorkee engineering college and headquarters of Bengal Sappers andMiners in the station. Pasteur Institute at Kasauli, bacteriological laboratoryat Muktesar, Forest School and Great Trignometrical Survey Station at Dehra, andLahore and Allahabad Universities within reach."
It is apparent from these comments that at the turn of the century when Roorkeeand Bangalore were being compared, there was nothing particularly going infavour of Bangalore as a site for IISc, except for the 'support' offered by theMysore state. Was it this 'support' that clinched the deal? Quite possibly, butthat is a question that has to be handled by a professional historian. However,this debate about the city for the institute had provoked the then viceroy, LordCurzon, who showed 'veiled hostility' to the project, to remark: "Thesquabble over the climatic conditions of Bangalore and Rurki is an interestingillustration of the combined one-sidedness and irascibility of men ofscience."
Later, after it was finally decided to locate IISc in Bangalore, the institute'sfirst director Morris Travers arrived in Bangalore at the end of 1906 from theUniversity College of London. The current director, Prof. P. Balaram describeshis first journey to the site: "Travers' first sight of the land destinedto be the IISc campus follows a ride on horseback from the West End hotel inBangalore. He recounts a tale of buying a horse 'from a native' for the thenprincely sum of Rs. 250."
As I said earlier, IISc now appears so integral to the very idea of Bangaloreand Bangalore has left Roorkee far behind in terms of economic, social andscientific progress, but what if IISc, by some quirk of destiny or sheerstubbornness of the British, had been set up in Roorkee?