Namma Bengaluru

Everyone has a favorite line when it comes to big cities, especially those in which they have spent their youth and moved on since. It starts with “Back in those days the city was peaceful.” I am not a Bangalorite by birth and neither did I spend my youth there, but I have been visiting the city since 1980 with increasing regularity in the 90s and I actually spent 3 years working there before moving to Coimbatore. I could say with complete conviction that Bangalore has not changed so much as metamorphosed into a new city and much of the irritation is the rush associated with that change.  There simply wasn’t enough time to digest the change!

I started visiting Bangalore in the early eighties. My first visit was for a noble cause; to visit Ramada, the only pub in Bangalore serving draught beer at that time. Chennai was always a poor cousin when it came to pubs. So a bunch of our friends made the pilgrimage and drank to our hearts’ content at the pub which was at the corner of Church Street and a gully joining MG Road. These visits continued as more pubs came on to the screen and now we all know Bangalore as the “Pub Capital of India.”

Traffic is a pet grouse for Bangalorites and even in the 80s traffic was not something you could rave about. The roads were without dividers and many of the bridges we have now weren’t there. But with all that Bangalore to Hosur took about 50 minutes  and it is ironic that after 30 years, with all the bridges, service roads and elevated corridor it still roughly takes the same time!

The ubiquitous “Dharshinis” and “Sagars” served some pretty decent food and for Rs.10, you could get a plate of two large sized idlis and a mammoth sized vada. Coffee of course is the highlight in Bangalore, big or small coffee is almost always awesome in Bangalore. For the same quality of coffee you would end up paying more than double in a fancy restaurant in Chennai or Coimbatore.

Bangalore now is the IT capital of India and is home to a horde of enterprising and bright group of youngsters who have travelled wide and are comfortable in swanky malls and with luxury brands.  It still has decent green cover compared to other cities. The people are still warm and helpful and despite the jarring notes created by politicians, namma Bengaluru is still retains much of the goodness.

The essence of Bengaluru has been captured in a series of Bangalore T Shirts by Swag Swami.