Can Laidback Pensioner바카라�s Paradise Mysore Stay Off The Fast Lane?

There바카라�s something curious about Mysore. Just look at its air traffic these past several months, for instance바카라�it has actually grown, even in a pandemic. The number of aircraft movements aren바카라�t jaw-dropping, of course. Just about 3,513 in the year to March 2021바카라�under 10 flights a day on average. But still an 11 per cent annual increase in a year when nearly everything came to standstill for many months. If you go further back, the current figures are nothing short of a big leap because not very long ago, the Mysore airport, located just a little to the south of the city바카라�s iconic Chamundi Hill, was dormant. As idyllic as things could be in Mysore.

Cardiologist K. Javeed Nayeem, a ­long-time resident of Mysore and whose chronicles regularly appear in the city바카라�s top eveninger, admits that his prediction바카라�made a decade ago바카라�about there being no takers for a local airport had been off the mark. It바카라�s a pointer to how Mysore has grown over the years, he says. More likely, a pointer to the hassle of driving down바카라�via treacherous traffic바카라�to the Bangalore airport just under 200 km away. But there바카라�s no looking back for Mysore now, he reckons.

On the ground, however, things can still be placid. 바카라�Even today, at the busiest time, I can go from one corner of Mysore to another maximum in 20 minutes,바카라� says Nayeem. It바카라�s been the endearing feature of a place where time has an ­elasticity of its own바카라�a verdant home of elegant old buildings where musical ­evenings are a big draw, and still a pensioner바카라�s paradise that many hope to ret­ire to one day. 바카라�Every other area has its own koota (assembly), dance centres and things like that,바카라� says Vikram Muthanna, managing editor of Star of Mysore. 바카라�You ask any hardcore Mysorean and he바카라�ll tell you 바카라�I바카라�m not very ambitious, I don바카라�t want to make too much money. I still want to have my walk up Chamundi Hill in the morning, or at Karanji Lake. I want to be able to peacefully have my dosa at 5.30 in the evening.바카라�바카라�

It was this reverie that was suddenly interrupted in late August by two violent crimes바카라�a group of workers revelling near Chamundi Hill raped a college ­student, and separately, a jewellery store robbery during which a resident was shot. 바카라�These two crimes have only ­exposed the vulnerability of Mysore,바카라� Nayeem says. He isn바카라�t speaking strictly in the context of the city바카라�s crime graph바카라�which he reckons to be moderate바카라�but the arc that the city itself has traced over the years. Mysore is growing for sure. But with all its inherent paradoxes. For over two decades now, it has lived in Bangalore바카라�s shadow because it never quite became the boom town the savants predicted it would be. But on other fronts, culture being foremost among them, it was never second fiddle. Rather, it was the proud aristocrat. 바카라�I think this was aided by the fact that politically and in ­popular consciousness, it remained a very important city. That was the unique feature of Mysore,바카라� says writer Aroon Raman, who had a close-up view of the region for many years as an industrialist running ­factories there.

The paradox extends to that sphere too바카라�modern industry in Mysore traces back a century, but that ­historical heft did not reflect in later years. Mysore바카라�s economy, as social historian Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi puts it, even today depends on remittance to a large degree, apart from ­tourism. 바카라�On the basis of its economic activity alone, the city won바카라�t be able to sustain itself,바카라� he says. It바카라�s been the case historically because the city has been a centre for spending from the hinterland, such as the agricultural districts of Mandya or Coorg, he reckons. Even now, most youngsters gravitate to Bangalore or beyond for work, while those living elsewhere dream of Mysore as a place to settle down. Not surprisingly, as many Mysoreans will tell you, there바카라�s been quite a bit of speculative investment in housing plots, given that private layouts have mushroomed around the city. If there바카라�s been a boom over the past several years, it바카라�s been in real estate speculation, which has pushed prices out of reach for cityfolk, old timers complain.

During the pandemic, says Muthanna, many have discovered Mysore, or rather rediscovered it, from a remote-working perspective. 바카라�Everything is accessible,바카라� he says. Shobhi concurs, 바카라�The city has actually become quite appealing for even someone who expects the kind of ­amenities and consumables that they would want in a place like Bangalore. Even 10 years ago, you wouldn바카라�t have ­expected to get all that.바카라� Like restaurants and such. Now, there바카라�s even a new sailing club in the backwaters of the Krishnaraja Sagar dam. Besides, there are the regular weekend getaways바카라�hills, forests, plantations, resorts바카라�to which Mysore always had the best access.

But here바카라�s the paradox again: the central part of that appeal is the throwback to the past바카라�the realm of R.K. Narayan and Malgudi, so to speak. It is still a ­manageable city바카라�among the cleanest in India for several years now, by official rankings. But that manageability is being put to test. In an essay a decade ago, Shobhi wrote about how the Malgudi ethos had been fading further into sepia with the flow of money into speculative real estate investment, driving, as he termed it, a 바카라�new urbanism바카라�. It바카라�s something every city struggles with, for sure.

바카라�Mysore has always been on the cusp, always sitting at the edge but never going over it,바카라� says Lakshmi Palecanda, aut­hor, and a relatively new resident of the 바카라�city of palaces바카라�, having settled there just over a decade ago after an 18-year stint in the US as a molecular bio­logist. It바카라�s certainly sedate compared to the city she grew up in, Coimba­tore, which rapidly became a thriving industrial hub. If one wanted to liven thi­ngs up ­occasionally, a qui­ck change of scene to nearby Banga­lore would serve the purpose, especially for her as a writer of ­romance novels, Pale­ca­nda quips. In most other cities, she points out, the older folk are likely to be ensconced in their homes, crowded out by youngst­ers. 바카라�You won바카라�t find them out and about. Whereas this is where pensioners will go out for walks, to concerts, book discussions and so on.바카라� Mysore stands out because of its greenness, she says. 바카라�It바카라�s still got its grace. You바카라�ll be going somewhere on business where you바카라�ll suddenly come across an old building amidst modern structures, reminding you of your place in history.바카라�

Look at the software ­sector바카라�Mysore appeared on the IT map in the mid-noughties when Infosys set up its training centre there. But in the years since, the digital economy has been a trickle, not the cascade many predicted, considering how close it was to Bangalore. That, one could argue, holds good for other cities in Karnataka too바카라�weaning industry away from Bangalore to other locations has been the ambition for every government since Y2K.

바카라�It is strange but a lot of manufacturing that came into Mysore actually sputtered and failed, the answers to which don바카라�t seem to be very clear,바카라� says Raman. This was, of course, before the software era. 바카라�In fact, Mysore was a hub of industrial sickness, I would say, particularly in the 1980s and 바카라�90s. A lot of good companies went phut.바카라� But there were gains on the flipside바카라�it didn바카라�t witness the kind of frenzied growth that strangulated Bangalore nor did Mysore바카라�s special stature allow the city to deteriorate. 바카라�That, I must say, allowed Mysore to remain a very lovely city for a very long period.바카라�

While this old Mysore remains, change is certainly beginning to overtake it now, he feels. The industrial corridor south of the airport towards Nanjangud is now more or less becoming the continuum it was originally envisioned as three decades ago. 바카라�There were many challenges,바카라� says Pavan Ranga, who heads the Mysore chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry. The boom town narrative, he says, was largely based on the presumption of spillover growth from Bangalore and there was never any holistic plan for the region. 바카라�In reality, it doesn바카라�t just ­happen like that. Mysore never really saw the benefits of being in the vicinity of Bangalore.바카라� For a city of just over a million, it has more than 25 technical ­institutes and six engineering colleges, yet it couldn바카라�t hold back talent. Now, there are initiatives being put in place for industry and entrepreneurship, with an eye on electronics and technology, he says. 바카라�Historically, electronics manufacturing has been a hub in Mysore. Now the government is giving a boost to that by setting up the local ESDM cluster,바카라� says Ranga. 바카라�We have seen some traction in the last five to six years that we hadn바카라�t seen in the last ­couple of decades.바카라�

If connectivity was a ­hurdle earlier, that바카라�s soon going to change, notes Muthanna. Just like how air traffic has picked up, the new 10-lane highway connecting Bangalore should cut down travel time dramatically when it opens next year. But the challenge it holds out for city planners is to steer things in a sustainable manner and not let it 바카라�go the Bangalore way바카라�. The heritage-versus-development tussle is already visible, and there has been civic activism to protect public spaces and old buildings. 바카라�This is bound to happen as there is no clarity on what is heritage. What the city needs is a hybrid model that will allow it to keep its personality while allowing for expansion,바카라� he says.

바카라�Mysore has for too long been a dumping ground for extra money,바카라� Muthanna adds. 바카라�A lot of those living abroad all end up, for nostalgia바카라�s sake, buying some property, thinking one day they would be coming back to the Mysore they lived in. And, luckily for them, every year when they come to visit Mysore, they see things haven바카라�t changed too much.바카라� But change, he feels, is going to creep up on the city and, before that happens, the government should be ready. 바카라�Not now, maybe not next year. But it will change in the next five years.바카라�

(This appeared in the print edition as "Mysore! My Sore?")

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore