Banagaluru had a salubrious climate throughout the Year, and was a wonder city hailed as the Pensioners’ paradise. Its blooming orchards, greenery, perched trees in full bloom, flame of the forest, mallige, sampigee, and pleasant weather, will make Bangaluru, one of the best holiday locations. The British built a Cantonment, and many towns in Bangaluru East resemble English counties with a number of Churches built in Anglican architectural style, as vestiges of a splendoured Past. Besides the sobriquet of Garden City, parks, gardens, tree-lined streets and quaint buildings make up for Bangalore’s yesterdays, while the other face is that of a cosmopolitan city brimming with multi-national call centers, burgeoning software industry, imposing buildings, hep pubs, cafes, shopping arcades. Bangaluru is a City of Contrasts.
Most of the retireed people made a beeline to this prosperous town with temples, churches, and mosques. Kampagowda Road was well known for its location of cinema halls. The Cubban Park with its plants and flowery gardens was an epitome of a big orchard. Lal Bagh, which was one of the rarest gardens in India, had a historical touch, as it was here that Smt Indira Gandhi broke away from the Congress establishment to form Congress Indira. Its glass house is vivid with history. The Bull temple near here is world famous. Vidhan Soudha, red-sandstone Attara Kacheri, Tipu’s Palace, Ulsoor Lake, Sankey Boat Club, Bull Temple, ISKON Temple, Prasanna Anjaneya Temple, Infant Jesus church are some of Bangaluru’s attractions.. Jalahalli has India’s airforce camps. Banguluru had central investments like HAL, BEML, BHEL, etc. Peenya, Krishna Raja Puram, Yeshwantpur, Tumkur Road accommodated SMEs. The Devanahalli International Airport is built on PPP model. The Metro Rail will soon add another dimension to the City’s CBD.
It was this town, with its hoary past and cool climate, which had grown beyond its size. The Greater Bangalore had grown, and small houses in big compounds have been raced to the ground to make way for concrete jungles, the biggest malls with fancied western manufactured goods are available here, and the latest cars sneeze past one another. The road is chocked with traffic, it takes almost ½ an hour to cross the Indian Institute of Science to Yeshwantpur Road and drive past Metro. The Road from ISKON to Rajajinagar at least takes 40 minutes for you to cross. The traffic on Mysore Road from Vijayanagar to Kalasipalayam Bridge will take not less than 1 hour. In the peak hour traffic, you can always get lost. If you are a pedestrian, you need to cross the court, you will have to patiently wait for many minutes, before your turn comes.
“One half of our Society guzzles aerated beverages while the other has to do with playful of muddled water. On a three way lane of liberalization, privittization and globalization must provide safe pedestrian crossings for empowering India.” This comment may look little harsh, but nevertheless a fact. No state in India can backdate its achievements. It needs to attract capital and Corporates so that it could provide jobs to the vast majority of people. Bangaluru had excellent Colleges, institutes, polytechnics. Today States need to market their states and the Chief Minister must modify himself to a Corporate CEO. The successful State will attract capital through spelling out its cost advantage, through strategic and pointed marketing. At the macro level, the born again Federal covenant is altering the way CEOs of different States are evaluating their investment decisions. As location has an impact on almost every corporate activity, it is the basic cost driver. And since Cost advantages translate into competitiveness, location becomes a powerful tool in the new competitive economy. Location paradigms of businesses in post-liberalization India are adapting to the evolution of a more Federal structure. State’s objective parameters would provide a pointer to the emerging investment climate, especially Foreign Direct investments.
Bangaluru became the Silicon Valley of India. It had both the software czars like Wipro, Infosys, and more than 200 MNCs, who set up establishments in the State. Banguluru was well known destination in the software lexicon. It became the software capital of India. It had software parks, more out of the private initiative rather than through government investment. The state reaped a gold mine. The Services export which galvanized India’s export sector contributed more than US $ 50 billion, more than one-half coming from this place. The biggest software companies, and the renowned hardware companies, have their establishment here. This brought a glow to Bangalore. Urban explosion also saw a booming night life and an emerging pub culture. Concrete jungles took over vacant space. There was a convergence of people from all over the world. It became a cosmopolitan city. From a sleepy city it soon changed to sleepless city.
The book, the Blooming Bangalore by T P Issar, a bureaucrat had flowers in full bloom photographed from different parts of Bangalore. I have walked across roads where there was a rich canopy of trees provided shade to the pedestrians. Today two wheelers, three wheelers, autos, motor cars, buses, crumple for a little space on the roads, making walking along the roads a nightmare. Many of the trees have gone, many ways side parks disappeared, and cute houses with their distinct small orchards have disappeared. Pensioners’ paradise has become a pensioners curse. The mandis which were full of fresh vegetables is always crowded. Their places have been taken by the multiplex malls, and big chain stores that are into retail though remaining wholesale.
Bangaluru has become the Central business district (CBD) defining the city’s business character. Invariably, business houses prefer to have an office here as it adds to the corporate image.
The reign of Shri Ramakrishna Hegde, as Chief Minister was considered as a unique progressive period in the history of Karnataka. Shri S M Krishna laid the foundation stone for modernization of Bangaluru.
When we look at Bangaluru with its fast growing software, hardware, technology based industries which robbed it of its charm, are these software czars responsible for making the pensioner’s paradise into a buzzling town? Has software industry paid a price for robbing Banguluru of its old charm? An old yet famous photographer Shri Kamat, told foreigners when they came to get old Bangaluru photos from him:” Most Bangaloreans do not frequent pubs, do not own computers or do not shop in the commercial district”(His photo of old Sampige st reproduced).
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