BANGALORE: Bangalore’s localities may complain of water and power shortage. The various extensions and colonies may go dark and thirsty, but never hungry. For, every layout, colony or nagar worth its salt in the city seems to have at least one street or square dedicated to food freaks.
The choice seems limitless. Cuisine, cost and crowd come in a mindboggling range and in choosing one, you would risk missing out on another.
Take Market Road in Visveswarapuram, Wilson Garden Main Road or Ibrahim Sahib Street in Shivajinagar. No sooner does the sun goes down than the shutters and stalls come up and the carts take their positions, with drooling droves of diners milling around the outlets.
Any thoughts of dieting or doubts about the hygiene are banished by the overpowering sights and smells on the bustling streets. Among the guiltless gluttons are also the fitness freaks, who don’t mind feasting with their track suits on. They are probably justifying their indulgence with the argument that if anybody has the right to bite, it’s them since they have just burnt those calories.
The food carts too seem to exploit this psychology, for, around the gates of most of the parks where walkers and joggers frequent, are an assortment of vendors peddling delicacies like chaat, corn cobs and bajjis. Interestingly, the health and herbal drink vendors around these parks in the morning, are replaced by these food carts in the evening. This seems to be the Bangalorean’s idea of a “balanced diet”.
Food seems to be the priority on these roads, which are not recognised by their original names anymore. Today, few people seem to know that Visveswarapuram’s “Food Street” is actually Market Road. And EAT Road along Bugle Rock Park in Basavangudi has nothing to do with the EATeries on the street but is short of “East Anjaneya Temple” Road.
But the vendors on this EAT Road seem to have taken this name seriously, for the lane is turning out to be haunt for hungry shoppers at Gandhi Bazaar and the joggers and walkers from the adjoining Bugle
Rock Park, with eateries dotting its stretch right from NAT Road (North Anjaneya Temple) to Subbarama Chetty Road in N R Colony.
— vijaysimha@newindianexpress.com