Even at home, one feels like being in a market

Even at home, one feels like being in a market

Monica Jha



Order in everything is what Rajajinagar lacks. Shops and houses mingle, market is anywhere and everywhere, debris is dumped on the roads and metro work is running away with chaos.
The biggest problem of the area is lack of a separate market place. "A segregated market space is our primary concern. The whole constituency has all through been a pre-dominantly residential area but commercial interests are now superimposed on it, and the same facilities are called upon to meet the growing population," says a banker who lives off the Rajajinagar main road.
"Lack of boundary or separation between commercial and residential areas creates confusion and problems," points out Mayoor BG, a software engineer and resident of Manjunatha Nagar.
"The main roads of the residential layouts have gradually been converted into commercial areas. This has created traffic and parking trouble for the residents in the area. No proper demarcation of commercial and residential spaces has been done and I don't know what can be done," says he with a tinge of helplessness in his voice.
Shops virtually on the road, parking of vehicles everywhere, and regular traffic snarls are pronounced in this supposedly posh area.
Appeals asking for order are echoed throughout the constituency. "When I sit in my house, which is right behind the main road, I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a market," says Revathi Krishnan, a private investment company employee and resident of Rajajinagar. "When you go shopping, it is like the olden days of bazaar where you buy things but do not get the feel of modern shopping."
"The young with their well-paid jobs and changing lifestyles, want shopping experience," says Menaka CS, a boutique owner. "We do have a few brand showrooms here but they do not offer variety, or the global brands. I'd love to have a mall in our area, which will give us a good shopping experience. It will also be a nice hangout for the youth," says Menaka.
"This was once a distant 'godforsaken' place but today it is part of the cosmo ambience. Everything came like an afterthought," says Sudheer Ramadas, an Infosys engineer and resident of Bhashyam Nagar.
"It is utter confusion, where we, the people, are living in an area, which is neither fully commercial nor residential."
He does not have the answer. The Residents' and the Welfare Association has suggested places for an organised market or a shopping complex. But nobody in the Palike cares. Now all the open spaces in the area are occupied. Shops are being opened on the main roads of residential areas, making them crowded and noisy," he says.
Old timers say making a modern, posh Rajajinagar was possible some years ago. With so much haphazardness, nobody is sure whether a new civic champion and a new civic body can achieve what the earning young want today.