I have always been a dreamer. One of my long term dreams is to go away from the city and lead a peaceful life as an agriculturalist in a village. I hope my age and my health permits me to fulfil this dream. I am Manjunath and I am 52 years old. I have been running my shop FotoWorld for the last 35 years. The shop has been here from even before that. My father was in the tailoring business. I converted it into a photography business and lab. My passion has always been photography and it was a childhood hobby that I converted into this venture.
I was born and brought up in Bangalore. The city has changed a lot. A lot of outsiders have come in and localites are losing their land. But, the city is also expanding more in length and breath.
Though I am located on the main road near the Shivajinagar bus stand, my business is not that good because of online sales. That has affected shops like mine badly. Once upon a time, Shivajinagar was the centre of commerce and shopping. Now it is just a hub through which people pass through. Earlier, there were only two shopping destinations in the city – Bangalore City and the Cantonment area. Now with malls, localised shops and almost everything available online, business centres like this have been hit a lot.
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Earlier, we used to do photography for the Hindu also. Once it was digitised, everybody pulled out. Traffic and pollution will always be there in the city. We have to live with it. When Bangalore is your only home, you don’t really have a choice. In future, as my age is catching up. I feel like settling down. At times, I feel so helpless, I want to just go live in the outskirts and lead a comfortable life. My family is also here. My wife is a teacher and my two children are studying in St. Joseph’s. Till they complete their education, I’m not going to move out.