B'lore: Pensioner's paradise to IT hub

Bangalore: It was the original pensioner's paradise, a place of quiet retreat, a sleepy and laid-back city where the only excitement would probably be catching up with friends at the club in the evening over a cuppa.

Bangalore had a strong colonial flavour and those were the good old days when you knew all your neighbours and indeed most of the town as well.

Says Adithya Kote, a resident of Bangalore, "I live in one of the old and charming bungalows of Bangalore but there are very few of them left now. My grandfather bought this bungalow from the original owners just after independence. Those days were very different - quiet. Now Bangalore has become chaotic."

Some remanants of the old Bangalore can still be seen, but with the setting up of numerous IT and BPO companies, the city's look and character has changed.

There are over 2,00,000 software professionals employed in the IT sector with 85,000 people working in the BPO segment.

Bangalore has become the new bean town - a city on the move, glitzy malls, high tech offices and an upwardly mobile techie community.

Says Ronnie Johnson, another old-timer, "If you have the money, you become a target in Bangalore. In my time just five paise in the pocket was sufficient. Nowadays, even Rs 500 is not enough."

Social activist Dona Fernandes says, "The kind of development and growth taking place in the city is completely mindless. Bangalore is bursting to the seams and can't take it anymore. The city has grown in such a way that only a select few will benefit not the vast majority. Polarisation is taking place."

Dona Fernandes is the director of an NGO called Vimochana.

One of the off shoots of this changing cityscape has been an increase in crime.

The brutal rape and murder of BPO employee, Pratibha, in 2005 has shaken the city.

For the first time questions are being raised about how safe Bangalore is. Has the city been able to accept the new age working woman? And is it just the IT and BPO sector that is to blame for this sudden transformation?

From laid-back garden city to fast paced IT capital, Bangalore is constantly on the move and has seen many changes - not all of them good. This is one highway that needs very careful manoeuvring.