Wednesday 13 January 2016

Garden City....T(err)raffic City

Hola People!!!

Blogging definitely is on my to-do priorities of getting back to Being Myself, but after having had no time to look into how messy the house had gotten (honestly, amidst all the tension, the idea of tidying up didn't cross my mind even for a fraction of a second), it's a nice feeling to get back on to re-arranging and do all the feel-good things.

And while at it, Dad returned home and grumbled about how miserable the traffic had gotten.  As I sat down to scribble a few lines, images of "those" days began to flash across my mind.

Bengaluru ... My Bangalore...Just the name brings a wide grin on my face.

Though having spent just about half my lifetime here, I have real fond memories of the city.  The earliest ones being that of travelling to my grandparents' place in Malleshwaram.  Back then, Malleshwaram meant Greenery with those huge trees providing a thick green cover right from KC General Hospital to Margosa and Sampige Road.  Na, actually, the whole of Bangalore screamed Greenery.  Cut to today, it's just so different...so so very concrete everywhere.  I mean, of course we are proud of architecture going so "wowwy & world classy," but it just can't match up to the grand simplicity of 80s or probably even the 90s (Oh come on, I am not ancient o_O ...remember I was a kid with two pigtails back then..haha ;-P ....and with this, I am tempted to write a post about it...tch tch, not pigtails, about my childhood :P).

Concrete apart, there's something that we all dread about Bangalore today.  Yes, the same thing that dad was grumbling about!!!! Traffic!!!  Ah!!!  I can see you cringe at the mention of it :-|.  Going out on a weekend becomes a big No-No.  Oh come on, who would want to wander out after facing the monster every single day.  Convincing my family to drive on a weekend is as good as convincing a toddler to share her toy, or sometimes worse.  Getting to work on time is almost like aiming for Gold in a marathon.  And if we are driving ourselves (that most of us do), then Lord save us!!!   Not to forget the physical and mental stress that come along.  Well, now that Bengaluru traffic has become a butt of jokes, it does provide us with some stress-busting comic relief :P.  Am sure you have had a good laugh at some too like I did with these and many many more.








Lol.

In a scenario like this, private taxi services have come as ... mmm... a savior...or a spoiler??  For me, it's both.  Savior - for reasons more than one (they have been of great help to me).  Sadly, Bangalore falls short on the public transport sector, in terms of connectivity, numbers, and time management.  I remember a 10-km bus ride to college would take an average time of 1-1/2 hours (Oh yes, most of our domestic flights are almost of the same duration o_O).  Our good old Metro is yet to reach all parts of the city.  Spoiler - they just spiked up the number of vehicles on the streets overnight.

And now with Bangalore thinking of going the Delhi way and introducing the odd and even number rule, wonder if it would be efficient in reducing the congestion.  Most of the households have two or more four wheelers and can positively use one of them on any given day..errr..date.  Or, more conveniently opt for a Taxi (like I would...& yes, I must confess I did think of a fake number plate too...Oopsy!!).  Which then would mean an increase in the number of public transport vehicles, and that in turn would only nullify any result brought in by the odd-even rule (hu na, scholar??!! ;) :P).

Ufff...As for me, I do wish to go back to the hassle-free, honk-free, bumper-to-bumper-traffic-free Garden City of Bengaluru.  And for that to happen anytime soon, I need to hit the sack and dream ;) Haha.. But before that I need to lay the table for dinner, and I can hear mum call out for me as I pretend to ignore her (we all do this to our mommies, don't we!!) and try and wind up my post.

I shall hopefully see you all soon with my next post.  Do let me know what you think as to whether the daily chore of driving will get any better with the odd-even number rule?  Or will we be left humming

                                            Dukki pe Dukki ho...ya Satte pe Satta
                                            Gaur se dekha jaye toh bus hai patte pe patta!!!
                                            Koi farq nahi albatta...Koi farq nahi albatta  ;-)



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