Bangalore Walla: Celebrating the 7th Anniversary
Wishing You All A Blessed Christmas 2003 and Joyful New Year 2004


"Dedicating this page to God for His Blessings, and my Wife Maisy for her support".
When I first opened the site "India Hello, Bangalore Walla, Namaskara!" on 23rd October, 1996, I did not expect it to be so large, and last so long. As time passed, and with the encouragement of visitors to the Site, leaving their comments, sending me mails, I was forced to look for a longer plan. Material was not a problem, it was always around, one had to go a little out of the way in the obtaining and editing the same. The hardest part of the site was the taking of photographs to record the ever fading Bangalore. This part had absolutely no encouragement from those destroying the skyline of the city. Bangalore today is like Manhattan of the US without the 'twins', here it's without the 'bungalows'. There are an ever increasing effort to keep building 'rings' around the city (no, dont get mixed up with Harry Potter!), and over and under bridges have caused enough misery to the Bangalorewalla. A glance at the daily paper, will give you a glimpse of 'peoples views'. Not all the citizens thought that memories should not be recorded, there were some of the senior people who were very supportive in the form of allowing me to photograph their houses and direct me to their friends, but those few are too few. Sad, but there seems to be no 'historical' sense in the administrative sector of Bangalore, referral data-bases are not maintained or available for any of the city researchers. Blue prints of important landmarks are nonexistent, or a guarded secret available to only a select band of people who believe that 'information is power', and who do not share the same. Visiting the State Archives at Vidhana Soudha is like a 'Mission Impossible' project, and those in-charge really do not want the archives to be made available to the 'common' man, and if you do not know Kannada, then you can forget it. If one wanted to find out why roads were named, there is no way to obtain the same. A few libraries have some 'old' material like the 'Mythic Society' (you need to know 'Only Kannada' to get any information from there, the management seems to forget why it started and by who! The books you need to research are in English, so why punish the researchers? Same way with the Government Archives at Vidhana Soudha), and the UTC (this is the only source that can help a researcher without reservations!). Why bore you with this, and I just thank you for the visit and support of telling your friends about the site. I also need to state that I do not get any 'grant' or have received any financial support to run this site, this is probably the one reason that I haven't updated much of the info from 1999.

Looking at Bangalore over these 7 years, there is so much of growth in the environment, Pubs and the IT companies flourish. The pollution and pot-holes have increased with the number of vehicles related to this increase. The 'power' sector has not really kept up with the expansion and forethought of the future, generators are a must in every building and shop. I seriously ask the question to all you environmentalist. There was an article that came in the Deccan Herald that it may soon become necessary to show the 'emission certificate'  when taking petrol or diesel. Who checks the pollution from all the thousands of generators of the city, do they get checked, is there a system that these generators get 'emission certificates' ? It is high time that those pointing fingers remember that there are always 3 fingers pointing back at them when they do so. Crime, has spurted in the one quiet and safe city, a 'Pensioners Paradise', the cause is directed to 'movies, tv, and culture', all regular whipping posts. When we open our doors to the 'rich & famous', we open our windows to the 'parallel society'. We encourage bribery, corruption is a way of life, breaking laws is part and parcel of living. The richer and more influential you are, the more you can get away with. Bangalore, that used to be famous for her 'bungalows', now boast of being competitive to Bombay, Delhi and New York with the 'Towers' sprouting all over, without any plan for parking, water drainage, water supply and above all power supply.! If you have been away from Bangalore for more than 5 years, you are sure to need a re-orientation course to go from place to place. First your part of the town may have a change of name, roads renaming is an art left to the politicians, and instead of naming new localities with new names, old historical names are being systematically obliterated, sometimes on purpose. It is really strange how 'Brigade Road' and 'Commercial Street' still maintains the name, perhaps because they do not have a 'persons' name!

Ok, sorry let's stop all this wining, and face the facts that the next generation does not care what Bangalore was in the past. Where the water tanks were, what the roads were named. What the houses looked like. Many a time I have been asked about the 'old house' where I stay, (mind you it was built in 1965-66!!), I guess they hardly see houses that were built beyond that anymore around, so I'm not surprised, so much so that the house appeared on 'Star News'!!! . I have basically kept the same format that I sarted with 7 years ago, and it seems that this format has been easily viewed by over 3,00,000 visitors, and I have just lost count and removed the counter. You may always presume that you are the first one to visit the page, and that is what gives me the greatest pleasure, giving someone joy, even for a moment, a recalled thought, a memory, a smirking smile when viewing places that may have been important in your past. This is the fist real update since 1999, and I have lost count on the number of pictures and pages that I have linked. Most of the photographs are mine except where mentioned, and permission has been given to use the same by their owners. Some of the really good collections of old photographs can be found on a collection page at Photos Of India , which is part of my pages on Bangalore..
Some of the relations and friends that supported and encouraged me in this effort to maintain the site for 7 years are my brother David, and my sisters Cynthia and Florence. My friends are mostly musicians like Gussy Rikh, Santosh Mani, Peter Issac, Tommy Chandy, Kittu Ratnam, Ruth Croft, Sydney Mendens, Cary Thomas, the Old Boys of St. Joseph's B.H. School, the India-List, Admiral O.S. Dawson, Members of Family Researchers, Mother Teresa's visitors, Fr. Ronnie Prabhu sj, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Convent, Sophia School, the Bread of Life members, and many more ... there are infact too many to put down, and after having more than 2,00,000 visitors, one can hardly keep count of the numerous mails that I have received of encouragement, inputs, corrections, and questions too!
Have a great time, Love and God Bless, Ronnie

Visit the 7th Anniversary Collection of the Bangalorewalla!!!

Ron's Interview : Times Of India, Bangalore Times, 6th March 2004
As and when I collect photos of Bangalore, I shall keep adding to this 7th Anniversary collection, right through the year, so please keep checking whats new. I need to thank you visitors for making this happen during the last 7 years. I never would have continued except for your encouragement and love, and above all by the Grace of Jesus.
Thank you again and again for your visits and support. I shall try to do what I can within the limits of my humble site.
The Bangalorewalla, Ronnie Johnson
You may email me at ronniejohnson@hotmail.com or ronniejohnson@vsnl.net if you have anything on Bangalore that you would like to share.

Return to Bangalorewallas' Homepage
2nd Anniversary
An Urgent Bangalorewalla Request
My Collection of Christian Books that Influenced Me
My Collection of Christian Music that Influenced Me
Celebrate Bangalore - Bangalore Habba December 7th  to December 14, 2003.
Bangalorewalla's "Tips to the Traveller" to Bangalore









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Thought for the Day: " Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, Fon in the manner their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did they fathers to the false prophets." Holy Bible: Luke 6:20-26