Jayanagar, from hiss to buzz

With the city growing at this pace, it is inevitable for some people to settle for life in the outskirts.

Pioneers of Jayanagar, today’s throbbing locality, would remember their extension as the outskirts that sprung up beyond South End, which really used to be city’s southern edge. They would remember the layout as a well laid out settlement with wide roads and pavements, with provision for all the civic amenities, but still were not in place. Today’s Jayanagar was a far cry from it was when it was just formed. It is hard to imagine today that its residents had to put up with mud roads, lack of communication and transport facilities. Autorickshaw drivers dreaded coming to the locality and venturing out after 7 pm was forbidden. There were a few shops but the most profitable trade seemed to be snake catching, for there used to be a cobra sighting practically every night.

With few people daring to build houses and move in, the nearest human habitation was Yediyur village, today’s VI Block. The Moplah’s ubiquitous “Kaka Angadi” here served as a green grocer and provision store. Lack of houses, however had an advantage as the vacant sites afforded short cuts to the nearest milk booth past the Aane Bande or Elephant Rock, a natural rock formation and a famous Jayanagar landmark, and to the nearest bus stand at IV Block. The end of IV Main, the beautiful Lakshman Rau Boulevard, was really the end of the world.

Soon, children got to stand outside their houses and cheer as the road roller levelled the first layer of asphalt in front of their houses. The Cauvery began to flow through the brass taps soon and the boulevard and vacant sites served as their play grounds. While the Madhavan Park ground and the pool next to it groomed budding sportspersons and swimmers, the new City Central Library introduced them to the literary world.

The Mini Market on vacant shop sites in IV Block was Jayanagar’s source for veggies till the big shopping complex came up in the late 70s on the land originally meant for the general hospital.

A couple of banks and schools which nurtured some of Bangalore’s well known citizens, made life livable and a hall called Shankar Krupa was the venue for the residents’ cultural pursuits.

Today, the metro may promise the residents quick access to the city centre but has taken its toll on Jayanagar’s famous landmark, the Lakshman Rau Boulevard. Its other celebrated landmark, the imposing shopping complex is abuzz with activity, but seems to have robbed its surroundings of the quietude that it once enjoyed. The pioneers, who once wondered whether life would ever be livable in Jayanagar, are probably asking the question again of their favourite locality.

vijaysimha@newindianexpress.com