Monday, January 23, 2012

mysore gardens

Since I moved to Mysore one of my areas of interest is to see how Mysore is (still) different from Bangalore.

It is heartening to still see a few houses with expansive gardens but the numbers are diminishing by the day giving rise to apartments, malls and multiplexes. I guess no one can escape the wave of globalization (or being "bangalored" as the expression goes).

In the area that I stay which is one of the newer localities people have maximized their built-up space even in 40x60 plots (just as in B'lore) but the key difference is that they have still found a way to keeptheir gardens. The Mysore approach is to use the footpath space outside. You will invariably see flowering bushes, fruit trees like guava, sapota and even jackfruit in these footpath gardens but the common factor is coconut trees. I have even seen parts of MUDA areas which are earmarked for parks being used for these gardens! Since MCC has not yet discovered the "business" of concreting foot paths that has been going on in Bangalore, Mysoreans can have their homes as well as their gardens! I have no complaints with this externalization of gardens phenomenon though.

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