Can you guess this Indian city from the 1950s?

An old black and white photograph of Bengaluru from 1956 is making waves on social media, offering a nostalgic glimpse into a time when the city was much quieter and less congested.
The image, shared by the Indian History Pics handle on X (formerly Twitter), showcases the area near Sir KP Puttanna Chetty Town Hall—locally known as Bengaluru Town Hall—when traffic was virtually non-existent.
In the photo, pedestrians and cyclists take center stage, leisurely navigating the streets. The stark contrast with today’s vibrant environment is notable; what was once an open space is now flanked by towering buildings and throngs of people. In response to the nostalgic image, an X user shared a current photo of the same location, highlighting the dramatic transformation over the years.
According to World Population Review, Bangalore’s population is now estimated at 14,008,300 in 2024. In stark contrast, the city’s population was just 745,999 in 1950, showcasing remarkable growth over the decades. Furthermore, the World Population Review predicts that the city’s population could reach 18 million by 2025.
According to a report by Deccan Herald, a study conducted jointly by scientists from the National Institute of Engineering and IIT-Kharagpur has predicted that the city’s population will grow by 58 percent by 2025.
This year, Bengaluru showed a slight improvement in global rankings of the world’s most congested cities by Amsterdam-based location technology specialist TomTom. In 2022, TomTom ranked Bengaluru as the second most congested city in the world and it now slipped to sixth position. However, Bengaluru remains India’s most congested city in terms of vehicular traffic.
According to TomTom, the average time to cover 10 kilometers in Bengaluru in 2023 was roughly 28 minutes and 10 seconds. However, in 2022, the average time to cover the same distance was reported as 29 minutes and 9 seconds, which made Bengaluru the second slowest city in the globe. The average speed in Bengaluru stood at 18kmph, slower than any Indian city.
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