I do not often indulge in nostalgia, being a person who enjoys the vibrancy of the present as much as the glow of the past. But once in a while….

It was saddening to read of

the closure of Hotel Brindavan, on M G Road

here is a link, with reviews, to the hotel

My cousin got married in this hotel.It was an oasis of peace on M G Road. Well, certainly, service and the quality of food at the restaurant and hotel had been dropping of late..just like at the erstwhile India Coffee House, that also once stood on the same road.

The value of everything seems to be reckoned only in money terms, in Bangalore, at least….there seems to be no value for heritage, history or culture…except if they can be marketed as “heritage”, “history”, and “culture”. Otherwise, it is all “real estate”. Sad at the inverted-commaization of our inheritance…we are now camera-toting tourists, treading over our own pasts, while commercial buildings of chrome, steel and glass mushroom in the spaces where gracious bungalows and majestic buildings stood. Cars bearing tycoons whizz by where immemorial trees shaded the roads. Truly public spaces are shrinking, and there is no plan for creating any more. Some things about Bangalore make me sad. Our quality of life has become much worse, and continues to deteriorate. Money talks, and commerce seems to be the only common language of our city.