Bellary..

Written in Feb 2000

Dust arousing from the black soil in the dry and uneven land without a tinge of greenery, with most of the existing veteran trees making their livelihood without leaves, special thanks to Tipu’s large fort radiating Sun's heat to its surroundings impartially, resulting in the re-arrangement of schools colleges time-tables after successfully bypassing the continuous focus from the Corona's rays; while some Medico guys with their white cream colored aprons that had not smelled a detergent over a week, sipping a burning cigarette, along with the hostelite medico gals, who on the other hand respecting the other sex's masculine ability and the fluency of English slang, with 10 and a half kg "Gray's Anatomy" book in their soft hands, sucking Pepsi outside the decade old canteen till the lab attendant informs them the arrival of Professor of the next session, who is normally paid much more than the peanuts for prompting them the type of slides the students were provided by the examiner in the Pathology lab,.......etc...etc....etc.; Yes! Summer has just landed Bellary when I visited last month, after marking the end of the previous season, the "Extreme Summer". It's said that Bellary has only 2 seasons...Summer and extreme summer!!

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When Sonia and Sushma contested against each other sometime back it was a month long feast for Journalists and Cartoonists of different zones, I had written something that time.....

This is the first time in my life time that I felt my self to say that I belong to Bellary, the place where I spent the 18 years of my life. All of a sudden that neglected place has appeared in the International map. I could never understand the reason why that place always took back seat right from the beginning. (Congress's life long rule?? huh). One of the reasons why I couldn’t tune to the frequency of this place was due to my native.. I had always identified myself to be from Udupi as my parents hailed from that place. 15 years back or so, when I had visited Bangalore and received the state level prize from the then Governor of Karnataka A.N.Banerjee, many gathered asked me from which place I was from and when I replied, they just raised their eye-brows “Really??? Bellary is it…??” However, the moment I revealed my native, they remarked “Ohh.. that’s the reason!!!”

Now it’s looking as if this place has totally vanished from the maps of India, Sonia Sushma clash has brought her back into the political domain. I, at least hope that whoever comes into power should do some good for her.

Wishing her (bellary) all the best..
Vishwesh

>>>>>>>>>>>

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But this time, my visit was totally different! Lot many things got changed since the last elections, especially after S.M.Krishna’s announcement of 3300 Crore sanctioned to her on behalf of Sonia Gandhi! Roads were all widened and better compared to the ones they used to have! No more potholes… More and more constructive programs happening in the city, water supply has improved with people no longer have to wait for days for a bowl of drinking water,, Almost stopped grumbling the poor transportation, high corruption and poor public development programs. I just could not believe my eyes, thought I, hope every area follows this model city. When I was still continuing to appreciate this magical make over just, felt like rays of the tube light started falling on my closed eyes...soon followed by Chiranjeevi starred M.M.Keeravani’s “Bangaara kodi petta” song started knocking my ears overlapped by a terrible voice screaming “Yashwanthpur ree...Yashwanthpur ree...” Diwakar travels hadn't updated his Telugu movie collections beyond 'Gharana Mogadu' and 'Muta Mesthri" for years. When I fully woke up, I was near Navrang theatre, a few kms from the ever crowded Bangalore Majestic Bus stand. Well..Was that a dream? What ever it is, a good dream..I didn't care much … Cleared the layer accumulated on my oily epithelium face, pulled my bag from the rack and started another day in Bangalore!