Episode 206 : Times, they are a-changin

I remember when I first heard that the Safire theatre complex was going to shut down.

I was sad. I had never seen a movie in that complex, but I heard how Papa Hyde used to buy tickets and watch movies back-to-back in his younger days. In the 70s.

And I remember how I used to gaze at it when I visited Madras during my summer holidays.

A few weeks ago, I heard about the imminent closing of Woodlands Drive-in.

I was taken aback. It was the place where I used to hang out with guys from the motorcycling club.

The last time I went there, it was in August 2006. After that I only went past it, but I could imagine the serenity inside. Peace from the maddening traffic just a few hundred metres away.

It is a sign of changing times when old buildings are razed down to the ground to make place for new, swanky glass buildings.

It is a sign of changing times when roads become one-way only, reminding me of how the city is slowly going the Bangalore way.

What else is the city going to lose?