THE KEY ROADS OF BANGALORE

Any city for that matter consists of some key roads and locations. Many of these roads start as small approach streets and with time growing in importance with commercial establishments finding their place. I mentioned somewhere before British occupation Bangalore must have been some kind of a village with many lakes small and big abound and with hutments and note that there was large thick vegetation making the weather of the place much much colder than present even touching 2 degree Celsius in the winter..with the disappearance of vegetation the city becomes warmer by the decade.The British cantonment is the birth-place of modern Bangalore and before this event the city was probably full of temples both big and small the remnants of which is strewn all over the city..there is no road in the city which does not have temple like structures at least they exist at the middle of M G Road and at the commencing point of    Kempe Gowda road..possibly many have disappeared for want of maintenance.

MG Road in the early 1900's

Plaza theater on MG Road presently razed

Kempe Gowda Bus terminus

State Bank of Mysore building on Kempe Gowda Road

War Memorial on Residency Road

The Kalasipalyam Bus Stand in the early 1900's

The Residency the present Raj Bhavan

I have posted some old photographs of Bangalore and some of them might be recent and in these photos is hidden the chronology of how a sleepy hamlet suddenly and gradually but surely progressed into the metropolis of the future it is going to be. See the mix of the Victorian and modern era trapped in these photographs.

The roads that were prominent before Independence and the one's that became prominent after independence are distinctly different. Residency road , M G Road, Palace Road and few adjoining roads were prominent during the British era but with the loosening of the city from European hands the significance of these roads began to be redefined.

If one were to somewhere ask me which of the roads in Bangalore would be prominent today it would be difficult to answer as the Ring roads define the city today as against the earlier benchmarks.

This is the most significant metamorphosis of the city of today and various concentric circles of such ring roads will take shape with time.

But I would still try to name the following roads as prominent roads;

M G Road

Residency Road

Chinmaya Mission road

Kempe Gowda Road

Bannerghatta Road

The M G Road or the Mahatma Gandhi Road continues to be a prestigious road of the city but may be loosing perceptive importance and was called South Parade in the past. A metro line runs on the road now. This was a stretch of road possibly used to parade troops once upon a time and this road technically starts from Trinity Circle and ends at the Queens park and must be some three kilometers in all. M G Road of today has many business offices today built on demolished Victorian style houses. On either sides of this road were Victorian style houses and some of them continue to this day. The Mittal Tower is a prominent business Centre here.

The Residency Road shoots diagonally off the M G Road and leads to the Residence of the Resident who had the role of controlling the overall affairs of the Mysore Kingdom and a prestigious post by English standards.It is the Raj Bhavan today. There were many theaters on this road like Galaxy once upon a time but demolished now..technically the Ricmond crcle comes at the end of this road. Richmond Circle was a big circle once upon a time and the circle dismantled in the late 1970's. What is this road known for - maybe-shopping centers and restaurants.

The Chinmaya Mission road is a modern road of Bangalore and could be called as some kind of extension of the M G Road and jets into Indira Nagar. I somewhere believe this road would gradually replace the M G Road for what it was known for. This road is much abound with young people at the various eat-outs in the evenings and the key aspect of this road is that it crisscrosses the residential area of Indira Nagar.

Any one from major part s of the city maybe barring Malleswaram area and Mysore road area must use the Kempe Gowda road to reach the  Central Railway Station. This road has been made one way now and is a key road of the Majestic or Subash nagar area of the city. Once upon a time this road was known for being in the Guinness book of world records for having the highest number of cinema halls. This place is ideal for shopping in my view point as against many other roads of the town and is a one stop store for entertainment and is easily accessible from the Kempe Gowda bus terminus.


One of the key features of the present day Bangalore is the emergence of Bannerghatta road as one key area that houses various business offices to the exclusion of various other locations and this road intersects the Nice Road which is a toll road of International standards and this belt would resurge as a corporate hub of the city and is a long stretch of road running some twenty kilometers and is a business zone for professional people and employees.

Thus about the various roads f the city and I have missed many and a novice to the city of Bangalore would find reading this an intitial orientation to the aspects of this city and a etail understanding of sorts obtained from various other sources both text and graphical.