bengaluru as you stroll down the streets of vijayanagar you instantly realize you are in kannadiga heartland from 1960s till the 1990s this locality was where people from neighbouring districts of karnataka came and settled down in search of livelihood shakila shetty 61 who came to bengaluru for her first job in vijaya bank in vijayanagar in 1977 recalls i just had a bag my uncle stayed in hosahalli and i lived with his family for three years until i moved to mumbai after marriage there were big old houses with small courtyards or gardens and only row houses the shops and markets were far there were a lot of open spaces and the streets were covered with green canopies temples parks and lakes were all around us she adds impressed shakila moved back to settle in vijayanagar in 2000b veereshs story is almost the same his first job in bengaluru was in the police department and later he moved to canara bank during the 1990s the rent in indiranagar and jayanagar areas was very high because of the it boom many who got jobs in software companies from north karnataka mysuru and other towns stayed in west bengaluru because land was abundant and rentals were cheap there on weekends they would go home and mysuru road bus terminal was their main access point even the city railway station was close by he saysin fact vijayanagar was earlier known as hosahalli literally meaning a new village it was kannada author m chidananda murthy who proposed the name after the vijayanagar empire that was established during the 15th and 16th centuriesthe area abutting vijayanagar is railway parallel colony rpc layout as the railway lines towards mysuru went through this locality on murthys suggestion bbmp renamed this area hampi nagar hampi was the capital of the vijayanagar empire and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the statehowever like other parts of the city west bengalurus skyline too reflects unplanned rapid growth eating into the green quotient a few lakes around have vanished and open spaces are a rarityveeresh points out how the revenue land parcels around moodalpalya marutinagar byraveshwaranagar pattegarapalya and nagarbhavi village were sold out by the erstwhile bda city improvement trust board to form private layouts of which chandra layout became the fastest urbanized part of west bengalurumany senior citizens living in very big houses sold their properties and migrated to foreign countries with their children and private builders built smaller apartments shakila recallstoday the settlers of vijayanagar are trying to protect the areas cultural ethos from the illeffects of rapid urbanization the bunt sangha adi chunchunagiri mutt maruti mandir gavi gangadhareshwara temple jain temple and a few other religious and community centres are holding aloft the kannada culture in the locality residents are active too almost 16 resident welfare associations of smaller colonies in the area have come under the vijayanagar vijaya viveka pratisthana to celebrate with fervour the mangaluru festival and uttara kannada food and