From what used to be a placid residential suburb, picturesque with a canopy of trees to a commercial area bustling with activity, international billboards and restaurants beckoning you persuasively today - Indiranagar has always been truly cosmopolitan! Four kilometres from M G Road, two kilometres from the HAL airport and minutes away from five star hotels and reputed Manipal Hospital - Indiranagar’s strategic location has won many hearts. Home to 24 residential associations, earning corporation ward numbers 72, 74, 82 and 83 and three assembly constituencies - Indiranagar occupies a large space of new Bangalore. It covers 100 Feet Road, part of Domlur, Defence Colony, 80 Feet Road and Thippasandra. From Rs 25 per square feet in 1970 to Rs 25,000 per square feet today, boom is an understatement for this locality. Indiranagar was once Binnamangala Village, rich with fertile agricultural lands. The BDA took over the fields in 1970 and the first few inhabitants comprised bureaucrats and defence personnel. One such old resident is former chief secretary of Karnataka, Ravindra, who recalls, “The roads were not even asphalted back in the 1970s. It was in 1980s that small shops appeared on 100 Feet Road. Today, the traffic on this road is impossible but one feature has remained constant - Indiranagar’s cosmopolitan flavour.” 100 Feet Road is the most significant with about 22 restaurants spanning all cuisines - Pan Asian, Italian, Mediterranean, European, South Indian to North Indian. It’s home to art galleries, top schools and furnishing stores besides gigantic showrooms of practically all top international brands. Old Anjaneya Swami Temple and newly constructed East Methodist Church stand on this road too. Chinmaya Mission Road or CMH Road slices through Indiranagar with Lakshmipuram and Krishna Temple as its two end points. The two-kilometre stretch is every shopper’s paradise. CMH Road was once home to NGEF Quarters where KFC and Arya Bhavan Sweets stand tall today. In fact, several homes have been replaced by showrooms on CMH Road.
Reminisces Ram Mohan, owner of 17-year-old shop Ganesh Medicals, “How does CMH Road look at 1 am today? That’s how peaceful it was 17 years ago.” CMH Road has 1,500 establishments with 43 restaurants and 32 banks. “Except ships, aeroplanes and trains, you will get everything on CMH Road,” laughs Imtiaz, president of CMH Road Association. Today, an elevated metro rail alignment is planned for this road. A small metro station is proposed at the junction where the Kartik Mithai Shoppe (with client list ranging from cricketer Rahul Dravid, actress Lara Dutta to hotmail inventor Sabeer Bhatia’s wedding) stands today. Arya Samaj Mandir and CMH Hospital are important landmarks on this road. Love it or hate it but Indiranagar is the most-sought after destination for its posh landscape, rich facade and strategic location.
DID YOU KNOW
Indiranagar and CMH Road were agricultural fields, infested with snakes back in the 1950s and 60s. Individuals would wait for more people to come so they could form groups to cross these fields to go to neighbouring villages. Nobody would dare to frequent it alone.
Today Indiranagar has a population of close to two-and-a-half lakh.
CMH Road has 32 banks, making it the only road in Bangalore to have the largest number of banks in a small stretch. The reason being that the volume of business generated on CMH Road is higher than even a large layout like Jayanagar or Commercial Street. The annual turnover per leading establishment reads Rs 10 to 20 crore per year.
Indiranagar Club is the only club in the area. The 28-year-old club has members like Prakash Padukone and Rakesh Sharma.
