A new comer to Bangalore landing at the railway station hails an autorickshaw and says, “Banashankari”. The autorickshaw driver licks his lips and takes him straight to the Banashankari of his (auto driver) choice. The newcomer, on seeing that this Banashankari does not fit the description his Bangalore relatives gave him, takes the auto driver to task. “You said Banashankari and I’ve brought you to Banashankari,” retorts the auto driver nonchalantly. After much arguing, it transpires that the newcomer did not mention “I Stage”, assuming that it is just a block in Banashankari. As the autorickshaw driver reorients his three-wheeler to the revised destination, the newcomer realises to his horror that I stage is not a stone’s throw away from Banashankari but is five km adrift to its north, closer to Hanumanthnagar.Few people know that there is no locality in Bangalore going by the name “Banashankari”. It’s just a temple with a few localities around and a few further away named after it. Few would imagine that Banashankari II Stage is closer to the Banashankari temple than Banashankari I Stage is. The BDA, which forms new layouts, has taken the exercise more than five km to the south of the temple too, renaming villages near Uttarahalli as Banashankari by just suffixing the “stages” to it.This is nothing new in the city where JP Nagar or BTM Layout can mean a locality near Jayanagar to a village with mud roads and huts near Konankunte or on Bannerghatta Road, with only the “phases” or “stages” to differentiate them. It is not uncommon for techies landing jobs in tech giants in Bangalore to be taken in by real estate agents, who when asked to show a rented accommodation close to the IT corridor in the “posh” JP Nagar or BTM Layout, recommend flats in rural surroundings, over-run by an expanding city.Naming new layouts around villages after existing posh neighbourhoods probably makes residents feel they are living in upscale colonies.With JP Nagar, Banashankari and BTM Layout cutting a wide swath, some of the residents may have taken the “halli” out of their addresses but have had to endure “halli” life with bad roads and dry taps. A few other localities have found other ways to do away with the “hallis” and “palyas” without confusing newcomers. For instance, Shivanahalli in Rajajinagar is now Shivanagar, Gangenahalli is Ganganagar and Anepalya is cleverly called Gajendranagar.Confusing names, it appears is nothing new. The city’s ancestors lived in villages with the same names. So, when one says Kothanur, Avalahalli, Tavarekere or Puttenahalli, one is not sure which village one means. As if that is not enough Bangalore now has two Airport Roads and a ring road that can be anywhere in the north, south, east or west.— [email protected]
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