In the Race

The score was 3 each, so there had to be penalty shoot outs before either of the teams – India or six-times champion, Australia could be declared the World Champion of Women’s Hockey. Having started as the least favorite, Indian team surged past S. Africa, Argentina, Korea and many others before they demonstrated a very convincing victory over Australia. The entire stadium stood up to applaud their win and many from the audience, including me, cheered them as well from our seats in the 70mm cinema hall.
This is the climax of the recent Shahrukh Khan blockbuster Chak De! India (meaning Go for it! India) for you.

It is no coincidence that this well-crafted movie timed its release during the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence Day; the sport centric theme guarantees to evoke patriotic sentiments. Nor is it any surprise that it portrays the revival of a less popular game of Hockey in a Cricket-crazy nation. But the most prominent theme of the storyline that captures one’s interest is the portrayal of the WOMEN’S hockey team conquering against all odds.

Is there a message here?................But, of course.

In the recent past, Indian women, both closer at home and away, have been making news, and for all the right reasons.
Be it Sania Mirza’s rise to the 26th position in the World Tennis ranking or Kiran Desai’s Booker Prize winning literary work “The Inheritance of Loss” in 2006. Be it the election of Mrs. Pratibha Patil as the first woman President of our nation or Sunita Williams’ successful completion of a 6 months space mission. And how can one forget Ekta Kapoor’s revolutionary, albeit controversial, contribution to the Indian small screen. Or Indra Nooyi, U.P. CM Mayawati and Aishwarya Rai’s recognition as one of the 50 most influential Indians by U.S. based Business Week.

Sports, Politics, Corporate, Media, Literary and Cinema……fields diverse, contributions immense. As somebody rightly said, “This is the century of the women” indeed. So our fellow sisters are very much in the race, and making great strides at that.

Chak De! India………or should I say Chak De! Indian women.

Tribute to M.G.Road

What do you call a congenial, captivating, cosmopolitan confluence of software and shopping malls, electronics and environment friendliness, salubrious climate and cleanliness, modern outlook and old worldliness, precision engineering and pubs?
You call it India’s best city for business……it is also called Bangalore.
>Opening lines of Business Today’s survey on India’s best cities for business, Dec 1998



Bangalore, to me, has been more than a "Global IT hub" or "Pub capital" or any other sobriquets that it may go by. It is the city I grew up in (and still growing). This city is my home and it was once the city I loved the most, until the recent onslaught of malls and apartment complexes, growing population density and chaotic traffic changed it all........or so I thought.

When I heard about the Metro Rail project finally taking off on M.G. Road, I was happy that somebody had finally woken up from their deep slumber and decided to do something to ease the congested traffic situation in our city. However, my excitement was short-lived for I realized that this came at the expense of the beautiful landmark of M.G. Road, the Boulevard.

Any native Bangalorean knows that the true charm of M.G. Road lies not just in the mixed architecture style of this road, but more than anything, in the Boulevard walkway that graces the entire stretch of one of the sides of M.G. Road. Speaking of the architecture style, it is a delight to see how well the old, quaint buildings blend in with the relatively new ones. So more recently when I read that the oldest ice cream parlor "Lakeview Milk Bar" on M.G. Road was to be shifted, what they claimed to be temporarily for 2yrs, I just felt the urge to visit M.G. Road.

All these years, I have been to and through this road a countless times – walked through it, driven past it, enjoyed many an auto ride and even caught jay walking across it. However, my visit to M.G. Road today was different from any of the others ever made before. I was there today with the sole intention of seeing the road itself, enjoying it and paying a tribute to it.

Here are a few glimpses of what I saw.


Boulevard overlooks a deserted M.G.Road on a bright Sunday morning



Metro Rail project site



Not far away, an uprooted tree from the Boulevard is being translocated



Uprooting can be painful



This tree stands stripped naked to its bare structure



Modernization comes at a cost



This magnificent tree stands in full splendour, unaware of what lies ahead

The only strip of Bougainvillea flowers at the Kumble Circle junction



Sipping coffee at Barista, Barton Centre, "facing the Boulevard" will only be a thing of the past

While a remarkable piece of history was paving way for modernization on one side of M.G.Road, the other side, with its mixed array of quaint and contemporary structures, continued to add to the charm of the place

Utility Building, the tallest building in Bangalore is seen on M.G.Road

Not many know that this decrepit "Plaza Theatre" which has hosted some memorable films to many a audience, once used to be a venue for ball dances for English soldiers in 1930s

India Coffee House, one of the oldest coffee houses, attracts a variety of crowd

Gangarams, one of the most well-established and popular bookstore stands next to Higginbothams, which is the oldest bookstore in Bangalore and part of a chain established in 1844

Deccan Herald office reflects the old world charm



Jamals, a 1910 structure, is just the place for china and cutlery



Lakeview has a history of 77 years behind it. Set up in 1930, it has stood witness to every change this stretch has seen. Although more popular for its ice creams and milk shakes, I am glad I managed to enjoy one last breakfast of "Lakeview special omelette and Moosambi juice" before its landmark move to another location



Bombay store, on M.G. Road, is housed in a sprawling three-storeyed building while its headquarters in Mumbai's financial district apparently operates out of a relatively cramped space.



Barton centre, definitely one of my favourite piece of modern architecture in Bangalore



And you think I would miss out on the opportunity to take a pic of myself against the Boluevard........this one is for posterity :)


And thus, I rediscovered my love for Bangalore all over again, traffic and poor roads, notwithstanding........