The Metro could have been hi-tech: Correa

BANGALORE: The Metro rail, architecture, cities as a mechanism for social engineering these were some of the issues that visionary architect Charles Correa dwelt on during his visit to Bangalore this weekend.
Author of `A Place in the Shade, The New Landscape and Other Essays', Correa explained how cities in India formed the centres of hope for the have-nots.While in 18th- and 19th-century Europe, people migrated to other countries for a better life, a city for Indians is a better bet than travelling to Australia.
"Therefore, we must augment the absorption capacity of our cities," he asserted.
Breaking social chains
Reasserting his observation that a city breaks down bigotry, Correa explains a moneylender and washerman can sit next to each other in a bus and travel, but that's unthinkable in a village ridden by caste system. "That is what our cities are all about. They are mechanisms for social engineering," he said.
Metro under fire
Correa felt the Metro rail could have been shifted to the other side of Cubbon Road and that steel could have replaced concrete, not just for its elegance but for strength as well. "Elegantly designed, the entire Metro could have been a hi-tech train, a symbol of Bangalore, its IT industry... Many places in the world have used steel for similar trains. But now you are stuck with this, you cannot dismantle it; you cannot get rid of it even if you bomb it. It's vandalism," he said.
Days of yore
Remembering the Bangalore of the 1940s, Correa said though it was a small cantonment, areas such as Cubbon Park, Lalbagh and Chickpet were accessible to all. "I wish Bangalore finds its roots again," he said.
The city's development is in the hands of planners and government, and developers are not responsible for this, he pointed out.