Born in Delhi, brought up in the garden city is how I describe myself. I was just a year old when I came to Bangalore with my family. I remember that, as a child, I was pampered by my neighbours.
I picked up Kannada and my love for curd rice, sambar rice, idli and dosa. Being a ‘North Indian’, I used to travel to Delhi every year during the summer vacations, but I would miss Bangalore for its wonderful climate.
I grew up playing with my friends on the roads, and I remember roaming free like a bird on the streets of Jayanagar 4th block. I loved visiting Lal Bagh every Sunday. It was a favourite picnic spot for my family.
Bangalore was less populated back then and there were few vehicles too. Cycling was something I enjoyed.
When I was young, we moved to Padmanabhanagar. There were very few buses back then in the 1990s, 12B and 12C would hardly ply. I stayed in Padmanabhanagar for 12 years and now when I go there, it seems so different - no trees, only building and excessive traffic. On the roads where I cycled, I can see heavy traffic and it takes more than 10 minutes to just cross the same road now.
Back then we came across very few people who could speak Hindi. At school, I troubled my Kannada language teachers because I lacked its knowledge. Knowing Kannada is always a benefit in Bangalore.
Bangalore has developed but the development has not been planned properly. The city is addressed as the IT capital of India. It is said that development and environment must to go hand-in-hand but Bangalore has ignored environment; the greenery of the city has slowly vanished with the development of infrastructure. Buildings are all I can see when I get out of the house now.
There are only apartment complexes and malls all.
The city limits have expanded greatly. I remember the first flyover in Bangalore was the Double Road; ironically it went horribly wrong.
In the last 10 years, the city has seen a population explosion due to the IT boom. Bangalore is now facing problems of lack of water, high property prices, lack of parking space, roads being overcrowded and such. But the coming of the metro trains has been a big plus point for Namma Bengaluru.
Bangalore is witnessing a diversity of culture as people from all over the country are coming and settling down here for various reasons like education, employment and business.
I have friends from Manipur, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala who are in Bangalore to study or work, and they all feel that Bangalore as a place is very accommodating.
Every city undergoes changes and so has Bangalore. Even the name has changed, but I still love calling Bengaluru as my Bangalore.
(The writer is a resident of Kanakapura)
Likes
Friendly people
Food
Climate
Public bus facility
Diversity in culture
Dislikes
Traffic jams
Congested roads
Water shortage
Lack of footpaths
Too many malls
