Bandstands were round geometric structures constructed in parks where people congregated to listen to a musical band in the eveni gs after a leisurely stroll through leafy glades and colorful flower beds. A feast for the eyes and ears. A favourite pastime of our colonial legacy, one can conjure up images of staid Englishmen stiffly. tapping their feet as the band played out silky smooth strains of ever popular songs. Music was in harrnony with nature and who better than the Englishman knew how to enjoy this soulful concoction while lounging in the lawns after a lazy Sunday picnic.
The British left. People continued to listen to the music at the Bandstand in the Bangalore of the fifties and sixties. The formal musical band, a relic of the British era was replaced at times by the guy singing with gusto while strumming the ubiquitous guitar. The generations of post Independence India grew up on such musical fare .In theBangalore of today, the Cubbon Park Bandstand stands out majestically in the midst of verdant greenery giving a vigorous architectural edge to the landscape But that's about it! It remains a lofty but mute testimony, of a bygone era The Bandstand has gone silent An eerie feeling creeps over me as I gaze at this majestic structure in the heart of Cubbon Park, surround by an endless cacophonv. of noises from the Metro civil works that is going on, the harsh honking of bus horns, scooters and autos as they scale concrete overpasses Scraps of paper fly around Cubbon Park even as lush green lawns are littered with mindless plastic bags containing stinking food leftovers and other forms of human waste. Stunned to silence, the proud citadel looks on at the widespread desecration and devastation around it The spaces have gone as has the music of yesteryears.Will sornebody revive the music, the only oasis in this desert of Mindless Commercialisation.Like the Solitary Reaper, the music of yesteryears in my heart, I bore long after it was heard no more.......
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