Namma Bengaluru.

I was a kid when I came to Bangalore. It was called the pensioners paradise..(ofcourse I did not know about it then.). It was not too long ago that Bangalore lost this coveted title. Just about 5-7 years. Driving down from office to home at 7 in the evening, I am surprised by the change that this city has gone through. I recollect my childhood days in this city…

Bangaloreans would find this nostalgic. Getting up in the morning to see the air covered with mist. Blowing the mist out of your lungs and show off like you are smoking. Inflating your mouth to create the vapor in your mouth and then trying all tricks of smoke rings. The nights used to be so cold that anyone hardly switched their fans on. Those nights swarmed with mosquitoes. The nights would be sleepless without a mosquitonet (machardani). Come jan feb, the peel of the avare kaalu in front of every house. More people stamp on the peel, tastier the dish made out of avare kaalu would be! (No idea how they came up with that!). MG road was the place where all the rich used to shop. Cycling upto school. When Maruti 800 was the best car that was seen on road. It was a matter of pride to own that car. When a lot of people owned TVS XL and Bajaj scoters. (I remember, my dads friend owned a bajaj chetak. That was damn cool then!). There were hardly any roads. But the roads that were, were good. Known for its potholes and ups and downs, Bangalore was still the place that we loved to be in. But even from then, Bangalore has been known for its pubs. But they were generally located away from total residential localities ( I mean jayanagar, koramangala, banashankari). The small population where everyone knew everyone else in a particular colony. Friends used to meet up at the corner kaka angadi to have chikki or balehannu ( never used to smoke. I still don’t!). A lot of things.

Bangalore seems to have irreversibly changed. Attribute this to IT or to the govt policies, or what ever. But all that a normal bangalorean knows is that he has lost all that for just a few rupees more. Floyd said :

“Did they get you to trade, your heroes for ghosts
Dark ashes for trees
Did you exchange, a walk on the part of the world to a dream role in the cage? Do you think you can tell?”

I feel sad. I cough the smoke out of my lungs as the truck passed me.