Bangalore – A tale of two cities

I’ve always noticed this major culture difference betweeen North and South Bangalore (by South Bangalore, I include all areas that come under South Bangalore Lok Sabha Constituency, and the uttarhalli assembly constituency).

Felt this for the first time when I moved to a school in Indiranagar in 1998, moving from one in Banashankari. Tough to explain it in words, but that part of town seemed like a totally different city, and it still does. It doesn’t seem half as friendly as Jayanagar or Rajajinagar. Wonder why. Could it be because of the language funda?

Anyways, on yesterday’s walk, I learnt that this has always been the case. That till independence, Bangalore had been two cities – the South was the walled Fort area, predominantly Hindu and Kannada speaking. And were supposed to be followers of Tipu Sultan, and thus anti-British.

The north had the Brits, and a large senthil populace, who used to do the odd-jobs for the brits. There were also some Muslims, and some Gults and Mallus. And the guide told us that the two cities never interacted with each other, and that people from one half never ventured into the other one, and that there was even a toll gate between the two cities!

Guess today’s situation is just a hangover of the tale of two cities.

And I love my South Bangalore.

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