Bangalore Walla: Celebrating
the 7th Anniversary
Wishing You All A Blessed Christmas 2003 and Joyful New Year 2004
"Dedicating this page to God for His Blessings, and my Wife Maisy for her
support".
When I first opened the site "India Hello, Bangalore Walla, Namaskara!" on
23rd October, 1996, I did not expect it to be so large, and last so
long. As time passed, and with the encouragement of visitors to the Site,
leaving their comments, sending me mails, I was forced to look for a longer
plan. Material was not a problem, it was always around, one had to go a little
out of the way in the obtaining and editing the same. The hardest part of
the site was the taking of photographs to record the ever fading Bangalore.
This part had absolutely no encouragement from those destroying the skyline
of the city. Bangalore today is like Manhattan of the US without the 'twins',
here it's without the 'bungalows'. There are an ever increasing effort to
keep building 'rings' around the city (no, dont get mixed up with Harry Potter!),
and over and under bridges have caused enough misery to the Bangalorewalla.
A glance at the daily paper, will give you a glimpse of 'peoples views'.
Not all the citizens thought that memories should not be recorded, there
were some of the senior people who were very supportive in the form of allowing
me to photograph their houses and direct me to their friends, but those few
are too few. Sad, but there seems to be no 'historical' sense in the administrative
sector of Bangalore, referral data-bases are not maintained or available
for any of the city researchers. Blue prints of important landmarks are nonexistent,
or a guarded secret available to only a select band of people who believe
that 'information is power', and who do not share the same. Visiting the State
Archives at Vidhana Soudha is like a 'Mission Impossible' project, and those
in-charge really do not want the archives to be made available to the 'common'
man, and if you do not know Kannada, then you can forget it. If one wanted
to find out why roads were named, there is no way to obtain the same. A few
libraries have some 'old' material like the 'Mythic Society' (you need to
know 'Only Kannada' to get any information from there, the management seems
to forget why it started and by who! The books you need to research are in
English, so why punish the researchers? Same way with the Government Archives
at Vidhana Soudha), and the UTC (this is the only source that can help a
researcher without reservations!). Why bore you with this, and I just thank
you for the visit and support of telling your friends about the site. I also
need to state that I do not get any 'grant' or have received any financial
support to run this site, this is probably the one reason that I haven't updated
much of the info from 1999.
Looking at Bangalore over these 7 years, there is so much of growth in
the environment, Pubs and the IT companies flourish. The pollution and pot-holes
have increased with the number of vehicles related to this increase. The
'power' sector has not really kept up with the expansion and forethought
of the future, generators are a must in every building and shop. I seriously
ask the question to all you environmentalist. There was an article that came
in the Deccan Herald that it may soon become necessary to show the 'emission
certificate' when taking petrol or diesel. Who checks the pollution
from all the thousands of generators of the city, do they get checked, is
there a system that these generators get 'emission certificates' ? It is
high time that those pointing fingers remember that there are always 3 fingers
pointing back at them when they do so. Crime, has spurted in the one quiet
and safe city, a 'Pensioners Paradise', the cause is directed to 'movies,
tv, and culture', all regular whipping posts. When we open our doors to the
'rich & famous', we open our windows to the 'parallel society'. We encourage
bribery, corruption is a way of life, breaking laws is part and parcel of
living. The richer and more influential you are, the more you can get away
with. Bangalore, that used to be famous for her 'bungalows', now boast of
being competitive to Bombay, Delhi and New York with the 'Towers' sprouting
all over, without any plan for parking, water drainage, water supply and
above all power supply.! If you have been away from Bangalore for more than
5 years, you are sure to need a re-orientation course to go from place to
place. First your part of the town may have a change of name, roads renaming
is an art left to the politicians, and instead of naming new localities with
new names, old historical names are being systematically obliterated, sometimes
on purpose. It is really strange how 'Brigade Road' and 'Commercial Street'
still maintains the name, perhaps because they do not have a 'persons' name!
Ok, sorry let's stop all this wining, and face the facts that the next
generation does not care what Bangalore was in the past. Where the water tanks
were, what the roads were named. What the houses looked like. Many a time
I have been asked about the 'old house' where I stay, (mind you it was built
in 1965-66!!), I guess they hardly see houses that were built beyond that
anymore around, so I'm not surprised, so much so that the house appeared
on 'Star News'!!! . I have basically kept the same format that I sarted
with 7 years ago, and it seems that this format has been easily viewed by
over 3,00,000 visitors, and I have just lost count and removed the counter.
You may always presume that you are the first one to visit the page, and
that is what gives me the greatest pleasure, giving someone joy, even for
a moment, a recalled thought, a memory, a smirking smile when viewing places
that may have been important in your past. This is the fist real update since
1999, and I have lost count on the number of pictures and pages that I have
linked. Most of the photographs are mine except where mentioned, and permission
has been given to use the same by their owners. Some of the really good collections
of old photographs can be found on a collection page at
Photos Of India
, which is part of my pages on Bangalore..
Some of the relations and friends that supported and encouraged me in this
effort to maintain the site for 7 years are my brother David, and my sisters
Cynthia and Florence. My friends are mostly musicians like Gussy Rikh, Santosh
Mani, Peter Issac, Tommy Chandy, Kittu Ratnam, Ruth Croft, Sydney Mendens,
Cary Thomas, the Old Boys of St. Joseph's B.H. School, the India-List, Admiral
O.S. Dawson, Members of Family Researchers, Mother Teresa's visitors, Fr.
Ronnie Prabhu sj, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Convent, Sophia School,
the Bread of Life members, and many more ... there are infact too many to
put down, and after having more than 2,00,000 visitors, one can hardly keep
count of the numerous mails that I have received of encouragement, inputs,
corrections, and questions too!
Have a great time, Love and God Bless,
Ronnie
Ron's Interview : Times Of India, Bangalore Times, 6th March 2004
As and when I collect photos of Bangalore, I shall keep adding to this 7th
Anniversary collection, right through the year, so please keep checking
whats new. I need to thank you visitors for making this happen during the
last 7 years. I never would have continued except for your encouragement
and love, and above all by the Grace of Jesus.
Thank you again and again for your visits and support. I shall try to do
what I can within the limits of my humble site.
The Bangalorewalla, Ronnie Johnson
You may email me at ronniejohnson@hotmail.com
or ronniejohnson@vsnl.net
if you have anything on Bangalore that you would like to share.
Return to Bangalorewallas' Homepage
2nd Anniversary
An Urgent Bangalorewalla Request
My Collection of Christian Books that Influenced Me
My Collection of Christian Music that Influenced Me
Celebrate
Bangalore - Bangalore Habba December 7th to December 14, 2003.
Bangalorewalla's "Tips to the Traveller" to Bangalore
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Thought for the Day:
" Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you
who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For
you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude
you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's
sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great
in heaven, Fon in the manner their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to
you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who
are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn
and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did they fathers
to the false prophets." Holy Bible: Luke
6:20-26
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