Welcome to Bangalore!

Welcome to Bangalore !

Day 1

The city is clean and solid. The cool breeze was ticking my hair and face. The greenery said I am not very far from my home town. I could hear the traffic which engulfed the silence. Welcome to Bangalore.

Day 2

I reached office, thanks to the superb driving from my cab driver. He could win the next off road motor driving competition. Well every cab driver in Bangalore can win that competition. I was called in for a meeting. Thirty minutes of the session was over when my colleague walked in saying “Oops am late, TRAFFIC !!!”. This is the first reference to ‘traffic’ since I reached Bangalore. This was however not my first ‘encounter’

Since I planned to come down to Bangalore to take up my new job, there were people crying all over about the traffic in Bangalore, the congestion, the pollution and so on. I wanted to be in a city with over flowing population and high rise buildings. This was a city not with just all these negative aspects, but was overflowing with opportunities, standard of living and money.

Day 3

I stayed at the company guest house, 2kms away from office. It takes hardly 5 minutes to reach under standard riding conditions in Kerala. I reached in 15mins, well not bad according to the riding conditions here or ‘Bangalore standards’ as they call it.

It was 9PM and time for me to rush home. My wife is sitting at the guest house bored all day and I couldn’t wait to get home. I went out of the building to find that it was raining heavily. I waited for sometime for the rain to get over. After half hour, the intensity reduced and I decided to make a move. I mite get drenched but it’s hardly 2Kms, I thought.

I took my bike to the main road, where I was caught up in traffic. Well there is a signal ahead of me; the traffic will start moving soon. Ten minutes and nothing moved. This pissed me off and I took the bike on to the opposite lane (many of the riders were already there). Up ahead of me was a huge block. There was water everywhere. Cars scooters, buses were stranded in the water. Nothing moved, except the water.

I wanted to just find my way through it when some of the local people warned me in Kannada that the water is too deep. I took a 360 degree turn back to my office, and tried to circle the IIM that is close to our building. I guessed that it could reach the road opposite to my guesthouse and I could skip the main road and the traffic.

I didn’t think twice and took the move; I went through a series of roads all filled up with water and mud. I just trusted my sense of direction completely. Finally I could see the main road.

“what the )(@*(#*” I reached the same place where the water was logged. I tried to ask some people in my Hindi-English on how to reach the guesthouse by some other means. Well, no one could help me. The time is 10:30PM. I am all drenched, my shoes all wet.

I took a 360 again!

I parked my bike at the company parking lot, went to my seat locked my helmet in the pedestal and waited for the company cab at the entrance.
Finally I got into a company cab which luckily was going my way. And even more luckily I was the first one to be dropped off. “Lucky you” a fellow in the cab remarked. “By the time we reach home its gonna be 11:30PM”. He said.
He was wrong.

The cab moved to the main road, where we were caught up in traffic. We waited, waited, waited waited and waited and nothing moved for almost an hour. The only thing that helped me with my patience was the cab’s FM and ‘sudoku’ in my mobile.

12:45 and I reached the guesthouse.

Distance covered: 2KM
Average speed : 1KM/hour.
Experience : No comments.

This was an encounter indeed!
“Lucky you” remarked my friend again, as I got down and walked to my apartment. I turned back, the cab didn’t move …..

Welcome to Bangalore!