Welcome to the Ghost Town of Bengaluru or Bangalore

2045AD,  Today we take you to a tour of the ghost town or dead town called Bangalore or Bengaluru. You will find here ruins of high rise buildings that once thrived with happy families. And also big tech parks which once hosted the most renowned companies of the world. Also, the dead city has remains of several abandoned but beautiful buildings and historical structures of the past era like the Vidhan Saudha, the Tipu Sultan’s palace , The Bangalore Palace etc. to name a few. So, what was this city like in the past? And how it turned into a dead city? Read on to find out.

The Bangalore of the 1980s

In the 1980s and before, Bangalore was a small and charming town. It had lots of green cover and 100s of lakes and beautiful gardens like the Lal Bagh. Moreover, it had a pleasant climate all through the year. Temperature remained moderate. And whenever mercury sore over the moderate range , rain Gods showered their bless over Bangalore immediately, making the evenings and nights particularly pleasant. The town boasted of some of the most beautiful flowering trees in India. In season, when the flowers bloomed, it was difficult to spot even a leaf on the trees. And even the infrastructure was good. With some of the best educational institutes, medical institutes, well maintained roads, abundance of drinking water and all other basic facilities. With pristine climate, natural beauty and very nice people, Bangalore was like the paradise for those who wanted to retire to a peaceful and calm life amidst nature.

We still remember when we first set foot here. How amazed we were at the beauty of this city. And the high quality infrastructure. Plus the fact that it was so centrally located in South India. On weekends, we could pack our bags and explore so many beaches, hill stations, reserve forests and other beautiful places around Bangalore. It was just perfect!!

The Urbanisation of Bangalore

Soon, investors, realtors and the growing software industry saw the potential of Bangalore. Software boom had started in India. And slowly one after the other, companies started opening their centers in Bangalore. They brought lots of jobs with them, drawing the most talented and educated people from across India to Bangalore. As a result, began rapid urbanization of Bangalore. Every year, more and more people started coming here for jobs, making Bangalore their home. The boundaries of the city started expanding in all directions. The growth was so phenomenal that it happened at a pace far beyond anyone’s expectation. Everyone was happy, everyone was in a state of trance. Bangalore soon was fondly labeled the Silicon Valley of India.

The urbanisation saw rapid growth of high rise buildings, flyovers, restaurants, cafes, commercial establishments, office spaces and other such structures all across Bangalore. Everyone was happy seeing new jobs getting generated and rapid urbanisation happening. It is evident the way we living in eastern Bangalore find it comfortable to make trips to Kolar , Avani and even Chennai via Hospete. And dread to cross the traffic through the city to navigate to Mysore highway when we visit places like Mysore, Coorg, Channapatna Toys or Rangnathittu Bird Sanctuary.

The decline of Bangalore

The blind urbanisation of Bangalore

But no one realized in this rush what damage was being done. The space for the new buildings, the rapid urbanization happened at a cost. The cost being massive cutting of trees to create residential and commercial land. In the greed of making fast money, every individual and every organization refused to look back or consider the irreversible damage being done to the environment. Even lakes were filled up. Some dried off. Ground water level started decreasing fast. The growth also saw complete lack of planning due to which all the basic infrastructure started collapsing. There was no proper management for water recycling, garbage dumping, there was no capacity planning for newly developing areas. Air pollution, water pollution, land pollution all sky rocketed.

Followed by the consequences

But still no one paid attention, we are not sure why. People kept talking. Laws were also formed. Committees were also setup. NGOs and voluntary organisations also worked towards reviving the old balance of the city with nature. But the rate of damage was much higher than the rate of damage control. And by this time, a handful of people were not at all enough to battle against the doom that was cast on the city. Every single individual needed to step forward and do his part – from the daily wage earner to the highest possible authorities. But that didn’t happen.

As a result, slowly, the negative effects started showing up. The first decade of 21st century saw a massive decline in the amount of Rain. Humidity level in some months dropped to almost zero. Air pollution increased to intolerable level. People gradually started suffering from respiratory track diseases that just refused to leave them. Children were born with respiratory and allergic diseases. And many developed asthma at a young age. It took hours to commute to work. And that meant being exposed to the vehicle emissions for longer hours. Even lakes started catching fire because of the garbage waste and industrial chemicals dumped into them. All signs that the town was becoming uninhabitable were emerging.

And the ignorance

But we guess everyone refused to let go – let go of their shortsightedness, their ignorance, their lack of awareness. And we continued with the daily lives as if there was no problem at all. It was a part and parcel of life. People went on to adjust with everything and accept everything as a part and parcel of life. The air pollution, the unclean water, the garbage rotting besides their houses – somehow everyone refused to see these as unnatural and unacceptable. Even their own declining health condition seemed all natural to people.

And finally the end

Things got worse year on year, inching us closer to the Ghost town of Bangalore. Not only did the ground water level started falling due to uncontrolled extraction. But slowly it even started getting contaminated. There was no pure drinking water. And the contaminated water was not treated properly. Upon consumption, people started having water born diseases. Many started migrating to other towns and cities. Many lost their hard earned money in costly treatments. And sadly, many succumbed. Those who survived, their lifespan was drastically decreased due to the constant exposure to the deadly pollution of all kinds. Year on year it continued. Finally, there was hardly enough people left to work. And the companies started shutting down.

The whole infrastructure started collapsing. People cried, complained, but no one knew what to do. They finally started running out of Bangalore for their lives. Thus, here it stands today. As a ghost town. When you come to Mysore, or Mandaya or Chennai, do visit this ghost town. It is a live example of what human can bring on himself with blind urbanization and unbound greed. And everyone of us need to learn something from this. From a city which was the pride of India at a point to a dead, ghost town – the story of Bangalore is a lesson for every other city that is on the same path.

Conclusion

PS: This is a work of fiction and written out of our imagination about the Ghost town of Bangalore. But at the same time, it is very much based on the facts that currently represent the state of the city of Bangalore. If things continue at the current rate, we are afraid if the future of Bangalore will be any different from what we narrated here. The motive of this article is not to spread negativity. But rather to spread awareness in the present day, by showing what can happen in the future if the corrective measures are not taken today. We want to save this city from the drastic consequences that it is doomed to face in the near future. And we hope this piece of work will help a little towards achieving the same by arousing some much needed awareness.

We encourage our readers to join hands, and share this article far and wide to help spread the awareness. Lets save one beautiful city on this earth that we all like to visit and so many of us proudly call our home. 

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