Jaguars in Jayanagar

Some years ago, I spotted a Jaguar in Jayanagar, a once-quiet but now hectic suburb of Bengaluru. It was jet black in colour but not the feline kind. The sleek beast was parked outside a palatial building on one of the serene streets. I stopped in my tracks to admire it and was swiftly lost in a daydream of being taken for a ride in it. That was quite easily the high point of that day’s morning walk.

The Jag was not just the owner’s showpiece but also an indicator of how Jayanagar has changed. Comprising nine blocks (actually 10 if you count 4th T Block as a separate entity) and spread over 9 sq km, it was visualised by town planner Lakshman Rau of the erstwhile Bangalore City Corporation, now Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and soon to be Greater Bengaluru Authority. It was once home to middle-class and a few upper-middle-class genteel residents with a quiet, understated lifestyle who drove sedately in their Ambassadors and Premier Padminis. Over time, they have given way due to various factors to semi-boorish louts, flaunting their money, and, among other things, Jaguars and Porsches.

As the character of the suburb changed into an unrecognisable version of the original, it no longer was the much sought-after address it was before the millennium. Traffic grew exponentially, and drivers and riders became more aggressive by the day. Arterial roads, once lined by bungalows and trees, now have commercial complexes, shops and, of late, jewellery stores. Jayanagar has gone from being the jewel in Bangalore’s crown to another jewellery hub in New Age Bengaluru.

This is not a rant about the changes in Jayanagar, just an observation about how change can destroy a suburb’s character within a few years. The New, New Jayanagar also has a rash of bright coffee and pastry places with pretentious French names and slouching young men wasting their youth.

I don’t see that black Jaguar anymore. Perhaps the owner realised Bengaluru’s roads weren’t exactly what the Jaguar ordered and settled for a more robust, desi vehicle. But I do see the Jayanagar Jaguars as they pound the pavements in their expensive running shoes. The clubs’ members draw curious looks from morning walkers, and maybe they snag a few enrolments too. Bengaluru is far from becoming a runners’ city, but these Jaguars are doing their bit in creating awareness about the joys of long-distance running even as they ensure their good health. And it looks like they’re here to stay longer than that namesake automobile.  All said and done, both are symbols of the new Jayanagar as it hurtles into the second quarter of this century.