Every area in Bengaluru has two faces. Koramangala is known to be a posh locality. But turn into a side road off 80 feet road and you will hit Koramangala village, or what’s left of it. Small plots built to the brim, assorted coloured blocks upon blocks. A rare old single storied house every once in a while.
Christina Daniels, a communications professional and our movie reviewer, talks about a part of Kammanahalli she hadn’t seen in a while.
Yes, there was the Kammanhalli of bright shining lights, beautiful houses and nice things in abundance. But on the edge of this nouveau rich respectability, the old halli (village) still lived on. Only it was older and poorer.
My autorickshaw’s choice of path now took me to that Kammanhalli. Most of the single houses on its narrow lanes had been converted into three-storey structures that housed at least six families. Garbage was everywhere. Someone had shown the foresight to plant trees here, but even they were covered in grime. The halli that once happily overflowed into an open railway track was now hemmed in by a bridge. It was the bridge that both cut it off and hid its poverty from the rest of the world.
The city had grown rich, but it was a stingy millionaire. The halli had not shared in its new found prosperity.
What’s your neighbourhood’s alter ego?
More here in her blog.
⊕