Bangalore Maze

I was in Bangalore last weekend. Last visit was some five months ago and I did see a lot of changes. I wonder if there's any other Indian city that changes so dynamically. There are new malls, new pubs, new multiplexes, some more flyover constructions and new IT companies. All the old buildings are being demolished or refurbished to make way for fresh FDIs. As a result, I saw buildings boasting of Yahoo!s, Googles, Philips R & D center and some odd names that I can't remember. M G Road and the Brigade Road is getting more packed every day. Last time I heard, the true-blue Bangaloreans stopped visiting these two roads as the tourists have invaded them. Everyone is well dressed and flaunts their sudden wealth by buying and eating junk. It's mildly warm in the day and extremely cold in the nights. At an odd count, every week, 10 new restuarants are being opened and equal number are getting closed.

I didn't find the city as nostalgic in this visit and I'm happy about it. But if there's one thing that is going to remove My Favorite City status from Bangalore, it's the traffic planners. Even Bangaloreans complain about the perennial 'No Entry' and 'One Way' rules being implemented every week. This time, Double Road to Residency Road is a No Entry, M G Road to Ulsoor is a One Way, and you can't turn from Cubbon Road to Infantry cut. As a result, I ended up landing up in some odd roads, got stuck and found myself asking directions. It was a bit silly asking people 'How do I reach CMH road?' when you know you've been there a hundred times. This Bangalore Maze of making people lose their way in their own city is becoming a favorite passtime for the traffic planners. I was thoroughly frustrated in this visit finding my way out one maze after another.

There must be a better way to ease traffic in this city. Mahesh and I discussed about the city getting immensely crowded way back in 1997 itself. It's strange that the city planners never realised it then.

Pitifully, they still haven't. If not the Bangalore Corporation, the builders seems to have realised that more and more people settling in Bangalore and have loads of money to spend. A Real Estate Revolution seems to be happening out there. New apartment complexes boast names such as Louvre, Serene Habitat, Residency, Cambridge and the name in Italian that I forgot. Last heard, a single bedroom apartment of 700 sqft in Indira Nagar is rented out for 10,000 bucks. With 10 months advance.

How's that for a boom!