The Brindavan Express rolling into Cantonment station and feeling the cool, gentle air of home is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Bangalore. All the houses were low, the fields wide, the guava orchards there for us to play in and the rocks, ours to climb. Perhaps that has changed but the feeling of home remains. The familiarity of faces and places. Knowing friendships have been several generations long. I still bump into my grandmother’s patients, friends of my parents and of course endless strings of ‘cousins’ and folk referred to as ‘aunty’ or ‘uncle’. Even now, after all the changes, when I think of Bangalore, I think of cosmopolitanism, fine evenings, a relaxed vibe and warm people.
My favourite spots in the city are Koshy’s, The Ham Shop, All Saints and Johnson Market, Suhail’s shop in Richard’s Square, the yellow tabebuia in Bishop Cotton Girl’s school on St. Mark’s Road, Kempegowda’s mantappa, the rocks and the nursery in Lal Bagh, the generous cover of the rain tree avenue on Old Airport Road, the cluster of rosea tabebuias opposite the Central Library in Cubbon Park. If I were a character in James Joyce’s Ulysses, this would be my beat.
Quintessential Bangalore represents wherever our home is…the doors never close, conversation, children, music, food and wine (not to the children) flow freely. There is also something about the six-year-old me coming back from the Corporation Swimming Pool on my grandfather’s cycle and eating a medu vade and glass of pineapple juice from New Modern Hotel. These days, I like to take visiting friends to the Someshwara temple in Ulsoor and show them the beautiful brass Nandi in the courtyard. My daughter takes friends to the Ulsoor night market and Milkmen’s Lane where all the large Holsteins plonk themselves. Koshy’s when the candles are lit around Christmas time is lovely. The quiet within St.Mark’s cathedral. Navigating the city by auto and chatting with the drivers. A lot of what is quintessential now lives in our heads - Victoria Hotel, for instance - and the metrics for the same has long changed.
The part of Bangalore that I would like to bring back is its civility, slowness and afternoon naps.
This is a column features the city through the eyes of a prominent Bangalorean