A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME MACHINE
If
you are a Bangalorean or if you love Bangalore and want to know about your
Bangalore from Nineteen thirties onwards, close your eyes, imagine sitting in
the Time Machine of Dr. H.G. Wells-and-Io! - You have started your journey!
Whatever
may be the reasons for your visit to Bangalore, it will not be complete without
visiting the Majestic area. As you get down from the City Railway Station, (not
the present building with parking lots and all, the old railway station started
right from platform number 'one') you come across a big tank (lake) of about
forty acres full of water (starting from the end of the present Bus Station at
the south till almost the road leading towards Anand Rao Circle towards north
and up to Sangam theatre area towards the east) which was called as
'Dharmambhudi kere.' You have to tread by walk only on the tank bund to reach
Majestic area.
The winter months started almost at the end of
October and lasted till middle of February. In the short summer of virtually
two months, the mercury hovered around early thirties. The pre-monsoon showers
in May resulted in the temperature going down to below twenty-five degrees. It
rained on odd days even during March and April. It was more or less continuous
rains from the middle of May till October. Again it rained on Odd days during
November and December. There used to be misty mornings throughout November,
December and part of January too. These were mainly attributed to Bangalore
being situated at over 2800 feet above Sea level.
If
it was a cyclone in Madras, the Bangalorean caught cold. If it rained in
Mangalore or Goa, the people here felt the chill. If it rained in Kerala, the
city would have drizzles. If it is a cyclone in Andhra, the Bangalorean would
sneeze. There was no other city in India than Bangalore for the best and
balanced weather conditions. It is one of the main reasons for people from
other States to migrate to this great city. Unlike other cities, here it was a
case of roads amidst greenery and gardens, than gardens amidst the roads.
In
the nineteen thirties, the population of Bangalore was just around 1,50,000.
The city virtually ended at Malleswaram in the north, little beyond city railway station at the west, Basavanagudi in the south and Shivajinagar area
and Mayo hall towards the east. There was no Rajajinagar area let alone
Vijayanagar. There was no Rajmahal, or Sadashivanagar nor Hebbal or R.T.Nagar.
For that matter Jayanagar was born only in the fifties. Hebbal was a village
called Gangenahalli.
Yeshwanthapur
was a separate hamlet. Hanumanthanagar was called Sunkenahalli. Ulsoor too was
a separate hamlet. Most of the cantonment area belonged to the Defence
Establishments. All the hundred odd surrounding villages became part of the
city over a period and were christened Royal with new names.
Fortransportation and conveyance, there were hardly half a dozen private buses
plying inside the city. Thee were Jutkhas (horse drawn carriages) mostly in the
city area. At the cantonment area, human drawn carts and cycle rickshaws were popular. The autos made their appearance only in the late forties. Again there were
a dozen taxis in the entire city confined to the city and cantonment railway
stations. Most of the Bangaloreans preferred to walk it was not strenuous due
to the fine weather conditions. There were hardly about two thousand cars in
the entire city and most of them belonged to the British and the Anglo-Indians
apart from few locals. Almost all the cars were of foreign make. Later, Fiat,
Standard and Ambassador cars of Indian make made their entry. Scooters too were
not invented by then. There were a few hundred motorcycles of foreign make like
BSA, Red Indian and a few others. Enfield and Java made their annas only!
petrol was below fifty paisa and crossed sixty paisa marks only during late
Fifties. There were very few petrol bunks of Burma Shell and Caltex, which were
foreign compames.
There
were no big hotels or restaurants during that period except a few small ones in
each area. The cost of a cup of coffee or tea was six paisa only! Not the
present six paisa but the old six paisa, which is equal to the present three
paisa. At that time, a rupee constituted sixteen annas. Each anna was equal to
twelve paisa, which worked out to one hundred ninety two paisa for a rupee! And
for that 192 paisa, you could get 192 masal vadas with chutney! The cost of an
idli or uddin vada was only three paisa, which is equal to the present one and
a half paisa, so was the cost of the normal big sized sada dosa with chutney.
For masala dosa lovers, you could have a big sized masala dosa made from pure
ghee for just one anna only! Which is equal to the present six paisa. (~ have
said 'pure ghee' since the people were not aware of adulteration tactics at
that time.) Three pooris with saagu too cost the same price. How great it would
have been if it was the present salaries and the past prices?
Now
that your stomach is full; how about some entertainment? You could watch a
movie in any of the theatres from one ann a onwards and you will be the King of
the balcony just for six annas only! (Which was equal to the present thirty-six
paisa). After watching the movie, if you want to have dinner, you would get a
good full meal for just three For people who decided to settle down in
Bangalore, the rent of a house suitable for middle class, ranged from five
rupees to ten rupees only! Depending upon the size and area. You could get
twelve serus of rice or twenty serus of ragi for one rupee only! (A seru was
little more than a KG in quantity. Eight chatakus cons~ituted a seru, two
chatakus, a paavu, and four chatakus a padi, which was half a seru.) Again, a
rupee could procure eight to ten serus of milk and one seru of pure ghee! You
could buy a yard of cloth for pant or coat just for eight annas, which is equal
to the present fifty paisa only! (A yard is slightly less than a meter, - three
feet is equal to a yard). A good cotton saree of eighteen-yard length cost just
three rupees and silk saree of same size was available for twenty rupees! A
silk saree with big jhari border cost twenty-five rupees only! A pair of dhoti
cost just a rupee only! Gold, Silver and Copper were very cheap. The cost of
one sovereign of gold was thirteen rupees only! And one tola (ten grams) of
silver cost only ten annas, which is the present sixty paisa! At that time one
rupee coins were made of silver, which weighed one tola. Nickel was used for
making eight anna, two anna and one anna coins. One paisa coin was made of
copper.
Perhaps
you have started to wonder as to what would have been the emoluments during
those days if things were that cheap. The highest paid person was the Viceroy
of India whose monthly salary were thirty thousand rupees. The Deewans in the
States were paid five thousand rupees a month. Government employees earned a
monthly income ranging from ten rupees to twelve rupees. A constable of police
was paid just two rupees per month as salary. (Nowadays, do you think a corrupt
cop would accept anything less than twenty rupees at a time?) A primary school
teacher was paid ten rupees a month and a peon earned five rupees a month.
During those days, a man who had assets to the extent of ten thousand rupees in
rural areas was considered as a rich man and in towns and cities, a man with
assets of over one lakh rupees was considered as a very rich man!
So,
now you can make out that the income and expenditure accounts never tallied
even during those days. The history of deficit budget was prevalent for
individuals as well as for the State even then. No wonder; there was hardly
anything to save in those days too, - of course! - For an honest man.
Bangalore attracted business people, mostly outsiders, as most of the locals lacked
vision. The local people except a few did not anticipate the potential for the
growth of the city. Mostly Gujarathi, Marwaris, Jains, and Sindhis from
Gujarath, Rajasthan, Delhi and Bombay entered the scene. Do you believe that
the stretch of an acre of land where the Alankar market complex is situated at
the K G Road at present was purchased by a lucky man for just one hundred fifty
rupees in the nineteen thirties? The land of another acre where the Gupta
market is situated at present was bought for just two hundred rupees during the
same period! Our friends in the Real Estate business now, will definitely wish
they had started doing their business right from those days. Step by step the
development took place and building activities increased after our country
gained Independence. Many banks, theatres and other business establishments started appearing one after another. The all round growth was rather fast in
the fifties.
The
population figure crossed ten lakhs by the early fifties. The number of auto
rickshaws, taxis and BTC buses (there were no BTS buses at that time)
increased. The factory buses of HAL, BEL, ITI and HMT, added to the traffic.
The car population too increased. For the first time we could see more of the
three Indian cars on the roads and even then the vehicle population was hardly
around 15,000 only. Tourist buses and Contract carriages made their entry for
people who wanted to visit other tourist spots from the city. During those
days, the auto fare from Majestic to Brigade road cost just sixty paisa and
thus the autos for Bangalore became a necessary nuisance.
During
the late forties and early fifties, theatres like Prabhath, States, Jai Hind,
Sagar, Geetha, Kempegowda and Himalaya came up in the Majestic area. (Other
theatres came up later) Apart from this, there were a few like Paramount near
Kalasipalyam, Naaz and New City at N R Road, Liberty, Plaza and New Empire at
the MG Road and New Opera and Imperial at Residency Road appeared. While a few
others like Swastik, Central, Bharath, Shivaji, Minerva Super and Jayashree
came up in the city area; Elgin, Everest and Shree came up in the cantonment area. All other theatres came up later.
Not
to be left behind in the race, the hotel people too became active. Some of the
oldest and popular hotels and restaurants were Anvari and Greenway, (two
non-vegetarian hotels) which came up next to the Geetha theatre. (Geetha has
been converted into a commercial complex now.) Some good hotels like Neo Mysore
Cafe, opposite States theatre, Vasanth Vihar next to Sagar theatre, Vittal
Vihar near the Law College and Vishnu Bhavan below Kempe gowda theatre catered
to the needs of the growing population. Each one of these hotels had regular
customers due to a distinct taste and quality aintained by them. Even in the
later part of the fifties, a cup of coffee or tea cost just twelve paisa, an
idli or vada cost six paisa and a masala dosa or a plate of poori cost just
twenty- five paisa! A limited meal (which was called 'plate meal ') with two
chapattis or four pooris with a bowl of rice, a cup of curds, sambar, rasam,
papad, pickles and three varieties of sabji cost just thirty-seven paisa! A
full meal of the same contents but with unlimited quantity cost just sixty
paisa! Some of the other popular and old hotels were, the New Krishna Bhavan at
Mill Corner in Malleswaram, Udupi Krishna Bhavan at Balepet, Arya Bhavan at
Chickpet, Bombay Ananda Bhavan at Avenue Road, Prakash Cafe at Chamarajpet,
Vidyarthi Bhavan at Gandhi Bazaar, Kalyan Cafe near Swastik theatre and the
famous Gundappa hotel near Dharmaraja temple at Nagarthpet. Mavalli Tiffin
Rooms (MTR) near Lalbagh was the best and the most popular of all the hotels.
The biggest government office was the 'Attara Kacheri', which is the present
High Court building. There was not even a single multi storeyed building. There
were very few places to visit, such as Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Museum and
Bangalore Palace. Kempegowda towers on the four corners of the city served as
picnic spots. People visited these places during weekends.
Government
Arts and Science College, Central College for science, St., Josephs College,
Government Law and Medical Colleges helped citizens in the pursuit of
education. There was one High School called Vani Vilas High School exclusively
for women. Some schools like Fort High School at Chamarajpet. Malleswaram High
School, Seshadripuram High School, and Western Mission were popular. Some great
personalities like Sir. M Visweshwariah who had been awarded the Bharata Ratna,
the Nobel Prize winner Dr. c.v. Raman, writers and poets like MIS. D.Y.
Gundappa, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, T.P. Kailasam, K.Y. Iyer, T.S.
Venkataramaiah, K. Y. Putappa, Navaratna Rama Rao, Y. Seetharamaiah and G P
Rajaratnam were motivating the patriotic spirit amongst the people through their
poems, plays, peeches and writings.
That
was the great Bangalore of thirties forties and fifties. There is no need to
write anything about the present, as you are all well aware of them. We are all
responsible directly or indirectly for the factors contributing to the present
state of affairs and definitely we all have to pay the price for the present
mess the city is in. However, some leaders, executives politicians and the
present Government headed by Shri. S M Krishna has made a great beginning to improve
Bangalore and there is no reason not to expect better days at least in a decade
or so. Finally, it is indeed great to note the interest evinced by the
judiciary in the aspect of the citizen's welfare. Of late, some citizens too
have shown interest in the improvement of the conditions of the city and the
formation of area wise citizen's welfare associations is indeed a very good
sign for the future of our great city.
