A tale of two cities

Most cities have different faces, the old and the new, the walled and the colonial quarters or the historical and the cantonment areas. Each area has been able to retain its distinct identity.Bangalore is no different and used to be made up of the old City area, also called the Pete, and the Cantonment. There’s no debating which the real Bangalore is, for both are an integral part of the city’s history and heritage and stand for its identity.While the Pete is characterised by narrow, interesting alleys with the old fort area, temples, mosques and churches, the cantonment area is a quarter that is a reminder of the city’s colonial legacy with wide roads and British-era buildings.Of course, over the years, both the Pete and the cantonment have either lost many of their historical structures or have seen them dwarfed by new high-rises.While the Pete area was inhabited by various communities and people engaged in specific trades, the cantonment area used to be the home mainly for the city’s Anglo-Indian community and servicemen, given the presence of defence establishments and military quarters.Soon, new extension areas sprung up adjoining the Pete and cantonment areas and they formed a different aspect of the city.For many years, residents of the respective areas seldom left their neighbourhoods to venture into the other “city”. They had little reason too. Each area had its own educational institutions and work places.The two areas also had their share of cinemas with those in the Pete screening Kannada and other Indian language movies, and the ones in cantonment known for Hollywood releases. It was mainly these English movies that brought the Pete and extension area residents to cantonment.Some young women also found it fashionable to shop at “Cantt” as it was popularly called.“Cantt” used to be general term used to refer to the area around M G Road and beyond. Today, you won’t hear those heading towards old South Parade saying: “I need to go to cantonment”. He’d just say: I’m off to M G Road”.Anyone enquiring if a bus was going to M G Road, used to ask the conductor: “Does this bus go to cantonment?” Ask a conductor the same question today and he will wonder if you are referring to the Cantonment railway station.Today, the names of the malls and streets like M G Road, Brigade Road and Commercial Street are used more often than the term “cantonment”. And residents of cantonment go to colleges and work places in the extensions and outskirts and vice versa.Though there is a marked difference in the life in cantonment, Pete and extension areas, the distinction seems to getting a little hazy.vijaysimha@newindian express.com