" How childhood seems to have changed such a great deal..." - I despised all these oldies who would say that to me when I was a kid. And I always wanted to say "Well, you can go climb your tree, I'd rather just play in the park. You can go play hopscotch in the mud, I'd rather play on the driveway and not get mud in my shoes."
Sure childhood seems to be verrry different today but what amuses me is that the idea of being a "Bangalorean" has become such a misinterpreted, misunderstood thing in recent times.
Years ago, being a Bangalorean was to
- Go to Cubbon Park as a treat for being a good child over the last month. On the way out, if you behaved well on all the rides, you got a cone of ice-cream (vanilla only) as a bonus. Ice cream in cups were for days when parents ran out of patience to sit and wait till you finished the cone.
- Go to Lalbagh for the flower show on Republic Day- after watching the parade on TV of course. For those of us who didn't go to school for flag hoisting, dad bought us a toffee outside Lalbagh.
- Not know where your classmate was from. Everyone at school spoke in English (how Brit is that!). If you didn't know Kannada, your kannadiga friend probably knew your mother tongue and didn't really mind it :)
- Play and study with children from all kinds of families- families of doctors, engineers, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, businessmen, army officials, research scientists.......very rarely IT people.
- Eat Maddur Vada on the way to Mysore compulsorily.
- Either go to Nerd school or any of the other hep schools. Yes- there was only ONE Nerd school- and we took great offense to being called a nerd. We didn't think having a football field in school was cooler than having Math Club in a classroom. (And we were way more intelligent- hah).
- know that people in Karnataka spoke Kannada and not Kannad or Karnatak or whatever else they now say.
-Jayanagar and Basavangudi were the epitome of planned development. KR Puram was outside Bangalore and Whitefield was in the wilderness.
It didn't matter where you came from- you'd become a Bangalorean instantly.
And now...
11 out of 10 people ask me where I am from- I say " I am from Bangalore". Next question "So you are a Kannad?" I don't know what that means so I usually just give an awkward smile and say "I am Tamilian". "O endha Ooru"... What part of "I am from Bangalore" did this person not understand. "My parents grew up in ....." "O ok ok. Ya YOU look like a typical Bangalorean." I don't know what that means either. It's like we all have some feathery hat that they think is exclusively Bangalorean.
A friend in college once said- 'It's very difficult for an outsider to understand what being a Bangalorean is.' With more outsiders taking shelter in our lovely city and 'adding to the traffic and pollution' (you HAVE to say that if you are a Bangalorean- it's the IT that ruined our city :D), Bangalore isn't what it used to be, the average 'Bangalorean' is hard to find and its a pity that it's more important to know Hindi than Kannada (or English) to survive in Bangalore.
Sure childhood seems to be verrry different today but what amuses me is that the idea of being a "Bangalorean" has become such a misinterpreted, misunderstood thing in recent times.
Years ago, being a Bangalorean was to
- Go to Cubbon Park as a treat for being a good child over the last month. On the way out, if you behaved well on all the rides, you got a cone of ice-cream (vanilla only) as a bonus. Ice cream in cups were for days when parents ran out of patience to sit and wait till you finished the cone.
- Go to Lalbagh for the flower show on Republic Day- after watching the parade on TV of course. For those of us who didn't go to school for flag hoisting, dad bought us a toffee outside Lalbagh.
- Not know where your classmate was from. Everyone at school spoke in English (how Brit is that!). If you didn't know Kannada, your kannadiga friend probably knew your mother tongue and didn't really mind it :)
- Play and study with children from all kinds of families- families of doctors, engineers, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, businessmen, army officials, research scientists.......very rarely IT people.
- Eat Maddur Vada on the way to Mysore compulsorily.
- Either go to Nerd school or any of the other hep schools. Yes- there was only ONE Nerd school- and we took great offense to being called a nerd. We didn't think having a football field in school was cooler than having Math Club in a classroom. (And we were way more intelligent- hah).
- know that people in Karnataka spoke Kannada and not Kannad or Karnatak or whatever else they now say.
-Jayanagar and Basavangudi were the epitome of planned development. KR Puram was outside Bangalore and Whitefield was in the wilderness.
It didn't matter where you came from- you'd become a Bangalorean instantly.
And now...
11 out of 10 people ask me where I am from- I say " I am from Bangalore". Next question "So you are a Kannad?" I don't know what that means so I usually just give an awkward smile and say "I am Tamilian". "O endha Ooru"... What part of "I am from Bangalore" did this person not understand. "My parents grew up in ....." "O ok ok. Ya YOU look like a typical Bangalorean." I don't know what that means either. It's like we all have some feathery hat that they think is exclusively Bangalorean.
A friend in college once said- 'It's very difficult for an outsider to understand what being a Bangalorean is.' With more outsiders taking shelter in our lovely city and 'adding to the traffic and pollution' (you HAVE to say that if you are a Bangalorean- it's the IT that ruined our city :D), Bangalore isn't what it used to be, the average 'Bangalorean' is hard to find and its a pity that it's more important to know Hindi than Kannada (or English) to survive in Bangalore.
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