BANGALORE: It’s only natural that the Garden City has streets and localities named after botanical specimens. While two of the oldest roads in the city, Sampige Road and Margosa Road, both in Malleswaram, are stately examples of this feature, there are quite a few such instances all over the city like Linden Street and Palmgrove Road in the Cantonment area.
Though Kanakpura Road, that starts from Basavangudi and runs through Jayanagar, has several old, graceful tamarind and other trees lining its sides, one bus stop along its stretch near Banashankari is known as Hunse Mara (tamarind tree). Further south, in J P Nagar, commuters on BMTC buses buy tickets to Jedi Mara. These majestic trees are landmarks by themselves. And the Great Banyan Tree off Mysore Road is a tourist attraction and picnic spot by its own right.
The Indian Institute of Science too has roads within its thickly wooded campus named after trees like Gulmuhr Avenue. Years before Bangalore got the ‘Garden City’ title, names of old villages too seemed to have been derived from tree species. One school of thought traces the name Ulsoor to the jack fruit tree (Halasina Hannu) and a village on Bannerghatta Road goes by the name Hulimavu (sour mango).
The city, replete with localities like Wilson Garden, Obalappa Garden, Chinnappa Garden and Bakshi Garden, may give one the impression that it is a verdant paradise. Though some of them were previously orchards and nurseries, they gradually turned to residential layouts, leaving no trace of their green assets.
Similarly, there are more houses and flats than trees in Kumara Park, Lower Palace Orchards and Upper Palace Orchards. And while Wood Street doesn’t lead you to a forest, don’t expect to see wildlife at Woodland Hotel.
Two major sectors that have been seeing a boom in the city haven’t lagged behind in using these ‘green’ terms. While the real estate developers promise prospective buyers serenity with properties like Temple Trees and Krest Park, the other infotech sector operates in a several offices called software technology parks.
vijaysimha@newindianexpress.com