Once a pleasant, moderate-sized city set in the hilly terrrain of the state of Karnataka, Bangalore has now become frenetically overbuilt and overpopulated, so that resources like power, water, housing, and transportation are severely strained. Clearly, the new millennium will have to come up with widely varying models of development, tailored to fit specific cities, regions, terrains. We drive along Strand Road, lined with numerous flowering trees, and finally park by the Hooghly River, a tributary of the Ganges, on whose banks Calcutta rose to eminence as an international port city and the capital of British India in the 19th century. For the better part of this century, as the city spread further to the interior and population and industries grew, the Ganges was abused so systematically as to become one of the dirtiest in the country. Now, at last, municipal authorities seem to have concluded that Calcutta's people must take pride in their river, rediscover it as an asset in order for it to be restored.
Access is all important.
Workmen are busily laying brick along the riverside, revamping the old crumbling walkway into a modern promenade. Chatterjee tells me that this is only part of a bigger scheme to make the riverside a major tourist attraction. There are plans for concerts and festivals. Why not, I think for a moment-this is a city that has more than 300 years of history to mull over. Such nostalgia, colonial and postcolonial, could be fine fodder for retirees.