The Road named M.G.Road!

When you return home after a Bangalore visit, the question you’re most likely to be asked is “Did you visit MG Road?” This rich and active area comprising MG Road, the intersecting Brigade road and nearby Church Street has been the pulse of the Bangalore metropolis.

Named after Mahatma Gandhi, M. G. Road is also one of the busiest roads in the city and is lined on one side with retail stores, food outlets and restaurants. It starts at the end of Cubbon Park at Anil Kumble circle, named after the state and the country’s best cricket bowler. At the other end of MG Road is Trinity Circle, flanked by high end hotels like the Taj and the Oberoi. Between these two ends are office buildings, shops, eateries and movie theatres.

MG Road has something for everyone. From coffee houses like the India Coffee House where you get good ‘Madras coffee’ to upscale restaurants like 13th floor, it offers many different kinds of cuisine. The ice cream parlors’ have some very tasty exotic options. For the book lovers, Higginbotham’s and Gangarams are the veteran bookstores of Bangalore city.

If you want to give your wallet or purse some exercise, take a saunter into nearby Brigade Road. Brigade Road is easily the busiest shopping area in Bangalore. It has several local and international brands and many eateries. Just off Brigade road is Church Street. Church street is quieter than MG and Brigade Roads and boasts of several restaurants and fast foods. Don’t miss the delicious Rossogollas at K.C. Das at the corner of Church Street.

                                                                         

                                                                          

                                                                           

Ink Fades on a Profession: As India Modernizes, Digital age Spells Doom for India’s street typists.

Call it ‘mechanical’ dispensation of justice if you may, but the humble ‘typewriter’, a device of the last century perceived to have gone extinct in recent times is vital to the functioning of litany of the city’s courts. In fact, the clang of the typewriter is a vital cog to the proper functioning of the court, serving most of their needs.

From Notaries to stenographers to typists, this device is what keeps the courts running, serving their immediate and long term needs. Want to get an affidavit typed or a statement composed in a jiffy? A large number of typists would do it, in devices that are almost more than 80 years old, giving a touch of antiquity to your work.

The typewriter may have waged a losing war for significance in sectors across against Charles Babbage’s little invention, the computer, but people are inclined towards the latter as is preferred for reasons more than once. Gautam Dey, a senior typist at Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Kolkata has put in almost 29 years of service, puts things in perspective: “A majority of people who come to us are those with documents in illegible handwriting that are to be presented in courts. We analyse them and compose them in a manner that is acceptable in the court, which those with computers refuse to do.”

Gautam Da, who has been a typist since 1984, says he refused to learn computer data text processing: “I’ve felt that they were loading too much into my head; nothing gives me happiness than getting a feel of the keys of the typewriter,” he sums up his sentiments.

Technological advancement however has been slow and perceptible. Despite all this, one reason seems to be spurring the tribe of 20 odd typists in the Metropolitan court vicinity. “We have a loyal section of customers, mostly senior advocates and officials who prefer their documents only typewritten, we feel obliged to serve their needs.”