Chitra Santhe 2010

Like always there was a huge turn out and lakhs of people came to the Annual Chitra Santhe, Including the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Click on the pics to enlarge

My Sister in my mom's stall

There were 1,450 stalls and the entire road was jam packed, I just took snaps of very few paintings as I was very keen on looking at the paintings and not clicking pics. There were some great paintings that was much better than all those famous artists, whose paintings gets sold for millions.

Its great to see people coming with friends and family. I believe that every parent should bring their children here. Many kids were getting themselves a portrait done and some were interested in getting a tattoo done.

Some folk artist. It is a great recognition for such artists. She is still using Coconut shell instead of a palette. She has used bright colours and natural dye.

I met few of my friends after a long time and also got to see different kinds of artistic people and their enthusiasm in the event. One more big reason to love Bangalore. Though it was such a sunny day, the canopy of the trees made it a very cool place. Kumara Krupa road, seemed like a never ending art gallery.

Bangalore: Flower Show 2010

Lalbagh, Bangalore:

This year the Lalbagh's Annual Flower Show is organised very well. There is ample parking space availabe and lot of cops have been dutied there. This is one of the famous events of Bangalore and happens during the 3rd and 4th week of January and it is called the "Republic day flower show"

Like Always the glass house is a spectacle to watch. Above, Varieties of Cockscomb

The Vegetable competition was great, as we get to see different breeds of vegetables and that makes us think "Oh I didn't know that this vegetable came in this colour too, or this size" and "Oh I never thought we could grow all these in pots"

Grapes Grown in pots

Purple, Black, Light green, Dark green, almost white Chillies

Flower Show also was great

One of the columns showing different shades of red, orange, green and yellow.

There were many photographers to capture the marvels of nature. If god made plants and flowers and made them beautiful then man made breeds and made them artistic. This is the one of those humans interventions in nature that I like.

There are so many Stalls installed this time and you will get all kind of seeds, bulbs and samplings. The nursery in lalbagh, which is open throughout the year is also very well maintained and provides a large verity of plants. All at a affordable price. Once you go there and see the available variety of flowering plants, you will get good ideas to decorate your house with plants.

Its a must visit place for all horticulturists, as you get all kinds of garden tools, equipments and plants including grass, Indian crotons, xerophytes (cacti), Bonsais and all kinds of flowering plants.

This time round there were a lot for foreigners, Photography enthusiasts and true Bangaloreans visiting the Flower show.

The best part is: the air is lighter, unpolluted and cool, and we can hear and see a lot of birds. Feels like Bangalore.

Is Banglore still Banglore??

Bangalore was famously known as "The Garden city". The name was given to her because she was filled with greenery. This small city was made up of parks, gardens, and roads sheltered by the tree's canopy. Bangalore being 3000-3100 ft above sea level (much higher than some of the hill stations like Ooty) was a very cool place that was featured with the early morning fog even in the summer. Bangalore was once a sight seeing place and used to delight everyone who visited her. The mist that used to settle down early in the morning, the dew drops on the grass blades, the light air, the fresh cool breeze, the silent surroundings with the sparrows chirping, the clean ponds and lakes, all of these made Bangalore a great place to live. Inviting more population, Bangalore slowly started to develop! Bangalore became the IT hub for the country and was called the "Silicon city of India".

A Barren land next to Koramangala intermediate ring road

13th Nov 2000

Same barren land filled with many MNCs

6th Jan 2008

Every Bangalorean was proud of the city's status as the IT Capital, but less they knew about the hazards of urbanisation. The rapid growth in the number of companies in Bangalore led to what i call the destruction of the city. There were countless call centres, IT companies and many other MNCs that were offering jobs and the demand gave high salaries to the employees and this raised the value of almost all the commodities. Which economists call as the effect of inflation. There was an exponential increase in the number of pick up and drop cabs, which resulted in the exponential increase in the traffic congestion, the existing infrastructure did not cope up with the pace the city was developing. Infrastructure started to improve.......

Indiranagar 100ft road and Air port road intersection (Domlur Flyover)

17th May 2007

The same intersection some time back

13th nov 2000

This, some people call "development", the a true Bangalorean calls it as "destruction of Bangalore's identity". Can u see the number of trees cut down just for this project. Back in the days, there was a variety of bird species and squirrels we could see, now we can hardly see any of these. There we migratory birds that visited Bangalore to nest their fowls, because Bangalore had large fresh water bodies and abundance of trees. Look at how polluted and dirty is the water that is flowing now. This is because this area has lost most of the natural cleaners like the birds.

Hebbal Flyover

13th April 2008

One of the engineering marvels of modern Bangalore. The planning of this multi take-off and landing Flyover is simply superb. It connects the parts of urban Bangalore to the rural ones, it also connects NH4(national highway 4), connects to Bangalore international Airport,Tumkur and Hyderabad. Bangloreans must be proud of this structure, but they should not be proud about the cost. Some might say it costed few hundred crores, I will say it costed a huge farming land. Check out the Hebbal lake, its so dirty and is not maintained at all.

Same place dome time back

13th Nov 2000

The Metro Rail project has brought down thousands of trees, along with many ancient trees those were more than 100 years old. These are just few examples, Bangalore has lost its charm. The climate has become erratic and the place is very polluted, this is not the Bangalore that i grew up in. It may be one of the most advanced cities but does not have the old parks, sparrows, light air, clean and green surroundings, and all the things that once made Bangalore. Now she has become a huge concrete jungle stuffed with population more than she can handle. Now she is filled with inconsiderate people who do not follow simple rules and people who are always busy and not bothered about her. She is also filled with pollution, traffic, crime, corruption, and much more. All of these are the effects of urbanisation.

There is nothing much we can do about it other than just feel bad. the Government needs to wake up and has to redifine the layout of Bangalore. The residential, commercial and industrial areas should be defined properly and should be strict about its implications. These area should be planned well and should be well connected. The only solution to reduce the urbanisation is to bring on secondary cities. The Government should aim on bringing up other cities around Bangalore, rather than just cashing in on the economic growth of the Bangalore.

Pics courtesy: Google Earth