Bangalore capital of Karnataka is popularly known as Garden city, Silicon city, IT hub, Pensioner’s Paradise, Electronic capital of India. “The town of boiled beans”, in Kannada, “Bendakaluru” is the word from where the name Bengaluru was derived. It is said that King Ballala named our city ‘bele-benda kaluru’ as a poor woman had offered him boiled beans when he was lost in the jungle while hunting. Bangalore was Ruled by Kempe Gowda, Whatever Bangalore is today its main credit goes to this people-friendly ruler who laid the foundation of this beautiful town. He was born in 1513 and was a chieftain under Vijayanagara kings. Two to Three decades ago Bengaluru was a small town that had enormous space to live. There were Bungalows surrounded by gardens and kids used to play on main streets as the traffic was very less. I was told by my parents that the Koramangala, Silkboard, Electronic city, Yelahanka, Hebbal were all farmlands and as the name suggests Kadu Malleswaram was a forest. Can you imagine that? One other surprising thing was landlords used to sell their acres of land for bags of Ragi. Now buying a standard 30 by 40 sq ft plots has become a nightmare and that too just in 20-30 years. The best part of Bangalore was its weather, It has the perfect weather even now.
In the late 1990s, the calm city started turning into a crowded place. Glass and concrete replaced the trees and plants. The younger generation started working for companies that took on shifts. The sleepy city turned to sleepless nights. Alien North Indians migrated to Bangalore, the number of vehicles increased, traffic reached its peak, Employment increased and the pay ranges became so high that the Bangaloreans hadn’t even imagined. They called it a revolution. There were 920 lakes in the 1960s and decreased to less than 580 by 1993. Currently, we have around 200 lakes, and now from data available at BBMP, we are left with only 183 lakes. The land which was once called a garden city is turning into a garbage city and unfortunately, the piles of garbage are increasing day by day. All the trees are being cut down in the name of development. Lakes are encroached by huge apartments due to a lack of space to live. The remaining lakes are on the verge of deterioration. Karnataka golf association was Challagatta lake; Kempegowda Bus stand well known as Majestic bus stand was Dharmambudi tank; K.R market was Siddakatte lake; Gandhi Bazar was karanji tank. The essence of Bengaluru is getting destroyed due to the developments happening and people who migrated in search of work blame Bangalore for its traffic, for less space, as a less safe place even after giving them so much love and not forcing them to speak them in Kannada. The reason for all this is they. Development is of course required for the country but we should not destroy the original beauty of the place. A Chef might make some changes in the traditional dish to present it uniquely but never changes its essence. As a Bangalorean, it’s over the duty to protect its heritage and its dignity.
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