The way we were

Way back as one can imagine Bangalore was a small Halli - meaning a village, in the princely state of Mysore, now Karnataka.

Going back to the age or era when Bangalore - was a halli, it was surrounded by many smaller villages with rich fields which added for the main reason of Bangalore to have a salubrious and fantastic climate.

Bangalore, was ruled by many Raja's Maharaja's who brought some or the other changes in Bangalore. It was in the year 1527 - when King Kempe Gowda's Son's erected, the four watch towers to mark the boundaries of Bangalore which are traceable even today and they stand almost in the heart of the present city.

Bangalore underwent changes in the hands of many rulers, the prominent contributions made by a few royal families being the Wodiyars, the Maratas and of course Tippu Sultan who are remembered even today. Though many battles were fought and won equal importance was given to the greenary by every ruler as a result Lalbagh was laid during the rule of Tippu Sultan which is considered as the most important Botanical Garden today in the nation. Lalbagh gave a lead to the establishment of many smaller gardens in and around Bangalore to make Bangalore really a garden city. All the roads of Bangalore provided a beautiful, pleasant and cool atmosphere because of the trees planted on either sides of the roads. The motorable roads however were narrow but were enough when there was no traffic of vehicles. Some of the old roads with avenue plantation on either sides are still traceable. These roads however cannot be expected to take the traffic loads of these days.

In those days population was very little and within the the limit and the people had no craze for the land for residential purposes. The entire surroundings of Bangalore was under agriculture and full of greenary. There were innumerable ponds, lakes and tanks alround Bangalore which contributed for Bangalore to have a wonderful climate, considered as most salubrious. Slowly the surrounding villages were included in the limits of Bangalore, increasing the land area. Private Layouts started coming up alround Bangalore apart from the layouts formed by the then City Improvement Trust Board now the Bangalore Development Authority B.D.A. All such layouts subsequently without giving any thought for the planned expansion or development of Bangalore were included in the city limits of Bangalore. This resulted in unexpected, unplanned and most haphazard development. The roads laid by the private layouts were too narrow and without any proper study of traffic problems and the need of well laid roads. Today the citizens of Bangalore are paying for these mistakes. The departments of Government, such as Police, Telephones, Electricity, Water Supply, Underground Drainage are finding it difficult to provide the services.

As early in 1949 when Bangalore Municipal Corporation was formed Bangalore was a moderate town. However with the construction of Vidhana Soudha to house Legislative Assembly and State Secretariate in 1955 the city became a capital of the newly formed Mysore State as a consequence of the states reorganisation in 1956, and now Karnataka. The real expansion of the city therefore started from 1956.
During the years 1950's and 1960's many industries were established in and around Bangalore creating employment opportunities for the local people living in and around Bangalore, as well as from other places in the state. However the Executives and Managerial level staff,employed by the entreprenuers from their respective states and thus the gates were thrown open for people to come and settle in Bangalore. There was a rush of job seekers in Bangalore with a large number of industries coming up in and around Bangalore. This also attracted many businessmen to have thier business and trading resulting in increasing of the population and the floating population of visitors, tourists, business people. This, so unexpected increase in growth of population in a very short time resulted in a sort of disorder and the administration found it difficult to provide the basic civic services such as roads, water supply, drainage and transport. Gradually however most of the problems were sorted out by the concerned authorities and also other non Governmental organisation. Suggestions were offered by the practising architects and other professionals to over come some of the problems in a planned manner. The growing needs of the ever increasing population made it possible for good number of architects and other professionals to come to Bangalore and start their profession. City has seen a phenominal growth from the early 70s and the well planned layouts, huge buildings were seen coming up in the city and all efforts are on to make it a fine city and bring it back to its original beauty and grandeur.

The city is considered to be the fastest growing city in terms of population, industrialisation and Commerce but without the required infrastructure such as transport and roads, and water supply. Some serious thought is now being given by the authorities. Rapid Public Transport System, Flyovers for fast movement of vehicles are being taken up by entrusting such projects involving huge sums to the private agencies. City Transport System too is being augmented with additional fleet of buses and inducting private operators to operate in the city. Telecommunciations systems has considerably been improved. Large number of people are being pursuaded to go in for group housing projects instead of individual houses. All this will certainly make Bangalore a beautifully city and make more and more entrepreneurs to come to this wonderful city to start their business and industrial ventures in and around Bangalore. The proposed satellite towns 25-30 Kms from Bangalore would ease the situation to some extent.

Address: Mathur & Associates
Architects, Engineers, & Interior Designers
No.19, Kalpak Arcade, 2nd Floor
Church Street, Bangalore-560001.

The author is a graduate in Architecture from Hyderabad in the year 1968-69. A leading practing Architect in Bangalore since 1977. He has associated in execution of various Industrial, Commercial, Official, Residential, Educational and Nursing Homes, places of worships. Currrently he is the president of Practicing Association,Bangalore.

Builder & Developers World Feb 96