an indifferent history of Bangalore

Girish Karnad sees the beginnings of Bangalore to be in truth from the time of setting up of a British cantonment. He traces its history down to twenty years ago, when he moved into Bangalore from Mumbai, and built an architect-designed home in a residential area. He doesn't say why he moved, but I'd say he moved in because he found Bangalore beautiful two decades back. Then he updates history to the current day, when, having reached a good stage in its plans to parallel Singapore, the City Administration of Bangalore has commenced to compete with Beijing, and in that fantastic effort, it is widening the road before Karnad's house into his garden. Karnad fears his living room might be taken as well.

It is a story with a sad ending, and one can't tell from it if Karnad is wishing these days to go back to Mumbai. To his credit, his travail is in only two lines in the end, and it is not the core of his piece, published in The Daily Beast.