BENGALURU: Having been born and brought up in Bengaluru, this place is closest to my heart only next to music, and in particular, the violin. But in the last two decades, I have seen some rapid changes in Bengaluru, some for the better, but most for the worse. Being a performer since childhood, I have been performing the age of seven in the city, across India and on foreign shores. I have always pondered as to how to make our ‘Silicon Valley’ one of the best places to live for all.
The total collapse of civic amenities and transport system in Bengaluru, resulting in very high levels of pollution, is one of the main issues of the city. This is despite the kind of climate the city has been bestowed with. I still remember in the year 2000, it would hardly take 20 minutes to get to Palace Grounds or Chowdiah Hall from my home in south Bengaluru, for my concerts.
But later on and prior to the pandemic, the same distance would take at least one-and-a-half hours. The city, I feel, wasn’t ready for the boom in terms of infrastructure. On one hand we had a population explosion (including floating population), but factors like lack of public transport, condition of roads, poor planning of flyovers, underpasses, pavements and non-compliance to traffic rules have also led to the degradation of the city.
SOLUTION: Since the last week of March the pandemic has brought things to a halt. With a number of professionals working from home, thereby reducing jams, schools resorting to online classes, nature seems to be healing itself. So in a way, this might have been needed especially after the damage the city has been through. I’m hoping that post the pandemic too, work from home will be a permanent feature. That way we can go back to being the green city we once were.
Let your mixed feelings about Bengaluru get stirred up, as an influential person talks about things nice and nasty about the city in this weekly column