Bangalore and the shakespherian connection

Malgudi series-6

As the great playright of all times once said " The whole world is a theatre and the people in it - actors" we bangaloreans have a lot to owe to shakesphere, he has in all leaps and bounds inspired artists, Playrights, directors, sound designers, stage designers, theatre enthusiasts of all times and still continue to do so !

Much before it was called as IT city , bangalore was known for its rich cultural ambience. Though most of the activities were restricted by its reach to the locals , they were quite famous across the state and people would follow not because it is happening in the capital city but because of its uniqueness ! Be it the Bangalore karagha of dharmaraya temple which is considered as one of the oldest festivals celebrated in the city having historical significance or Kadalekaayi parishe , the annual groundnut festival held near dodda ganesha temple basavanagudi , it stands out !

The another unique part of bangalore's cultural heritage is its vibrant theatre. Though from more than a century there were theatre troops which were performing here, they were more of depended on it for their livelihood and hence were limited in trying new things, experimenting etc.

It was in the early 60's that the real theatre buzz started in bangalore with many people who were employed in decent 9 to 5 jobs felt a need to do something more than just work ! This was just complimented by the young writers of post independence era by apt plays which were not mundane in their concepts and had lot of intellectual food to offer ! Most of this plays were in kannada, the language of the land and some of them were later translated to Hindi etc. and was taken across the country by the likes of National school of drama ( NSD ) which brought a great reputation to bangalore, its playright, actors and directors leading to a culture of vibrant theatre eventually.

Those days  though most of the theatre was restricted to few places  under the patronage of governement, like Ravindra kalakshetra, Samsa open auditiorum, Puttannachetti purabhavana, ADA ranga mandira, theatre did prosper and lately the situation is more than good with dedicated private theatres like Rangashankara in JP Nagar, Jagrithi in Whitefield which are dedicated to only plays all through the year !

To make theatre sustainable the tickets are kept at a meagre 100 bucks and the quality is top notch ! Many citizens of bangalore have generously contributed to building these theatres and kept it alive which  otherwise would have lost its charm to the glooming night life, shining malls and multiplexes !
Like in some cities of europe watching plays in a theatre is a great fascination for bengalurians, for some it is a status symbol and for some its a great learning oppurtunity ! slowly it is also becoming equally entertaining and starting to gather more and more young audience which is great for the sustenance of the theatre ecosystem and hence one of its famous theatres " Rangashankara" goes with the tag line THEATRE ALIVE !

Bangalore is choking !

Malgudi series - 5

Yes ...Bangalore is choking , its population was a meagre 4.1 million in 1991 and now it is close to 10 million ! Thanks to the explosion of opportunities in the last two decades, more specifically last decade. As per the 2001 census bangalore had 5.1 million residents and look now !

Historically bengaluru was never been a centre for job opportunities when you look from national perspective, mumbai was ( is) , Kolkatha was, Delhi was (is), Pune was ( is ), Chennai was. Bangalore's sudden outburst in the last decade is phenomenal and also a cause of great concern.   Each new member of the city commands a space for him, a dignified and hassle free life.
When the immigration as evident in the last decade becomes so much the authorities have to act fast building infrastructure like roads, pathways, providing water , transportation, security etc; Probably the best cities in the world must not have seen such an inflow of people in the last decade like bangalore !

The no of people immigrated to bangalore in the last decade is greater than the overall population of Singapore, which is 5.4 million in an area of 718 km2, but the land area is more or less same as bangalore ! How about that ? If the situation is like this and the growth is not linear but exponential,   planning and implementation is inadequate, the city naturally chokes !

Nearly half of bangalore relies on underground water for its livelihood and these are the areas where population density is more, for example Whitefield, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Sarjapur road etc; because of their close proximity to IT hubs and other business parks. The density of Apartments are also more here and are not connected by cauvery water ! This makes it a challenging scenario for its inhabitants who face water problems on one side and Traffic problems on the other with high pollution levels ! Commuting to office and back home takes 4 hours per day on an average, which is very high on national standards but pathetic on international standards !

And still Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities of the world, still maintains a high in flow of aspirants, start up activities, still generates jobs but lacks law enforcement ! Nearly 90 percent of its apartments are not as per plan and hence do not possess Completion and Occupancy certificate and hence are illegal ! 50 percent of the areas do not have water as part of the public distribution system and rely greatly on Tankers ! Roads in high revenue generating areas like ITPL, Ring road, Sarjapur,Whitefield are awful, potholes are regular culprits in newspapers !

Despite all these problems the land rates in these areas of bangalore are highest, rents are crazy, every day a new apartment project comes up with creative but deceiving ads , people are investing in their 2nd or 3rd flat, commuting alone in big cars without car pooling has become a status symbol !
In some areas like Nallurahalli village, Whitefield the entire village road is filled with apartments in the last 3 years choking everything making the original inhabitants i.e villagers stressed, there have been several cases of resentment and retaliation from these poor creatures !  The very citizens are choking the city indirectly by their blind and short sighted investments and are blaming the government for not providing water, widening the roads, security etc;

Our governments promises a good life, gets elected, collects taxes and fails in delivering at the pace required and takes all the blame from citizens, but who will blame its citizens ??? are we also not responsible for what we have created ? are we sensible in our investments ? are we sensible in our actions and deeds ? are we shortsighted ?

Only time will decide !

Is Bangalore becoming a city without a soul ???

Malgudi series -4

If i ask this question to my fellow friends, i am sure i will get mixed opinions. Some my say bluntly that it has already become, and then go on to give me a strange face indicating that i need to catch up with times faster ! some may say its soul is dying, but can be rescued provided we act on key issues !

I may agree or not with them, but definitely try to ask what made them to come to such conclusions ?
We have known that Bangalore as a city of opportunities , gardens, lakes, great climate etc; but is the scenario same now and forever ? We have known Bangalore as pensioners paradise, middle class heaven but is it prevailing or slipped to nostalgia ? We have known Bangalore in the recent past as the IT-BT city, Indian silicon valley and more recently as the startup city, but does it retain its glory even today ?

The important question in this context is what constitutes a soul of a city ? I would have loved to ask this question to people like Dr. CNR Rao , the most distinguished scientist and citizen of the city who says he gets nervous once he steps out of the city, but at the same time shares the opinion that Bangalore is slowly becoming a city without a soul !

It was a decade back that people told Kolkata is a dying city and i was taken aback ! How can a city which for centuries controlled the thought and imagination of the country suddenly die ? Are we sometimes over passionate in our criticism ? Or was it really true ?

Analogous to this many of my friends who are from Karnataka and stayed in Mumbai are always zealous about the coastal city, its composite culture, enthusiasm, liveliness, Inclusiveness and commitment to work ! why are these missing in many Indian metros though they have many advantages like climate, land etc; which Mumbai doesn't have !
How did Mumbai retain its Numero uno position as a city of admiration for such a long time and still continue to do so ? Why is the sentence "I am going to Mumbai !" itself is so charming ! What does Mumbai have which other metros like Bangalore doesn't have ? What is the soul of Mumbai ?

Probably the soul of the city is its people who are responsible for its culture, inclusiveness, liveliness and more importantly friendliness ! In Bangalore we don't have a LOCAL in which a shift worker can travel with a CEO in the same compartment so close that one breathes the other ! The BMTC is so divided that money can buy comfort in a Volvo and you are busy in your own mobitalk and FM !

In such a scenario you will never get to interact with locals who can tell you where you can shop for less, eat for fun, take a short cut route and visit a weekend hamlet in your own locality ! The concept of outer ring road and inner ring road have geographically and culturally separated the old Bangalore ( Locals) and the new Bangalore (IT crowd)

I sometimes get surprised for the fact that even though theatre and arts in bangalore is so alive hasn't done much in this regard to bring people together, wonder why Bangalore habba stopped, why we bangaloreans are not excited about anything much like our weather where as Mumbai gets excited and comes together for Ganesha festival and Holi, Hyderabad comes together for movies, Kolkata comes together for Durga pujo and Chennai comes together for its love of language !

In recent times probably we bangaloreans got excited for an IT or a BPO job at the cost of basic sciences which prompted Prof. CNR Rao to say what he said ! I think its time to come out of our comfort zones and interact with people, its time to bridge the gaps between the old and new Bangalore, its time to stop asking KANNADA BARUTTA ( Do u know kannada ? ) and time to stop saying KANNADA GOTTILLA ( I don't know kannada !).

The most difficult thing to loose is the soul and lets hope it is true for Namma Bengaluru !

Bangalore's multi ethnicity is not a recent phenomenon !

Malgudi series-3

It is indisputable that Bangalore is one of the most multi ethnic cities of our country with great spread of people across language, religion, caste, taste, interests etc; but that is it ? how does Bangalore differ from rest of the cities ? what are the things in common ? why does it differ ? is this multi ethnicity a recent phenomenon ? is this due to globalisation ?

To know this better let us look at the state in general. Karnataka is not just one amongst the four southern states, its not just a place where Kannada is spoken like any other language, its more than this, its a place where you see many cultures (Not just restricted to Bangalore), languages ,ethnicity, cuisines, dressing styles and all in all its many states in one state !

Let me elaborate a little, though Kannada is the most widely spoken, official and popular language of karnataka, coastal districts like Dakshina kannada, udupi speak Tulu which is another old dravidian language (1.7 million) with its own rich history and background. Up north in the coastal line Uttara Kannada district which shares its border with Goa has lakhs of people who speak Konkani as their mother tongue, konkani is another interesting language (0.2 million in karnataka) which links karnataka with Goa ! Kodagu which is also called as coorg a.k.a the southern Kashmir has its own rich heritage, tradition, kingdom, practises, dressing style and very different culinary style, kodavas ( 0.16 million) speak in "koorgi" which partly resembles a combination of tulu, kannada, malayali and tamil for an outsider but is a distinct language itself and interestingly they say every kodva is related to another by blood !

Certain hamlets of malnad or western ghats of karnataka speak an interesting version of kannada called havyak (1.1 million) which a  kannadiga from old Mysore or north karnataka will not be able to easily pick up ! likewise kannada spoken by a person from bidar can't be followed by anybody from Hubli-Dharwad though both fall in north karnataka ! It is said by scholars and observers that the dialect of kannada changes every 15 kilometres in karnataka in any which way we travel !

Though the state has many languages, cultures, ethnic groups which are as old as the available scriptures they are still relevant, co-existing, respecting and complimenting each other. Apart from these since karnataka shares border with all the three southern states and Maharashtra you may find people of other states concentrated especially at the borders and some migrated inwards. The north Indian migration except marwadis is more recent after the opening up of economy and opportunities which is true to any other metro of our country.

This is probably why a kannadiga will not see a non Kannada speaking person as an outsider as much because he knows unlike other states, in karnataka itself there are languages, ethnicity and cultures which are as old as his own language, which collectively comprises the culture of karnataka and this is personified in naming the cultural department of the state as Kannada and culture department instead of Kannada culture department which would be a narrow representation of the vast culture of the state comprising of Tuluva, kodava, konkani and havyaka people along with kannadigas.

The most interesting part is a Tuluva, kodava, konkani and havyaka are a subset of the vast kannadiga population where Kannada acts as a common language for communication between these sects. It is these sects which have done more publicity to Kannada and its culture outside the state and country.

Now looking at the diversity existing within the state from centuries you can decide whether multi ethnicity in Bangalore is a recent phenomenon or an old one ! The tolerance of the locals towards anybody from outside needs to be attributed to the absorbing and understanding culture imbibed in the very nature of how the state is comprised of !

Bangalore and Humility !

Malgudi series-2

It was several years ago, that i watched this video on youtube by harsha bhogle on sportsmen from Bangalore did i realise that we have a great deal to admire our sportsmen.

In the video Harsha the most respected and sought after sports commentator had all praises for cricketers like GR Vishwanath, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Srinath ,Venkatesh prasad who played cricket in a very admiring way, but still maintained cool, humility and composure.

All of us know, that there was a time when indian cricket team had 5-6 players from karnataka alone and yet there were no signs of groupism reported and was greatly admired by the likes of Ajit wadekar who was the team coach then.

Harsha goes a step further and wonders why even other sportpersons like former badminton world champion Prakash Padukone, several times billiards and snooker world champion Pankaj Advani etc; play with such a humility with great control over their behaviour. Harsha even asks is it because there is something special with sportspersons from Bangalore ? Is it because of their upbringing ? Or the culture itself ! This question or partial judgement of Harsha Bhogle kept me thinking about the city in particular and the state in general.

I asked myself some questions like what makes these players so humble ? why din't they do groupism even though they were in considerable no's ? why these players during and after their careers kept low profiles ? why were they not controversial ? were they any less sportsmen on field compared to others ? why were they not carried away by their achievements ? for most of these questions i was able find my own explainations but felt sharing them would be a little biased !

Hence i would like to end this blog by encouraging you to think why these sportsmen were how they were ? do you find any similarities in their behaviour with the people you have interacted or known in the city ? do you see a value system in its people ? do you believe the cool and calm climate as the reason? can you connect the city's education, arts and culture with the behaviour of these people ? what portion of middle class values you see in these people ? do you see some of their qualities in other bangaloreans or qualities of bangalore in them ?


And finally do you see bangalore as a city of Humility , acceptance and oppurtunities ? or a city of stereotypes, attitude and non co-operation !

What is real bengaluru ???

Malgudi series -1

I know many of you would find this a funny question but let me explain to you why it is not so !

When ever you talk to different bangaloreans you will get to hear lectures about what is real bangalore and what is not !  like for example, one may say Majestic is the real bangalore given its proximity to Bus stand, railway station, trading centers like chickpet, cottonpet, avenue road which still controls majority of bangalore's commercial activity,  while the others may disagree and claim  Malleshwaram,  the middle class heaven towards north is the real bangalore given its liveliness, colorful streets, religiousness, educational instititions, street shopping culture , eateries for authentic karnataka cuisine, and  its educated crowd !

Some argue that old bangalore towards south comprising basavanagudi, Jayanagar, VV puram, chamarajpet, girinagar, hanumanthnagar etc; which has its own place in bangalore's culture, literature, theatre, education, tradition, cuisine and much more as the essence of bangalore !

This discussion is not over till we discuss the so called posh bangalore !  wondering what is it ? Most bangaloreans and non bangaloreans use to consider MG Road, Brigade road, Indiranagar, commercial street, Richmond road for weekend hangouts, shopping, dating and celebrations before mall culture started in 2002 with Koramangala forum !

Another portion of central bangalore towards west of chord road comprising of, Vijaynagar, Rajajinagar, Yeshanthpur, Nagarbhavi is relatively new in comparision to old bangalore but keeps low profile and surprisingly no one claims it as real bangalore, came to prominence with concentration of many small scale industries and educational institutions, which other wise was considered outskirts of bangalore, though it was just 5-6 kilometers from city bus stand, Majestic !!!

In the recent years with the rapid growth of the city and extension of bangalore till whitefiled towards kolar, and attibele towards Hosur some may argue that koramangala which was once considered as the end of bangalore as the center of bangalore, given its equal proximity to old bangalore, majestic, electronic city and whitefiled !

So it all depends on what is our reference to call what is real bangalore and what is its real culture.
To experience it and to comment on it, we must know all these intersting pockets or rather facets of bangalore, otherwise it will be like a group of blind describing an elephant !

Namma malgudi

Welcome to NAMMA MALGUDI !!!

 We all have heard of Delhi as the political and fashion capital of India , Mumbai the financial capital , kolkatha the city of joy etc; what do we call Bangalore ??? The garden city ? for which we are not left with many trees except some habitats like Lalbhag and cubbon park , The city of lakes ? for which we notice the terrible state of the dwindling lakes every year to rising real estate, The silicon city ? for which the city is experiencing  a lot of continuous and stiff competition from other cities like Hyderabad etc; The start up city ? for which we are not very certain till when this trend is going to continue before any other city catches up.

Then what do we call Bangalore ? does Bangalore have a culture ? did it come to limelight in the last 20 years ? What is its speciality apart from software , start ups , Climate and gardens ? How are its people ? why is the traffic problem so much and can't anything be done ? How is Kannada the official language of Bangalore and kannadigas the original inhabitants copes up with change the city has undergone ? are they receptive ? are schools costly ? is shopping here very expensive ? do we have any hangouts and eat outs apart from the ones showcased in the newspapers ? Is Mysore the only weekend destination closer to the city ? are kannadigas outgoing ? why is sandalwood not well known ( as per the popular opinion !) ? what is the importance of arts in the life of average bangalorean ? whom do you call a bangalorean ? what is old Bangalore known for ? does marathalli , Whitefield , electronic city be called as real Bangalore ? is Bangalore a safe city ? why is the floating crowd more here ?

These blogs are an honest attempts to break the stereotypes and introduce the holistic view of the city , the way the locals and friends from out side think about one another and the city. The name Namma malgudi is categorically brought into perspective because it signifies the actual culture of the city which even impressed the famous Indian writer in English R.K Narayan to create an abode from the two localities of the city Malleshwaram,the one in the North and Basavanagudi , the one in the south to give rise to one of the fictitious and well known places of Indian literature MALGUDI !

How does Bangalore stand up as a city  ? What is its potential ? What is its uniqueness ? what are its secrets ? What are its murmurs ? how are its citizens ? How creative or mum Bangalore is ? what concerns the city ? what do its most famous citizens think about the city and much more !!!

Being a Kannadiga myself and having spent most of my life between Bangalore and Tumkur ( a city close to Bangalore) its imperative that i may be slightly biased on some issues of concern but that's my point of view which can be countered , trashed or argued to eternity ! The attempt is a two way dialogue beyond just blogging , its helps me put up a kannadiga's point of view , how we see people from outside, where are we mistaken , where are the outsiders mistaken, have we taken things for granted ?