An old,yet progressive city

Ihave lived in this city for about 40 years now.As people are wont to say,it was a quiet and salubrious city with hardly any traffic.But change is inevitable and has to happen.I believe that every home must have a picture of Kempe Gowda.He was not just the founder,but the father of this city.He studied the land and chose to build the city here for the following reasons: The city is on a bed of Peninsular Gneiss which is not easily disturbed.Thus,the city has only experienced tremors but never an earthquake.
Second,it is at a height,ensuring a pleasant climate.Also,the location is strategic to date.Deep down South,the city has important defense manufacturing units,making it the right hand of the Indian Army.After Kempe Gowda,the Marathas,Mughals from Karim Khan to Tipu Sultan to the British all chose to make it an important city.Finally,he planted trees,developed tanks and lakes (the city was also called Kalyana Nagara),built temples for his people and invited traders from other lands to make it their home.The result: Ballepet,Chickpet,Akkipet What is happening today is nothing new.Outsiders came even then,adopted the land,indulged in trade and made it their home.
If Kempe Gowda founded Bangalore in 1512,that would make it 500 years old.If it was 1537,it is 475 years.That still makes our city older than Mumbai,Kolkata and Chennai.While the other three were developed by the British,our city was founded by our elders (Yelahankanada Prabhus) who had fantastic town planning concepts.In 1954,when Hanumanthaiah was the CM,he decided that Bangalore was getting congested and initiated the Greater Bangalore expansion plan headed by N Madhav Rao,ex Diwan of Mysore State.The expansion plans recommended were most scientific and even a Ring Road was planned.If their recommendations were followed,I don't think we would be facing any discomforts today.
If I have to take a person to five places in Bangalore,this is how I would do it: First stop,Ulsoor's Someshwara Temple which is the museum of Vijayanagara architecture with its 48 pillars and the grand platform;next would be the Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple with its monolithic structures and its importance in astronomical studies;flora of Lalbagh with its amazing diversity ranging from Krishna butter cup tree to Australian apple tree;Tipu's summer palace that was built with mud and wood by Hyder Ali in 1781 and completed by Tipu Sultan in 1791 there is a wooden beam here which says This is Heaven on Earth and Envy of the Heaven;and the Bangalore Palace for its Tudor Architecture.Cubbon Park is significant with its rare statues of Queen Victoria,King Edward VII,Sir Sheshadri Iyer and Sir Mark Cubbon.Sir Cubbons statue in this park appeared on the first day cover released by Isle of Man.Bugle Rock Park is another historic place.
Bangalore has changed,we are facing terrible inconveniences,but our city has always been progressive.We should be aware of our history and then we won't tamper with it.


Suresh Moona is a city-based historian
As told to Jayanthi Madhukar