Those were the days when Punjagutta Circle was the last symbol of civilisation. There was no Nagarjuna Group and no Nagarjuna Circle. Just a Y cross. One led up to Road No.3 and the mosque…you turned left for Road No. 1.

And Road No. 1 had a lake on one side and a few houses on the other. From what is Nagarjuna Circle today to the little hillock opposite today’s GVK Mall, next to the Iranian Consulate, there used to be an Irani Hotel (Hill Something)…and on the curved road till there not a structure of commerce.

Walking down that lonely road at night was a nerve wracking exercise. The graveyard used to be without a boundary wall and we could see funeral pyres late into the night. There was, and still is, a small temple that used to look over the lake…which is now the Vengal Rao Park. And that little rock was a favourite haunt.

Opposite that very rock was where the first Midway Bakery came up. A fine gentleman and his wife started it and very soon Midway became a landmark and a hang out of sorts. The fruit shop next to it came soon after.

And before you knew it the whole curved stretch of the road sprouted shops of different kinds. Even another younger Midway Bakery.

I was driving on that road today and noticed…that the old, original Midway Bakery had long gone…next to Mebaaz there is some other shop there now. But even the young, new Midway had made room for a Smirnoff board and a new liquor shop.

What a pity I thought…and remembered the many things we had discovered thanks to the lovely family that used to run Midway’s. The Father, the Mother, the Son…and now the holy ghost…amen