Surprises, shocks and stirs

From high-profile events that were played down, to the loss of legendary B’lureans, and the rise of citizen activism, 2019 has been an eventful year. CE looks back
Cafe Coffee Day owner late VG Siddhartha
Cafe Coffee Day owner late VG Siddhartha

From high-profile events that were played down, to the loss of legendary B’lureans, and the rise of citizen activism, 2019 has been an eventful year. CE looks back

CONTROVERSIES THAT ROCKED 2019 

B’luru’s ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’
It seemed like a script straight out of a movie. All Saints Church, Bengaluru, which comes under Church of South India (CSI), sold a section of its land for `60 cr compensation to KIADB and BMRCL, to give way for Gottigere-Nagawara line under Phase 2 of the Metro project, but there was a twist in the tale when Ministry of defense procured all documents to prove that the land was leased to the church by them. This row led to various protests by the followers of the church.

Saying no
For many citizens, high court’s decision to replace the quaint red-walled cottage that formerly housed the State Election Commissioner’s office to a seven-storey building came as a shock. Many  groups, especially The Cubbon Park Walkers Association and the Heritage Beku, came forward to protest this plan. More than 2,500 people filed an online petition on Change.org to revise the court order.

White Topping
Cribbing about the roads of the city often works as an ice breaker in city. When white topping of roads was announced to make roads long-lasting, it turned out to be more of a bane than a boon. With the slow pace of work, and long stretches of roads being blocked, people have been forced to take routes. New year, new roads, maybe?

And the music died...
The on-going tussle between residents and pub owners resulted in the ban on live music. Indiranagar, once home to the most popular performance venues and bars, saw a slowdown and then shutdown of spaces such as Take 5, Humming Tree, Hangover, and Monkey Bar. Over 100 pubs and discos were banned from playing music owing to licence being rejected under the Licensing of Places of Public Entertainment Order 2005.

Picking up the baton
The second half of the year saw a dramatic turn of events, including the rise and fall of Alok Kumar, who held the police commissioner’s post for only 47 days. Before he could implement his plans of putting down crime, rowdyism, ponzi companies, Kumar found himself being replaced by Bhaskar Rao. It didn’t come as a surprise to many, since it came soon after chief minister BS Yediyurappa took charge. Kumar, who took the swift transfer personally, didn’t follow the handover  protocol, resulting in Rao having to pick up the baton himself.

CELEBS IN THE NEWS

End of an era
In the fields of theatre and literature, Bengaluru had a huge loss this year. Theatre personality Girish Karnad passed away June 10. Karnad participated in protests such as #SteelFlyoverBeda in the midst of his treatment. It’s hard to forget his image during a protest, where Karnad held up a ‘Me Too Urban Naxal’ placard in spite of  artificial breathing supports.

Racing ahead
Fouaad Mirza’s life has been on the fast track to glory. The equestrian was conferred with the Arjuna award and also secured an Olympic quota in the 2020 Tokyo tournament. All of 27 years old, Mirza’s blinkers-on performance also managed to break India’s almost two decade long wait for representation in equestrian sports in the Olympics.

Bengaluru’s moon man
Meet artist Badal Nanjundaswamy who highlighted the pathetic conditions of B’luru roads in a novel way. Nanjundaswamy’s video featuring an actor dressed as an astronaut, which likens the city’s roads to craters on the moon, went viral. A once in a blue moon instance of BBMP taking action and fixing the roads. Bet even Michael Jackson would approve of this moonwalk!

Word for words
Love him, hate him, you can’t ignore him. Meet Bengaluru’s new blue-eyed boy, Tejasvi Surya, a BJP MP, who makes news often. Just like he has recently with his tweet, ‘CAA-NRC being opposed by illeterate punctrewalas’, went viral. Though he was at receiving end of online bashing, this youngster is not the one to be weighed down by criticism. With eyes on his move, we wonder what the new year holds.

Coffee man  
The mysterious disappearance and death of VG Siddhartha, the founder of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day, turned out to be most high-profile crime story of the year. Siddhartha’s body was found washed ashore in Karnataka’s Netravati River, 36 hours after he went missing.
A suicide note revealed that the coffee baron was in deep debt.

After taste
Cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul found themselves in a sticky position after their remarks on Koffee with Karan. Pandya had said, “When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, ‘Main karke aya hai aaj (I had sex today)’”. They were suspended by BCCI from playing matches, and a complaint was registered at a Jodhpur police station.

Wedding bells
In August, Rohan Murty (36), son of NR Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, had hinted that he had a big announcement to make soon. In November, he announced that he would tie the knot, for a second time, with Aparna Krishnan, daughter of Savitri Krishnan and Commander K R Krishnan (retd), whom he had known for a couple of years. In typical Murty style, the wedding was a low-key affair with only an intimate gathering.

Making way
Speaking of low-key, the handover of Wipro charge from Azim Premji to Rishad Premji was yet another simple affair. In July, Premji senior (74) decided to hang up his boots as Wipro chairman and MD. Premji junior (42) took charge at a time when the company had reportedly noted a slower growth. With only three months for the financial year to close, the verdict about junior’s performance will be out soon.

THE RIGHT MOVE

Tech takeover
A robot that will serve you your food order, humanoid robots that deliver lessons to school children... No, this isn’t the future. Welcome to Bengaluru 2019, where Tech City just got more tech-savvy. Namma ooru wasn’t too far behind in incorporating these advanced innovations in the city’s day-to-day life. This year saw Robot Restaurant opening its first branch in Indiranagar and Indus International School in Bengaluru building three humanoid robots at a cost of `8 lakh each. Nothing like relying on your trusted human colleague to bail you out of trouble.

New lease of life
Fearing another Bellandur lake, citizen activists took matters into their owns hands to conserve some dying and drying water bodies. Kodigehalli lake, Halasuru lake, Byrasandra lake, Kannamangala lake and Alahalli lake were saved from turning into a dumpyard, while drought-affected Kodigehalli lake in Mahadevapura got a new lease of life. In fact, today, Kodigehalli lake holds almost 6,20,750 gallons of water. And from several other lakes, tonnes of garbage was removed.

New art destinations
In 2019 Bengaluru hit the headlines for its protests for various reasons like CAA, cutting down of more than 3,000 trees for the construction of hebbal flyover.. Amidst all this, the city also got some museums and the places to encourage arts. It got the first interactive museum for music, which was a first in the whole country. Closer to Cubbon Park and Visvesvaraya Museum, Kasturba Cross Road there will be Museum of Art and Photography, which will open soon. What next?

Pedal power
There are commuters and then there are the zippy commuters. Many Bengalureans have ditched cars for cycles even if it means biking upto 45 km in Bengaluru’s infamous traffic, took to car-pooling, picked up bikes on the go through Yulu and Bounce. With much emphasis on environmental issues, new-age Bengalureans, who are also health conscious, made this much-needed switch. Sounds like a win-win situation.

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