How credentials got swapped between Mysore and Bangalore?

How Bangalore overtook Mysore and became a place of action?

Bangalore is a political hub. It is also a center of trade, commerce, and industrial activities. It provides employment to millions of people. And the people living here find Mysore as their favorite getaway to spend their weekends and summer vacations. A century ago, things were exactly opposite, vice versa. Here is my perspective of what and how it happened.

Bangalore was just a summer getaway

From 16th to 19th centuries, Mysore province was ruled by The Wadiyar’s. Mysore was where they lived and the town had remained the center of plotical, commercial and cultural activities. When the Wadiyar family wanted to escape summer heat, they would go to the village of Bangalore where they had built a palace with a 500 acres of plush green campus around it. It is at the heart of today's Bangalore. Why did they chose Bangalore? Because of its high altitude, numerous lakes and consistent rain fall, Bangalore was a cool and comfortable place to spend the summer. Tipu Sultan who had ruled Mysore for a brief period too had built a summer palace for himself in Bangalore. It is situated near KR market. Bangalore remained that way for centuries. Mysore was the center of political action and Bangalore, a place to rest. A town, rather a sleepy village, buillt by Kempegouda in the 15th centrury continued to remain so for a long time.

First spark of change and Industrial revolution

In the 19th century when The British came into widespread action, they made cool Bangalore their home. That was the first spark of change. They built a red-painted building for administration (today’s High Court building). They had a Cantonment nearby housing their army. They have left numerous traces of influences in the development of Bangalore. Sir Mark Cubbon for the Cubbon Park, Richard Sankey for Sankey Tank, Lord Mayo for the Mayo Hall and so on.

After independence, leaders of independent India wanted to rule from the same premises The British operated from. That made Bangalore the political power center. And it gained an edge over the role Mysore had played till then. Then it was Industrial revolution that pushed Bangalore to the lead position. Many PSU’s like HAL, ISRO, NAL, ITI, BHEL, NGEF, HMT, BEML found a place in Bangalore turning it into a industrial hub and attracted huge workforce in the form of migrant population. This growing population caused service industry expansion. Many schools, colleges, hospitals, hotels got built in a hurry further expanding the horizon and attractiveness of Bangalore. This large population needed entertainment. Two stadiums got built to promote sports. During the same time, Kannada Film Industry (aka Sandalwood) took roots in Bangalore. During all these years, Mysore’s growth was tepid, and it remained a slow town in comparison.

Silicon Valley of India

Factors driving growth of Bangalore were all insignificant in comparison to what was to come later. Availability of engineering talent made Bangalore IT hub, Silicon Valley of India. Bangalore’s geography started busting at seams and it had to expand in all directions dissolving many villages in it and became "Brihat Bengaluru". And by then, there was no comparison between Bangalore and Mysore. Bangalore was many times bigger already. Higher income residents of Bangalore would go all around for their vacations and Mysore got turned into a tourist spot and it’s political and economic prominence was to be slowly forgotten. Initially what was Mysore’s loss became Bangalore’s gain but not anymore as people from Mysore found employment in Bangalore and travelers from Bangalore boosted the economy of Mysore. Table was turned around completely and the credentials of Bangalore being a vacation spot during the times of Wadiyar’s got swapped with Mysore of current times. This transformation took multiple decades to happen.

History rhymes

If you learn history without emotions, you will understand this is how history has always worked. Place of attraction can’t remain the same. Where is Alexander’s Macedonia now? Rome is no more a happening place. So was the capital of mighty Vijayanagara kingdom of South India. It gave way to the rise of Mysore province. And Bangalore stole it from Mysore. Can Bangalore also lose its importance in future? Why not? But not in a hurry. These transformations take many decades to happen. Until then you and I have to cope with the traffic here.

Next transformation would be decentralization

I think the next transformation would not make one place the center of power, but it would rather be decentralized. Internet is changing the way we live and reducing geographical importance. For example, you don’t have to go to a big town for higher education, online universities are coming up fast. They would become efficient too in near future. You don’t have to visit a mall but can order a new gadget on Amazon and get it delivered to any corner of the country. We don’t visit insurance office for renewal anymore, right? Government complexes can slowly be replaced with offices on the cloud. These things will reduce the concentration of political power and trade and turn nation into a decentralized economy.

You can say there are many things which can’t be moved to internet or other physical places. I agree with you. To visit Chamundi hills or Mysore palace, you still have to go to Mysore. But what about Mysore Silk, Mysore Pak, and Mysore Sandal Soap? They can be manufactured outside Mysore as well. Similarly, work from home can send back many IT employees from Bangalore to their hometowns. Manufacturing industry can be relocated away from Bangalore and Airports can be built in other towns as well. That would take the shine away from Bangalore. Bangalore too would reach its peak in the coming years and then slide away. That could be fifty or hundred years away. But it is more likely to happen later than not happen at all.

We evolved and continue to evolve. Nothing is cast in stone.

Mysore Palace and Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore (Picture Credit: Wikipedia)