Slowly and steadily, I am venturing farther and farther with my bicycle. I had never before cycled in city's heavily crowded main roads. Until recently I had only heard from others that riding on those two slim wheels is not the safest mode of transport. All those 'others' had done a good job in scaring me, which means I ventured out only in the odd non-peak hours and did not go beyond a few kilometers. But I kept going farther by the day and faced more aggressive drivers, and finally at times immersing myself in the big mean and noisy thing called peak hour traffic.
People who warned me of the dangers were very right. For some reason, every driver and rider who is gifted with the controls of an internal combustion engine seems to, miraculously, become blind to bicycles. When they turn left or right, or go in the wrong lanes or in the opposite direction in a one way as typical of us proud Bangaloreans, they somehow manage to see all those giant buses and trucks and even cars very clearly. And then they seem to get attracted to bicycles and at the same time don't get to see it, and end up trying hard to drive straight into the cyclist. That means the cyclist must start his ride with an attitude to be prepared to run or prepared to get banged. Most people choose the farmer option but still, fairly often we see riders who have ended up with the later.
The worst enemies of the cyclist are the cars and trucks parked illegally on the roads that have so lovingly planted 'no parking' signs. Time and again I come across them and am left with a difficult decision to move away from the comfort of the curb and to the center of the road. And moving to the center of the road often involves having to face the 'bicycle-blind' drivers in the heavy traffic. I have still been a chicken and often get down and then get into the footpath. But then how many of our roads have footpaths? The next big enemies are the two wheelers who just love riding on the extreme right side of the road, or in case of a double road, on the opposite side. There are so many such people, I have a feeling Bangalore has a cult of such riders. The third enemy is the cyclist himself, who I have seen, often jumps signals and cuts tersely into the center of the road oblivious to the fact that everyone else pretends to be blind to his presence. And soon after he cuts tersely, goes bang!
Five kilometers is as far away from home that I have ventured yet. I would love to sneak out farther early in the mornings but haven't done that so far. But then, cycling is love, and I know I will be spending more and more time with it. It has been such fun riding just for the sake of it. And it is keeping me from the guilt of burning fuel, and contributing to the already horrible traffic with my automobiles. Come, let's build cycling culture in this 'once-green' city; I am sure you will enjoy it.
We in Bangalore are always happening, lead the way, do new things that puts us apart from the rest. We showed how things can be done completely differently and in a totally unpredictable manner when we introduced a manned interchange on the first floor on Richmond Circle Flyover. I am sure no one has been able to achieve anything like that yet. We did not stop our innovative ideas there, we keep improving by the day. And it was evident with recently finished Kaveri Junction underpass. See the image for the layout of the underpass.
1. If you go from Sadashivanagar to Windsor Manor Bridge, you take the underpass 2. If you go from Mekhri circle to Windsor Manor Bridge, you go straight at ground level, uninterrupted 3. If you go from Windsor Manor Bridge to Mekhri circle, you once waited for signal. Now you go at ground level, along the route as shown in picture.
I got a chance to take this road a couple of days and could not help but appreciate the most ingenious design ever. We must give some awards to BMP engineers. As I passed the U turn and headed towards Mekhri circle, I felt that the shape of the road is oddly familiar. After a few seconds, it struck me. It struck me when I conceived the shape from Mekhri circle end - it looks like a 'question mark'! BCC engineers have given a very opt shape for their design! Very very apt!
Over a short discussion on a Sunday afternoon, we decided to go for a movie in the evening. The movie we were looking for was playing in Fun Cinemas at Sigma Mall. We called up and booked tickets over phone. The show was to start at 9.30pm.
I drove to Cunningham road and reached there around 8.45pm. I wasn't too keen to take the car but it was late hours and car was a better option. Having heard of likely parking problems at the mall, I parked outside on the road where I found the first parking space. It was a half kilometer walk to the mall and I made it there at nine. We still had 30 minutes, but I had to pickup the tickets.
I was surprised to see the mall unusually crowded at this hour. There were people all over and hardly any space to walk around freely. The cinema hall was in the fourth floor. I planned to take the escalator but it was narrow and crowded. Besides, I figured there wasn't really any space in the lobby to comfortably go up and down the escalator(oops! no escalators for coming down at all), instead it was fixed besides a wall. And if you want to go all the way in escalator it was many complicated steps.
1. Beat the crowd, fight it out if you have to and find a place in the escalator and get to first floor. 2. Search around for the escalator to continue to second floor. It won't be visible anywhere. Realization comes - you need to get into some shop and emerge from the other side of the shop to find the escalator! This is the time most people abandon the escalator. 3. If you feel strong enough to take the pains to continue repeat steps one and two at each floor to get to the top.
I abandoned the escalator at the ground floor itself and searched for the stairs. Lift was a total no no. Stairs were hidden somewhere at the backside, but fortunately wide enough and spacious. But the crowd was big enough even there, that I had to search for some space for walking up. I slowly walked up to the fourth floor and hoped to find the entrance to the cinema. There isn't one! The only way through the fourth floor was into food court. Searching, I had no choice but to walk into the food court. The food court, not surprisingly is full with people. The chairs are so densely packed and there are so many people that it is a hard job walking through without tripping into a chair or bumping into someone. If you are claustrophobic, this is where you would meet your end.
The worst is yet to come. A narrow passage on the other side of the food court finally leads to the movie hall. I am relived, almost. Someone is checking the tickets at the entry. I walk into her and ask her where should I collect phone booking tickets. She looks at me as though I am a peasant and tells me -
"The ticket counter is at the basement sir".
And that sounds like a bombshell to me. I need to make another adventure to go back to the basement and come back all over again! I am amused at the sheer brilliance of the architects of the mall and the cinema for having the hall at the top floor and ticket counter at the basement. Surely there is some sadism involved. If Howard Roark were to come here, he would have died of shame.
I have no choice. I make my way, again via the claustrophobic food court and the stair case. To my horror, stairs stop at the ground floor and don't continue down to basement! That means you either have to take the lift or cut across using the ramp. Later is the worst of the two devils, so I choose the former. But why should I be worried about the lift? There are reasons for that.
1. There is a long queue of people already waiting for the lift for a long time. 2. I did see a mad rush in and out of the doors when the lift arrives; I feel creepy to be in that rush. 3. Later when I finally make my way into it, I see the sign on the lift reads that it can hold 20 people. But there is floor space for hardly ten; and the actual count of people inside is not a comforting number.
I waited for a good long time to finally manage it into the lift and get to the basement. Then, I had to endure another queue to get my tickets printed. On the way back, the lift scene occurs again, and I have to live with the drama of people rushing in and out at every floor from basement to the top. Finally when I am inside the hall, it is 9.27pm. 27 minutes, is as long it took, just to print my ticket and get into the hall.
After the movie was over, I walked to the basement to say goodbye to my accomplices. I see cars haphazardly parked all over the place and even on the driveway and the ramp as there is not enough parking. It should take the last person anywhere around twenty to thirty minutes to get his car out. I feel good about having parked the car outside, the only feel good moment while I was at the mall, and drive home swearing never to come back.
Later, I remembered an employee from Fun Cinemas whom I know telling me that they are having a tough time getting permission to open the hall there. No wonder it was so. First, the already busy Cunningham road gets clogged during the end of the show; and then there is not sufficient space and parking for everyone. But somehow(you know what 'somehow' usually is) folks from Fun Cinemas seem to have pulled it off.
After a break from the city for 2 weeks, I land at the airport and head to the pre-paid auto counter. The cop there says no pre-paid facility, just go by the meter; which surprises me. I don't understand why. And then he adds, you need to pay 16% extra, which adds more surprise on the top of it. Further inquiry reveals that the prices have gone up by a rupee a kilometer. Having been recently in Delhi where transportation is much cheaper, I get irritated. Nevertheless, I don't have a choice. Had I had no luggage, I would have taken a bus without thinking twice.
Anyway, I get into a rickshaw. When I get in, the meter is already showing Rs.12. I ask the driver to reset it once and he pretends as though he did not hear me. I say again and he speaks to me rudely and taunts me as though he wants a fight. But I keep quiet and keep my cool, and he resets the meter. A few kilometers later, he asks me which route to take when he clearly knows there is only one sensible route. I answer. In 45 minutes, I am home. He reads the chart for mapping the increased fare, and says it is 120 rupees. But I know my math; I take the chart from him and see that it is only 110. I tell him so. After all these things, he feels he has the right for an extra 10 rupees. And he gets into a shameless begging routine now for that additional 10. I shrug, give him only the what is due and leave him without speaking a word.
And then I make a mental note to take the bus more and more, a process I have already started sometime ago with some degree of success.
Big time rains paralysed Bangalore last week, with traffic jams all over the city. The word 'paralysed' has already lost the emphasis it is supposed to create due to overuse. But until we come up with a better word, let's hang on to what we have. I would not be too keen to admit on lack of creativity anyway.
Not to digress from the main topic, it suddenly flashed to me that we can have a whole new way to give directions when someone asks how to reach a place. For example, here is a great way to tell someone how to drive from Banashankari to ITPL - a road I frequently commute on.
"Start from Banashankari towards Ragigudda and enjoy the smooth flow of traffic in the first few minutes. Enter Jayadeva Hosiptal flyover and join the line of vehicles already piled on the top of the flyover. And just wait there! If you move forward in less than 15 minutes, you are probably at the wrong place. Crawl along with rest of the traffic to reach 16th main junction and again - just wait there! After waiting till you get totatlly frustrated, jump the signal with the help of your neighbouring cab driver(Now, this is something I really don't do and recommend, but that's how it usually happens) and somehow continue to crawl further. In case you see yourself in a breezy fast moving lane, you have missed your way, so look around for the longest traffic jam around and join back in the tail!
You somehow managed to drive through SilkBoard. Now let out all the frustrations you have had on your accelerator; but just stay away from the cabs, okay? Continue the smooth ride till you reach the big long pile of cars at Sarjapur Junction. And of course, next thing to do is wait! After clearing the junction, look for the immediate traffic jam near Bellandur and gleefully join the long queue. Clear this again, vent out your ire on the accelarator(remember - I told you to stay away from cabs) till you reach another set of traffic jams at Marathahalli. Go right up the flyover and join the traffic jam. And once you come down the flyover, get into the next traffic jam at Kundalahalli. Your next landmark(!) will be the traffic jam at Graphite. Just when you are thinking you had enough for the day, all the gates open up from here and give you a free run all the way to ITPL."
That's it! The trick is very simple. Just spot the next jam and join the gang, and you will automatically reach your destination!
I am sure it applies to most of the roads in city. Try it the next time someone asks you for directions!
It is now official. What was once called Bangalore is now officially declared as Bengalooru. There will be some battle of spellings between Bengaluru and Bengalooru until the official name sinks in the minds of people properly. In the occasion of name change, this long time Bangalorean(from now on a Bengaloorean!) looks at other things that have been changing in Bengalooru, along with its name.
The most evident change is in construction activity. There are flyovers all over the place and a new Metro work has taken over most of MG Road. Needless to talk about hundreds of buildings all over the place - on lake beds, government land, other people lands, and sometimes even their legally owned land! And tree felling comes naturally with all this. Trees gone on Kanakapura road, Vanivilas road, Malleswaram, MG Road... So the erstwhile Garden City can now be called a Baldened City! If the same thing continues forever, after some time we can call it a barren city.
Then they called it air conditioned city. Lets admit that things haven't changed very much and the climate is still pleasent and much cooler than the boiling summers we see in rest of the country. But there is some change in the air. Haven't you noticed it getting more black and smelly over time? There is some chance that your eyes and nose have adapted to the slow change and you may not have realized that change at all. I would call this getting conditioned to the air in the once air conditioned city! So if you haven't realized the 'change in air', take a break, go out somewhere for a few days and come back and you will know.
What was then a pensioner's paradise has now taken more accepted and well known names like IT/BT city, silicon city, etc. Those people who have given all these names have conveniently forgotten to add a few more adjectives like garbage city, traffic jam city, chaocity, etc. But I am confident that all these names will come sooner or later, and changing the official name of the city is just the beginning of it. Let's wait and watch!
Last Word: With the kind of fast growth that Bangalore has seen, and with sudden widening of Bangalore's periphery in the form of Brihat Bangalore, it would not be wrong to name the city as ObeCity
