As I finish reading the 'R.K.Narayan-ish' chronicle on Bangalore "Once upon a time" by Mr. E R Ramachandran I sit here with two emotions: An irresistably huge urge to escape back to the Bangalore of the 1950's that Ramachandran paints in front of our eyes and also, a deep despair mixed with a horrific after-(thought)taste while the current day state of the city de-mesmerises me.
Alas...
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/once-upon-a-time-in-bangalore-on-route-no-11/
But ...back to the article. This is not an article but a journey through events as though the author can still see them unfold. I had never known or heard some of the events and anecdotes presented here! This, after all, is the time when even our parents were kids or teenagers at the most. I am a sucker for any such nostalgia....the photos of bengaLuuru, the side observations of the 'way it used to be' with certain landmark places like Vidyarthi bhavan or Majestic area, the unknown small-facts like that of Kengal Hanumanthiah's experience or the Master hiranniah's drama episode!!
'Bittre tirga sigolla' :-)) Had been a while since I'd heard that.
Some of us probably might not even know that IISc used to be called Tata institute, forget why it was called like that. How do we expect next generations to know anything about Old Bangalore??
Is there anything that's remained unchanged from the Bangalore that Ramachandran paints here??
But why care...did you ask?
:) Ask me when my fantasy comes true some day....oh well you wont be able to, since I'll be a laid back kannadiga of the old bangalore who walks to his Attara kaccheri office from his BaLepete house...back in 1955!!!
Well, as I said earlier, alas....
ps: Is it but natural to percieve that every passing era/period was a greener and a better time to live in??
2 comments:
I agree with the ps: Of course! I bet after 40 years we'll be nostalgic about all the mess Bangalore is in now!...maybe u guys will say: "Ah! remember those days we used to drive to office from Jayanagar to Whitefield through all those traffic jams...such nice days!". You may not believe it now...but I'm sure u'll say that! Instead of being nostalgic about playing hide-and-seek in the old narrow gullies of Mysore our children, when they grow old, will feel nostalgic about all their computer games which would have become outdated by then! (I can't even imagine what our grandchildren will feel nostalgic about...ewww!)
...about areas called Jayanagar and Malleswaram (gulp)? and about a road full of rose garden parks and other tree filled roads?? :(
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