Dollar's Colony

 

SanjayNagar Main Road

 

RMV 2nd Stage and Gandhinagar

 

Surviving post boxes of Bangalore

4th Main, 3rd Block, RMV 2nd Stage Extension

Streetlit Bangalore Series.

Even though these pictures were shot in the evening, it's life here in the mornings that I'm most familar with.

Earlier, I used to run around this park every morning. And mornings here can be full of life. The entertainment comes from observing the whole cross section of society moving at various speeds around the park and the surrounding tree-lined streets, just like traffic on Indian roads. Some move like loaded lorries, others like bullock carts. There are the flashy, adrenaline filled youngsters zipping by, gawkers like me and stray dogs.

Most people exercise in groups. It allows them to gossip and catch-up with all the happenings in the neighbourhood.

The most talked about topic is politics. Real estate comes next. And in this part of Benglur with its population of politicians/land grabbers, you can get juicy gossip about everybody including its most famous part-time resident, the Chief Minister himself.

The older women talk about their daughter-in-laws and the local ghar ghar k kahaniyan. The expats talk about dogs. The Persians don't walk their dogs, they follow their dogs on a scooter or bike. The kids come to play. There are girls and boys who work in garment factories who come to meet their lovers before the early morning shift. There's a juice walla who sells Bitter Gourd juice. There's a Kannada film heroine from the 80s and her gang of friends and there are women who exercise in bhurkas. There is a retired Government Employee who goes around distributing or sticking posters asking people to join his 'Gandhigiri' initiative. There are men who make strange noises when they flap their hands like a crow having a bath. And there are gangs of naughty old men who block the road if they see a car or vehicle speeding down a road before 8am.

These days, the parks are open until 8.30pm to allow people to spend some time exercising and with friends after they come back from work. And they open at 5.30am.

D Rajgopal Road, Sanjaynagar

Local gossip, national news, sunday morning movie on the tiny television, smell of talcum powder, cheap after-shave, and the sound of the scissors snipping away. The lazy Sunday morning at a barber shop.

80ft Road, RMV 2nd Stage

Pigeon hole dwellers. Today, most of us live like Mumbaikars and Tokyo-mon in the Garden City.

2nd Main, Dollar's Colony

Lure of Bangalore Series no 4: Hard-tops march to work on a Sunday morning.
Where from: Bihar

Lure of Bangalore Series: Tamil Labourers, Advertising Professional.

Sanjaynagar Main Road, Geddalahalli

Carnival, Bangalore Style. It is held every year in the Karthik month. There are pockets in the city including Sampangiramanagara, in the heart of the city, where events like these from the agrarian past of Bangalore are still preserved. This picture is from Gedalahalli, in the North Bangalore.

Also from the same road: Roadside Art, Puttur Bone Setters - Nagashettyhalli.

Main Road, Ashwathnagar

80 Ft Road, Ashwathnagar

Rajagopal Road, Ashwathnagar

On Sundays, this spot has a lady selling fresh water fish caught in the irrigation tanks/lakes that surround Bangalore. The art on the wall is the work of her daughter who has nothing much to do as her mother goes about her work.

Rajagopal Road, Nagashettyhalli

Dollar's Colony

Mobility and clickability during my morning run. Clicked using my new mobile phone camera!

1st A Main, RMV 2nd Stage Extension

Lure of Bangalore Series No 1

Smoke stains for the stove used by a family of construction workers. T Tamil labourers who worked here have gone back to Tamil Nadu after the recent threats of violence.

Note: They came back after a month or so.
Lure of Bangalore Series: Advertising Professional, Security Guard.

Main Road, Nagashettyhalli. ನಾಗಶೆಟ್ಟಿಹಳ್ಳಿ