Battle of the Bangalore Bulge

Bangalore used to be a city of size. It knew its limits, and would never get too big for its boots.

There were the Kempegowda towers, which marked the limits of growth. And there was the time-honoured saying, 'When Bangalore grows beyond the watch-towers there will no longer be a Maharajah on the throne (of Mysore).'

But in the late 1900's Bangalore began to lose the Battle of the Bulge.

I have lived in Cantonment much of my life. It was an area of schizophrenic character. Apart from spacious bungalows, the old Civil Station had many medium-sized houses; and small cottages, in large gardens, on narrow roads. They provided prime land for 'redevelopment' for New Bangalore. The population increased. But the template of twisting lanes remained unchanged.

Among the anomalies one encounters in the Old Bangalore area (Old Civil Station and Old City) are a mismatch of sizes.

Big, oversized apartments, where small neat cottages once stood primly minding their own territory. Big 'export surplus' US 'junk' auto designs, euphemistically called 'sports utility vehicles' squeeze through narrow Bangalorean lanes and half roads (the half which has not yet been encroached upon by bulging new buildings).u00a0 Big 'cars' (SUVs) in small parking spaces.

Many apartments get around the parking garage requirements in Bangalore's traditional style. Solpa adjusht madi.

But space is space and there is a limit to how much it can be adjushted to accommodate new cars. Oh no! There is always some more adjushting possible.

A popular method is the 'folding gate', ostensibly a device for opening and closing. But the folding gate can be designed to be a 'bulging' gate, where half the car or the SUV can be squeezed into an undersized parking space and most of it can project out on to the road and the pavement. It is tough for other traffic and for pedestrians. But don't be foolhardy enough to object. 'Svalpa ajjusht madi ri.'

There are big, oversized dogs in small houses and minuscule apartment balconies. There is a fascination for maintaining big dogs, mostly Labradors, undersized dachsunds and poms (with an oversized, shrill 'bark', and an occasional Alsation (with oversized teeth). It is terrifying to pass a peaceful cottage gate or an apartment balcony and suddenly have a savage hound straining at its leash and baring its fangs at you.u00a0

There are also big garbage piles in small garbage bins. Big garbage loads in small garbage lorries.

'Bulging' has become a way of life. The entire city has been bulging to swallow up its rural surroundings, all the way to Mysore. The Maharajah lost his throne many years ago along with his privy purse. Now there are new maharajas and supremos (with different kinds of privy purses!), though they call each other by different (unparliamentary) names.