Just a casual mention of this city brings a smile on my face and heart. Often during conversations, my mind dips into my huge treasure chest of pleasant memories that I have made in this city. The lovely, lively people like my family, my friends, my neighborhood,my school, my college, my work place, my parental home, my marital home, the roads, the buses…etc…. This city called Bangalore is an emotion for me (apart from chennai and hyderabad) and I can sing paens about the city that groomed me and brought me up.If I have to mention and describe about my favorite city wrt the DRIVE,DESIGN and CONNECT then, it would be this city.
Drive:What drives this city is the warm people of this city who at the first instance ask you “ oota/thindi aitha?”( had your breakfast?/Lunch). Their adjustable nature of “swalpa adjust maadi”( please adjust a little) is evident from the cosmopolitan population of the city. While the IT revolution made the major cities of India into a mini India/ world, Bangalore had been one ever since the public sectors came into being there. The climate and the pace of life was an asset to this city which earned it the sobriquet “pensioners paradise” and “ Air conditioned city”. The lovely gardens, beautiful lakes, large lung spaces and the boulevard avenues earned it the name “garden city”. It never occurred to me then that the broad tree lined avenues of laburnam, margosa, jacaranda, gulmohar, Indian cork would leave such lasting impressions on me years later. How many times have I zipped on those traffic less roads in my dad’s Enfield bullet and Crusader as a child. It was a breeze then to drive on those roads which went up and down and was never on a level in our area.Years later, it was the same roads that took me to college on the red BTS bus.Route no’s 75, 61, 64 and 60 A have played an unforgettable role in my life. The bus ride also reminds me of a special blue bus I travelled on the route from Majestic to Malleswaram when I went for my aunt’s place. It was two buses connected with a vestibule and at turnings it would turn like a train. This was called the trailer bus and I have to mention the double decker bus. We would miss the regular bus just to get into the double decker bus , climb on to its level and have a lovely sight seeing trip as we traveled to our destination. Such simple pleasures when traffic snarls were unheard of.
Design : Design wise too , I lived in the BDA designed layouts where the layout had houses of dimensions 30x20, 30x50 and 60x40. The layouts had cross roads and main roads with good planning. There were trenches to carry rain water .No stagnant water, all would flow downhill into the various lakes of the city. The layouts also had a park, a playground, a hopcoms( veg store of Lalbagh),Janta Bazaar( for groceries and toiletries) a nandini milk parlour, a rose garden,a BDA shopping complex with a citizens center. My 30x50 home was right in the middle of this layout on the 5th main road. Behind us was a playground while in the 6th main road was the flood lit foot ball ground. Such beautifully designed BDA layouts formed the Bangalore I belonged to. Alternatively we also had the public sector quarters of BHEL, HAL etc and the private layouts of employess of a few banks and organizations like Binnyston gardens(Binny mills), MICO, REMCO,etc . All these too were designed in keeping with the infrastructural needs and were built on legal lands.
Connect: What connects me to a city is also the people and landmarks. The people are the heart and soul of a city. So many people help shape you during your growing years. Their contribution may seem miniscule at that point of time and may seem insignificant . But looking back today, those small acts of kindness , courtesy and generosity connects me to the city making the bond stronger.My teachers, lecturers, neighbours, friends, the service providers. Their friendly banter, the routine bargaining and the exchange of news, the warmth, My heart brims with gratitude for all those memories. How does one disconnect with such city?.
There was also the landmarks like my school, college, music class, favorite ice cream parlour, stationary shop, bakery, chaat corner, our regular provision store and that market which was always throbbing with life and pulsating with energy with its vibrant products of vegetables, clothes and other essential needs. This was one of our hang outs then when malls were unheard of. Every city has those landmarks but what connects us to the city is the memories we have made at those landmarks. The sunday concerts at cubbon park band stand, the ganesh immersion at Lalbagh lake, my first comic book at Glass house, The movies at Nanda ,Tribhuvan, ALankar, Minerva etc and this is what I cherish the most about Bangalore, especially when you have lived for 30 long years.
Today’s story is ofcourse different, no major city is ideal generally, thanks to globalization. Overpopulated, traffic congestion, metro construction hurdles, lack of lung space , multistoreyed apartments on encroached land and lake and people always in a hurry,. Every community, every language, every tradition has a presence in every major city.
Drive:What drives this city is the warm people of this city who at the first instance ask you “ oota/thindi aitha?”( had your breakfast?/Lunch). Their adjustable nature of “swalpa adjust maadi”( please adjust a little) is evident from the cosmopolitan population of the city. While the IT revolution made the major cities of India into a mini India/ world, Bangalore had been one ever since the public sectors came into being there. The climate and the pace of life was an asset to this city which earned it the sobriquet “pensioners paradise” and “ Air conditioned city”. The lovely gardens, beautiful lakes, large lung spaces and the boulevard avenues earned it the name “garden city”. It never occurred to me then that the broad tree lined avenues of laburnam, margosa, jacaranda, gulmohar, Indian cork would leave such lasting impressions on me years later. How many times have I zipped on those traffic less roads in my dad’s Enfield bullet and Crusader as a child. It was a breeze then to drive on those roads which went up and down and was never on a level in our area.Years later, it was the same roads that took me to college on the red BTS bus.Route no’s 75, 61, 64 and 60 A have played an unforgettable role in my life. The bus ride also reminds me of a special blue bus I travelled on the route from Majestic to Malleswaram when I went for my aunt’s place. It was two buses connected with a vestibule and at turnings it would turn like a train. This was called the trailer bus and I have to mention the double decker bus. We would miss the regular bus just to get into the double decker bus , climb on to its level and have a lovely sight seeing trip as we traveled to our destination. Such simple pleasures when traffic snarls were unheard of.
Design : Design wise too , I lived in the BDA designed layouts where the layout had houses of dimensions 30x20, 30x50 and 60x40. The layouts had cross roads and main roads with good planning. There were trenches to carry rain water .No stagnant water, all would flow downhill into the various lakes of the city. The layouts also had a park, a playground, a hopcoms( veg store of Lalbagh),Janta Bazaar( for groceries and toiletries) a nandini milk parlour, a rose garden,a BDA shopping complex with a citizens center. My 30x50 home was right in the middle of this layout on the 5th main road. Behind us was a playground while in the 6th main road was the flood lit foot ball ground. Such beautifully designed BDA layouts formed the Bangalore I belonged to. Alternatively we also had the public sector quarters of BHEL, HAL etc and the private layouts of employess of a few banks and organizations like Binnyston gardens(Binny mills), MICO, REMCO,etc . All these too were designed in keeping with the infrastructural needs and were built on legal lands.
Connect: What connects me to a city is also the people and landmarks. The people are the heart and soul of a city. So many people help shape you during your growing years. Their contribution may seem miniscule at that point of time and may seem insignificant . But looking back today, those small acts of kindness , courtesy and generosity connects me to the city making the bond stronger.My teachers, lecturers, neighbours, friends, the service providers. Their friendly banter, the routine bargaining and the exchange of news, the warmth, My heart brims with gratitude for all those memories. How does one disconnect with such city?.
There was also the landmarks like my school, college, music class, favorite ice cream parlour, stationary shop, bakery, chaat corner, our regular provision store and that market which was always throbbing with life and pulsating with energy with its vibrant products of vegetables, clothes and other essential needs. This was one of our hang outs then when malls were unheard of. Every city has those landmarks but what connects us to the city is the memories we have made at those landmarks. The sunday concerts at cubbon park band stand, the ganesh immersion at Lalbagh lake, my first comic book at Glass house, The movies at Nanda ,Tribhuvan, ALankar, Minerva etc and this is what I cherish the most about Bangalore, especially when you have lived for 30 long years.
Today’s story is ofcourse different, no major city is ideal generally, thanks to globalization. Overpopulated, traffic congestion, metro construction hurdles, lack of lung space , multistoreyed apartments on encroached land and lake and people always in a hurry,. Every community, every language, every tradition has a presence in every major city.
*Bangalore( Bengaluru in kannada) derives its name from Benda kalu ooru meaning boiled bean town hence my title.
Yes, Bangalore is indeed a lovely place despite all the mess of today. In the past it must have been an amazingly charming town.
ReplyDeleteIts now also the most cosmopolitan city in the country, having taken over the mantle from the erstwhile leader, Mumbai. Its still affordable and yet brimming with opportunity. There's much to be said for Bangalore. Except for its association with boiled beans !!
Relatively still best among the cities that i know, though much has changed but then I think it is a global phenomenon. Thanks Ramesh But Bengaluru has its origins in boiled beans:)
DeleteI been to bangalore twice now and I must say I have enjoyed the time spent.. they were WORTH the visit..
ReplyDeleteBikram's
oh, glad you carry happy memories of my home town, Bikram:)
DeleteCity of my dreams. Havent been there since last 8 years. Somehow couldn't quite want to disturb those memories.
ReplyDeleteyes, that's right gils, that's why I am freezing those memories in posts such as this.
DeleteI have been to Bangalore many times but always for work trips. Have never had the opportunity to explore it much except for a bit of markets/restaurants near the hotels I stayed. I liked the cosmo culture and I like the markets, restaurants and pubs here. Hope to explore more of this lovely place (minus the traffic, though) sometimes soon!
ReplyDeleteDo explore the old areas( like russell market, commercial street, gandhi bazaar, johnson market,chikpet, balepet, malleswaram) shilpa, they still retain the old character. The new places are globalized.
Delete