THE GLORIOUS HILLY TERRAINS OF BANGALORE

 The larger city of Bangalore has its own set of hilly terrains which are unique and special, largely settlements of the past which has become modern townships with its own characteristic features. The VRUSHABAVATHY river flows close to these terrains at some places and these terrains feed water into the VRUSHABAVATHY  and other lakes. The very nature of these hills must be a source of large amounts of water.

When we exit the city of Bangalore from the modern day city Market towards Mysore there are mountainous formations on both sides of the road. To the left side was once upon a time a large chain of mountains which culminate at the big hill seen inside Lalbagh. The hill seen within Lalbagh is of solid rock formation and is a source of many streams and lakes. But the chain of hills that run almost parallel to the Mysore road are not hard rock formations but of hard soil making it more useful for human habitation. These hills could be called the LALBAGH HILLS  considering that they originate at LALBAGH. To the right of the modern day Mysore Road when facing towards Mysore are also many hill formations which could be seen as an extension of the MAGADI HILLS.

Along the extension of the LALBAGH hills are various townships of modern day Bangalore -very different from the rest of the city because they owe their origins to hill formations and have large amount of vegetation and age-old trees and flora. The place is salubrious largely because of altitude and water formations and depict a domain where environment and development have gone hand-in-hand.

To my understanding the starting point of this region of Bangalore would be the ASHOKA PILLAR in JAYANAGAR which descends into BASAVANAGUDI and then to BANASHANKARI and then to HANUMANTHNNAGAR  and then into GIRINAGAR also encapsulating a place called AVALAHALLI AND THYAGARAJANAGAR and into HOSAKEREHALLLI adjacent to the VRUSHABAVATHY river  and the hill formation deeply descending into RAJA RAJESHWARI NAGAR  all upto KENGERI covering many Kilometres. No place in Bangalore has such a stretch of Hill formations. In most of these sectors there are no high-rise apartments though they can be seen today at HOSAKEREHALLLI..

Many of  these hills are  getting ravaged towards HOSAKEREHALLI for modern day  life styles but the entire stretch could be called the modern day hilly side of  the city.

CROSS BAR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE

 https://youtu.be/JqkuApbN9Dc

CROSS BAR TELEPHONE EXCHANGES

https://lnkd.in/dqCgbvQJ

MY MIRACULOUS ENTRY INTO REC NIT CALICUT

 

16th of June 1982 was a very happy day for all of us who had studied science stream at Sathya Sai College because most of us had done very well.I got 83 in Chemistry which I think should have been 90 even today in which case I would have got seat to study Electronics at KREC Suratkal but this did not happen. Many of my class mates we were all together; Shailendra Khare, Santosh, Bhaskar, Sanjay Dawar, Ramprasad and few others.

It must have been around 10 AM.For all practical purposes there are no buses during these times from Kadugodi to K R Puram railway station ; so all of us decided to walk to Hope Farm which we did.Waiting for bus at Hope Farm Santosh mildly made a comment at me. Didnt you apply for seat in REC in inter-state quota. I said NO. He told me 18th is the last date to apply to KREC Suratkal for inter-state quota and all you need is to submit a postal order of Rs.15.I did not know where this place Suratkal is and he told me it is in Mangalore and post will only take one day to reach this place. On a BMTC bus from Hope Farm to K R Puram Station I decided to do something about applying to KREC for inter-state quota.

The time must be around 12 noon and I hurried from the Railway Station bus stop towards my house and on the way picked up a cycle for rent and told my mother that I have to apply for inter state quota and I need Rs.15/-..and she readily complied with a rare scent of optimism in her face.

I rode the cycle to the post office writing a covering letter and making the Rs.15/- postal order. The time must have been 2:00PM 16th of June 1982. The mail exits from Dooravaninagar at 2:30pm and it was a close shave.

To Mangalore the mail would reach the day after if there was no postal delay which is 18th June 1982 and the last day to apply for out-station REC seats.If everything goes well the return mail with prospectus and the forms must reach on 20th June 1982.I spent sleep less nights from the 16th to the 20th.On the 20th morning around 10 AM I hired a cycle again and decided to ride towards the post office and as fortune would have it I met the postman infront of the Murugan temple in Vijanapura and asked if there was any mail for me and ...............LO..............    he removed a large parcel and handed it over to me and it was from KREC Suratkal with the application forms.My joy knew no bounds. It was as-if I already  got a seat at REC. Miraculous last moment gamble which paid off. Sometimes optimism pays rich dividends.

The rest is history....with the confluence of other factors I got a seat at REC Calicut .My missing a seat in the first instance at KREC Suratkal had largely been compensated through the inter state quota.

I was destined to meet S V Giri, Srinath Shetty, Jerald Harry Dsouza, Gayathri Bhat and Arvind Poal Masaji  and many others at REC NIT Calicut and live for more than four years in the hills of the Western Ghats where this institute is situated.

D NARENDRA PRINCIPAL 0F SATHYA SAI COLLEGE IN 1980

 

TO THE LEFT IS SHRI NARENDRA AND TO THE RIGHT IS SHRI NANJUNDIAH ANOTHER KEY PERSON DURING THESE TIMES.

Shri. D Narendra  was the Principal of SAYHYA SAI COLLEGE in 1980.I used to enjoy a good relationship with him  and even went to his flat once for some purpose. His son Bharath was also friendly with me.

I remember Shri D Narendra because he was a good teacher of English language. In addition to being Principal he used to teach English both prose and poetry. I used to get good grades in English because of his excellent and experienced teaching.

In retrospect he was a good Principal and went about his chores very well.

DEEPIKA M SUNIL

 

DEEPIKA..THE ELDER DAUGHTER OF MY BROTHER SUNIL

ANANTANARAYANAN MY SENIOR AT SATHYA SAI COLLEGE

Anantanarayanan used to be my senior both at Lowry Memorial High School and at Sathya Sai College in Whitefeild. He joined Sathya Sai College along with Stanley another senior of mine at Lowry School.Sathya Sai College had a penchant for students from Lowry Memorial School  due to similarity in operational culture and had affiliation to the American ethos and way of life.Sathya Sai College at Whitefield had few American professors on its rolls like  Dr. ALLWYN DRUCKER.

Anantha as we used to call him was a moderate success at Lowry Memorial School but was a big success in the Commerce stream which he took up later being a rank holder all-through his five year stint at Sathya Sai College. In the BCom exams of Bangalore University to my memory three students would always figure in the rank list, Anantha Narayanan, Kiran Vaid and Deepak Melwani.

He used to be our inspiration though we studied the science stream. His sister also was a student at Lowry Memorial School.In Lowry Memorial School Anantha had a class mate B R Suresh and another person whose name I dont recollect.B R Suresh I cannot forget because they used to call him B R Dumma because he was a very fat person. AnanthaNarayanan would play table tennis also well.

On being inspired by people like Ananthanarayanan even I got 52 rank at the Pre-University Board in Karnataka state in 1982.I should have got a better rank because I got only 83 in Chemistry which I think even today should have been atleast 90. Had I got 90 I would have got seat at KREC Suratkal in the first list itself which I didnt.