The old city is even now vibrant and vigorous.It was till recently the seat of wholesale market in cereals . Now it stands shifted to
Yeshwantpur which again is part of the urban agglomeration.Old names of streets like Akkipet(literally rice street), cottonpet are in use. chickpet( little street) is a misnomer. For here textile wholesalers rake in crores everyday.Aveue road, also known as doddapet(big street) might have been big by earlier standards. It is no longer so.Balepet(bangles bazaar) still houses a few bangle sellers.The whole Majestic area is a beehive of activity and rechristened kempegowda circle , in memory of the city's founders. well, the old city might be his creation.He was a local chieftain and based in Magadi town.The whole stretch between Bangalore and Magadi is today a urban sprawl.And the founder visionary had set up four towers in four corners of the city. His desire was that the city would touch these outer limits. His desire is more than fulfilled because these towers are in the inner city now.
As for the modern kempegowda road, there was not a multistoried structure till Mysore bank came up with one. This was theatre road then, many of the theatres have yielded place to shopping malls.It was a place where one could take a stroll in the evening. No longer is it the case.
The only solace is that gourmets could still walk into New Krishnabhavan or Malabar lodge for their crisp dosai.
As for the college campus, the old law college stays. The hostel atttached to central college is gone. the old intermediate college has changed its name to Government arts college. Maharanis is still intact and so is the polytechnic and the engineering college. The peaceful academic atmosphere is lacking now. In fact thecentral college grounds was the arena for several international level cricket matches.They have all been diverted for other purposes.
Nearby , the central jail is pulled down and the turf club is months away from extinction.Even the golf club had to lose part of its greenery to the demands of time, to wit widening of the road.
Many people would be surprised to know that the present day Basavangudi and Malleswaram were extensions necessitated for health reasons when an epidemic hit the city.Now Basavangudi is the heart of south bangalore and Malleswaram at the other end is the gateway to the northern wing of the city.
The present kempegowda bus station was a tank. several tanks have disappeared , and the water table in the city has gone down.The tragedy of bangalore is that it is an amalgam of old and new but a poor amalgam.
just to cite an instance, fine masala dosais are available in vidhyarthi Bhavan on Gandhibazaar main rioad. even a former chief minister could not resist walking in for his bite.vidhyarthis ( students) are not its only customers.Perhaps the nearby National college students were its early clientele.National college itself has a hoary history.it was started by annie Besant as a school.But we will focus more on the oddities of the city.The city that was will serve as the backdrop.ends