Where Have You Gone Bangalore

Where have you gone Bangalore

Oh where have you gone

My old Bangalore ?

The old charming Bungalow

With red bougainvillea

Framed by trees

With yellow forsythia

The city of lakes

With an abundance of shade

And tree-fringed boulevards

Like South Parade.

The cheerful smile

Of the Convent nuns

Would light up your day

Like a thousand suns

The blushing purple

Of Jacaranda

Did greet the eye from

Every verandah

Oh! where have you gone

My old Bangalore ?

Breakfast at Koshy’s after

Sunday morning Mass

And off to the jam-session

To woo the lass

Blazered school boys on

Their weekly walks

And giggling school girls in

Their frilly frocks

Oh! where have you gone

My old Bangalore?

Gone are the days of

Languorous denizens

Replaced by hordes of

Nerdy netizens

Gorgeous gardens with the greenest of grass

Buildings ravaged by time and fate

Now built-up facades of steel and glass

Of the MNC’s and the Conglomerate

Oh! where have you gone my old Bangalore ?

Thronging crowds at monstrous malls

Clogged gutters and traffic that crawls

Undisciplined vehicles driven pell-mell

Transforming the city into a living hell

Chaos of the Metro and Mono Rails

Chopped up trees and current that fails

Flooded streets and fallen poles

Encroached pavements and huge pot-holes

Racuous music from blaring mics

The cacophony of drag-racing bikes

Packs of stray dogs barking in the night

Foraging in the garbage of urban blight

Cement ghettos of high-rise apartments

Rampant corruption in Government departments

Scurrying neighbours, uncourteous and faceless

A monument to man’s thisworldlyness

Oh! where have you gone my old Bangalore ?

Frazer Town is now Pulikeshnagar

And Palace Orchards is Sadashivnagar

Ulsoor Lake is now called Hallasuru

And even Bangalore is now Bengaluru.

Art By - Seema Misra