When the big and attractive Forum Mall opened in a busy and well connected(!) area of the town like Koramangala, it was evident that the Bangaloreans who just want to be out of their homes in the weekends are going to throng the place. So when a friend told me that she wanted to check out some vcds at Landmark in Forum on the first weekend of their opening, I warned her that it is likely to be so crowded that there will be more people than the number of vcds they have. It turned out pretty much that way. There were people on every inch of floor space and queues in billing were long enough to discourage us from buying anything at all. But fortunately we found some parking at the top floor and we were spared of the agonies of finding parking space. And we were glad to get out of the place very soon.
A few months passed and I was careful enough to avoid the place in weekends. Having been working in a place nearby means that I could visit the place as frequently as I wanted in the weekdays, which I did, and did not bother to look that way in the days of the rush. Even when I did go there in the weekends, it was in the morning hours or late hours which was alright. But my memory is not as good as it should be, and with the passage of time, I forgot all about it. And one day when I wanted to watch this movie Polar Express, I happened to choose a Sunday evening.
The movie was about to start at 7.30. I started from my place early enough keeping the evening traffic in mind. I reached the mall 10 minutes in advance and then the realization dawned that I had made a terrible mistake. All roads leading towards Forum were jammed. Traffic was moving at snail pace and the biggest problem - I see there was no parking space when I reached there.
The Hosur main road in Koramangala is like a maze. You get into it and then you see there are no escape routes. You get stuck with 'no right turn', 'no U turn', 'no left turn', nowheretogo boards at every inch of the road and you will be left with no options but to follow the traffic and desperately hope to reach someplace where you need to be. I ended up doing just that. I kept driving for next 30 minutes in first gear traffic and finally managed to reach the other side of the mall(diary circle entrance). What could well be 100mts and 2 minutes walk turned out to be 4kms and 30 mins journey in the car. Finally I parked on a shady lane and walked into the mall. I was in for a shock first when I saw the crowd inside the mall. You won't believe it - I had to wait in a queue to get into the escalator! I was already 15 minutes late for the movie, and then followed the frantic effort to call my friend who was waiting for me somewhere in the mall impatiently(“all lines in this route are busy” - what else do you expect with such big crowd out there?). Another 5 minutes and several attempts later we finally made it into the movie hall. And what a relief it was - to get into the comfort, air conditioning and quietness inside the hall! But it still remained that we missed the initial part of the movie. And now, trust me not to venture that side on a weekend evening!
