Everybody says it is NICE!

Everybody says it is NICE!
The Times of India

Bangalore: On Mysore Road near Kengeri, an inconspicuous left turn leads to a rather narrow road amid hillocks, giving the feeling of a drive through the Western Ghats.

Further up, a blue board announces in huge fonts — “Welcome to the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor”.
It’s like a carnival with deer-skin clad dancers, drummers and men on 7-feet stilts herd around on a spanking new track of bitumen-macadam. To say nothing of the truck loads of villagers who descended on the 1-km stretch.

This was the kind of motley crew witness to a possibly historic event — the opening of the first 8.2 km stretch of the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway — which would make commuting to Mysore seem like a smooth drive. A riot of indigenous dances — veeragaase, nandigolu, keelu-kudre, and patada kunitha rent the air as the ribbon was cut by two milk-toothed school children, Prathiba and Komal.

Prior to the ribbon-cutting, the man who galvanised the action — Ashok Kheny — MD of NICE, decided to go for a short drive down his own project. But, he was mobbed like a film-star! His security personnel had to form a human chain around him.

Was the event making history or proving a point? Scores of youngsters said “I was There. Nice.’’

The villagers, Kheny said, were transported from as far as Kolar, Devanahalli, Tumkur, Pavagada, Ramanagaram, Bidadi et al by his company. But, Why would an arecanut cultivator Nagappa, travel from Devanahalli to witness the inauguration? “They sent us a van (Matador) with radio, told us there would be lunch, so we came’’ says he.
The riotous assemblage of the ‘culture carnival’ too were a happy lot. “This is fabulous. We have been paid Rs 60,000 for our performance. We are professional entertainers. We are not worried about whether the project will come up or not. We will do our job and go,” said a member of the dollu clan.

Do they know about the infrastructure coming up? Most villagers said a good road was needed but were unclear if they would have access to it later.

Poojas galore
Bangalore: Before the speech, before the inauguration, before the celebrations, there was something elementary. The poojas and homas.

A pumpkin smeared with vermilion was broken as an auspicious mark, a Kshayatra Dwara Mahalakshmi pooja was performed to ring in prosperity. The inaugural pooja was performed by chairperson of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Baba Kalyani.

There was another grand pooja performed indoors, with multihued rangolis and propitiating all the Gods.

Life’s little ironies: recital of mantras were done by priests from Kumaraswamy Layout!

Two women and a few acres

Bangalore: In a conference room packed with media persons, PR representatives, and Ashok Kheny fielding furious questions, sat two elderly women — Ramakka, 86, and C Sharadamma, 93, — incongrously.

These women’s claim to a piece of history was revealed later. Kheny said they were the first to give up land voluntarily. Their compensation: two 60 x 40 sites and one 30 x 40 site in Bangalore, apart from money.

Ramakka was urged to hold forth on what the project meant to her. With a quivering voice, she spoke: “I have given up 2.5 acres of land. My family hails from Tirumalapura. I have nine children and 20 grandchildren. It gives me joy to see that the project for which I gave up land has taken off.’’

Sharadamma, informed her relative, was hard of hearing. But this elderly lady has quite an interesting past to share. Her late husband Andanappa was a classmate of Kengal Hanumanthaiah, and retired as revenue officer at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in 1960. As a relative of hers explained, the family had 150 acres of land alongside Tumkur Road’s Chikkabidarakallu. Of course, huge tracts of the land have been given to BWSSB and other private agencies. Sharadamma has eight children and some 20 grandchildren.