Change may not always be for the better, particularly when it comes to the way that cities like Bengaluru have changed. But it is inevitable.
Older inhabitants of the city have had to contend with the fact that ‘brain fry’ was no longer on the menu at Dewar’s, and saw many landmarks on M.G. Road give way to the Metro, Victoria Hotel to Bangalore Central and Cash Pharmacy to the Prestige Group.
The quaint charm that once made our city so special is peeling off like old wallpaper, making way for the glint of glass and metal that is the hallmark of the IT city.
Brindavan Hotel on M.G. Road is the most recent victim of the city bulldozing its way to globalisation. Mr Umesh Badami, who comes from one of Bengaluru’s oldest families, has seen the relentless march of modernisation. “Our ancestral house, the Badami House, was sold because the government settled down there and refused to leave”, he says.
Some old structures may fortunately survive, than-ks to the heritage rules. “There was the George Oaks building, built in 1949, which is not really a heritage building, but somebody decided it was, so it hasn’t been broken down”, Mr Badami says.
However, the rules about declaring a building a heritage structure are sketchy. “Cash Pharmacy is an example of a beautiful building being destroyed," Mr Badami says. "So is Victoria Hotel. The Central Business District has suffered most of all."
And, then, there are bungalows that cannot be lived in any longer that have been declared heritage sites. Mr Badami says his neighbours own a house like that and they find it very difficult to maintain it but can’t break it down or sell it because of its heritage status.
Artist Paul Fernandes is an ardent Bengalurean, but his view of things is very prosaic. "We have to allow these things to happen; we can't really maintain these old places any more. You can't hang on to the old and hope to live with the crowds we have today.
“But if you have to replace a beautiful old building with something else, at least try and be polite about it!"
