Mallika

'Home is where the heart is'. I had heard this cliché so many times that I always thought it was overused. As I stepped out of the airport, a big wave of nostalgia took over. I don’t remember how long I was in a trance and how I reached the arrival zone before my mother’s excited voice made me realize I was finally here. There is something about airports. I think the cosmic energy tries very hard to delicately balance the joy of meeting a loved one and tearful goodbyes. Even then it sometimes fails when people like me cannot control their emotions and it becomes a very complicated, vigorous emotion of joy and separation all at the same time.
Driving home with my Father behind the wheels and mother still fussing over me, I couldn’t help but notice how much Bangalore had changed. I closely follow how the government is trying to attract the foreign investors to bring in more business that will help the city grow. It was a surprise that we were driving on a well-lit highway with no potholes. As we entered the city I could see new flyovers which ran very long, maybe 50 miles long. The restaurants with flashy billboards stood on either side draped with lights as if it was Christmas. Maybe I had been out for a very long time.
The earliest that I can recollect of my visits to ‘The Green city’ was, it was my Grandparents’ home; the place where I was born, where I spoke my first words and took my first steps. I think I learnt the art of story-telling from my Grandfather. He had a knack of keeping us cousins extremely busy with his stories. Today, my mother fondly recollects that it helped her and the other women in the house prepare meals for an army of hungry goons in our house. When I listened to those stories I felt like I had stepped...

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... we got closer to my destination, I knew this conversation would end but it would open up a string of other doubts in my mind. I strongly believe it isn't too late. Like many great cities which had seen their days of glory, risen to great heights, crumbled and were rebuilt, it is never too late to arrest the decline of the city. With vision, good planning, integrity, an able administration, mopping up of revenue, use of technology and innovation, Bangalore can once again become a lovely city to live in and work. Not just for the retired bureaucrat or new rich of society or booming middle class, but the teeming millions at the lower end of the economic spectrum, who are also the mainstays of the city. I hope my to see my dream of Bangalore being restored to its glorious days of bonhomie and unity become a reality. And I walk back learning a little more about my home.