Bangalore: A paradise lost

Anyone who has watched the Malayalam flick Bangalore Days knows that Bangalore is a fun-filled town that allows the young and old alike to let their hair down and have loads of fun. Driving down the legendary MG Road in an open-roofed Sunbeam with the wind in your hair is an exhilarating experience that every youngster fantasises about. For an old-time Bangalorean like me who adopted this city some 45 years ago, life seems to have another tale to tell.

Once called the Pensioners’ Paradise, Bengaluru had two spaces: ‘City’ and ‘Cantonment,’ a civil and military station, with Cubbon Park acting as a kind of shared space. Each had its own cultural milieu and settings, and rarely did the twains meet with the ease with which they have of late.

Having lived mostly in the Cantonment area all these years, I have seen and experienced the city change from a sleepy town to a ‘nearly-impossible-to-breathe’ megapolis. A lazy walk along Miller’s Road (where I lived for a while) behind the Cantonment Railway Station to Dewar’s, once the watering hole for many old-timers, was a daily ritual for many, occasionally enjoyed by me too. Going further down via Seppings Road to Shivaji Nagar to enjoy the delectable Taj biriyani was another occasional pleasure. I’d like to believe that it still continues to serve the well-heeled and humbler souls alike.

A few weeks ago, I was watching a YouTube video featuring singer Lucky Ali, an old Cottonian, taking a trip down memory lane with his video host. Visits to his old haunts, such as CTR (Central Tiffin Room) in Malleshwaram, Koshy’s on St Mark’s Road (owned by another old Cottonian, Prem), and Bhagatram Sweets on Commercial Street, were featured in the short film. These are a few of the old establishments now run by a new generation that has withstood the temptation of selling out.

But gone are the other landmarks such as Plaza, Blue Fox, Thomas Cook, and Spencer’s (with the old-world charm on MG Road), not to speak of the elevated boulevard that skirted Manekshaw Parade Ground, which gave an unfettered view of the buildings opposite and provided a majestic view of the gradient of MG Road. Udyan Hotel morphed into Prestige Meridian, Hotel Victoria into Central Mall, and Sreeraj Lassi Bar became Chancery Hotel. Some structures do remain, notably St Mark’s Cathedral, Higginbotham’s, Cauvery Emporium, Sadhwani’s, TPM offices, and Mayo Hall, among a handful of others.

New structures and facilities, such as the Namma Metro, have been built, and the roads in the central business district are jam-packed with vehicles and people almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, leaving little room for the lazy walker. The boulevard on MG Road is still there in a new avatar, which is a consolation. Sacrificing the peace and tranquilly of the pensioners’ paradise is the price one has to pay for development and progress, I guess.